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Cell/Internet in Canada


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We will be traveling to Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia this late summer and are currently US Verizon customers. What are Verizon customers using for cell and internet while traveling in Canada? Is there another local service that would serve us better? Thanks!

Gary & Penny

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We spent the past two summers on PEI; if you have any questions feel free to ask. We're by no means experts on the island but we've spent longer there than most Americans seem to. We love the people (and the lobster). We happen to especially enjoy the east side of the island because it is away from the tourists who come for the Anne of Green Gables stuff. Be sure to eat Cows ice cream!!

 

As for Nova Scotia, it's a huge province and we have yet to see it all. The Cabot Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park is beautiful and the park has a nice campground with full hookups at Cheticamp which is worth a day or two on its own. There's also a lot to see and do in Halifax and the surrounding area. Two years ago we spent two weeks in Halifax and daytripped all over.

 

As for cell service we decided it was easier to buy a prepaid SIM on the Bell system. I inserted the chip into my Verizon Galaxy S4 and "voila" I had a Canadian phone with all voice and data features for ~$20/mo and 20 cents a minute (very small amount of data included but texting to the US was free). Since we have grandfathered unlimited Verizon plans we couldn't add the "Canadian package" but even with that I think the cost is something like ~60 cents a minute. We also found that the Verizon phones didn't hold a roaming connection all that well; they'd be fine for a while then would lose the network. We found having a local (Canadian) phone was helpful when you needed to have someone call you back.

 

Data service is always an issue when out of the US. Verizon did announce a new plan a couple of months ago whereby you pay ~$3/day to get the right to use data in Canada right out of your data plan as if you were in the US. We can't do it because of our grandfathered plans, but you might want to check into that. Many CGs have wifi as do most restaurants. It's very difficult to get a data plan without having a Canadian address.

Sandie & Joel

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I logged on to my Verizon account and by searching for "Canada Data" I found the Verizon offers Talk, Text & Data using my US plan for $2 a day for Canada & Mexico. The website also says you are only charged if you you use your phone in one of the countries. It is not clear if you only get charged for the individual day that you use the phone, but it seems that may be the case.

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I will be following this thread as we plan to travel in Canada too. Like Joel and Sandie, we have a grandfathered Verizon unlimited data plan. I thought we should get a second phone on a different carrier anyhow to use where Verizon doesn't work. I am intentionally procrastinating until we really need it, like heading into Canada, in hope a better option emerges.

 

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All we did was call Verizon and tell the we were traveling through Canada and needed a plan for Canada. I believe it was an additional $25 a month. When we returned to the U.S. we cancelled it.

Fulltiming since 2010

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We needed 6 months in US and 6 in Canada. Without having different phones or two plans. What worked for us ended up being T-Mobile

 

Plan is unlimited Talk. Text. Data. In US and Canada. Exactly the same in each country.

 

Uses Rogers or Bell networks in Canada. We also have 5 g each phone hotspots, that works In Canada as well.

 

Yes the coverage in US in rural areas can be lower than Verizon but cost and use for us in Canada is what makes it work for us.

 

Overall we do real well with it. With military discount it's $120/ mo for two iPhones. You do have to buy the phones or bring compartabke ones with you.

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T-Mobile might be a good plan, as Billr says. You can get a nice unlocked phone that works with all carriers, like the newest iPhones, the Moto X Pure (starts at $399) that my wife got from Amazon, or the Google Nexus 6P (starts at $499, but does go on sale for $50 off) I got directly from Google or the smaller and cheaper Google Nexus 5X, Once back the USA, if you find T-Mobile does not work for you the phone will work with other carriers. When you buy the phone outright, you can be month-to-month on all of the carriers.

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Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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We just went to Verizon yesterday to check on new plans as ours is expiring at end of Feb. We are also heading to Alaska this summer and checked on the plans.

