Making phone calls in Puerto Rico

We installed Claro for internet provider and they give us the phone service included. Service is unlimited calls including to mainland. We pay $32 for 2GB/month, for us this was the minimum we needed for the cameras to work since for now is just a part time home. I hear other folks in the forum had different experience with their service, so far it works well for us.

Mobile carriers that operate here, seamlessly  (as though PR is another state, and not treated differently), Sprint (and their pre paid affiliates; boost, virgin) & AT&T (and their pre paid affiliates). Verizon left years ago, but I have friends that still use them, from the mainland. T-Mobile is here, but they operate separately from the mainland, and use questionable practices here; I have friends who where wrongly informed that they could not use their phones in the mainland, if moving, and were subsequently charged early termination fees, for leaving.
Claro; a subsidiary of American Movil (a Mexican conglomerate) operates here, and has land line service, in place of the old PRTC (Puerto Rico Telephone Company... I guess you could call it Mexican Telephone Company!), there are various smaller regional (or only island-wide) carriers... this may not be comprehensive, but my two cents worth.

My experience: I tried Claro land line service, with dsl; the (literally) 10 minutes it worked, it was great! I also tried Cingular, for 2 months, when I first arrived, back before they puchased AT&T, (and absorbed the name); I did not  care for their service, nor their support. I cannot say how they are now. I have been with Sprint for 18yrs (minus the aforementioned 2 month hiatus); I have no complaints.

I get my landline and internet service from Liberty cable for about $99 / month including an upgraded internet speed.  More basic internet speeds and phone can be as low as $33 on sale.  The landline phone service is unlimited and includes the US.   The service has been good.  The internet service is ok.  Outages are more frequent than I would like but it is not bad.  They provide very good download speeds but upload speeds are very stingy which is a problem only if you are using security cameras or the like.

We also have Clark for internet and phone service. It averages about $62.00 per month with unlimited calls here and the internet which I don't know the speed or whatever since I'm not too teckie. It works well after an initial period when it wasn't too good until they came and gave us a bigger modem. Now it is OK. Ocassionally it goes down because of weather. For the most part it is OK.

Take care, Tonie

I have to find my old boy scout leader, I forgot how to do smoke signals so I can save even more.

ReyP wrote:

I have to find my old boy scout leader, I forgot how to do smoke signals so I can save even more.

Rey,

You can use the banana line......

I did my research for cellular service providers last year.  Of the large companies,  Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile, and  Sprint, they all "work" in PR however is considered roaming. Once you relocate you need to terminate your contract with all of the above and open a new account with the international division which have different billing plans with the exception of Sprint.  This is why you many need to pay an early termination fee with your current mobile carrier.  While scouting PR we traveled all over from Culebra to Cabo Rojo and had very good cellular and more importantly data service just about everywhere.

Shayurrie wrote:

I did my research for cellular service providers last year.  Of the large companies,  Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile, and  Sprint, they all "work" in PR however is considered roaming. Once you relocate you need to terminate your contract with all of the above and open a new account with the international division which have different billing plans with the exception of Sprint.  This is why you many need to pay an early termination fee with your current mobile carrier.  While scouting PR we traveled all over from Culebra to Cabo Rojo and had very good cellular and more importantly data service just about everywhere.

Which provider gave you the best reception and data overall?
Why the international division?

I have been using Virgin Mobile in Puerto Rico And in Western North Carolina. Unlimited calls, internet for $55 a month.

That may have been true at some point, but it is definitely not the case with AT&T now. We are on our same plan and are not roaming.

We have Sprint, been all over the island and haven't been charged for roaming. We even have one of our cell phones with a PR number that my sister keeps. We use both cell and internet while in the island.

Yes,  it was last year (fall 2014) when I did my research. I needed to decide if I was going to stay with my current provider or stay with Sprint. Most providers are excellent if are staying within the SJ metropolitan area.  I needed a provider that would work in remote areas.  I decided to stay with Sprint.

I have been using my AT&T cell phone with a 631 area code for more than seven years, in and out of Puerto Rico and sometimes use it as a hotspot for internet. I have never paid roaming charges.

we have AT&T and had good service all over PR last year.  No roaming charges, no issues.

I've been with Sprint here on the island for 12 or 13 years. I drive a lot all over the island and always have good reception.

I cancelled my land line and internet from Claro because of a bad line that made the phone almost unusable and internet slower than dial-up. Half a year after we cancelled they fixed the line - it was bad for almost  year then.