# cell phones in Canada - yikes!



## Luanne (Jun 9, 2008)

Not sure if this is the best place for this, but thought I'd try.  I just thought about checking to make sure our cell phone would work in Canada.  Found out they won't.  If we want to use them we'll need to add either the standard international plan, at no additional cost per month, but with a roaming charge of 79 cents per minute.  The other option is to add the World Traveler plan at $5.99/line (don't remember if this is a one time or monthly, I'm betting monthly) which reduces the roaming to 59 cents per minute.  Since we pretty much rely on our cell phones while we're on vacation I'm pretty upset/shocked.    Neither option sounds good.


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## Floridaski (Jun 9, 2008)

*try the .59 cent option*

We were in Whistler during ski season this year.  My husband and myself both added a plan that allowed us to use our cell phones for .59 cents per minute.  We did actually use our phones for personal use - it ran us each about $20.00 each or a total cost of $40.00.  We did NOT use the cell phones to return business calls.  I should take my husband out of the country more often!

In the big scheme of things with a trip to Canada - $40.00 dollars US for cell phones is a drop in the bucket.  With the exchange rate, your $40.00 US dollar for cell phone usage will more then likely be one of your smallest expenses.  We loved our trip and cannot wait to go back - just bring a lot of your US Pesos and plan on leaving them in Canada!  But, do not worry it is your vacation and you will love Canada!


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## Luanne (Jun 9, 2008)

Thanks, we're going to be in Whistler as well.  I just need to figure out if all 4 of us need to upgrade (probably a good idea as there may be times when the dds are off on their own) and which plan will be more economical overall.  If we do the plan that cost $5.99/line, I think I'd only add it for this trip, then cancel.


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## MULTIZ321 (Jun 9, 2008)

Luanne,

Check out http://allworldphone.com/

and see if they can meet your needs and save you money.


Richard


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## Luanne (Jun 9, 2008)

MULTIZ321 said:


> Luanne,
> 
> Check out http://allworldphone.com/
> 
> ...



Thanks.  I'm not really looking to change carriers, probably more just to whine and complain.  

Duh, if I'd scrolled down I would have seen the pre-paid phones.  That may be what we end up doing.  Thanks again.


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## Floridaski (Jun 9, 2008)

*we added the 5.99 plan for only one month*

Our carrier was able to upgrade our service for one month for a one time charge of 5.99.  Again a very small portion of your Whistler vacation expenses!


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## Dori (Jun 9, 2008)

We face the same quandry when we head into the US- those roaming charges are a killer.  Now we use a calling card from our long distance carrier, which works out to about 5 cents a minute, whether it's from a pay phone or any other land line. I haven't found anything comparable for the cell phone, so we just call home more often using the calling card and leave our contact numbers.

Dori


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## debraxh (Jun 9, 2008)

I'm sure glad you posted this question!  DD and I are going to Vancouver for a few days later this month, and I hadn't thought to check on our cell phone service.  I went ahead and enabled the "international roaming" so we can at least use them in case of urgency at .59/minute.  I also checked my otherwise cheap long distance calling card and it's .35/minute so not much better.  I'll just have to make sure DH calls us at our hotel at night -- from our home phone it's only .039/minute!

Thanks for the heads-up


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## Luanne (Jun 9, 2008)

Floridaski said:


> Our carrier was able to upgrade our service for one month for a one time charge of 5.99.  Again a very small portion of your Whistler vacation expenses!



Yeah, but with the $5.99/month upgrade (at least with AT&T) it only lowers the roaming to 59 cents per minute from 79 cents per minute.

Glad, I could be of help to someone else.  Dh and I decided to use the free monthly, high roaming charge.  Everyone will be under penalty of death NOT to use their cells, unless it's an emergency, and we may be using the phone at the resort more than usual.


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## rcshelton (Jun 10, 2008)

If you want folks at home in the U.S. to be able to contact you, suggest you check this website:  www.phoneanywherecheap.com.


