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. If you have a way of getting internet connection via your hotel, using one of the internet cafes, or perma-vacationer and buy your own internet, Magic Jack is a pretty good option. You pay $20 to buy the Magic Jack component that plugs into a USB port on your computer. You then pay $20 per year for unlimited use.

   This gives you a US telephone number that other people can call as if you were still in the states. You plug a standard phone into the component and use it exactly the same as if you were plugged into a phone company in the states. Calls in the US are then free. You pay long distance for calls outside of the US. At this time it only works if you want to have a US telephone number and most of your calls are to be in the US.

3. Skype. This also requires a computer and internet connection. Skype is a little more versatile. You can make text message, video/audio and audio only calls to any other computer that has Skype for free. In addition to that you can make calls to both mobile and landline phones around the world at a price that competes with other long distance plans. Skype also (for an additional price) will give you your own telephone number so people can call you and you will answer from your computer.

Sound quality: We’ve used both of these options a lot. We switch back and forth as necessary. The internet speed we get here in the Dominican Republic is far from consistent. With our wireless internet plan that works off of the cell towers it varies from 250kbs up to about 3Mbps. At anything lower than 1Mbps we start having problems with Magic Jack, you start to get a broken record repeating sound at times. When you get this isn’t very consistent. I’ve had good conversations with a speed as low as 500kbps and problems when it is as high as 1.5Mbps using the same computer with nothing else running. So the inconsistencies appear to be with their network. Sometimes it’s good other times it is not.

Skype seems to be more consistent. You can run one or two Skype (video/audio) connections off a 500kbps with few problems. We have run as many as 4 connections with a 1.0Mbps connection. Unfortunately, Skype isn’t perfect either. When Skype has issues you start losing video quality and the picture locks for a few seconds which is not a real problem but, you also get longer and longer audio delays. When this happens it may take 1-3 seconds for your voice to reach the other person. You then have a tendency to talk over each other a lot. That means you say something and you wait a couple seconds to see if the person is going to respond. This can take a little getting used to.

So, which system is best? In my opinion neither. It cost little to nothing to have both systems on your computer. So have them both. When one isn’t working as well as you would like, switch to the other. If you are visiting here and plan to make some phone calls, buying a cheap phone here is the easiest option. When you are done take it home and use it as a quick replacement if your cell phone dies.

Cheap electronics and the internet age have given us lots of options on how to stay in touch while we are traveling. A little preparation before you go will keep you in touch without a pause.

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…..

Internet Cafés: You will find many WiFi Hotspots in almost every town and city you go to. Most are small one-room shops where they may be packing in a large number of people. Some are true “Cafés” like you would expect in the United States and Europe giving you separate tables and offering coffee and other items, most are just small packed rooms where they have set up a bunch of computers on long tables around the room and share a 2-3 Mb Internet connection.

Services like Skype and MagicJack will work if there are not too many people, but start to have problems when there are more than 2-4 people in the Café. One person doing a large download can keep you from using Skype or MagicJack successfully.

If you don’t have a computer, most of these “Cafés” have ones to offer you. After you have finished checking your mail etc. be sure to go into the browser on the computer and delete the history and any passcodes that may have been saved.

Use your own equipment: Another choice is to you’re your own equipment and get a temporary Internet phone plan with one of the local providers. If you have a Blackberry or IPhone it is pretty easy to go into one of the providers (Claro seems to have the best range) pay about $5 to get a new mini sim chip to put in your phone and sign up for a plan.

If your Internet capable phone is from the United States it is very likely you will need to have your phone “unlocked”. This is a simple programming procedure, while they can’t unlock it in any of the phone shops, they will be able to send you to a shop (usually nearby) that can provide the service for about $10. Unlocking your phone simply means making it capable of being used by a provider outside of the United States

Getting an Internet capable phone (Blackberry, IPhone etc) to work to provide your computer an Internet connection can be a little more difficult in the Dominican Republic. While it is Common in the US using the same equipment, it does require being set up properly and most of the shops in the Dominican Republic seem to be unable to do this right. It is probably best to go to one of the large stores in Santo Domingo or Santiago to get your phone set up. You can read my story about my efforts to get it done at Dominican Republic Internet.