Phone and Internet Communications
Whilst we have learnt to be self sufficient in many ways on board our yacht, there are still many features of modern life that we appreciate having access to. For us, communications are important for checking the weather, for keeping in touch with family and friends and for finding services when going ashore in new destinations. With this in mind, we took the opportunity of picking up a couple of Digicel FR sims whilst in Martinique and have been really pleased with the service so far.
We took the Forfait Life 20 package which provides unlimited phone calls and text messages to the majority of Europe and the Caribbean as well as some of South America. We also get 20 gig of data to use per month in those areas. We can get access to Digicel music, but haven't really had a look at using this part of the service yet. The package costs 30 euros a month and we had to sign up for 12 months. Since we signed up, Digicel FR have been running a promotion which means we have had access to 30 gig of data a month for free! They also phoned to offer me another promotion where we could add unlimited access to North American areas and numbers and have 50 gig of data per month, for an additional 5 euros. Whilst we didn't need this, it sounded like a bargain for American and Canadian cruisers.
We have been happily looking up weather forecasts, phoning family and friends in England and the Caribbean for hours on end, using email, Facebook, Skype, youTube, What'sApp etc.. etc..., up and down the Eastern Caribbean chain and so far have only found limited access in Los Roques (Venezuela). I think this might have had more to do with communications in Los Roques generally, rather than a limitation of Digicel FR. We are currently cruising in the Western Caribbean (writing this on deck whilst online in Curacao) and looking forward to keeping in touch whilst visiting Columbia, Panama and other countries.
We did have a problem with outgoing phone calls for a week whilst in Grenada, but Digicel reduced our bill for that month, so I was happy with the customer service. We could still use the data part of the service, so just had to call family and friends via Skype and WhatsApp whilst Digicel fixed the problem.
This type of sim can only be purchased from Digicel FR stores on the French islands - Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin etc.., but we think it is well worth signing up if stopping off in one of those islands.
We took the Forfait Life 20 package which provides unlimited phone calls and text messages to the majority of Europe and the Caribbean as well as some of South America. We also get 20 gig of data to use per month in those areas. We can get access to Digicel music, but haven't really had a look at using this part of the service yet. The package costs 30 euros a month and we had to sign up for 12 months. Since we signed up, Digicel FR have been running a promotion which means we have had access to 30 gig of data a month for free! They also phoned to offer me another promotion where we could add unlimited access to North American areas and numbers and have 50 gig of data per month, for an additional 5 euros. Whilst we didn't need this, it sounded like a bargain for American and Canadian cruisers.
We have been happily looking up weather forecasts, phoning family and friends in England and the Caribbean for hours on end, using email, Facebook, Skype, youTube, What'sApp etc.. etc..., up and down the Eastern Caribbean chain and so far have only found limited access in Los Roques (Venezuela). I think this might have had more to do with communications in Los Roques generally, rather than a limitation of Digicel FR. We are currently cruising in the Western Caribbean (writing this on deck whilst online in Curacao) and looking forward to keeping in touch whilst visiting Columbia, Panama and other countries.
We did have a problem with outgoing phone calls for a week whilst in Grenada, but Digicel reduced our bill for that month, so I was happy with the customer service. We could still use the data part of the service, so just had to call family and friends via Skype and WhatsApp whilst Digicel fixed the problem.
This type of sim can only be purchased from Digicel FR stores on the French islands - Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin etc.., but we think it is well worth signing up if stopping off in one of those islands.