Thread: Sosua Reports
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03-25-14 19:53 #19887
Posts: 2803Originally Posted by Mr Enternational [View Original Post]
Incidentally the T-Mobile plan sounds like a great deal and I would absolutely get it myself except that T-Mobile 4G Internet has no signal at the US location where I spend some of my time (but At&T does). The $80 per month plan includes unlimited 4G date on the phone (plus unlimited calls and texting) , plus up to 5 gigabytes of unthrottled $4G tethering data (I. E. You can use the phone as a modem to connect a tablet or notebook computer to the Internet.)
http://www.cnet.com/news/t-mobile-to...al-data-texts/
By the way, the T-Mobile plan will work perfectly well with a $100 Nokia 521 Windows phone and this includes the free downloadable maps that can be used in rural locations without any data connection.
One could presumably buy the T-Mobile plan as a gift for a "friend" in the DR. Used in conjunction with a prepaid international calling service like this one:
https://www.unitedpinless.com/how-it-works
The person in the DR could make free calls to landlines in the DR and buy calls to cell phones for 7. 7 cents per minute, which would be cheaper than buying prepaid time from Orange or Claro (I think.)
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03-25-14 18:55 #19886
Posts: 2116T mobile question
Originally Posted by Mr Enternational [View Original Post]
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03-25-14 18:19 #19885
Posts: 15969I would say it all depends on your M.O. An 800 peso Orange phone is not going to do shit for me. I have that free international internet plan from T-mobile so I keep my Galaxy S1 with my US SIM on in the 100 countries that I am able to for free. I keep a separate Galaxy S4 knock off with a local SIM for local calls. I am going from city to city and communicating with most of my chicks through whats app. I just brought a chica home in the capital. She had no idea how to get to her house. If it was not for my smartphone with GPS I would have been stuck hiring a taxi to follow to and from.
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03-25-14 18:05 #19884
Posts: 3801Good Advice
[QUOTE=Frannie; 1547054]If you have a plan with cheap international roaming, it will work just as well if you bring your SIM from home and put it in a $10 unlocked phone in the DR. If you get a DR SIM card and phone, you can call the US for the same price as a local call in the US. You can make cheap international calls from Internet cafes in the DR. If you have a Skype enabled phone you can make cheap international calls via your hotel's wi-fi or from restaurants. You can get a year's worth of unlimited calls to US phone numbers for about $30, or you can use Magic Jack too.
There are lots of ways to skin a cat.
On my last trip I bought a cheap phone from Orange for 800 pesos which I used to contact the Chicas in Sousa / Puerto Plata and left my "I" phone back in the USA. I also have a worldwide plan thru Skype on my laptop so I was able to call my USA phone to retrieve any messages and also call the USA via Skype. I was also able to call the USA on my Orange phone but it was expensive to do so, so Skype was the way to go and what I would recommend to have. I found no need to be have my "I" phone with me utilizing a local phone and Skype on my laptop.
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03-25-14 17:35 #19883
Posts: 2803Originally Posted by Wrx2005 [View Original Post]
http://www.orange.com.do/web/beneficios/precios
Anyway if you are willing to lay down your life for your cell phone, then good luck with that, and you won't be the first.
People are asking how to avoid these kind of catastrophes in the DR. Yes, one method of risk management is to lock up your valuable stuff carefully, but another is simply don't bring it down in the first place, thus sidestepping the whole issue. Leaving your smart phone lying on your desk at work in the US while you go to the bathroom is one thing, leaving it lying on a table in a chica bar in Sosua while you go to the bathroom after a few beers is quite another. People drink alcohol on vacation. Drinking impairs their judgment and makes them less able to read the character and motives of others.
If you have a plan with cheap international roaming, it will work just as well if you bring your SIM from home and put it in a $10 unlocked phone in the DR. If you get a DR SIM card and phone, you can call the US for the same price as a local call in the US. You can make cheap international calls from Internet cafes in the DR. If you have a Skype enabled phone you can make cheap international calls via your hotel's wi-fi or from restaurants. You can get a year's worth of unlimited calls to US phone numbers for about $30, or you can use Magic Jack too.
There are lots of ways to skin a cat.
Yes, you can bring your $700 phone if it is essential for whatever you need, or if the amount of money sunk in the phone is not significant to you, but just be aware that it is likely to attract interest of the wrong kind.
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03-25-14 17:03 #19882
Posts: 1542Stay Home
Its sounds like the 6'6 cop either isn't too bright or he has the worst luck in the world. After reading about his adventures, I am positive it is a combination of both! Its probably best he stay in NY walking the beat. (I will admit, it is highly entertaining to read about his exploits)
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03-25-14 15:13 #19881
Posts: 2116Originally Posted by Frannie [View Original Post]
Speaking of my first trip to Sosua, I had a rolex on and the Italian guy mentioned it but frankly, with so many fakes going around, a thief can never figure out which is real and in any case, as I knew, nothing ever happened. I cannot speak of Sosua but I rarely even use the safe in hotel (Once I left my passport locked in the safe in an Istanbul hotel as I flew to Ankara or was it Izmir. Fortunately my itinerary back and out of the country was through Istanbul so no real damage) and I have left a woman alone watching TV in the room while I was downstairs chatting with two guys staying at the hotel. My motto is be wary but trusting. The kind of people you deal with has a lot to do with it but it begins with a good attitude as you pointed in your first paragraph. Of course, the more you travel, the better you get at that.
