Internet Cafes and access in St. Maarten/St. Martin
Staying in touch by internet on St. Maarten is easy and convenient. You just need to know where to go. If you bring your laptop for your job then do so, but if you are bringing it just so you can email home and stay in contact then I recommend leaving it behind and using the many internet cafes or staying in hotels which have internet access.

Major internet cafes on the top of my list are:

The Mailbox at La Palapa Center, Simpson Bay and one in Royal Palm Beach Hotel.

Payphones
Making a phone call from anywhere on the island has always been a pain.

On both sides of St. Maarten you have the telco owned payphones but they mostly only work with a prepaid card you have to buy first. At the airport you have coin (US$ Quarters) payphones however, be prepared to have a lot of them as they eat up your coins even if did not get connected.

There are however a lot of these Blue Phones around the island, which is independently operated and you can use your credit card to make the call. I think they are expensive.

I suggest again to visit the Mailbox on the Airport Rd., Simpson Bay to make long distance calls.

Cellular phones
I have seen many visitors bring their own cellulars from Europe and the USA where they get a signal here without trouble and be able to receive calls. There are GSM networks and also a TDMA network. If you are planning to stay longer on the island, you can buy a SIM Card for your cellular to get a local number and prepay for your call credit. You can also rent a cellular phone should you want to be reachable from the Mailbox.

The cellular carries on the island are:

I am talking mostly from the Dutch side as I think it's more easier

Telcel
Chippie from UTS
ECC

On French St. Martin you have:
Orange Caraibes
Bouyges Telecom
Amigo (Alliance with Telcel from Dutch St. Maarten)

Mail from St. Maarten/St. Martin

For the few people who still write letters and postcards there is a main post office on the pondfill in Philipsburg, if you come from Colebay, it is the street on the right (left is the Great Salt Pond) just before the traffic lights by the Police Station. There is not a long waiting line in this post office.

On French St. Martin the main post office is located in the centre of Marigot next to the court house. Be prepared to wait long lines, however pretty cool if you have Euro coins and if it works, they have stamp vending machines, so you don't have to wait in line.

There are postcards for sale in many different places.

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