Words of advice for cell phone users

We have Verizon and are often close to Canada, like across the river. I simply configured both our phones for no roaming, problem solved.

We have AT&T service with our iPhone. The first time we went to CAnada, we ran into these charges. We called AT&T. They said they were sorry and took off the charges. BUT they said ALWAYS turn off DATA ROAMING. SInce then we have not had any problems.

Ed Headington

FWIW, the New Verizon Plan that just recently came out provides service in Canada and Mexico as part of the plan. No more roaming charges.

We were at Salt Creek county park on the upper Olympic Peninsula and there was one spot where someone had put up a handwritten sign on the fence that said, "verizon window". If you stood there, you could hit a Verizon tower to the south, but otherwise, you got the cell company in Victoria B.C.. Verizon nicely refunded all of the $300 in roaming charges.

rhagfo wrote:
:h
Do you think that RoyB meant Alaska?

That and for the guy in the Video, it is a big issue near the Straight of Juan de Fuca and Victoria BC.

Yea I forgot to put the smilie at end of my post although some people would consider AR another country.:):)

gatorcq wrote:
It is called Common Sense, folks

Just so you understand the issue, this isn't like Arizona, where there is a well defined border with a big fence marking a clear swath on land. In the San Juans and Whidbey Island you can be quite a ways from the actual border, but the nearest towers in the US are blocked by hills / mountains so the more distant but unobstructed line of sight towers in Canada get picked up, as stated above, its sort of a money grab. About 20 years ago, my company had NEXTEL phones. At that time, NEXTEL 'talkie' service worked well into Canada with no charge (The phone part did charge). Eventually, NEXTEL set it up so they didn't work in Canada anymore....

It is called Common Sense, folks

I have a company supplied phone with AT&T service. The company I work for has locations in both the US & Canada, so our phone service is covered "in part" in both Countries. However, when I am vacationing in the UP of MI near the Canadian border, my company will give me temporary International sevice to avoid the roaming fees, which is mostly ok....but when they do that they also remove my ability to use my phone as a personal hotspot. I never got a clear answer as to why from my IT people.

blofgren wrote:
We do a fair bit of cross border travel as well and usually shut our phones off or at least ensure that data is off to avoid excessive charges. For our vacation last year we actually bought a package for my wife's phone that was supposed to enable the phone to work everywhere and avoid additional charges. Surprisingly the phone did not work in many areas of Washington State which was a major problem because my grandmother passed away while we were away.

It is actually quite ridiculous that cell companies do not have better servicing agreements considering the amount of cross border travel between the 2 countries. Quite a cash grab in reality.

So very true!
This especially true in the San Juan's, and upper Olympic Peninsula. I can also see as an issue in Michigan's UP, and the greater Detroit area to say the least.Island
We spent a long weekend on Orcis Island in the San Juan Islands and depending where you were on the Island you got US or Canadian service.

:S

We do a fair bit of cross border travel as well and usually shut our phones off or at least ensure that data is off to avoid excessive charges. For our vacation last year we actually bought a package for my wife's phone that was supposed to enable the phone to work everywhere and avoid additional charges. Surprisingly the phone did not work in many areas of Washington State which was a major problem because my grandmother passed away while we were away.

It is actually quite ridiculous that cell companies do not have better servicing agreements considering the amount of cross border travel between the 2 countries. Quite a cash grab in reality.