Cellphone Based Data Providers Recommendation

[horton333]

Hi:

I'm a Canadian going to visit the south western U.S. early next year for like 6 weeks and want a cellphone based data plan.

An initial look turned up:

http://www.millenicom.com/
https://roammobility.com/

Roammobility looks ok, and I can go to a local store and get the SIM etc. setup as they are Canadian based so its easy. Millenicom seems to have significantly better plans and maybe coverage map, but my initial feel is they are geared for the U.S. (I sent a message to their support)

Comments from people who have used either, or other recommendations.
Note unless I really have to I don't want to get into trying to spoof a U.S. address and or credit card and I don't care about voice or texts.

John

[bobfrombc]

we use TRACPHONE. can buy at walmart . buy a phone there cheap with triple minutes about $25 and a 365 day card $100. will give u 1200 minutes call or text to canada or anywhere in US. as long as u top it up before one year minutes accumulate or u can extend for a year for $50. alos can buy wifi minutes $10 per gig.
works well anyplace there is cell service. only areas we had problmes with it were in central nevada where there is no service.
cheap, reliable and no contracts.
ps. will not work once u cross the border to canada.

[Lenny_K]

I have now been using the Telus Canada/USA plan since November and it has been working flawlessly. Should of gone this way years ago. It is a little more expensive, but after you add the dollar exchange on the plans that you buy in the USA it closes up that gap. Another plus is that I got to keep my own phone number and do not have to deal with the hassle of receiving phone calls for the last person that had the number that you are given when you buy a plan in the USA.

[horton333]

So we are on the be road now, chose Straighttalk at walmart. It sounds great, but took two hours to get working and could not get it working on my chosen vendor, Verizon, at all. Their chat support a joke, claimed my phone was not compatible but they didn't even know what my phone was at that point. Of all things it was a dedicated clerk at Walmart going behind the system to get it going. We had to go through three phones eventually, the one used now was the original phone as compatibility with the the network had nothing to do with the problem.

[CardinalRule]

Lenny K wrote:

CardinalRule wrote:

sole seeker wrote:

Lenny K wrote:
I'm going to try the Telus Canada/US plan this year for data, talk and text. Hopefully I wan't be disappointed

We're with Telus for our home phone/tv/internet. I'm interested to see how you like their Canada/US plan.

This is my second year using this plan. It works great. It's nice to make calls all over the US and Canada with no worries.

Great news Dave. How big of a data plan do you have? Do you use your phone as a hotspot?

I have 2.5 Gigs but could up it to 6 Gigs for another $10.00 (I think). I don't use a lot of data and find I leave about 1/2G on the table every month. Very seldom do I use my phone as a hotspot but do on occasion.

[Lenny_K]

CardinalRule wrote:

sole seeker wrote:

Lenny K wrote:
I'm going to try the Telus Canada/US plan this year for data, talk and text. Hopefully I wan't be disappointed

We're with Telus for our home phone/tv/internet. I'm interested to see how you like their Canada/US plan.

This is my second year using this plan. It works great. It's nice to make calls all over the US and Canada with no worries.

Great news Dave. How big of a data plan do you have? Do you use your phone as a hotspot?

[CardinalRule]

sole seeker wrote:

Lenny K wrote:
I'm going to try the Telus Canada/US plan this year for data, talk and text. Hopefully I wan't be disappointed

We're with Telus for our home phone/tv/internet. I'm interested to see how you like their Canada/US plan.

This is my second year using this plan. It works great. It's nice to make calls all over the US and Canada with no worries.

[BarbaraOK]

coolmom42 wrote:
If OP is wanting data only, he isn't concerned with a phone number.

Both our Verizon MiFi and our AT&T Mobley have phone numbers.

[Ruralgas]

Hi Lenny:
Yes, Koodo has that also. They also partner with T-Mobile. When I did a network scan, AT&T and T-Mobile showed. The phones automatically connected to AT&T and worked flawlessly.
If a person had to contact Koodo it wasn't a problem then. Now with their dumb virtual assistant, you don't get to speak with a live person right away. You have to go though their text. After a bunch of typing and pushing buttons, you can finally schedule a callback. You then get a callback and a live person will come on line. Sometimes that can take 30 minutes or more. I don't know if Telus has gone to that virtual assistant garbage.
I looked into Roam Mobility and after sending them an email I finally got a reply 3 days later. That just won't do!!!

[coolmom42]

If OP is wanting data only, he isn't concerned with a phone number.

[coolmom42]

horton333 wrote:
Do you know, for sure, that a Canadian can buy Verizon service, with no zip code and no U.S. based credit card. I've been told that is not (was not last year anyway) possible from two people who got refused when they tried to buy.

I can't imagine that you could not get a pre-paid service, paying for
your device and then the plan as you go. Maybe those people were wanting contract phones?

You could always get on the Verizon web site and ask around. If you stay on there very long, you will get a pop-up chat window where you can ask questions.

[Lenny_K]

The one other feature in using the Telus plan in the USA is that you can change from AT&T to a provider in your area that has a stronger signal without incurring any additional costs as this is a roaming plan.I would think you could do that for Koodoo also.

[Lenny_K]

Good to hear that Koodo, a subsidiary of Telus, worked well for you Garry.
The plan I'm getting from Telus is $135 plus tax for 12 gigs of data, unlimited talk and text in Canada and the USA. I also took in consideration of the exchange rate and the little more that it will cost me is made up for the ability to keep my own number.
This cost is for one phone and I didn't look into the cost of a shared plan.

[Ruralgas]

Hello:
Just want to add to this discussion. Last year we used our Koodo roam US and it worked very well for both of us. Koodo is with AT&T and we were in Yuma. Coverage down and in Yuma was excellent.
The only big drawback was the $100.00 a month per phone (2 phones), plus our plans which really adds up.
The plus was that we had our Canadian numbers and the wife's family could communicate with no cost to them.
For the 2 plus months it was doable, however if it was longer I think I'd do more looking. Unfortunately, when a person takes into account the 32% currency extra things start to balance out.
Hope this might help.
Garry

[sole_seeker]

Lenny K wrote:
I'm going to try the Telus Canada/US plan this year for data, talk and text. Hopefully I wan't be disappointed

We're with Telus for our home phone/tv/internet. I'm interested to see how you like their Canada/US plan.