Phone Use When Travelling to the USA

[Rossue]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Jim, I think Verizon will give you the best overall coverage, and the fastest data speeds. I've had Sprint, AT&T and Verizon, and have used all 3 across the US. Overall, Verizon is best IMHO.

Now, as to what's the best value with them, perhaps a prepaid Verizon sim, but their data plans are usually steep.

Verizon doesn't really play in the pre-paid space and you could just about swap rate plans brochures with AT&T on their post-paid plans. They both cost more than the other guys but when travelling across the country they essentially enjoy a duopoly.

[Dave Whiting]

Jim, I have tried various approaches to cell phone use in the US including AT&T's GoPhone and Roam mobility. I found GoPhone more expensive than I anticipated and Roam mobility had poor coverage when I needed it.
I have now switched to FIDO and have an iPhone without a contract. I have the ability to use my 2 GB data plan in the states for an additional $5.00 per day to a maximum of 10 days within a billing period. My current plan is $55.00 per month. If roaming in the US my cost will be a maximum of $105 per month. I used it for the first time last week on a 4 day trip to Port Townsend and it worked great. It connected to AT&T most of the time.

A good thing about this approach is you keep the same number, SIM card and provider.

dave

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by barry

What we did next was to walk into AT&T in Bend. We told them we were from Canada and the problem we were running into re phone service. They supplied a free sim card for our unlocked i-phone 5 then sold us a pay as you go card for for $60 US, they set everything up and we walked out the door 10 mins later with phone service. 6 gigs of data, unlimited phone calling and texting anywhere in North America for a month and when we got back to Canada we could still use the 1 gig of data we left until the card expired. We had service virtually everywhere we went even when up at Crater Lake and Diamond Lake in central Oregon. Will defiantly go this route in the future.

One note though, if you don't refill your card after it expires then you loose your US phone number but all you have to do is to drop into an AT&T store next time you are down in the States and they will set you up with a new number and you are on your way again.
Barry

Another worthy consideration. This is a heck of a lot cheaper than what we paid for 18 days.

Originally Posted by Dave Whiting

I have now switched to FIDO and have an iPhone without a contract. I have the ability to use my 2 GB data plan in the states for an additional $5.00 per day to a maximum of 10 days within a billing period. My current plan is $55.00 per month. If roaming in the US my cost will be a maximum of $105 per month. I used it for the first time last week on a 4 day trip to Port Townsend and it worked great. It connected to AT&T most of the time.

A good thing about this approach is you keep the same number, SIM card and provider.

I looked into this, and it certainly seems to be a good candidate. I see the $55 plan is the base one, but you can get ones with more data if needed. This certainly beats the roaming add-ons that Telus offers.

I guess Fido is a Rogers company, and Koodo is a Telus company. As I am pleased with the Telus network, which piggybacks on Verizon in the US, I checked with Koodo, and phone rates are identical, however they do not offer the same roaming packages.

The advantage I see with this over a US based SIM card, is that with the latter I would still be paying for my regular contract too.

[amirie]

We got an add on to both our Telus contracts for the month we were in Europe.
What a PITA....NO instructions given (just use your phone as normal) NOT---Doug tried calling me at the house a few times and could not dial the number...we found out later you had to add a few numbers..but when the operator is speaking rapid French (he is good but not that able to understand everything) finally he handed the phone to a store clerk and they got it figured out...

Even the switching things around for texting we weren't sure what to do.

The data worked fine-(we had wifi at the house)--but mine expired two days before we left---we had a stagger start time in plans because of the only 30 days contract, I didn't know exactly which day it was--I turned my phone on in the morning---Facebook automatically opened which doesn't normally---was on it for less than a minute---when I looked later I had a $25 overcharge. (even though I had lots of my data left--the time was up)...They did reverse it...

Just so many issues and over $160 too....Was thinking we could have had it easier and cheaper----We'll have to figure out something when we travel extensively in the states... (but we have a few years yet to figure that out!!)

[msweet]

An option that has not been mentioned yet is a dual SIM card phone. They are popular in Europe and Asia and you can buy them here just not through the carriers. You could use an unlocked one with your regular carrier SIM and a roaming carrier SIM for the best of both worlds.

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[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by msweet

An option that has not been mentioned yet is a dual SIM card phone. They are popular in Europe and Asia and you can buy them here just not through the carriers. You could use an unlocked one with your regular carrier SIM and a roaming carrier SIM for the best of both worlds.

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So, would you have two phone numbers then. That might be a good option too.

[msweet]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

So, would you have two phone numbers then. That might be a good option too.

Yes. I have met a few business folks with dual SIM Samsung phones that they use in Canada and the USA.

I am not sure exactly how the billing works... ie: if you are in the USA and receive a call on your Canadian number I assume you would pay roaming. However, if you didn't answer and called them back your phone would probably use the US SIM.

It would be worth investigating so you didn't have to switch SIM cards all the time.




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[jxoco]

My friends use roammobility.com
I have never used it but they all swear by it.


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[jxoco]

And if you have any kind of a decent phone get it unlocked. When you upgrade your old phone is not worth much unless it is unlocked. Once the phone is off your account it is sometimes impossible to unlock. I have a rogers iphone 5C that I cant get unlocked. Works with fido and chatr but won't work with any other sims. For roaming or anything.
And a friend of mine just bought an Acer phone from costco for $99 cdn and it takes two sim cards. There is a menu to switch between them.


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