Telephoning To and From Bonaire
Page Contents
General Dialing
How to call Bonaire
From North America
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. 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.
From Europe or other parts of the world
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.
How to place calls from Bonaire
Making a local call.
When on Bonaire, dial the number starting with the first 7. So for the example above, you would dial 717-XXXX. Bonaire phone numbers typically have a prefix of 717- or 715- for landline numbers, and 701-, 780-, 781-, 785-, 786-, 700-, and 790- for local cell phone numbers.
Making an international call.
Calls from Bonaire to the U.S. are a bit expensive. 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 landline is typically less than $0.50/minute. Many visitors use SKYPE calling or WhatsApp calling to make international phone calls using Wi-fi.
Similarly, calls from Bonaire 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.
