Cell Phone and Internet Help

[jddave44]

My wife & I will be taking a 8-10 week cross country trip in the spring. Route thru Chicago, Denver, Bryce Canyon area, north to Calgary Alberta, Vancouver BC then back thru northern states.My question is can you buy a sim card to insert in my blackberry for emergency phone calls or do you have to buy a phone from TracFone or Verizion with no contracts. Also what is the best bet for a memory stick for our HP laptop so we don't have to rely on Wi-Fi. Any sugestions would be appreciated.

Pam & Dave
Oshawa,Ontario,Canada

[Passin_Thru]

Here is what I would do if I was ever planning to return to the US again. Go to Virgin Mobile and buy a phone, then set up an accooount in the US when you get here and use it. I think it's 10 cents a minute and 25 cents for ea text and they docary internet for a hefty fee. Every Library, big or small in the US has computers you may use for free and you can even print for around 10 cents a sheet. There are so many places for free WiFi in the US such a Coffee Shops, Golden Arches Supper Club, (MCDs LOL) Same here on TEng, too many freebies here. Good luck and hope your adventures are fun here. A lot of areas don't carry cell service in the US yet.

[Shavano]

Moved to Tech Forum

Moderator TT's

[MarkTwain]

My experience with "Tengo Net" is negative because:
1. cost is not consumer friendly
2. internet speed is like watching paint dry:)
3. difficulity even getting on line most of the time. Too dependent on the number of people on line in the area , RV park you are located.

[dadmomh]

Tracfone or one of the similar ones is likely your best bet. AT & T has something similar called a Go Phone. Others likely do also. Some place like a Pilot or Flying J, Loves, any of the travel centers usually carry them + the cards for additional minutes. You can get something, think it's called a Hot Spot but not positive, for your laptop, but my understanding is that they're pretty pricey. Almost all McDonald's have free WiFi and more providers are popping up all the time. Some campgrounds have WiFi, either free or for something like $3 a day, but some of them don't work well. Some of the places we've stayed used TengoNet and it's a PITA. If you're just going to be doing a quick online check, you might be money ahead to just buy something like a Kindle with the 4G....connection wherever you have cell phone. If you haven't already checked with your current phone company, I would think a call to them to see what they might suggest would be a good start. Have a great trip!

[Gdetrailer]

jddave44 wrote:
My wife & I will be taking a 8-10 week cross country trip in the spring. Route thru Chicago, Denver, Bryce Canyon area, north to Calgary Alberta, Vancouver BC then back thru northern states.My question is can you buy a sim card to insert in my blackberry for emergency phone calls or do you have to buy a phone from TracFone or Verizion with no contracts. Also what is the best bet for a memory stick for our HP laptop so we don't have to rely on Wi-Fi. Any sugestions would be appreciated.

Pam & Dave
Oshawa,Ontario,Canada

There is no "free lunch" here in the USA.

Why even bother with Sim cards, just purchase the cheapest Tracfone you can find. A cheap Tracfone can be often bought for $10, comes with double minutes (although "smart" type Tracfones come with triple minutes). Buy a Minutes card and you are ready to go. You can get cards from 100 minutes up to 400 minutes nearly everywhere there is a store and they will have a time of 30, 60, 90 days or even a year card.

When done with your trip either toss the phone, keep it (although you have to keep buying minutes cards to keep it active, if you let it lapse you either have to have Trac send a new Sim or buy another phone).

For your PC, well Free WiFi often can be had at many campgrounds, retail stores, fast food places and such. If you insist on no WiFi then you will need to check into a Pay as You Go type of Internet service, Works simular to Tracfone.. Can't help you there since I just make use of free Wifi...

[DaDubs]

That is hilarious

[krev]

xteacher wrote:
We have smartphones (Samsung Gallaxy III - the IVs are now out) with large screens that act much like a computer's. We have a shared data plan with plenty of capability. We have 4 GB on our plan; we downsized from 6 when we found out we didn't need that much - depends on your usage without Wi-Fi. You can, of course, use them with or without Wi-Fi. We tie into Wi-Fi in places that have it (we bring along our computers too, for such situations, but we can still get on the internet when they don't with our phones (like federal/state campgrounds). As long as you're within distance of a cell phone tower, you're good to go. We have Verizon, which has a very comprehensive coverage range.

While most of this is very good and accurate information what you have to watch is the fact that you have a Canadian plan. If you use your phone in the States you will get horrendous roaming charges. If you only use it on wifi you're OK. When we cross the border we get a text from Rogers telling us we are roaming and what the charges are. You can opt for something like that or there are travel packs, we find those to be very expensive. This past summer we traveled to London then onto South Africa, we have iphones and paid to have them unlocked. We then purchased sim cards from the countries we visited, this is something else you can look into. Depending on what your plan with your carrier is there should be lots of options. While traveling in Canada you should be fine, but again do check with your carrier. Have a great trip

[xteacher]

We have smartphones (Samsung Gallaxy III - the IVs are now out) with large screens that act much like a computer's. We have a shared data plan with plenty of capability. We have 4 GB on our plan; we downsized from 6 when we found out we didn't need that much - depends on your usage without Wi-Fi. You can, of course, use them with or without Wi-Fi. We tie into Wi-Fi in places that have it (we bring along our computers too, for such situations, but we can still get on the internet when they don't with our phones (like federal/state campgrounds). As long as you're within distance of a cell phone tower, you're good to go. We have Verizon, which has a very comprehensive coverage range.