Cell service for Canadians in US

[KrowNB]

We're planning on spending 4 months over next winter south of the border. To have talk/text/data added to my Cdn phone (Koodo), I'm looking at $75 over my normal monthly fee. What do most Canadian Snowbirds do to maintain contact home while in the US. Add a roaming package? Buy a pay-as-you-go US phone?

[Falcon35]

I have been using wind mobile for the last number of years and it's been quite satisfactory. Their coverage here in Ontario is a little spotty when you get away from the cities. And now it's called freedom Mobile. Originally my reason for going with them was that for $15 a month on top of my Canadian plan at$35 I had unlimited calls and Data all over the US with AT&T. with that plan I had the same phone number on my cell whether I was was in USA or Canada. We did not go south this winter because of a health problem so I don't know how how it's working now but I certainly was very happy with it before that. I've also experienced that their coverage here locally has been better since they've been bought out and I think they're putting up more antennas.

[homefor2]

Lenny K wrote:
So when you get back to Canada can you switch back to the plan you had before changing it to pay as you go.

That depends on wether the plan is still available. I ended up getting a better plan than I had for less money.

[Lenny_K]

So when you get back to Canada can you switch back to the plan you had before changing it to pay as you go.

[homefor2]

Here are some important points.

1. Buy an unlocked phone or have yours unlocked.
2. If you are with Rogers you can switch to "Pay as you go" when you leave Canada If you don't have a contract. It costs $10 to switch and thats not monthly that's a one time fee. No more charges from Rogers while you are in the US if you don't use the phone and you keep your phone number.
3. When you get to the US go to AT&T and get a "pre paid" plan. The sim card is free. They will take out your Rogers sim (save it for the return home) and put in the AT&T. Watch now they do it so you can put your Rogers sim card in when you get back to Canada.
4. AT&T has a great plan for $60 with 8gb of data that rolls your unused data over to the next month. It's actually unlimited data that slows down after your 8 gb are used up. That's a lot of data in a month. You can use your phone as a "hot spot" with your computer. Other plans are available too.

The beauty here is your Rogers charges stop while you are in the US and the plans are cheaper in the US. This works well but you have to be away for a few months to make this worthwhile.

[luckyd]

We have used Tracfone for years and overall
find the cost very cheap. Yes, it can be a bit
of a hassle to call back to Canada but you do not need to
worry about mistakes on your bill each month, trying
to get service as it bounces from one provider to
another.

[John___Angela]

When we cross the border we take our Iphones to the nearest AT&T dealer, get new sims and do go phones with data for around 60 bucks per month. Similar plan to our Telus plan and similar price...just in US dollars so more expensive overall. We are in our last few years of going to the States as snowbirds before we switch to Europe so we have been checking out carriers over there. Again. comparable plans, just switch the sims.

[almcc]

I'm not sure, I would spend the money to have it checked and if necessary unlocked, unless someone else here knows how to check it.

[KrowNB]

almcc wrote:
Looks like your phone supports LTE so it should be good with AT&T. If you do a search and ask will my phone work with AT&T you will find an AT&T page where you can put your phone's imea number to confirm.

In entered the IMEA number (except the ' / 23' after the long number because the input wouldn't accept it). The response was: "Your device is compatible, but we are unable to find the correct SIM card."

I assume this means that the phone is compatible but it didn't find an AT&T SIM??? Does it also mean my phone is unlocked?

Thanks again.

K

[almcc]

Looks like your phone supports LTE so it should be good with AT&T. If you do a search and ask will my phone work with AT&T you will find an AT&T page where you can put your phone's imea number to confirm.

[KrowNB]

almcc wrote:
KrowNB, if you bought your phone from Koodo with a plan it's probably locked to Koodo or Telus. There are services in malls that will unlock it for some small $$, it's a software change on the phone.

If you have a recent smart phone it's probably the newer standard so it should be compatible with AT&T. If you can find the phone specs it will give you a definitive answer.

A truly unlocked phone (where you don't buy it as part of a phone plan) will set you back $200+ or so.

Thanks again, almcc. Great info here! I have a Samsung S5 Neo. Apparently Koodo charges $15/mo to suspend your service and retain your phone number, etc.

[almcc]

KrowNB, if you bought your phone from Koodo with a plan it's probably locked to Koodo or Telus. There are services in malls that will unlock it for some small $$, it's a software change on the phone.

If you have a recent smart phone it's probably the newer standard so it should be compatible with AT&T. If you can find the phone specs it will give you a definitive answer.

A truly unlocked phone (where you don't buy it as part of a phone plan) will set you back $200+ or so.

[deadeye1]

When you buy an unlocked phone from Best Buy or other places check that it is really unlocked. Some of the phones lock to the carrier of the sim that you first install then will not work with another carrier.

[KrowNB]

almcc wrote:

Keith, let me try to answer these questions, I'm not an expert so others may want to correct any of my mistakes!

Thanks again for that! Good info! I'm with Koodo (Telus). I assume they're similar to Bell. I don't know if my phone is unlocked (don't even know what that means but I'll find out).

[almcc]

KrowNB wrote:

almcc wrote:
...we also use the AT&T go phone plans (for a smart phone (bought an AT&T go phone SIM) and also for an AT&T hot spot), both are pay as you go.

When you initially sign up for the service you can use any zip code to get a number in the area where you mostly stay, but it's not important to do so.

I reactivate the plans from Canada via CC each fall before we cross the border into the US the equipment is usable once we cross

Forgive me if I sound stupid about all this - I am!

Do you use the same phone you use in Canada and just switch the SIM? If not did you purchase a separate phone for the US service?

Does it have to be an AT&T phone or can you use any smart phone - purchased in Canada or the US?

Did you purchase the service/phone at an AT&T dealer/storefront in the US or do it all online?

When you cancel/suspend the goPhone service and then pick it up again the next season, do you retain the same no?

Do you suspend your Cdn cell service when you head stateside? If so do you get your same number back when you return?

Again, sorry about all the dumb questions. I have a cell but have no idea how these networks function.

Keith

Keith, let me try to answer these questions, I'm not an expert so others may want to correct any of my mistakes!

I use my Canadian smart phone which I bought unlocked, I use a plan from Sears Connect (which is actually Rogers in disguise), slightly cheaper than Rogers plans. I take out the SIM card once I go into the US and put in the AT&T SIM. I'm toying with the idea of getting a new phone that has 2 SIM slots, that way I could switch back and forward from my Canadian and US number (at a steep cost using the Canadian!) if I had to. I bought the SIM at Wal-Mart, where you can buy fill cards with various $ amounts, you can also buy phones there. Unlocked smart phones are available at Amazon.ca or Staples here as well. I would't try on-line but you could try an AT&T store, make sure you ask for a go phone or they will talk you into a contract!

AT&T uses GSM , a world standard, as do Rogers, Bell and most of the other Canadians, others in the US also use it but my understanding is that Verizon uses the older standard so our phones are generally not compatible with Verizon. I noticed that some of the other pay as you go services offer SIMs for both services as they use multiple carriers to piggy back on. Check your Canadian phone by talking to your service, I'm betting it's GSM but some of the smaller companies use the other standard.

Regarding suspending the service, with AT&T you just stop paying monthly and start again next season. I've had my hot spot for 2 winter seasons and it can remain inactive for a year before you lose the number. I got my phone SIM this past winter so I can't say if will reactivate next fall (Can't find that info in the fine print!) but I suspect it will as looks like the same set up. Worst case is that I buy a new SIM ($9.95) and start again.

I haven't tried to suspend my Canadian cell service, something you may want to ask about.

Did I miss anything?