I'm a Canadian snowbird who spends the winter in the (hopefully) warmer US. I bought a snowbird plan for my smart phone from Roam Mobility in Canada, they use T-mobile. I've had terrible service, no phone service outside major cities and when I do get data access, it shows "Edge" on my smart phone, the speed seems lower than old dial up internet.I'm looking for a plan on a pay-as-you-go basis that I can use during the winter, if possible I'd like to keep my phone number over the years, with around 500 MB to 1 gig of data per month.Any suggestions?Thanks!

Wallyworld has the straight talk plan using Verizon for $45 a month. Unlimited talk and text. It says unlimited data, but they throttle at I believe 3 gig. No contract and for $30 you can get a smart phone to use with it. Because your from Canada the keeping your own number probably won't work. YMMV

We had T-Mobile last year. When on the road you are correct it was useless. When we reached our destination in FL it worked just fine. Fortunately for us our park now has a internet service which is MUCH cheaper and works great. Good luck and hope you have better luck with yours if you stay with the same system.

Stop at the nearest US WalMart store. They offer several pay as you plans. A couple will be on either AT&T or Verizon. Pick one of those.

One thing to keep in mind as a snowbird coming from Canada, Roam coverage is not entirely dependent on the cell towers. Generally I agree with your comment, I have been in many places on the East coast from NY to FL and have seen generally poor coverage in some rural areas, but this I think also has to do with coverage differences in the two countries. In Canada, if you are within 100 miles of the border (where 90% of the population is) we have virtual blanket coverage even in the middle of nowhere and virtually no coverage in the far north. In the US however, their population is spread out more and for this reason the cell towers seem to be concentrated more around big cities and interstates. This means there are a lot of dark areas when you get off the beaten path (where many RV'rs want to be).However I did notice one major factor that is not related to their coverage map, particularly related to data. That is that many phones (iPhone being the worst offender) do not support the correct bands for 3G, 4G, LTE on Roam/Tmoble, so you are always stuck on 2G. Tmobile realized this a few years ago and started upgrading their towers to a more iPhone friendly band, but have only done so in a few dozen of the biggest cities. Bottom line, if you are using Roam on an iPhone or a cheap $0 phone this is far more likely than if you have a Pentaband or Quadband phone.

Not what you asked and I think we have talked about this before, but as a Canadian we have been very happy with Verizon. For voice our phone is $59/mon for 1400 minutes anywhere in North America. Always works. We also use Verizon mi-fi for data (only in the USA)$35/mon for 3Giga. $0/mon while in Canada. The phone is also free (uses no minutes) Verizon to Verizon. We use the Verizon phone 365 in Canada and US and mi-fi in usa only.

Best Phone/data plan for snowbirds | Good Sam Community

trtog7
Explorer
Feb 07, 2015
portliz wrote:
You need to get a new SIM card to activate an old tracphone. Easy. Call Tracphone and they will send u one free. Install, add time and your phone is active again. You can't keep the same number. They give you a new one.

They will only send SIM card to a USA address Will not send to Canada so you canbe ready to use when you cross border
One time I tried to reuse I was asked if I wanted the same number I said yes and then the SIM card would not work
Phone staff not always right and I have had to buy a new phone last 2 years because Tracfone mistakes. They will not reimburse you even if their mistake
joe_sbg
Explorer
Feb 07, 2015
As a traveler you want the best coverage. Verizon network is a must. Do you need data? How many minutes do you need a month? Are you willing to go online to replenish.Do you need a smartphone? Does price matter a lot. For me Page Plus wireless was the perfect answer. They run on the verizon network. I started with a pay as you go with a 2000 minutes card for 76.00 dollars. Its good for a year before replenish. I've purchased 3 iphone4 refurbs on eBay, the last for 65.00 which is the current price. I'm now on a 12.00 monthly plan which includes 250 min and 250 texts and minimal data which I don't use. Check it out .page plus cellular. We have saved $50 monthly for the last 2 1/2 years.
portliz
Explorer
Jan 29, 2015
You need to get a new SIM card to activate an old tracphone. Easy. Call Tracphone and they will send u one free. Install, add time and your phone is active again. You can't keep the same number. They give you a new one.
almcc
Explorer
Jan 05, 2015
macleadv wrote:
We will be travelling from the east coast of Canada to Florida and staying the month of april 2015. In 2013 we purchased a Tracfone Phone in Maine for our visit to Cape cod that year.

