Community Forums

Ynot Alaska · 06-02-2022, 07:47 PM

The last time we drove the alcan, our phone bill was outrageous. This was due to us having a U.S. plan and Canadian roaming charges. I was thinking of getting one of those cheap pay-as-you-go phones in Canada to use for calling in Canada. Anybody have a thought or experience in this?

Kenny Loney · 06-02-2022, 09:15 PM

I'm Canadian, but a friend, in Canada, uses https://www.luckymobile.ca/shop/plans/prepaid, Lucky Mobile. It is an off shoot of Bell Mobility, one of the biggest cell phone providers in Canada.
You can bring your own phone, or buy one of there's. Probably cheaper to bring one from the US or possible use a second SIM card slot in your phone. Others can advise if that is possible. Check over the plans to see what suits you.

Ken

rvbiker45 · 06-02-2022, 09:48 PM

Talk to your service provider and see if they have a "Canadian Plan". I have done that with ATT and the rate was about $20/month.

GumpAir · 06-02-2022, 11:56 PM

We use Verizon, and frequently travel overseas and to Canada.

Verizon has a couple international options, and we find that the 'Travel Pass' works best for us. Canada is $5 per 24 hour period if you phone/text/use data. We don't 'call' much, but do use cell data for emails and websites, especially banking, where I don't want to use a local wi-fi I don't trust.

To avoid triggering the charges, we keep the phone in airplane mode until we need the cellular active, and mostly just use the local wi-fi's for non-secure web stuff.

OldSalty · 06-03-2022, 01:25 AM

Use data to make your calls...

Verizon will limit you to 0.5 GB in Canada, where as ATT doesn't... It's best to have data only sim cards from both Verizon and ATT...

Triangle Drifter · 06-06-2022, 08:51 PM

Using T Mobile pay as you go with Canada added for I think $10PM.

Only been in Canada less than a week so far. Maritimes. So far, so good. Headed to Newfoundland where I am expecting the service to be like going to Alaska i.e. sketchy at best.

The world can continue without us for a few days when we don't have service. Somebody has a rough idea where we are & we are very distinctive in he appearance of our ride. Should a true emergency come up we can be found pretty easy.

twogypsies · 06-06-2022, 11:32 PM

When we went to Alaska we didn't use a cell phone for a month while in Canada and the Yukon. Pure heaven!! We gave the kids our itinerary so they knew 'roughly' where we'd be. We called from a pay phone a couple times. They were ok with it as were we.

chiefneon · 06-07-2022, 06:52 PM

Howdy!

Our ATT service is covered in Canada as well Alaska. Our last trip we used it to stream everything while traveling through Canada and Alaska without a problem.

“Happy Trails”
Chiefneon

2cyber71 · 06-07-2022, 06:54 PM

I had a ROGERS Pay as you go phone.
Heck, I gotta look for it, it’s been yrs.

Triangle Drifter · 06-17-2022, 04:53 PM

T Mobile here with a $10, I think, Canada add on. So far decent coverage in NB, PEI, NS & NL.

dp7 · 06-18-2022, 03:56 PM

We are currently on our way to Alaska. Our tracfones do not work in Canada so we purchased a prepaid SIM card for Chtr at the walmart in Lethbridge AB. It cost $52 CDN (about $41 USD) and has 30 days of unlimited call & text and 10GB data. I think it uses the Rogers towers. We are currently in Banff, so far so good. Hopefully we can get useable coverage the rest of the way to Alaska.

RMD3819 · 06-25-2022, 05:09 PM

FWIW-

I am in AK now and our experience has been similar to our 2019 trip.

We have US ATT cell phones with Canada included and a Verizon hotspot. The hotspot plan does not include Canada so that does zilch.

The phones roam on Bell/Telus/Rogers in Canada. If a remote area has cell coverage the phones work very well, including LTE. That said there are HUGE areas of the AK highway without cell coverage from any carrier.

A traveling companion has a Verizon phone that roams on those three Canadian networks so coverage has been the same.

cbigham · 06-28-2022, 11:06 AM

I have Verizon. No extra charges to roam Canadian system, but data was throttled back to .5 gig a day.

Alaska verizin works same as in lower 48. Good luck. Your problems will likely be finding reception in populated areas mainly.

95f5334j · 06-29-2022, 11:28 AM

Both our T-mobile phones and hotspot work well when in canada, no extra charges but our hotspot is limited to 5Gig of data/month which isn't an issue for us. We looked at buying one canadian sim for our unlocked phone but the price for phone, text and 500 meg of data was ridiculously expensive!