Cell phone service across the border

[Spiderman of Calgary]

One and All -

I just did a search and drew a blank. Maybe that's okay because it would be out of date in a few months anyway. So, here goes...

In October we'll be leaving Oh! Canada! like so many other snowbirds for warmer climes. Except this will be our first full winter on the road. We need a cell phone service that has good coverage in both countries, maybe lots of free time after hours and on weekends, and that will work cheap, cheap cheap both in the USA and in Canada. We'll also be using it once in awhile for E-mail, although we're planning on mostly using WiFi. Definitely, we don't want to pay gawdawful roaming fees in either country.

So, our question:

How do you people deal with the cell phone issue? What carriers do you subscribe to? Canadian or US? What plans did you sign up for? Are you happy with your choice? What are their shortcomings? Which ones should we avoid?

Any tips or information you can pass on will be greatly appreciated.

[Spiderman of Calgary]

One and All -

I just did a search and drew a blank. Maybe that's okay because it would be out of date in a few months anyway. So, here goes...

In October we'll be leaving Oh! Canada! like so many other snowbirds for warmer climes. Except this will be our first full winter on the road. We need a cell phone service that has good coverage in both countries, maybe lots of free time after hours and on weekends, and that will work cheap, cheap cheap both in the USA and in Canada. We'll also be using it once in awhile for E-mail, although we're planning on mostly using WiFi. Definitely, we don't want to pay gawdawful roaming fees in either country.

So, our question:

How do you people deal with the cell phone issue? What carriers do you subscribe to? Canadian or US? What plans did you sign up for? Are you happy with your choice? What are their shortcomings? Which ones should we avoid?

Any tips or information you can pass on will be greatly appreciated.

[Little Kopit]

Hi Stan and Marguerite,

I've just abandonned the land line. I didn't want to carry two phone services. The only downer I can see so far is that you have to carry the cell phone or have it near. I can't hear the phone over the radio, if it's inbetween.

Here in this province of small population (less than 530,000 in the prov.)options are limited. Telus has cross country coverage, best for Labrador and AK of those I checked.

I looked at Rogers and it's limited.

South of the border, where I read, I've heard Verizon mentioned. Probably some others. I think I would also post on other forums too, where you're going to get US residents reading/posting.

Telus lets me call up one day and change my long distance for a month. When I get home, I call up and take it back to low use long distance.

U.S. outfits are more plan wide, less transaction specific.

BTW, I've only been around these forums for about 1.5 years & I've gradually gotten more and more security/privacy conscious. It's amazing how fast what you post internationally is very, very close to home.

[Little Kopit]

Web enabled, get a phone that is web enabled. You can search for reviews of specific phones and plans on the web. Google the phone model!!

[Novi]

Hi Spiderman, good questions. We have been struggling with this also. Bell is not a lot of help, we have talked to them. Sprint won't let Bell use there long distance cell system and Bell Canada does not connect with Bell USA??
Bell told us it was the CRTC policies that were holding them back, who knows??
My wife gave them "what for" because this is a growing concern for the retiring baby boomer group. What an opportunity they are missing I think. We would like a cell phone bought here that can be used here AND when we are in the US but it seems to be more than they can cope with??? I too would be interested to see how others have handled this.

[Stan Birch]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Novi:
We would like a cell phone bought here that can be used here AND when we are in the US but it seems to be more than they can cope with??? I too would be interested to see how others have handled this. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
We are coping with it by chucking the cell phone entirely!

We started out on extended trips to the south in '99. Internet communication at that time was pretty much limited to plugging into the landline at a FlyingJ, or perhaps a campground. Voice communication tended to be a Saturday morning cheap-time thing with both of us crammed into a telephone booth, sharing a single receiver. With an average email send/receive averaging 60 cents, along with the Saturday morning cheap-time calls; the whole effort was insignificantly inexpensive.

Then we got a cell phone with modem capability. It was a great convience to do email entirely from the rig; but the cost, along with voice calls rose from $5 a week to $100 per week! With Bell Mobility Canada nailing us $3 per minute for south-of-the-border rates, we were paying an enormous premium for convenience!

In preparation for our Spring trip to Alaska this year, we needed a new computer. There was no way Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS would not run on our aged laptop. Secondly, our aged IBM laptop with a mere 4 GB hardrive was hardly able to cope with downloaded our daily photos, nor burning them to DVD. The 2 GB memory cards for our camera had more spare capacity than our hard drive!

