Problems with phone calls to Abaco

[Sinclair]

When some try to call Abaco from the States they get a recording "you have dialed a number for which long distance charges apply. Please dial the digit 1 before the number. This is a recording"

Can't find anyone at BaTelCo who knows why. :)

[bellavista]

yep--happens a lot now on my officephone, but when i switch to cell and call same number it goes thru

go figure

[Ed]

I’m not sure that this answer accurately covers your question, especially if you are calling from a private home phone, but — here where I work, in order to reduce fraud, they have blocked out several area codes. Mostly the pay for entertainment type codes like the 900 codes and things like that. Unfortunately, because of an old phone scam attached to the Carribean, and particularly area code 809, other area codes such as 242 were blocked as well.

Whenever I call a number that has been blocked by our internal system I get error messages similar to what you are receiving and, of course, since the phone company didn’t block the number (we did internally) they have no idea as to why we get those error messages. I hope this answers your question.

[skymaster]

When some try to call Abaco from the States they get a recording "you have dialed a number for which long distance charges apply.

Sinc

It can occur when you have a "private" or "blocked" phone number, and for whatever reason, the batelco switch cannot see the calling parties phone number. In some cases the address of the subscriber cannot be recognized by the receiving switch, or the billiing information has been "clobbered". This is all part of the "inward" routing system. I have noticed this occuring from outside of the US jurisdiction. Many times just redialing the number alleviates the problem.

fyi

Bob

[Tai Tai]

Almost every cell phone service provider in the US has area code 242 blocked. I know this is true of Verizon and AT&T as I have service with both and have asked them. They are not really sure WHY it is blocked, just that it is related to some type of high risk for fraud???

In any case you can usually only dial area code 242 from a land line.

Does anyone have cellular service in the states that allows you to call area code 242? I would be interested to know, as we could switch providers. It's really a pain not to be able to use our cell phones to call.

[It'lldo]

I use AT&T as my provider for my cell phone and am able to call Abaco no problem. I just called the Hopetown Harbour Lodge and a local friend within the past 2 days with no problems getting through.

[Tai Tai]

I use AT&T as my provider for my cell phone and am able to call Abaco no problem. I just called the Hopetown Harbour Lodge and a local friend within the past 2 days with no problems getting through.

Hi It'lldo,

We're in the Northeast and AT&T does not work to the Bahamas from here.

[deweybeach mike]

Hi, Nextel works fine for calling the abacos.

[Floridaze]

Hi:

We have Cingular (we are in Melbourne Beach, FL) and can make calls to 242 from here as well as call back to US when we are in Abaco.

[Iowaboy]

i just wait and call back later or the next day. seems to work sporadically. i always call from the same US based land line, so the problem is in Abaco.

[sarae]

Tai Tai,
I live in MA and have Sprint PCS as my cell phone provider and have been able to make calls to the bahamas (242) on my cell. I am not sure what the rates are but they have an international calling plan that lets you make calls for a flat fee.

[pauligirl134@adelphia.net]

Sprint works very well from New England. Pauli We use it often

[Joel]

Nextel did not work for me until I called them to enable international dialing.

[GoodGenes]

We are able to use our AT&T cell phone while we are in the Abacos to call local numbers in the Abacos by dialing the 242 area code first. We can also call back to the States and also the Abacos from Florida using our AT&T cell service. We had to request International dialing for our AT&T service before this was possible though.