St. Maarten / St. Martin overview
 

Here a short overview about the actual situation in St. Maarten (NL) / St. Martin (F).

There are four (4) networks on the french side and two (2) network on the "netherland" part. On the north coast (beloning to the french part) there a good chances to get the three (3) networks from Anguilla.

The french part is beloning to France but starting 10th of October 2010 the "netherland" part may be seen as an independent country. Therefore the EU roaming regulations are valid as long as you are connected to one of the french networks. They are not valid for the networks of the "netherland" part nor for Anguilla!

All (!) networks are offering a prepaid service

The nine (9) networks are:

French side (Country code 340)

Orange Caraïbe
GSM 900 / 1800 & UMTS 2100
Network 340-01
Roaming on Telcell (free of charges) and international
Orange Guadeloupe

Dauphin (a.k.a. Amigo)
GSM 900 / 1800
Network 340-08
Roaming on Telcell (free of charges)
Dauphin Telecom Téléphonie mobile, Internet aux Antilles St-Martin

Digicel F
GSM 900 / 1800 & UMTS 2100
Network 340-20
Roaming on Telcell (with charges) and international
Accueil - Digicel Mobiles Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique. Sonneries, Logos, Promos. Digicel Forfaits, Cartes, Couverture et roaming, Questions et Réponses, Aide, Trouver un détaillant et plus avec Digicel Guadeloupe, Guyane, Martinique!

UTS F
GSM 900 / 1800
Network 340-03
Roaming on UTS NL (free of charges) but not international
no URL see http://www.sxm.chippie.an/about+chip...st.+martin+(fr)

Netherland side (Country code 362)

Telcell
GSM 900 / 1800
Network 362-51
Roaming on Dauphin (free of charges) and international
::::Telem Group of Company::::

UTS NL
GSM 900 / 1800
Network 362-91
Roaming on UTS F (free of charges) and international
Chippie SXM: Home

Anguilla (Country code 365)

Lime (a.k.a C&W)
GSM 850 / 1900
Network 365-84
Roaming on Or Ca and international
Landline Internet Mobile and Entertainment Services : LIME Anguilla

Digicel Anguilla
GSM 900 / 1800 & 1900 (!!)
Network 338-05 (the same as Digicel Jamaica)
Roaming on Digicel F and international
Home - Cell Phones Anguilla. Phones, Ringtones, Mobile Phone Plans. Digicel Anguilla Cellular

Weblinks
GSM 900
Network 365-01
No roaming at all
Weblinks

Fascinating island! Can't figure out why such a small island needs to have access to 9 networks! I suppose the networks justify their existence due to their potential of catching so many high paying roamers (tourists)!

No exclamation points needed next to the 3 bands. Some Caribbean nations use all 4 bands, though usually split between 2 operators. IIRC, Aruba is another country that actually does use 3 bands with one operator.

Yeah! I have roamed there with my United MObile sim back in the days, my phone kept switching from one carrier to the next as we move around the island. I even got a "Welcome to Anguilla" message at one point. I think the cruise ship was approaching the island then.

Some background
 

To be correct: Sint Maarten (The Dutch part) used to be a part of the Netherlands Antilles. On 10-10-2010 the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved and the islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao became separate but not independent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The other islands of the former Netherlands Antilles (Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire) don't have that 'status aparte' and are now a kind of special Caribbean communities of the Netherlands. But to my disappointment the EU rules on roaming do not (yet?) apply to these islands. Also Dutch telecom providers don't have towers in what is known as "Caribbean Netherlands".

You are completly right, but it is so complicate to explain the new Status. I have been to Saba last week. They do border checks, in and out. Interesting: When you are coming back to SXM, the lady at immigration said "You do not have to fill out the form, when coming from Saba" ...

To stay in Saba (and Statia):

They have the same networks then the netherland part of SXM, eg.

- UTS NL
- Tellcel

Because they are the same, there are no roaming fees between them and SXM (they are not Digicel!). You may use every Sim to the same conditions in SXM and Saba. Even the inter-island-roaming from SXM is working to the usual conditions.

No other (local) networks are available. In addition, in Statia, you may receive the St. Kitts & Nevis Networks (Lime, Digicel and UTS) in some places. In Saba you may see them on your phone with a manuel search but you are to far away to hook up.

Amazing: In Saba you have to register the Sim-cards, you are buying!

When visiting Nevis earlier this year, I went from the US through St. Marteen to connect to a WinAir flight. Flight was delayed in St. Marteen due to bad weather so I called home to let them know of the delay. Ekit didn't work on a couple of networks I tried, so I wound up using my Digicel Bermuda card for a quick roaming call (made more sense than buying a sim card for just one call). Ekit worked fine in Nevis though, and was the cheapest solution for calls home.

Remember a huge mobile phone company mural (think it was Chippie) in the airport.

Back in the day
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 123456 (Post 34679) To be correct: Sint Maarten (The Dutch part) used to be a part of the Netherlands Antilles. On 10-10-2010 the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved and the islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao became separate but not independent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The other islands of the former Netherlands Antilles (Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire) don't have that 'status aparte' and are now a kind of special Caribbean communities of the Netherlands. But to my disappointment the EU rules on roaming do not (yet?) apply to these islands. Also Dutch telecom providers don't have towers in what is known as "Caribbean Netherlands".

In the 1960s, when I was in 4th grade [about 10 years old], I did a report on the Netherland Antilles. I kind of missed when Curacao changed status, but somewhere I saw what was going to happen on 10/10/10. It sounds like everybody got what the wanted in kinds of governments.