# Cell phone in Hawaii



## John Cummings (Feb 17, 2010)

We will be in Hawaii for 2 weeks in April. I am assuming that my Verizon cell phone will work the same as here on the mainland. Is my assumption correct? This may appear to be a dumb question but I really don't know and don't wish to have a rude awakening.


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## DeniseM (Feb 17, 2010)

Some plans include Hawaii and some don't - you will have to check with your cell phone provider.


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## jestme (Feb 17, 2010)

Although it probably does, if you get stuck and it doesn't cover Hawaii, buy a "pay as you go", and put $20 bucks on it. Tell the important people the "Hawaii" number, and you may have a more relaxed vacation without work calls.


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## jsfletch (Feb 17, 2010)

I have Verizon and it works just fine here on Oahu. There are a couple of dead spots in some of the remote areas


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## jmatias (Feb 17, 2010)

Verizon customer here and coverage is very good on Oahu.  Only "dead spot" for me is for a couple of seconds driving around Diamond Head Lookout.  And I assume very remote areas, but don't have experience with that.

We travel all the time to the mainland and have no problems with roaming.  Though I would call Verizon to see if you need to activate anything when you get to Hawaii.

Jen


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## aliikai2 (Feb 17, 2010)

*Unless you some very strange plan John*

Verizon has great service on all the islands we have visited. And it was included at no extra cost, unlike Puerto Vallarta  

Greg



John Cummings said:


> We will be in Hawaii for 2 weeks in April. I am assuming that my Verizon cell phone will work the same as here on the mainland. Is my assumption correct? This may appear to be a dumb question but I really don't know and don't wish to have a rude awakening.


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## Twinkstarr (Feb 17, 2010)

Thanks for the info, We'll be their with our Verizon phones this summer.


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## John Cummings (Feb 17, 2010)

Thank you for all your replies. I just called Verizon and they said everything is OK and Hawaii is just like calling from home.

I did learn something though. The Verizon agent told me to update the roaming to get the best service. He said you should do this periodically no matter where you are at as it will connect to new towers that may have been added. This is free.

To do so dial: *228 and follow the prompts.


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## DaveNV (Feb 17, 2010)

John Cummings said:


> Thank you for all your replies. I just called Verizon and they said everything is OK and Hawaii is just like calling from home.
> 
> I did learn something though. The Verizon agent told me to update the roaming to get the best service. He said you should do this periodically no matter where you are at as it will connect to new towers that may have been added. This is free.
> 
> To do so dial: *228 and follow the prompts.



I do the *228 thing about every two months.  I don't notice any difference, but I do seem to have better coverage than some of my friends.  That may be a Verizon vs. other providers coincidence.  But it seems to work for me.

TV commercials about red and blue maps to the contrary, last time I was in Hawaii, my Verizon phone worked great everywhere I went, on two islands.  I don't remember NOT having coverage.  The T-Mobile-subscriber friend traveling with me was not so fortunate.  She had all sorts of issues.   

Dave


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## John Cummings (Feb 17, 2010)

BMWguynw said:


> I do the *228 thing about every two months.  I don't notice any difference, but I do seem to have better coverage than some of my friends.  That may be a Verizon vs. other providers coincidence.  But it seems to work for me.
> 
> TV commercials about red and blue maps to the contrary, last time I was in Hawaii, my Verizon phone worked great everywhere I went, on two islands.  I don't remember NOT having coverage.  The T-Mobile-subscriber friend traveling with me was not so fortunate.  She had all sorts of issues.
> 
> Dave



My daughter has AT&T and her coverage is terrible. There are many areas where she doesn't have service here in Southern California. I had the same problem when I had AT&T also. That is a big reason why I switched to Verizon. I have never been in any place where I didn't have good coverage with Verizon including the mountains and NP's in Utah. The call quality is much better as well. While I am on a rant, Verizon has far superior customer service based in the US with American reps. Consumer Report's rates Verizon the highest in all areas of the US.


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## jlr10 (Feb 19, 2010)

We previously had Sprint and the only good coverage we had was on an outcropping on the Sleeping Giant Trail.  Everywhere else was either roaming or no signal.  We switched to Verizon and had great service everywhere we went.


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## BocaBum99 (Feb 19, 2010)

John Cummings said:


> My daughter has AT&T and her coverage is terrible. There are many areas where she doesn't have service here in Southern California. I had the same problem when I had AT&T also. That is a big reason why I switched to Verizon. I have never been in any place where I didn't have good coverage with Verizon including the mountains and NP's in Utah. The call quality is much better as well. While I am on a rant, Verizon has far superior customer service based in the US with American reps. Consumer Report's rates Verizon the highest in all areas of the US.



AT&T has great service in Hawaii.  We only have AT&T because we have iPhones.


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## KevJan (Feb 19, 2010)

We have Verizon and have travelled to all the Hawaiian islands and had great service. In fact, the only place in the US where we had trouble was when we went to Smuggler's Notch in upper Vermont.


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## KauaiMark (Feb 19, 2010)

*AT&T*

AT&T worked fine in Kauai last year


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## helen (Feb 21, 2010)

Verizon works on Maui, except if you happen across a spot with poor cell reception-- same as on the mainland.


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## kkelley (Apr 11, 2010)

While traveling around Kauai, keep your eyes open for Verizon facilities. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!(except at the cabins in Kokee) I suspect they have the market taken care of. Once when my DS and friend were hiking in the back country outside of Kapaa wayyyyyyyy off the roads and paths, they called me from the top of a hill to let me know they were having the time of their life. (I'm such a MOM.) Verizon works well....now here is the except. Text messages, two years ago when we were there I was texting a friend who lived there to set up a meeting...I got her text a month later. Who knows?


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