Things have changed dramatically since 2012. We traveled to Banff a few months ago and found the Canadian phone service to be great.
You may or may not be aware that all carriers are rapidly switching from GSM/CDMA to LTE. The old GSM/CDMA restrictions do not apply today as long as you have an LTE phone. If you do, you can basically select from a number of Canadian carriers. (Of course your US carrier my place some limitations, but I know Verizon allows you to select any carrier that shows on your phone. My default carrier was crap so Verizon tech service just told me to select another one until I was satisfied. I selected Bell and it was great.)
You mention going through western Montana which takes you through Alberta. My wife has T-Mobile and i had Verizon and we both used Bell while we were in Canada. My wife paid $10 a month for her Canada add-on and I paid $25 a month (billing month - not 30 day period). But, since both our phones were LTE we both used Bell in Canada and their service was great! (I'm not sure what AT&T wants to add for Canadian service.)
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2003 Beaver Patriot
2014 Honda CRV Toad
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