Cell phone use in Canada

We just turned our phones off and notified family and friends that our phones would be off while we were transiting Canada on our way to Alaska. We were able to check email almost every day so it was not an issue for us. Be very careful turning your phone on close to the Canadian border because you will ping off a Canadian tower and the cost is horrible. Good idea to turn roaming off.

I have a $35 per month deal with Koodo, a lower cost subsidiary of Telus - which has the best network of towers in BC and Alberta. Only 300 MB data. This is not a long term contract; I can quit any time without penalty. Also $10 for their SIM card. That is still cheaper than the $40 US quoted but you would probably get more data with your US carrier. You could find a Koodo booth in most shopping centres in western Canada. No charge for setting up your phone.

In your place I would be looking around for a better deal to switch to when your contract ends.

Verizon allows you to call Canada and Mexico for NO additional charge. And no plan to sign up for.

There isnt a problem with the phone working in Canada, its just that ATT will ding you pretty hard on your bill if you dont do the $40 a month deal with them. Our freinds found out the hard way. Too me it was worth it to know what it was going to cost ahead of time.

I'm surprised to hear this. Our phones are through Rogers here in Canada and they have a "Roam Like Home" package where we can visit the US and for $5 per day use the phone exactly like we do at home. And on our recent trip to California our service was through AT&T and our phones worked perfectly.

So there are obviously some agreements through different providers available.

The $40 also gets you some data. We did it because we dont make many calls and i recieved a couple while in Canada. I also carry a sat phone.