 

Verizon has the Travel Pass which allows you to use you existing cell and data plan from your phone for $2 a day in any 24 hour period. If you do not use it you do not get billed. The rep said you will recieve a text message when you cross the border and you then accept using Travel Pass.

 

He was not sure on the MiFi or Hotspot usage so we will check later in the month when we resign on in a new data plan.

 

He also mentioned about Verizon is offering something called GO90 where you log on and you get 2 extra gigs for 90 days. We will investigate that as well.

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T-Mobile might be a good plan, as Billr says. You can get a nice unlocked phone that works with all carriers,

 

To clarify one thing about our experience last summer, I had called Verizon about getting my Galaxy S4 unlocked and the response from the CSR was "Oh, we don't lock 4G phones!". She was correct in that Verizon doesn't lock them from a usage perspective. To use a different carrier all you have to do is enter the AP address and the other "stuff" and then tell the phone to use the new network profile you just created. The phone is still technically "locked" in that you can't remove the Verizon "bloatware" nor can you remove the Verizon network profile, but you aren't prevented from using it on another carrier, including a Canadian one.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
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docj: Only a very few Verizon phones will work on other networks 4GLTE, so they can leave them unlocked. Most of the phones I was recommending are not sold by Verizon, or any other US carrier,and work with all carriers with GSM, CDMA and LTE radios. Here is an article that lists the phones that work on all carriers. http://www.cnet.com/news/whats-the-best-phone-to-have-when-dumping-your-carrier/.

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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docj: Only a very few Verizon phones will work on other networks 4GLTE, so they can leave them unlocked. Most of the phones I was recommending are not sold by Verizon, or any other US carrier,and work with all carriers with GSM, CDMA and LTE radios. Here is an article that lists the phones that work on all carriers. http://www.cnet.com/news/whats-the-best-phone-to-have-when-dumping-your-carrier/.

 

That's fine if you're interested in buying a new phone. The article you linked to is a list of phones compatible with all US networks which doesn't provide any insight into how any specific phone will work on the Canadian networks.

 

What I posted was based on personal experience with my Galaxy S4 Mini on the Bell network; it worked fine. I'm not claiming that the phone is a "world phone" since all I cared about was whether or not it would work in Canada and it did. My simple brain figured that if it would roam on the Canadian networks it ought to be able to connect to them as a "local" phone if it had the correct SIM and it did. For all I know it couldn't access all the available frequency bands but it sure did what I needed it to do.

 

This article has a table similar to the one in the article that Bill referenced, but it adds some info about Europe and Asian phone bands, also. http://www.phonearena.com/news/Cheat-sheet-which-4G-LTE-bands-do-AT-T-Verizon-T-Mobile-and-Sprint-use-in-the-USA_id77933

 

The Canadian band usage by carrier is shown in this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks From the data contained in this article you can see that there's enough band overlap between Verizon and Bell to understand how my phone operated acceptably on the Bell network. The Rogers network also contains some bands used by some US carriers.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
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Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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  • 2 months later...

We are planning to go to Canada this year and need a phone for about 2 months. I was thinking about just stopping at Walmart in Canada and picking up a prepaid phone. I checked the Walmart.ca website and there isn't much of a selection and they all seem pricey. I was thinking about a $20-$30 phone+plan.

 

Anyone have any other ideas or suggestions.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

After I wrote the above and some more googling I learned about FIDO in Canada. Has anyone used this carrier? I have an old Iphone 4 9(unlocked) that I could put a sim card in and use. Does this seem possible?

