Prepaid data, 3g, wifi, etc. in BC

canadafan wrote:
If you decide to buy a pre-paid sim in Canada try London Drugs, when I bought a sim from them this year I found them to be most helpful and knowledgeable. They stock most service supplier cards.

Trevor

Wish I had known this, yesterday
I spent an age in a telus store getting my head around what they wanted me to buy even though I knew what I wanted. Anyway, I now have prepaid access on my phone, and it is working as I wake up at Alice Lake on the first full day if our adventure. Not cheap, I hasten to add - I paid £12.50 for an equivalent deal in S. Africa 18 months ago Yesterday $35 - but cheaper than me UK sum!

Road info and weather available on DRIVE BC website

If you decide to buy a pre-paid sim in Canada try London Drugs, when I bought a sim from them this year I found them to be most helpful and knowledgeable. They stock most service supplier cards.

Trevor

Careful using cell phones overseas. Our Alberta deputy premier is in hot water over using his in Germany for internet access over several days - the government had to pay a $20 000 bill. It was in the news a year or two ago a Canadian in Hawaii watched a movie on her iPad on the beach and the bill was $100 000. What a waste of Hawaiian beach time! I took my iPad which is not equipped with cellular capability to Hawaii and enjoyed free wifi, even free texting via Apple messaging.

My son, on a trip to Italy, popped an Italian SIM card into his iPhone (unlocked) and got a much lower rate than at home in Canada.

atreis wrote:
IMO, rather than get a temporary Canadian card/phone, just give your carrier a call and ask to add Interntional Data Roaming for a month. (You'll likely have to call again to remove it after you return home.) I did that last summer and was able to connect regardless of the local carrier, and it didn't cost much.

I have spoken to our provider who say it is not practical to stay with a UK carrier. It looks like a Telus pre paid data & calls sim, if such a thing exists. Otherwise we'll stick to the wifi as and when we can get access.

IMO, rather than get a temporary Canadian card/phone, just give your carrier a call and ask to add Interntional Data Roaming for a month. (You'll likely have to call again to remove it after you return home.) I did that last summer and was able to connect regardless of the local carrier, and it didn't cost much.

Something else I am going to mention, if you come out to Tofino/Ucluelet, please keep an eye on your rear-view mirrors, and use the pull-outs if you have traffic behind you!

1) The pull-outs are marked with signs stating: Slower vehicles impeding others please use pull-out (or something to that effect).

2) Once into a pull-out, slow drastically, OR STOP! I've had many vehicles go into a pull-out, but neither slow nor stop, and in some cases I've locked up 2 or 3 tires (even with ABS) trying to avoid a collision. And on 1 pull-out (Hydro Hill) you would get sandwiched into a rock face.

3) BC now has a law that states if you have 5 or more vehicles behind you, you must pull over to let them pass.

Locals travel this road daily. And we know the road very well. We can travel at higher rates of speed, too. Please allow us to pass, and please don't try to keep up with us. If you don't know the road, TAKE YOUR TIME! And have your camera ready - lots of scenery. Just pull off the road properly.

Oh yeah, and if you're viewing wildlife and someone goes by honking their horn? Please don't be offended, us locals are being encouraged to honk at the wildlife. This is for everyone's safety, and to keep the animals scared of human activity.

At any rate, enjoy your vacation/trip!

Cheers!
Mike

When we traveled through BC last summer, we didn't want to take the time to find libraries or McDonalds/Tim Hortons (which don't exist in the smaller towns) even thought I had printed out lists ahead of time.

So we used campground wifi. Many private cg's but not all had wifi, but the quality varied and they sometimes struggled to provide the capacity for all the people wanting to us it. Sometimes we could not even connect until late at night. In the smaller towns they used satellite to provide it, so slow (and expensive for them).

But we were able to check our mail every few days which was enough.

Sorry for double post. Struggling with data on phone,here in UK. What hope is there for me?

S'pose I can only go on what people say, and at the end of the day it is each to their own. But I take your point on distances. We will be going to the north of the island, anyway, weather permitting,and would only get the boat if the weather is amazing and they have space for us, so all I all it is quite unlikely that we would get to Stewart.