Another Phone Question, Orange vs. Claro

[jose1234]

I'm planning on purchasing a phone in DR, flying into POP at about 2:30 afternoon on a Friday...is there a phone store open at the airport and which service is better, orange vs. Claro and is the cheapest phone worth it or upgrade a little??? I'm headed over to Caberete straight away and not Sosua and it would be a lot more convienent to pick it up at the airport... First time traveler to POP.

[psriches]

Why not pick up a cheap GSM unlocked phone here on ebay? And just buy the chip when you get down there. Claro, orange or whatever. They all suck!!!!

[Seville]

depends on length of time. I bought phone for US$10 last year and have had it ever since. Four trips now. Works fine. Claro has best coverage I think but they all suck. You can keep you phone active between trips.

[mho]

Why not pick up a cheap GSM unlocked phone here on ebay? And just buy the chip when you get down there. Claro, orange or whatever. They all suck!!!!

In 100% agreement. $20 should buy a nice travel phone w/ a new battery. In fact, the ebay phone I bought 2 years ago for the DR is better than my US phone.

[jose1234]

Great advice, I'm leaving next Friday, so I'm not sure I have enough time to get the phone from ebay... Will check if someone will deliver fast. You all are great here... Thank you

[Ingus_Khan]

It is easier to get claro because many vendors (guys in the street, the phone store next to the Shark Bar, etc.) sell them and do not require you to give a passport to activate it so it really is like the burner phones in the US. Watch the guys on the street though, they wil try to sell you the same phone you can get at the store next to the Shark bar(300 DOP) for 500DOP.

I have not found a place to get the orange chip without showing the passport and would like to hear from others if there is a place. I have heard Orange also has phones as low as 500 DOP. Of course phones at that price range are not the best phones but if you are just staying in Sosua then it is sufficient.

Also you can do as PS said. I used my older unlocked cell phone from work down there. You can buy the cheap Claro phone and just put the chip into your better quality phone and you have service with a nice phone.

After doing a little travel in the DR and talking to people, Orange apparently has much better range around the country. For example, I went to Las Terrenas and reached for my phone but my friend said that thing won't work up here and sure enough I had no phone service until I came down off the mountain. But in sosua/puerto plata/cabarete etc.. it has been fine.

Have fun.

[steviewonder]

I've been told after seeing a Claro Street Stand across from El Flow (next to taxi stand)that they have phones for 300 pesos (which includes a 100 peso pre paid card, local number, oversees call options). They set up only during the days, and if you are in Sosua this would be a great option.

[davemaryland]

Another phone ? - Same answer from my other post. IMO Go with Claro. When I was down in April , a bud with orange was on the beach and I can't reach him. In May a chicas had Orange and I could not reach her half the time. I also would buy a unlocked phone from e-bay. And you can get a chip any where. In May the claro store at pop airport was closed. But I know a lot of guys have purchased cheap phones in the DR and they work fine.

[psriches]

You get your answers here alot quicker than you do on DR1 or any other message board!!!

[officemgr]

how much telephone talking is being done in dr? i keep my regular US phone and number and my bill is an extra 10-20 dollars for that month. but my calls are usually limited to "yo, poppi es aqui-new garden ahora"!!!

buying phones and phone cards seem like a big hassle unless you are having long conversations.

[JD426]

Why not pick up a cheap GSM unlocked phone here on ebay? And just buy the chip when you get down there. Claro, orange or whatever. They all suck!!!!

Im now thinking along the same lines, maybe just dumping the cheap Orange phone and put the Sim card in a GOOD quality unlocked phone. The whole Orange Network cant possibly be as bad as I experienced, I think it had a lot to do with the cheap phone itself. Its just such a piece of crap.
The sad part is I used to work for a wireless company,but not in the tech area. I took it for granted how easy it was to just call the right person and they would just take care of it all & Fed ex me a nice phone, all free of charge.
Dont fall for those cheap phones (like the Alcatel) , they are worse than garbage ..
Get a good quality phone, its worth it, unless u enjoy missing 80% of the calls from your favorite chicas.

[chicmatic]

I've just charged up a cheap phone that I bought in SD on my last trip. It's Claro but they still asked for my passport. Passport was at the hotel but I still ended up with the phone. I looked at Orange and some of the phones were decent prices but required a contract. The Claro ones were less expensive so I went with those. I was thinking about using my US phone this trip but decided against it. ATT does have a special rate plan though for people in Haiti/DR at the moment.

