Janie, we've just done extensive research on the various options as a "near Calgary" resident for travelling longer times throughout the USA. T-Mobile was very very appealing with the potential binge on option. I know someone is trying out roam mobility this year for their snow birding from BC down to the USA and I am keen to hear how they find it.
Hubby and I just got back from Fla using a "travel add on" from Bell, where they didn't use Verizon no matter how much I begged them to based on reviews I'd read, but would only allow us to roam on T-Mobile = it was awful, atrocious service in the Sarsota/Tampa area, to the point it dropped calls as well couldn't connect to send/receive just emails on my iPhone. They are in the process of giving us a huge credit for several mistakes they made on our add on and the bad service we had for 2 months add on.
From what we've gathered from many: It appears that Verizon is still king for most areas, and those that need to have maximum coverage "within reason", may also have a small AT&T back up as well. A lot of the Canadian snowbird friends we have whilst they find it a little expensive like the Verizon MIFI for the most part on prepaid. It seems other reseller companies have come and gone at a little cheaper deal but, "come and go" is the main problem here for us.
We have just purchased a Verizon Elipsis 4G LTE MIFI on sale from Best Buy at $19.99 versus usually $49.99, that upon returning next to the USA we will try with the lowest 60 day valid size initially to see how it all pans out for us.
Many comments about the data getting eaten up, but we have spoken to a lot of other folks who have advised that it is the devices that are connecting the way they are set up for auto updates and so forth that are the issues not the MIFI.
Just saying FWIW and YMMV.
Will be keen to read what route you go and where you travel and how things performed.
Happy Travels.
FTW.
