Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 11-12-2004, 16:10   #1
JB
Registered User

Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 46
Caribbean Cell/Sat Phone Service

I may need phone service aboard this season, and was wondering if anyone could recommend options for cost and reliability. My cruising area will be from Trinidad to Guadeloupe and back. I already have email, both Winlink and Sailmail. I will only need it for 3 months or so. I'm looking at Globalstar, Iridium and local island cell service. Can anyone here point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
JB s/v Dulcinea
JB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2004, 03:06   #2
Registered User

Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Currently based near Jacksonville FL; WHOOSH's homeport is St. Pete, FL USA
Boat: WHOOSH, Pearson 424 Ketch
Posts: 591
Not Cell but rather Sat service...

...may well be your best option. The island nations thru-out the Caribbean have been going thru a deregulation process for some years now but, at least in 2000-2002, were not integrating their newly privatized systems, island nation to island nation. So if you go cell, you'll be reregistering (add'l fees) and dealing with multiple vendors as you move upisland. Ugh.

You imply you are moving FROM Trinidad towards the French Is. If that's true, I'd recommend you do your Sat Comm shopping in Chaguaramas. A German ex-pat there had a good shop with all the handheld sat systems available. His prices were quite impressive, at least in late 2001. I remember him walking me thru a typical full-season sat vs. cell fee schedule and, presuming reasonable call levels, the sat system was comparable without all the hassles. As I recall, his firm's name is Electropics (you'll find that phone number and many another vendor at the Boca website - http://www.boatersenterprise.com/the_boca/) but I can't be certain.

Were I you, I would call the YSATT folks (their email, web and phone numbers are at http://www.boatersenterprise.com/whitepages/ysatt.htm) and ask them for referrals to the correct vendors. You can begin shopping right away, if time is an issue for you.

Jack
Euro Cruiser is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2004, 03:54   #3
Senior Cruiser
 
GordMay's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 49,082
Images: 241
I've never been there; but I've seen his excellent work:

Electropics Marine Services Ltd
Rainer Dobring, Manager
106 Western Main Rd, Chaguaramas, Trinidad & Tobago
Phone: (868) 634-2232
Fax: (868) 634-2237
E-mail: electrop@tstt.net.tt
Web-site (under construction): http://www.electropics.com/
The company is a full service and retail store for marine electronics and is factory-authorised by Simrad, Garmin, Stratos, Mastervolt, Sitex, Interphase, Nobeltec, Sea-Me, and many others. It is also the Caribbean manufacturing representative for SKYMATE, an email/monitoring/weather information service, working with Orbcomm satellites. The business is based in Chaguaramas (Trinidad).
__________________
Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"



GordMay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2004, 08:11   #4
Registered User
 
Talbot's Avatar

Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Brighton, UK
Boat: Privilege 37
Posts: 3,734
Images: 32
Last time I did the maths, the Global sat system was the cheapest option provided you were happy about lack of coverage when on long distance cruising. Middle of pacific/Atlantic, then Iridium is the best.

But by far the cheapest system is always cybercafe on the islands.
Will you use anything else sufficiently to justify the additional cost. IMHO I would rather have an Epirb for raising alerts, an SSB for inter-cruiser chat, and a laptop/cybercafe for email.
Talbot is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
Caribbean, cell phone, satellite phone

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Berthing in the Caribbean or Latin America Gisle Marinas 5 28-08-2006 05:53
Request for chart info for eastern Caribbean NormR Navigation 1 12-08-2004 12:59
World-wide phone calls with YACHTCOM at 70% less sinbad7 Marine Electronics 0 23-06-2004 18:41

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 21:13.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.