Bahamas: Data & Voice - any recent info?
 

I've been reading the few existing threads but they seem outdated. Anyone have any new information on local SIM in the Bahamas, data and voice? Any success stories? Anyone want to sell or lend a SIM?

I think Bahamas has only one mobile provider, Batelco. So, if you are only there briefly, just roam if your phone works there. Otherwise, just get the sim card when you get there. They use the 1900 band so you should be fine with your phones. Definitely do NOT get the sim from any of those online shops that charge a fortune for it.

The couple of times I have been there via a cruise ship stop, I used my international sim card.

re: international sim for cruise
 

I will be on a cruise. I have a OneSIM card but that is just voice and the rates are very expensive, not to mention the call-back complexity.

What international SIM do you have that would work well in this situation?

It's a few years ago and I used the now defunct United Mobile sim card. They had Ok rates for the Bahamas. This is one country that is very expensive to roam in or to find a international sim with good rates.

You can get a Batelco SIM from mrsimcard.com with a data package.

Bahamas Sim Card. Batelco Bahamas - Mr. Simcard - +1.5712529901

It is not a great deal. The only other thing I can suggest is iPhonetrip which has included data roaming in the Bahamas and making your calls VOIP over 3g. You have to buy a week's worth of service, but I think it will give you data on many cruise ship lines as well. The problem is that cruise ship GSM data is often at GPRS speeds or worse.

Many years ago, in the analog cellular days, I knew an agency who used a yagi on a tower somewhere in the Bahamas (maybe Bimini) to connect to the cellular network in Florida. They said that they had to do it because the cellular system in the Bahamas didn't support a data-quality connection. So much for ancient history.

I did actually consider trying to use an old weather satellite dish to make something for mobile broadband at home, but then I found a better landline broadband offer.

purchased roaming data
 

I ended up buying some roaming data from my carrier before departure. They told me that the price is pro-rated for the time it is enabled (in my case, one week), but the quantity of data is not. I'll check my bill but it seems like an approximate 75% sale. Seemed like a rare chance to get value from my carrier, so I took it.

The speed on BTC was quite good.

Going to be in Bahamas in a few weeks, I see Roamline has data at Euro 0.89/MB, not wonderful, but any other alternatives? Abroadband does not cover Bahamas, Truphone is over $8.

Do you have a US contract carrier. Both Verizon and ATT have roaming data packages which offer Bahamian data:

Countries Included in International Messaging and Data Packages

Global Data