I have a few questions about these cellular phones.
1. Would it be better to purchase prepaid airtime and re-activiate our present Tracfone.
2. I plan to use it only while traveling to and from Florida, and with minimual useage while in Florida; so would I use Maine(Border crossing) or Florida(Condo) as my location referenced for re-activation?
3. Would I purchase a new tracphone at the nearest US Walmart (Calais ME)?
4. Would there be roaming fees from Maine to Florida and in Florida?
5. Can I call Canadad from Florida with normal long distanced charges?
6. Is there any other cellphones with plans better or equivant to the tracfone?

thanks

I don't think it matters what your area code (location) is as calls to any US or Canadian location (through the 800 number that you call for Canada) are metered by the minute (no roaming or LD charges). Assuming you can re-activate your old Tracfone it would be cheaper than buying another one. As posted above, buying a $99 card will keep the phone (and number) active for a year so you won't lose the number and if you don't use the minutes they will flow over to the next period when you renew again. Depends on whether you plan to do the US annually or not and what time you spend there.

For phone only service I think Tracfone is the best bang for the buck.I've never tried data on a tracfone
macleadv
Explorer
Jan 04, 2015
We will be travelling from the east coast of Canada to Florida and staying the month of april 2015. In 2013 we purchased a Tracfone Phone in Maine for our visit to Cape cod that year.

I have a few questions about these cellular phones.
1. Would it be better to purchase prepaid airtime and re-activiate our present Tracfone.
2. I plan to use it only while traveling to and from Florida, and with minimual useage while in Florida; so would I use Maine(Border crossing) or Florida(Condo) as my location referenced for re-activation?
3. Would I purchase a new tracphone at the nearest US Walmart (Calais ME)?
4. Would there be roaming fees from Maine to Florida and in Florida?
5. Can I call Canadad from Florida with normal long distanced charges?
6. Is there any other cellphones with plans better or equivant to the tracfone?

thanks
TomG2
Explorer
Jan 04, 2015
The good news is that the major carriers have good coverage in the popular Snowbird destinations. My point is that as Canadians you might not want to pay premium prices for coverage that you won't need. I use Verizon Prepaid which gives me good service in populated areas. Be aware that some plans do not allow using your phone as a hot spot. Verizon prepaid does with certain models.
2oldman
Explorer II
Jan 04, 2015
1 gig of data would last me about 2 days.
macleadv
Explorer
Jan 04, 2015
rwbradley wrote:
One thing to keep in mind as a snowbird coming from Canada, Roam coverage is not entirely dependent on the cell towers. Generally I agree with your comment, I have been in many places on the East coast from NY to FL and have seen generally poor coverage in some rural areas, but this I think also has to do with coverage differences in the two countries. In Canada, if you are within 100 miles of the border (where 90% of the population is) we have virtual blanket coverage even in the middle of nowhere and virtually no coverage in the far north. In the US however, their population is spread out more and for this reason the cell towers seem to be concentrated more around big cities and interstates. This means there are a lot of dark areas when you get off the beaten path (where many RV'rs want to be).
However I did notice one major factor that is not related to their coverage map, particularly related to data. That is that many phones (iPhone being the worst offender) do not support the correct bands for 3G, 4G, LTE on Roam/Tmoble, so you are always stuck on 2G. Tmobile realized this a few years ago and started upgrading their towers to a more iPhone friendly band, but have only done so in a few dozen of the biggest cities. Bottom line, if you are using Roam on an iPhone or a cheap $0 phone this is far more likely than if you have a Pentaband or Quadband phone.
almcc
Explorer
Nov 22, 2014
wilber1 wrote:
Has anyone used Black Wireless or Cricket with an unlocked iPhone? They both use AT&T which seems to be the best option for iPhone users. I'm looking for something with a decent data plan.

Regarding Cricket, Canadian friends of ours had Cricket last year, they went to renew a week or two ago and were told by AT&T that they couldn't get it because AT&T had bought Cricket out (they wanted month-to-month service).

you may want to confirm.
wilber1
Explorer
Nov 21, 2014
Has anyone used Black Wireless or Cricket with an unlocked iPhone? They both use AT&T which seems to be the best option for iPhone users. I'm looking for something with a decent data plan.