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Puerto Rico coverage suggestions?

Apparently Puerto Rico is considered a foreign country because the verizon rep I spoke said that I would have to pay for international coverage and also I'd be roaming! WTF?

Im going to Puerto Rico in a couple weeks for a wedding. I will only be there about 4 days or so total. I would like to be able to make and receive calls down there. Checking emails as well as texting or sending photos to friends via text or facebook.

Like I said, the vzw rep made it sound like I would have to pay roaming fees and also pay for texting and just about every other thing that I would be doing down there.

What gives? Any suggestions on the best and cheapest way to be able to use my phone while I'm down there? I can do without sending photos; although I guess I'll have to disable G+ from uploading them automatically. At the very least I'd like to be able to call and also text.

I'm going with my fiancee and it would be nice if I could call or text her when we're separated so we can find each other or setup a time to meet up for dinner or what not.

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
This sounds relevant to you, though it is from 2010

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/303672

Also, it looks like verizon's own coverage map views puerto rico as extended 1x coverage most everywhere populated, so it should be free of charge to text and call as said. Data will be extremely slow though, I'd upload pics after the wedding over wifi or something.

Also note how the vzw rep on the link mentioned roaming on a non partner carrier, and it looks as if there are multiple cdma carriers in puerto rico. So I'd keep data roaming off, and just try to watch who you are roaming on to be safe if possible. I'm not sure how possible that is though, when I went to canada my droid 2 global didn't tell me anything about the carrier I was on, but it also wasn't verizon's extended network.
 
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This sounds relevant to you, though it is from 2010

https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/303672

Also, it looks like verizon's own coverage map views puerto rico as extended 1x coverage most everywhere populated, so it should be free of charge to text and call as said. Data will be extremely slow though, I'd upload pics after the wedding over wifi or something.

Also note how the vzw rep on the link mentioned roaming on a non partner carrier, and it looks as if there are multiple cdma carriers in puerto rico. So I'd keep data roaming off, and just try to watch who you are roaming on to be safe if possible. I'm not sure how possible that is though, when I went to canada my droid 2 global didn't tell me anything about the carrier I was on, but it also wasn't verizon's extended network.

The above link is still valid. I've got a friend that travels to PR 2-3 times a year. He says there are a few coverage holes that aren't included in the plan but the vast majority of the island is covered.
 
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