As with all new laptops, the DB9 serial port required by our old cell phone, isn't even an option on laptops these days. So . . we needed a new cell phone. We went with a Bell Mobility Nokia, that supported the new 1X networking option; along with the Data-to-Go package.

The entire effort turned out to be a useless unworkable kludge! While I tend to be a tad computer literate, there was no way I could get this system to work! After a full 18 hours, staying up until 4:30 in the morning, I was unable to make so much as a single connection. Most of the time, the system told me that there was no cell phone connected. An hour online with Bell Mobility support didn't help either. So, with only a couple days remaining before we headed North, I took the entire package back to Bell.

While the new 1X system offers higher speed than a modem connection, at $10 per MB, I figured that the 1X system could easily cost $100 per DAY, if it was used to surf the internet.

So, with no cell phone communication whatsoever, we embarked upon our trip, with a "faint-hope" expectation that we might at least be able to occasionally connect to the internet via wifi.

Our experience with wifi exceeded our most optimistic expectations. Other than in isloated communities that don't yet even have telephones; we were always able to pick up FREE wifi in any urban area; and for the first time, enjoy unlimited high-speed surfing on the internet.

Free Wifi was available virtually everywhere we went . . . shopping malls, close proximity to hotels, et al.

Don't believe anything that is advertised in the Milepost rag. Out of all the campgrounds that boasted in Milepost that they had wifi, 99% of them were blatantly lying! :-( Other than the Bonanza Gold Campground in Dawson City, that covered the entire campground with a four-bar signal; the remainder of campgrounds advertising wifi, do not currently have wifi, nor have they EVER had wifi! Duh!

Some of the best wifi options we've encountered, are shopping malls with vendors like Staples/Business Depot, Future Shop, Best Buy, and Comp USA; not to mention availability in close proximity to major chain hotels.

Our first encounter with wifi has been so very positive, that we can't ever again imagine the need for carrying an ultra $$$cell phone with us.

[Novi]

Thanks for that info Stan. I have been slowly coming to the conclusion that a lap top with wifi capability is where I was probably headed.

["007"]

Novi, just returned from your part of country, have traveled across Canada, PEI,NS, western states to Florida, have always had Verizon, should work with wifi also. I just have to get the parts for laptop. "007"

[Stan Birch]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Novi:
Thanks for that info Stan. I have been slowly coming to the conclusion that a lap top with wifi capability is where I was probably headed. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If your laptop doesn't already have built-in wifi, cheap wifi bus cards are available; but they have rather limited range. I don't believe they come anywhere close to the distance-capabilities of the current crop of laptops which have sophisticated wifi antennas built into both sides and top of the screen area. At one spot we were at, we were communicating with a full four-bar signal with a casino wifi located 1500' away!

The whole effort can only get better as time goes on. The City of Fredericton, New Brunswick is setting the standard to be met by other communities. The City has set up free public wifi hotspots right across the entire community, including municipal buildings, libraries, and even shopping malls.

While none of this wifi stuff will be of any use in the Everglades this winter; neither will a cell phone!

[brad03ca]

On a trip south this past Mar/05, we discovered it is wise to turn your phone OFF if not in use or expecting a call. We didn't have a plan set up to look after the roaming charges. One $4 call home, turned into an additional $98 US roaming charge, because we weren't aware of leaving the phone On costs extra. Ouch!!

[Little Kopit]

Now, that's an excellent tip. I haven't asked that question yet.

[Little Kopit]

Ok, I asked that question.

You may get roaming charges. How you used to find out would be if you were to place a call and the partner provider would show up and say: "Welcome to Verizon, we will be charging you $0.xx minute above our Canadian partner." This was a in person question with person of my acquaintance also on staff.

So, for Maine, where I'm going partners are Verizon and Sprint. I can go hunt/google maybe.

[Novi]

I have heard about that, where you accidently leave the phone on, can be costly. A while back, in the USA they were telling people to be careful because criminal types where using a device to read and steal your cell phone codes as you drove by them. Have not heard of it recently must have fixed that somehow.

[Bob Boucher]

I went through the process of pricing cell service in Albany GA last winter. The Albany Mall had reps from four providers making comparison shopping a snap. What I found is that the reps for all four providers were inexperienced and not very knowledgeable! I also found out that all plans are way too expensive for our purse! You are realistically looking at $100.+ US a month to get full access.
We then looked at a land line at the campground, installation charges and disconnect/reconnect charges boosted the $35. monthly fee out of line. We go South in Oct, return in Mid-December and Go back in Feb, so that a lot of interruptions.

What I have been wondering lately is Vonage or VOIP service? Is anyone using it for travel?

Bob