Best cell and data phone plans

Might want to look at T Mobile

gotta love auto-correct.

Low data cost comes at the price of questionable coverage and speed. I'm not sure how Verizon handles a Canadian phone in the USA. I don't think "rooming" charges exist anymore, at least not with Verizon.

The 'best' plan is one you can afford and live with.

Verizon has the best coverage and is the #1 company.

Verizon plans offer North America Coverage if your plan includes at least 12 GB of data per month if I recall correctly.

We had ATT and now Verizon and have found Verizon had better coverage and better customer service in our travels.

T-Mobile works any where in Canada that there is cell phone service. It piggybacks on Bell.

I'm not sure if the binge on feature works in Canada--but the data definitely does.

Fee for Canadian coverage is $5 per month.

Challenge you'll have with T-Mobile Steve is I believe you have to have in excess of 6 or 7 months usage showing in the USA for it to be allowed in Canada under the US contract as it currently stands. Suggest you read the small print in case they've changed it from when I looked into it a while back. Also many tell us it's great for the binge on etc in certain areas but out west ie; Montana the coverage is somewhat lacking still. Albeit they've improved exponentially and are giving Verizon a run for their money in several areas.

Some FTers we've spoken to in Canada that spend summers in Cochrane AB concur with most what we've read and that is Verizon is still King when it comes to widest coverage areas, but at a price! For ultimate coverage in the USA most seem to have a combination with AT&T and Verizon being the two referenced most often we've found.

FWIW: Some Canadian FTers/snowbirds have also told us they now keep Verizon from the USA set up as their primary and only cellular having abandoned any form of Canadian Cell phone and use the verizon one when back in Canada. However, the majority of FT Canadians we've spoken with tell us they switch on their verizon mifi when in the USA and put their Canadian on vacation mode and vice versa when back in Canada.

With the way European rulings occurred a few years ago on roaming charges between countries there, I for one was hopefully we would have seen something follow suit affordability wise, by now for North America as a whole, alas we are still waiting with baited breath in that regards!

As always it will depend on where you travel, how much you use, and how "connected" you have to be at most times. There's lots to digest as we've been doing tons of homework and whilst Straighttalk, Google Fi, T-Mobile and a couple of others have caught our eye on costs, Verizon in the USA and Bell in Canada still seems to be the best overall option for us right at this moment in time. Of course YMMV.

Technomadia have done tons of research, testing and reporting, and whilst USA based for the most part they do reference in their mobile internet handbook a part on Canadians.

When you do finally make a decision on what might work best for you, I for one would really appreciate your sharing and your reasonings behind your chosen option(s).

Cheers, FTW

Cricket which is owned by At&t and uses at&t towers gives free Mexico and Canada cell service.

You can't beat Verizon for all around cell use here in the states anyway. Getting ready to switch next month when my contract runs out to their $45 a month service, unlimited calling, texting and 3G data.

tinner12002 wrote:
You can't beat Verizon for all around cell use here in the states anyway. Getting ready to switch next month when my contract runs out to their $45 a month service, unlimited calling, texting and 3G data.

Tinner brings up a good point here, namely, to purchase a pre-paid, monthly plan -- whether it's Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile. We are full timing and actually have such plans with each of these companies, so we have maximal coverage, plus the sum of their data allotments. The advantages for a Canadian, as well as a US person, is that there is no contract, in addition to a minimal cost. The monthly costs are $40-45, and the minimal data allotment for a plan with 'auto-pay' (i.e., on your credit card) is 3 GB/month. The catch is, you need to have an unlocked phone, i.e., one that was either bought outright or has been paid off. We buy ours on the used market.

Suggestion: Buy an AT&T or T-Mobile phone, as you can use them for either plan. Verizon is different, even now that they use LTE. In our experience, AT&T has as good a coverage, in general, as Verizon (this is in the mid-Atlantic states). T-Mobile is not as good, but they are getting better.

Good luck!