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Old 09-01-2014, 11:33 AM   #1
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Canadian in US cell/data advice.

Hope I can get some help here! We are Canadians with Canadian cell phones and data plans. We are with Virgin who uses the Telus system. They have a good roaming deal which I have used in Florida while at Disneyworld. We like Virgin because we are actually able to get cell service at our very remote trapline cabin in Northern BC/Yukon-go figger! But, now as we are planning to do some traveling in the US with our TT, we want to be able to stay in touch with family and friends as well as find boondocking locations, campgrounds, etc....What do other Canadian use? Do you buy a pay as you go US based phone? Is there a way to get online on the road that won't break the bank?? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
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Old 09-01-2014, 11:45 AM   #2
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We have used the Tracfone from Walmart.
Minutes are doubled so you buy 200 minutes,
get 400 for $39.95.
You can call Canada for the same rate as local.

Have looked at all different plans in the USA, but found
way too expensive for a Canadian to use.

If you are in C/G with very good WIFI you can use Magic Jack
Some people still use Skype (which C/G's frown on) but it uses
a lot of WIFI power and your neighbors dont like.
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Old 09-01-2014, 12:10 PM   #3
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We bought a sim card and a plan from ATT this summer. We had my wife's smartphone unlocked and planne to use her phone through muliple states by just inserting the ATT simm card into her phone. Well it did not work past Michigan and Illinois. It did not work in Wissconson and Minnesota and the Dakotas. This was a pay as you go monthly plan with data. We could recieve calls but not make calls. We could recieve and send texts. Data would only say you are not authorized for this area and asked for a payment. Not sure where we wnet wrong but a long time back in the ATT store in MI bitchin at them and the help line only amounted in a credit and no answers. We ended up putting her Canadian simm card back in and paying for the roaming fee. Not sure what I will do next time. Would like some kind of service with data.
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Old 09-01-2014, 12:25 PM   #4
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PagePlus offers monthly plans, priced reasonably. It uses the Verizon network. Should you choose to go with them, a company called Kittywireless is a good reseller of PagePlus, with lots of help.

https://www.pagepluscellular.com/

Kitty Wireless PagePlus Page Plus Cellular Online Premier Dealer
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Old 09-01-2014, 07:34 PM   #5
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+1 for Sim Card & Pay as you Go

I got my Bell iPhone unlocked and now when I travel south I pop in my TMobile sim card and I'm away. I ensure I put on $100 on the time as that way you get the best per minute rate, it's good for a year AND you keep your number.

I 'think' it works out to 40 cents a minute calling back to Canada instead of the Canadian provider roaming rates which are at least 4 times that.

Calling within the US is cheap. This is voice only, not a data plan. iPhone has wifi and hotspots are easy to find.
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Old 09-02-2014, 10:29 AM   #6
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+2 for US based SIM cards

We unlocked our two iPhones from Rogers and pop in an AT&T SIM card and go on a pay per month plan when we cross the border. We also got AT&T LTE sims for our iPads too. Nation wide calling is free in the US and coverage is pretty good. We also have a Verizon LTE MIFI device for wifi service where AT&T coverage is poor. Works great and we had good coverage from the Canadian border at Buffalo New York to southern Florida to southern Arizona last winter. We really use our devices a lot and depend on good service from one carrier or another. Coming back to Canada we just suspend the AT&T and Verizon services and will turn them back on when we head back south the middle of October. Like volvik said, we even keep the same number and suspension is free.
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Old 09-03-2014, 08:31 PM   #7
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Anyone use the smart talk card from Walmart? Plan to travel through Colorado, Louisianna, and Florida.
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Old 09-04-2014, 06:54 AM   #8
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We have used ATT for last 6 years, I have an unlocked I phone that I put the sim card in or you can buy at Walmart a ATT "Go Phone" for about $20.00 we then use their .10c a minute program and you can buy an International plan that will give you 250 minutes to Canada for $5.00 a month, wehave found the call quality is superior to the Trac Fone
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Old 09-04-2014, 07:17 AM   #9
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Hello
We are with Koodo and use their US plan. This spring it would cost us $35.00 a month for 200 phone minutes, 200 texts and data. Only problem with this is you had to phone Koodo every month to purchase the plan.
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Old 09-04-2014, 09:22 AM   #10
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What are you looking at for costs when in the States and calling Canada either thru At&T or Verizon. which one is cheaper?
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Old 09-10-2014, 08:23 PM   #11
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Use tracfone - sometimes they offer double or triple minute promos on website, put $100 on a year and carries forward any unused minutes if we don't let expire which we don't.

Depends on the tracfone type you get as to clarity we've found talking to many friends that do the same. So we use that at I think 4c a minute I calculated out at when we started versus 8c or 12c depending on the promo you get at the start.

You can do monthly/90 day plans with tracfone but we go in and out several times a year so annual expiration works better for us.

Then with Bell Mobility we add on a text package. We keep our phone data roaming switched off so picks up wifi only but we switch on every couple of hours or so to check for emails and switch immediately back off again. We found for us doing it that way it's cheaper on pay per use than prepaying for a data package. Any rare calls we let go to voice mail and then return them with the tracfone, of course family and friends know our tracfone number if they need us or text for the most part.

We've found this works the best for us as we travel into the US on extended trips at least 3 or 4 times a year minimum.

Other friends have said they like to get a sim card either from AT&T or TMobile and put in their Canadian phone, but have had mixed comments of depending where they are within the USA concerning availability of service with Verizon overall appearing to give the most coverage.

Not sure if that all helps? Just my 2cents FWIW
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Old 09-11-2014, 08:31 AM   #12
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There are several options.

Do you need a lot of data?

Because our travelling is done mostly on the south-eastern part of the US, T-Mobile works great for us.

They have different plans with talk/text/web that are not too expensive.

You can get everything unlimited for 80$, including calls/texts to Canada (and a bunch of other countries).

All you have to do is unlock your phone and get a T-Mobile sim card.
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