Good and bad news for Dominican Republic iPhone users! The Good News? Apple has announced that it will be making the new iPhone 4S available in the Dominican Republic as an “unlocked” version. Bad News? As expected not all features will be available in the DR. While both Orange and Claro will have the unlocked version available to their customers they will both have different features available.

According to Apple, for Claro the 4S iPhone will be locked to the carrier, have access to MMS and Claro hotspots in the Dominican Republic but will not offer authorized unlocking or visual voicemail. Orange includes the feature of having authorized unlocking but likewise will not offer the “Visual Voicemail” service.

Some of the more interesting features of the new iPhone 4S includes: (more…)

In the Dominican Republic, the internet can be a pain to deal with. That is why most people think that tips like these will really help when it comes to using and playing with the internet.

Initially Buying the Internet

In the Dominican Republic there are quite a few different types of internet that you can get. There are four well known internet/phone companies. There is Claro, Orange, TriCom, and Viva. Each company has individual benefits. Claro, for instance, is known to have the fastest internet, where Orange is known to have the largest area coverage. (more…)

Dominicans seem to have a heavy infatuation for the American culture. This can be seen in the style of clothes, hair styles and choices of products they buy. Head into any small town and you are bound to see at least one if not multiple “Colmado Americano” or basically American Store, it doesn’t really matter if they actually sell anything American or not. Unfortunately, one trend that is becoming very popular in the US is also starting to become more popular here, that’s Sexting.

What is Sexting?

Sexting combines two other words, sex and texting. It describes sending sexual text messages from one phone to another, often accompanied with suggestive or more explicit images.

In the Dominican Republic technology is rather new. Many people don’t understand how it works and how permanent those pictures become. (more…)

While the Dominican Republic may seem a little behind in many aspects (water and power quickly come to mind), communication is not one of them. The DR sports an up-to-date 3g network for it’s phone and computer data. And although many people struggle to make enough for their daily needs one thing I’ve found that they don’t skimp on is their phones.

While you do see a lot of cheap cell phones, Blackberries, Iphones and other high end texting phones abound in this country. Probably one reason is the ease they do text messaging. Most Dominicans use a prepaid phones although there are monthly phone plans available. Sending a sms text message costs about 2-3 pesos here, which is a lot cheaper than using up your minutes on a voice call, so texting is extremely popular here.

If you looking for a gift for a Dominican friend or family member, a cell phone designed for texting is a great gift. These phone make texting easier in one of two methods either a touch screen that allows you to touch the letter you want added or a phone with a small alpha keyboard that has keys for each individual letter. While standard numeric keypad phones work fine, they are a lot more work to send a message. (more…)

If you are planning to stay in the Dominican Republic for a while you will likely want to get your own internet service. While you will find internet cafes in almost every little town in the country, you will likely find the cafe to be small, crowded, noisy and everyone sharing an about 1-2 meg download speed. Probably fine if you are planning to pick up your mail, but not real good if you need to spend much time for work, Skype or even internet research.

Like in the States, you have two main options, wired or wireless (mobile data plan). I’ve not seen a cable service here offering internet, so likely if you plan on getting a wired service than it will be DSL. This is normally cheaper, and faster than wireless internet and also have the advantage of not having a download cap or limit. However this is only available if you live in the middle of one of the larger towns. If you have opted to stay out on the outskirts of town where it is quieter, you may not have this option.

The option I choose is a wireless data plan. This runs off the same cell towers as the cell phones do, so coverage is pretty good throughout the country. While there are a few wireless internet providers in the country, I choose Claro Mobile due to their greater coverage. (more…)

Another reminder for those of you wanting to use your phone and internet plans from another country while visiting the Dominican Republic.

Yes, they will work BUT…….. If you don’t have an international plan, your company is likely to hit you with some ridiculous roaming fee! While some sort of fee is reasonable, they have to negotiate with other carriers to use their equipment in order to make your call, companies seem to like to use this as a license to steal. That seemingly harmless warning of “Roaming Charges may apply” gives them the right to charge any amount they would like.

Personally I count Verizon’s over $17,000 (yes that is USD) for 90 minutes of internet time as a bit excessive. Somehow I would think that a little more then a small note saying you are in a roaming area would be warranted with something that costs $188.00 per minute, (more…)

Once you are here in the DR you will likely want to at times, call home. You have several ways to accomplish this.

1. Your Cell Phone. If you keep your plan from the US or another country and try to call back home, just connecting into the DR cell phone network is going to cost you (a lot!). Unless you have money to burn this is not really a good option. You can however, switch out the chip in your phone to a Claro or Orange chip and buy minutes here. This also lets you call the US and the rates are pretty good. You then switch chips again when you head home.

   The one possible problem with this is that many phones are locked out from being used in other countries. That means you have to find a place to “Unlock” your phone. Not difficult but a little more of a hassle. They will not do that in the phone company offices. You also have to be sure that your phone can take the same chip. An alternative is to just buy a cheap phone here in the DR ($15 – $20) and put some minutes on it.

2. The second option involves your computer. (more…)

The Good news: Yes you can have Internet connection in the Dominican Republic and you can expect to get a pretty good speed. The DR has some of the most state of the art 3G equipment in the world and it covers a good share of the island.

The Bad news: They seem to have some issues getting it configured properly. Hopefully that will improve in the future.

There are a variety of ways to get an Internet connection. Which one you choose will depend on the speed you need, how long you wish to have it, and how much you are willing to pay.

Hotels: If you’re just staying for a couple weeks it is best to choose a hotel with WiFi. Many of the hotels and “All Inclusive Resorts” offer this to their guests. You can ask before booking your hotel to see if they offer this, but it is unlikely they will be able to tell you how fast it will be. The Internet is pretty new here and not many people seem to understand bandwidth.

There are other options….. (more…)