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Yes, it's possible with Fido but there is also 7-11 (I believe) which is a western and middle company giving about the same service. Does your phone has a 2 sims operation? If so, just put a second sim for canada only and be in business. Here is an adress for you : http://globalnews.ca/news/676741/whats-the-best-cheapest-canadian-cellphone-plan-out-there/

Good luck finding the one for you

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I don't have a 2 sim so that option is out. After some more googling and online chat I discovered if I switch to Cricket I will have Canadian service. I had investigated Cricket 3-4 months ago when they offered 10g data. My current phone didn't qualify so I was waiting to see if it would show up on the list. Hasn't yet. With the decision to go to Canada priorities change. I chatted with Cricket and have no problems with Canada as I have unlimited phone and text plus 10g data. The data is what concerned me but is is based on your last 3 months. If I buy a phone I can tether I would start it in June(going to CN in Sept) so I have the full 3 months(I don't want any gotchas), that means, after to talking to them I have over the 4-6 weeks we will be in CN, 15g(if the months fall right). That will be plenty and I will work the activation date to be OK for CN.

 

Why can't life be simple????

 

So this is where I stand:

 

Switch current phone to Cricket, pricing and carrier are the same.

 

In mid-May but an inexpensive phone I can tether and get it set up on the optimum date. I will just have to look at the extra expense as the cost of going to CN. I am happy I pursued this so early. All this really did was move up my purchase of a phone for tethering by a few months.

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After I wrote the above and some more googling I learned about FIDO in Canada. Has anyone used this carrier? I have an old Iphone 4 9(unlocked) that I could put a sim card in and use. Does this seem possible?

 

As I understand it, FIDO is just a Rogers reseller.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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Yes, it's possible with Fido but there is also 7-11 (I believe) which is a western and middle company giving about the same service. Does your phone has a 2 sims operation? If so, just put a second sim for canada only and be in business. Here is an adress for you : http://globalnews.ca/news/676741/whats-the-best-cheapest-canadian-cellphone-plan-out-there/

Good luck finding the one for you

 

If you have an older phone sitting in a drawer just use it as your Canadian phone. That's what I plan on doing with my old S4 this summer. It has some quirks which are why I got a new one, but it's more than adequate for voice and text use which is all it will be doing up there.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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  • 4 weeks later...

So things seem to have changed from 2014, surprise - NOT:)! When we did Alaska, we stopped over the border in Alberta at a auto parts store, (They were the local dealer for the Telus plan we picked, for going up the West side and Yukon.). Within 15 minutes we had a new sim for my then Motorola Droid 4 phone. Back at the campground, I spent about 15 minutes on the phone with a nice tech support gent, and they walked me thru the setting changes on the Motorola Droid, to work on their towers. We also had a Panatech UML290, which also accepted and worked with the sim card.

 

This year we believe we'll be crossing over into Canada after spending 4th of July in Maine. And then work our away West. So have started reading up on the different options. The shift away from CDMA is the largest one I see today.

 

One other change for us this year, is we're interested in being able to data stream. Where as in 2014, we had a Mom that was just getting over being very sick for over a year, so we wanted to have Voice and Text, and being able to check a few emails and make reservations online, so very little data usage.

 

For those of you that have more recent experience in Canada, is my memory correct that some sites are not available via Canada? Has anyone been able to stream successfully.

 

We still have the UML290 available. My wife has ATT iPhone 5S, with Unlimited Data. I have Version Samsung S6, also with grandfathered data. I'm not opposed to buy-in a pay as you go via sim card. I would also be willing to purchase a realistic priced phone or hotspot, if it would help.

 

I'm going to keep on investigating, but was wondering about the streaming success. I'll share what I find as I investigate:)!

 

Best to all,

Smitty

 

And Note: If we can't realistically stream, then I'll probably just add Canada plan to either the ATT or Verizon, to again only focus on phone/text. We can survive with our DVD's and Direct TV... (Suppose I need to research if DNS is available in Canada too:)!)

Be safe, have fun,

Smitty

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For those of you that have more recent experience in Canada, is my memory correct that some sites are not available via Canada? Has anyone been able to stream successfully.

 

 

 

We're currently up in Canada, experimenting with a variety of options. Once we get the cellular antenna article put together and released this week, we'll be getting something out to the MIAs about traveling in Canada and how to stream :) Stay tuned.

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