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## x3 skier (Jun 10, 2008)

One thing to check into is a cheap (try eBay) unlocked phone and buy a Sim card in Canada. You get a different number but if plan to use it a lot, it can be the cheapest way. Just make sure you get the right GSM bands or a tri or quad band phone (900-1800 Europe, 850-1900 North America). Prepaid is another alternative.

I got one from Comp USA for about $35 and plan to use it in the UK and Italy in a couple of months.


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## Luanne (Jun 10, 2008)

Just wanted to clarify.  I got some mis-information with the first rep I talked to (AT&T).  I was under the impression that at the present time our cell phones would not work in Canada.  I found out that they will, with the 79 cent/minute roaming charge.  So, I didn't need to add anything.  We've opted to go with this, and just not use the phones unless it's absolutely necessary.  We may rely more on the phones where we're staying, no calls to the relatives at home to "chat".  If we find we need a phone more, we'll most likely buy a cheap pre-paid phone.


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## x3 skier (Jun 10, 2008)

Luanne said:


> Just wanted to clarify.  I got some mis-information with the first rep I talked to (AT&T).  I was under the impression that at the present time our cell phones would not work in Canada.



GSM Phones that work in the USA will also work in all of North America. I used mine last weekend in Panama, for example.

Cheers


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## Cynthia (Jun 14, 2008)

*Great phone benefits at Snowbird in Whistler*

Just returned from Snowbird in Whistler. At check-in I was told that phone calls were FREE, both local, domestic and international. Thinking the term had a different meaning than it does in the US, I responded "what do you mean?.  The response was "you can call all over the world and not pay for the phone call".  Being the skeptic New Yorker, before I used the free service (this was a concept I still have difficulty grasping), I called the reservation desk and asked her to confirm the free calls.  Again, she said yes.  I made several calls from the condo phone to the US during the week.  At check out - no charges.  Don't know if this is just Snowbird, or a temporary feature, but what a benefit.


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## Keitht (Jun 14, 2008)

Some form of roaming charge is pretty much standard when you connect to a network outside your own country.  I appreciate that it comes as something of a shock to some people, but neither Canada or the UK are part of the USA.   Therefore roaming charges apply when visiting them or most other countries.


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## Luanne (Jun 14, 2008)

Keitht said:


> Some form of roaming charge is pretty much standard when you connect to a network outside your own country.  I appreciate that it comes as something of a shock to some people, but neither Canada or the UK are part of the USA.   Therefore roaming charges apply when visiting them or most other countries.



Well yeah, I was pretty sure there would be some kind of charge, and I really do know that Canada isn't part of the US   that's why I was checking.  I just wanted to make sure we could use the phones, and if so, how much we'd be soaked.


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## John Cummings (Jun 16, 2008)

Luanne said:


> Yeah, but with the $5.99/month upgrade (at least with AT&T) it only lowers the roaming to 59 cents per minute from 79 cents per minute.
> 
> Glad, I could be of help to someone else.  Dh and I decided to use the free monthly, high roaming charge.  Everyone will be under penalty of death NOT to use their cells, unless it's an emergency, and we may be using the phone at the resort more than usual.



We also have Cingular/ATT. The best thing to do is to add the upgrade starting the day you enter Canada and cancel it on the day you leave. They prorate it so you will only be charged for the days you are in Canada. We do that when we have traveled to Canada and Mexico. Mexico is a better savings because the charge is 99 cents without the World Wide plan. You will have to call them as soon as you are back in the US to cancel it. As somebody else said, your cell phone charges will not cost much compared to your other charges in Canada.


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## labguides (Jun 18, 2008)

We went to Canada summer 07. We used the cost of cell phone as excuse to turn off cell phones for two weeks, except when we crossed border to go to Glacier National Park. Our kids had hotel info in case of emergency. It was great not to have cell phone ringing for 2 weeks.


