Long story but you cannot make calls into Jamaica for the time being.
In a very short-sighted move, the Jamaican government decided to levy a 3 cents a minute tax on all incoming calls to Jamiaca whether to local numbers or toll-free numbers.
To get clear understanding, here is how toll-free numbers work:
Cable & Wireless is monopoly provider in Jamaica (also Antigua and a host of other Caribbean islands). Any tme you dial an 800 number that terminates in Jamaica, eventually it has to go thru Cable & Wireless. When it originates in the USA, most likely it belongs to AT&T, Qwest, MCI, etc. but eventually those carriers have an interconnect with cable & wireless.
All these USA carriers stood up to Cable & Wireless and to Jamaican government and said in effect, "we ain't paying the extra 3 cents a minute nor are we passing this on to our customers - this is extortion".
Cable & Wireless didn't want to be responsible for charging and collecting the extra 3 cents a minute so they subsequently refused to allow calls originating from other countries to terminate into Jamaica.
So currently, it is a standoff, not Olympic's fault, something the whole country is dealing with at this point.
In a very short-sighted move, the Jamaican government decided to levy a 3 cents a minute tax on all incoming calls to Jamiaca whether to local numbers or toll-free numbers.
To get clear understanding, here is how toll-free numbers work:
Cable & Wireless is monopoly provider in Jamaica (also Antigua and a host of other Caribbean islands). Any tme you dial an 800 number that terminates in Jamaica, eventually it has to go thru Cable & Wireless. When it originates in the USA, most likely it belongs to AT&T, Qwest, MCI, etc. but eventually those carriers have an interconnect with cable & wireless.
All these USA carriers stood up to Cable & Wireless and to Jamaican government and said in effect, "we ain't paying the extra 3 cents a minute nor are we passing this on to our customers - this is extortion".
Cable & Wireless didn't want to be responsible for charging and collecting the extra 3 cents a minute so they subsequently refused to allow calls originating from other countries to terminate into Jamaica.
So currently, it is a standoff, not Olympic's fault, something the whole country is dealing with at this point.
