Communications

Let your fingers do the walking?  Hell, you'll have to do the walking

By far, the largest expenditure I have made while here has been my cell phone and paying for time on the internet.  It cost me $200.00 to start the service (includes the phone, charger, carrying case) and while there is no monthly fee, I pay $1.00 per minute per call (in or out) and must continually buy more time cards at Batelco offices.  I'm finding it difficult to get information about communications here.  Even though most islands have a Batelco office, they do not advertise or tell you about any services.  Even when I bought my cell phone, no one told me how to use it, what services I have, what it cost per minute of usage or even what services might be more appropriate to my needs.   They are perfectly happy to explain something to you IF YOU ASK, but unless you know what you don't know, you will really need to pry to get any information.

You can also buy a Batelco Phone Card to use at a phone booth.  Unfortunately, instead of those nice credit-card type Batelco Phone booth cards they used to sell, you now only get a receipt with a code number on it.  They come in $10.00 or $20.00 increments.  I bought some of these.  These teeny receipts  (like a cash register receipt) wrinkle and smear easily or get lost in space.  One of mine got slightly wet, obliterating the code number (which is really long) another got wadded up in my waist pack and so, there goes another $20 bucks.  Needless to say, I don't recommend the phone card receipt.  Also, it is very difficult to find a phone booth in the Exumas.

Here is what I learned so far.  It may not be true that only Batelco Cell Phones work in the Bahamas.  Bring your own cell phone from home. Folks who have Verizon claim that their cell phones work fine in the Bahamas.   Canadian Cell Phones seem to work well also.   My Sprint PCS phone did not work.  People are using their Blackberries and also their PDF type devices fairly well although they do not work consistently.   So bring your communications devices and see what happens, it could be your lucky day.  WI FI doesn't work unless you are in Nassau.

A gentlemen told me that you can buy 4 hours of internet service for $10.00 per month from Batelco.   You would need to take your laptop to a Batelco Office to use it, but that sure beats the .20-$1.00 per minute I have been paying for Internet.  Also, Internet access is few and far between, but most islands with a settlement have a Batelco Office, so access using your laptop may be better, although logistics may be a pain in the neck (to carry your laptop in the dinghy and trudge it through town).  Here in Geprgetown, the internet locations do not let you download yet (if you want to pre-write your email or stories onto a disk or CD), so that may be reason to carry your laptop.