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03-25-14 14:48 #19880
Posts: 2116Originally Posted by Frannie [View Original Post]
I agree with Chales Pooter and you both about the God spouting folks though.
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03-25-14 12:31 #19879
Posts: 1348Originally Posted by Frannie [View Original Post]
You may be aware of this, but many members on this forum own and use their Galaxy Note 2's. 3s', S3 and S4's, Iphone 4s and 5's. And they bring them and use them on vacation. The focus shouldn't be on how others spend their money. The focus here is avoiding theft. The average business person in the DR probably has an expensive phone. You think it's asinine for them to own and walk around with an expensive phone just because somebody else has issues with it? I would think a person in the DR with an expensive phone would be just as concerned about losing their phone with their sim and memory card in it as someone from the states. But it aint gonna happen that they are not going to have the phone of their choice, just because other people have a problem with it. What makes sense in this discussion is how you secure your stuff. Not how much you spend on your stuff. If a person has no use or doesnt see the value in using such devices, then thats their personal preference/concern.
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03-25-14 11:53 #19878
Posts: 1908Originally Posted by Balto1 [View Original Post]
But, most of the problems related here are avoidable if you use some common sense, and puts you in that 99% that go down there often and have a great time.
Another great way of avoiding trouble is never drive down there. Take the autobus for long distances, moto concho for short, (and this is where having a GF relationship comes in handy) she'll show you the gua gua, the publico, where you can get around unbelievable cheaply. If I need to get across the island, I give some money to my "friend" moto concho driver and he borrows or rents an old car, and for little more than the price of gas, he'll take me anywhere.
Watch the smart puta, and you'll see she has a "network". If you go there often enough, you should have one too. Forgot your charger? A wave of the hand and in 10 minutes and less than 10 bucks later it's in your hand. Having a good time at the bar but getting hungry? A wave and 2 minutes later you will have some of the best tasting calle comida you ever had in front of you.
Go, be smart, and have the greatest time of your life!
(And, oh yeah, leave the credit card at home. Take your ATM card, preferably two. Those machines sometimes get hungry.)
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03-25-14 08:28 #19877
Posts: 2689Originally Posted by Charles Pooter [View Original Post]
You left me with nothing to do!
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03-25-14 07:58 #19876
Posts: 252Theft
Originally Posted by Frannie [View Original Post]
I usually cheapen myself. Use a $10 dollar watch rather than my more expensive one, arrive to the airport wearing jeans and a simple tshirt. I expect and am not surprised at theft throughout the entire travel (TSA in the states, the DR airports, and DR itself) so I generally do not have any valuables in the suitcase. If they want to steal underwear and socks let them go ahead (an iron gets a little tricky!). The most valuable stuff, in terms of importance and money, I carry with my onto the plane (driver's license, money, credit cards, tablet). The smaller items I carry in a pacsafe fanny bag with a lock. One time I had it go through the airport xray machine. By the time I reached the other end the Dominican woman was desperately trying to open it before I got there. She simply could not figure it out. I took it out of her hand, unlocked it, and opened it myself but would not let her take my wallet.
When I enter the hotel room I place what I can in the safe and use some small cable lock to close the doors of the closet where the safe is. In other words, to get to the safe one needs to know the combination of the small cable lock or needs to cut the cable. If they cut the cable I will know that someone tried to break into the safe. In short, I do not trust even the hotel staff.
Except on my first trip I never used a credit card in the DR to pay for anything. I withdraw from an ATM and use the credit cards to withdraw cash, as a last resort and only in an emergency, but never to purchase anything. I've heard of too many stories of people using their cards in the DR and before you know it someone in Washington Heights or another part of New York City is using their cards. Also, even with legitimate uses many times one is charged on the high end of the exchange rate. Added to this the fee that is charged by the credit card issuer adds to the cost. Also, if someone is not charging you in pesos make sure it is in dollars and not Euros (this happened one time to one of my friends when he was on vacation in Mexico. The vendor claimed dollars but it was instead in Euros!).
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03-25-14 06:01 #19875
Posts: 2803Originally Posted by Balto1 [View Original Post]
Remember there are also lots of women and babies and school children and old people living in Sosua and going about their daily life without anything happening to them at all.
I felt the same way about visiting the US, having read about muggings in New York and the massive murder rate in the 70's, but when I actually plucked up courage to set foot in the US in the 80's I found it wasn't that bad after all. I have even visited Jacksonville, which is one of the most murderous cities on the planet and have yet to witness a killing. If New Orleans was a country, then it would have the second highest murder rate in the world, yet tourists flock there for Mardi Gras. Miami has the same murder rate as Colombia, and Atlanta is equal to South Africa, which is generally regarded as pretty unsafe.
I have been to all of those cities and lived to tell the tale.
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03-25-14 04:51 #19874
Posts: 3114Blue loves Blue
I am surprised that they did not help a brother Cop. Cops go out of their way to support one another.
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03-25-14 01:19 #19873
Posts: 2116Originally Posted by Oakie [View Original Post]