Any suggestions on calling back to the States and/or emailing from Bonaire??

Bonnie, contact Michael Gaynor at Chat-n-Browse. This is north of town, near the Sand Dollar Resort, and next door to Lover's Ice Cream. You can purchase internet time at a very reasonable rate, and he will also rent you a phone with prepaid minutes. Not to mention that he is a DOLL and a wealth of information for all things Bonaire. His shop is great, and I highly recommend any of the Aruba Aloe products. The shampoo and conditioner are good, and I love the body lotion! He also has some great local art and fun trinkets.

Thanks again, Kelly! You seem to be a wealth of information as well. I'll pass along your hello and wonderful recommendations.

And avoid the "pay" phones you see all over, that say they take all credit cards, etc., (they have lots of different flags on their signs). It's about $40 minimum to call the US.

Do a search on blue phones....avoid at all cost.

I rent a phone at Chat and Browse with something like 70 call units, I don't know what a call unit is though. Anyway, I call my office in the US everyday, sometime 3 times a day, Eva calls the kids and neighbors multiple time in the US, and we make all our local calls and haven't used all the call units yet (2 week vacations). If I have to talk to the office awhile I tell them to call me. Doesn't cost me any call units that way.

Chat n Browse gets my vote hands down..Rented a cell for 2 weeks last Feb & absolutely NO PROBLEMS.. We were able to call home several times a day..

It is actually 100 call units which equals 150 min. to the states

ps. this is not meant to be self promotion, just clarification

I agree with Vince....I used C&B multiple times during my trip, both for phones and email...easy and cost-effective

P.S. avoid the hotel phones as well...the local charges at Lions Dive last summer were 50 cents a minute to hard line phones and 1 dollar a minute to local cell phones...no attempts to call the U.S. were completed....BURN! Recommend C&B as well (if only I had figured that out before the huge phone bill) P.S. I don't know if those charges apply to all hotels but be cautious when using the in house phones!

(Message edited by babsoleary on May 19, 2005)

What does 100 call units cost?

Aha....So the exchange rate is 100 call units = 150 minutes. Are those US minutes or metric minutes?

For full info on cost, see Michael's site at:
http://www.chatnbrowse.com/

Really Wally, in the Netherlands Antilles they are bound to be metric just like the compasses:-)

Dave

And how long is a New York minute? Does it cost a dollar three-eighty?

And how about the fictitious band Spinal Tap? Their amps go all the way up to eleven!

And NEVER use those "Call the US and Europe" or whatever they say pay phones located here and there - they are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive - we learned the hard way our first trip to B. C&B cell phones are indeed the way to go.

Which is sellphone system there, on Bonaire - GSM, CDMA, DAMPS?

Alexander, please visit http://www.oldbonairetalk.com/newsgroup/messages/27/226883.html?1117223888

I believe the answers you seek are there.

Welcome to Bonaire Talk.

Does anyone know if Nextel or T-Mobile get service in Bonaire? I looked at the chat and browse site, and it seems like a reasonable thing to do, but I wanted to confirm that my cell and blackberry do not work before I reserve a Chat and Browse cell phone.

T-Mobile roams here on Bonaire, but you need a tri-band phone. The 1900MHz U.S. band doesn't work here, but the 900/1800MHz does.

No idea on cost (but I'd bet on $1/minute or so).

No go on Nextel or Blackberrys, or any phone data services other than SMS.

Jake

Okay... so I'm a day late and a dollar short on this thread, but I have to throw in my two cents worth on Chat n Browse. Michael is totally awesome. When we stayed at the Sand Dollar in December, I had brought along my tablet PC to download digital pictures as I took them. I happened to spy his shop by Sand Dollar's entrance and went over to see about using it to get email through his wireless system. He had never seen me before, but I was an instant friend. He always had time to chat, to show me the new antenna they were installing for his wireless, etc.. We were on the island looking at places to buy and he was a fount of information there as well... I'd describe a house we were looking at, and he'd instantly tell me about who use to live there, how much he thought I could bargain with the owner, etc..

Definitely, definitely, DEFINITELY use his setup for network connections and any phone service you need. You won't be sorry.