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## bogey21 (Jun 18, 2008)

I haven't researched this lately but  I think you can use www.onesuite.com 's local access number in Canada and pay pennies for your calls.  I think this is what you have to do:

1) sign up for one suite and prepay $10
2) get the local access number for Canada and program it into your cell phone.  It used to be 1-866-889-9285
3) on the One Suite website set it up so One Suite recognizes your cell number so you don't have to enter your account number each time you use your cell

If you do this, I think all you have to do to call from Canada is the following

1) Dial the One Suite local access number from your cell's memory
2) When prompted, dial the phone number you are calling (if you will be calling the same number a lot, you can even set that phone number up with an ID (like "30") so you don't even have to dial the phone number you are calling.

If you do the latter, all you do is call the One Suite local access number from your cell's memory and when prompted for the phone number you are calling punch in the code you have set up for the number you are calling (like "30")

No big deal and pennies (like 1.5 or 1.7) per minute

*What I don't know is what your cell phone provider will charge you (if anything) for calling a Canadian toll free number from your cell while in Canada*

George


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## colovaca (Jun 18, 2008)

*Can you use text message?*

When our family of 4 went to montreal for a week, Verizon advised that data services were available at the usual contract rate - including texting.  Since we had unlimited texts, we used that.  I believe I still enabled 2 out of 4 lines in case of emergencies.


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## John Cummings (Jun 19, 2008)

bogey21 said:


> *What I don't know is what your cell phone provider will charge you (if anything) for calling a Canadian toll free number from your cell while in Canada*
> 
> George



I don't know about other companies but I believe AT&T will still charge you the roaming fee regardless of what number you are calling. Essentially you are charged for using your cell phone outside the network so this method will actually cost more.

The best thing to do is to get the World Wide plan or similar type plan for the time you are out of the country and limit your calls.


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## bogey21 (Jun 19, 2008)

John Cummings said:


> I don't know about other companies but I believe AT&T will still charge you the roaming fee regardless of what number you are calling. Essentially you are charged for using your cell phone outside the network so this method will actually cost more,



Unfortunately, I suspect you are right.  I do use this method in the States (inside the AT&T Network) when making calls to my friends in Canada and Australia.  Costs me only pennies per minute.

George


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## pranas (Jun 19, 2008)

I am a devoted skype use, I use it for free overseas calls to computers and cheap calls from my computer to land lines and mobile phones.  Not quite as convenient as my cell phone, but with all the wireless hot spots around it has saved me a lot of money both at home and when I travel outside the country. I have no problem taking my laptop with me when I travel because of my job.


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## pwrshift (Jun 19, 2008)

Cell prices in Canada are out of sight for Canadians -- we only have 3 major cell companies and they rip off their customers, especially on data if you use your phone for email, etc.  The only GSM is Rogers.  Roming charges for Canadians in USA using their cell phone can break the bank.

However, my cell company has a 'North American' plan for $85 a month that gives 400 minutes a month to call anywhere to or from anyplace in North America.  When i'm in the US calling there or to Canada I have 400 minutes to use -- extra minutes over 400 are 35 cents.  

They allow us to convert back to a Canada plan when you return from holidays, which is $40 a month.  Can't believe the US companies don't have a similar North America plan ... so you might ask, and see if they'll let you change it for a month while you're here.  Way way less than roming.

Brian


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## abbekit (Jun 29, 2008)

pranas said:


> I am a devoted skype use, I use it for free overseas calls to computers and cheap calls from my computer to land lines and mobile phones.  Not quite as convenient as my cell phone, but with all the wireless hot spots around it has saved me a lot of money both at home and when I travel outside the country. I have no problem taking my laptop with me when I travel because of my job.



I'm interested in learning more about Skype.  We have friends who live in Scotland and I'd love to be able to call them whenever I want without paying the high AT&T international roaming fees.

Plus we are also off to Canada this year so it would be nice to be able to have cheaper rates back to the U.S.

Can you explain how Skype works please?


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Jun 29, 2008)

Found out I can add one month for $2.99 to have a plan for Canada that lowers our per minute cost from .59 to .20. So we are doing that for July. Seems like a good deal for us. This is on Sprint.
Liz


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