When you travel to the Caribbean do you use your cell phone or some type of a cell phone app like whatsapp? If you use your cell phone what type of plan do you get as Telus rates are outrageous!

Yup

I just got back from the Dominican and I used whatsapp.

If you can get wifi, you can do phone and video calls from both most of the social media platforms. My mom is in Phoenix and has wifi, but not a lot of minutes, so we call her via FB pretty regularly.

I just do roam like home with Bell. Or tie into the wifi and use iMessage

Yep, we just use our cell phones. Caribbean is $12/day with Telus.

We use our cell phones. 50 bucks unlimited use. Or if you don't want to pay use whats app when you are near wifi. Roam like home with rogers.

Cyrena how do you have $50 with Rogers unlimited roaming ?
They are at $14/ day up to 15 days per pay cycle . After that is free. I travel extensively and that’s their price for unlimited ( except USA, where is $7 per day , up to 15 days per pay cycle ).
Tell me your secret

Doina ya that was what i paid last yr. I just called and the price has more than doubled.

Cyrena
I know ... it sucks . I am trying to find a way not to use roaming anymore , but for me the issue is that I need to receive calls and voicemails and also call back from my Canadian number ( I work while I travel )at all times and cannot reply on whatsapp for ex . I heard there are ways , but still researching .

Doina pls share if you find a way.

Cyrena will do.

Doina I need my phone for work. We are with Rogers. $10 per day capped at 15 is $150 per month. I switched to USA $35 per month. Unlimited everything

Sylvia Wetherup which country you are travelling too, that you are paying $10 Per day ? I am with Rogers and I need my phone for work too . Can’t rely on wifi only . I paid $14 per day for Colombia, Costa Rica , Romania , Nederland, Montenegro , Austria , Italy, Portugal , Spain .... just a few countries that I travelled to in the last 20 mo .
USA is the cheapest , at half that ( last time I inquired . ).

It depends on how long I'm going for and where I'm going. If you are going for an extended amount of time, you can get a sim card for a local provider. If you are going for a shorter stay or staying at a place like a resort, then using whatsapp or looking at what packages your cell provider has can be worthwhile.

I always just use whatsapp or fb to video my kids/family

whatsapp or if your phone is open. Take out your sim and get a local one.

I turn my phone off and enjoy my trip.I’m not being a smart ass. This is what I do.

Molly me too don’t need phone except emergencies

Turn your phone off and use the internet at your hotel.

Just set your phone on an airplane mode & turn automatically wifi connection- it works

I have always dealt with Telus.
Then call them and ask for their international or region plan and have your phone transferred for the time you are there.
Other wise just buy a prepaid burner when you are there.

For $13 I use my phone and data like I would at home. 40GB of data in my normal plan and I lay on the beach in Mexico and surf the net. Seems dang reasonable to me.

iMessage and FaceTime if needed. Typically don’t use my phone much other than pics on vacation.

I generally buy a SIM card

With Telus you used
To be able to set
It to roam for $12/day and only be charged if you used your data that day. Once you used it it was for that 24 hour cycle. This was also a few years ago but that’s what we did when we went to Iceland. Some days we needed it for maps and other days we kept our phones on airplane mode and used hotel wifi.

Tricia it’s still the same if you are on Telus, we use it for the USA as well as Italy ,

Last year Telus had a cap during your billing cycle. So, if your billing date was on January 5th and you are going for 3 weeks you may as well leave your phone on all the time because your bill would be maxed at $150 for the jan 5 to Feb 5 billing cycle. If you buy the wifi cards in Cuba you will spend at least $40 or $50 Canadian because their cards are charged to you in US $. If can turn it on by logging in to your account before you go and decided once you get there to use it or not.

In Mexico I just got a Mexican number and used that.

What’s app is great! Phone calls, photos, videos…all for free!

I haven't bought one in the Caribbean, but from what I've seen, you can generally get sim cards for cheap. There's dual sim card phones out there so you can keep both your home card and a new card at your destination. In the Caribbean they should be very inexpensive (I'm basing this on the ones I've seen in Mexico). Just buy them at a convenience store or mobile store, not a touristy spot like the airport.

Airplane mode and connect to wifi

Get a e-sim, use for data with any voip app or wifi calling for your Canadian sim

Wifi only, use Facebook messenger and whatsapp if messaging is required. Lots of public wifi everywhere. SIM cards are cheap though if you need them

Use WiFi calling only and enjoy the rest of the time. Google Hangouts, Skype, Facebook Messenger are all good choices as are Zoom, Webex, FaceTime, Google Duo.