Telephoning To and From Bonaire

General Dialing

If you’re calling Bonaire from the U.S. or Canada, you would dial 011-599-7XX-XXXX, where 011 is the International access code, 599 is the area code for Bonaire, and XXX-XXXX is the local Bonairean number you want to reach. If you are calling Bonaire from Europe or most of the rest of the world, you would dial 00-599-7XX-XXXX using 00 for the international access code.

While on Bonaire dial the number starting with the first 7. So for the example above, you would dial 717-8000. Bonaire phone number typically have a prefix of 717- or 715- for landline numbers, and 780-, 781-, 785-, 786-, and 790- for local cell phone numbers.

Calling Bonaire from the U.S. is about $1.50/minute with no special rate plan. However, for a small monthly fee, most of the long-distance carriers can set you up with an International calling plan that lets you call Bonaire for less than US$0.40 a minute.

Calls from Bonaire to the U.S. are a little more pricey. Calling from a hotel or resort directly is going to cost you between $2 and $4 per minute, but calling from a Bonaire cell phone or personally owned land line is typically less than $0.50/minute.

Similarly, calls to various European countries are quite expensive too (the Netherlands being the least expensive to call).

In terms of telephone equipment on Bonaire, it’s U.S. standard, including the modular RJ-11 connectors. Telbo is accessible at phone number 717-7000.

Cellular Phone Service

GSM is supported on Bonaire at European frequencies. Roaming with some carriers, including Cingular and T-Mobile is possible as well and GPRS data services are available for roaming in some cases.

There are three cellular service providers on Bonaire: Digicel, Telbo’s KLA service, and Chippie (UTS). Digicel and Chippie use GSM. All offer prepaid phone usage programs.