Discount Roaming Packages for Haiti (also applies to usage in the Dominican Republic)
AT&T offers reduced rates for our customers assisting with Haiti relief efforts. To sign up for these plans call 866-MOBILITY.
Haiti Discount Roaming Package* $19.99/month
Includes discounted voice, data, and messaging rates when roaming in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

• $.25 per minute
• $.10 per message sent**
• $.50 per MB of data usage

Available on all phones including smartphones and iPhone

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/in...d-packages.jsp

[chicmatic]

I usually just put my US phone in airplane mode and use wifi when I find it.

[psriches]

how much telephone talking is being done in dr? i keep my regular US phone and number and my bill is an extra 10-20 dollars for that month. but my calls are usually limited to "yo, poppi es aqui-new garden ahora"!!!

buying phones and phone cards seem like a big hassle unless you are having long conversations.

Yeah but it adds up at $1 or $2 a minute. Even adds up with a local phone. You know how the chicas like to do the one ring and then hang up; which means you call them back and use your minutes!!

[Nakom]

There is not a phone store in the airport that I have ever seen. Just grab one in Caberete.

I bought a cheap Alcatel Claro phone ($11) in POP and it works great for two trips. Always in service, long battery life, perfect. And you don't have to worry about losing it! The quality of the phone has nothing to do with the service.

Orange is out of service a lot in Sosua. I talked to chica that said Orange is better in Santa Domingo and Santiago, but Claro is way better in POP, Sosua, and Caberete.

Lots of different ways to do things that will work out just fine. $11 brand new pay as you go Alcatel Claro phone works just fine for talk and text - and I use my phone a lot in the DR - for wingmen and chicas.

[Roy]

Great advice, I'm leaving next Friday, so I'm not sure I have enough time to get the phone from ebay... Will check if someone will deliver fast. You all are great here... Thank you

Just unlock you're current phone (as long as it's not Verizon or Sprint's CDMA), you'll need a GSM (T-Mobile, ATT phone - uses a sim card).

Go to e-bay, do a search: For example:

Blackberry 8830 unlock code or Samsung piece of shit phone unlock code

You will get a list of people selling unlock codes. I pay .99 to 1.99 for the codes, they come within 1hr, with instructions (if you can send a text, you can unlock your phone), and it's unlocked.

I have an original IPhone w/ Sim Card unlocked, it has all my contacts and info on it, with Wifi, so all I have to do is slip the ATT out and put the Orange sim in and I'm good to go. (I got the IPhone unlocked and jailbroken for 500 pesos in Puerto Plata, it's EXPENSIVE here in the U.S.)

As far as better or best, it seems to me Orange is better for calls, and Claro is better for texts, but that's just me, I have NO data on it but Orange runs out really fast from texting.

Roy

[psriches]

Orange local texts are only 1 peso.

[mikelodge]

Why not pick up a cheap GSM unlocked phone here on ebay? And just buy the chip when you get down there. Claro, orange or whatever. They all suck!!!!

I agree you can buy an LG for under a hundred bucks unlocked

My friends and I have a bunch of phones from Sat to Verizon family plan and it is like a 9 week course in phone shit to master this sometimes it seems.

[KoKi9290]

Yeah but it adds up at $1 or $2 a minute. Even adds up with a local phone. You know how the chicas like to do the one ring and then hang up; which means you call them back and use your minutes!!

The puta call!

[JD426]

So in preparation for an upcoming trip and in order to have a proper
"PUTA FON" I dont have to be ashamed of.
I bought an LG KP500 unlocked, touch screen .
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/LG-Unlocked-International-Version-Warranty/dp/B001MRZY3S/ref=pd_cp_cps_2_img"]Amazon.com: LG KP500 Cookie Unlocked Phone (Black)--International…[/ame]
Very reasonably priced, thru Amazon.com. should have it in couple days.
The sim I already have in the cheapo Alcatel . So we will see how this works out.
I purposely didnt want to go high end, so if I lose it, I wont cry about it like a little bitch.. My motto in Sosua is , only carry around what you can afford to LOSE.
Any experiences , good or bad with this phone ?