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- 11-30-2006, 08:09 AM #1GripGuest
My family is headed to Orlando from Canada this weekend for a 9-day
vacation.
I called my Canadian mobile provider (Telus) to find out what the
roaming rates are. It turns out a <1 minute call is $.95 roaming
charge and $.50 Long distance (+ airtime). My wife and I have a family
plan that in Canada is billed per second and has no airtime charges --
talk about sticker shock.
So, I was thinking it might be more economical to buy 'pay and talk' or
disposable handsets in Florida and then after our trip, sell them on
ebay (whatever ...).
Any advice on options and/or providers, etc?
Thanks,
C
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- 11-30-2006, 09:45 AM #2Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
At 30 Nov 2006 06:09:48 -0800 Grip wrote:
> My family is headed to Orlando from Canada this weekend for a 9-day
> vacation.
>
> I called my Canadian mobile provider (Telus) to find out what the
> roaming rates are. It turns out a <1 minute call is $.95 roaming
> charge and $.50 Long distance (+ airtime). My wife and I have a family
> plan that in Canada is billed per second and has no airtime charges --
> talk about sticker shock.
>
> So, I was thinking it might be more economical to buy 'pay and talk' or
> disposable handsets in Florida and then after our trip, sell them on
> ebay (whatever ...).
>
> Any advice on options and/or providers, etc?
Some of the best deals are by mail-order, so you didn't gie yourself much
time.
Generally prepaid handsets cost about $40 US, and come with 30-60 minutes
of airtime depending on carrier, so depending on how much you guys expect
to use the phone, it may be cheaper to just roam on Telus. Calling back
to Canada on prepaid costs extra, so using calling cards, or even a
laptop with Skype (if you're bringing a laptop) might be a good idea.
Now, if you had more than 2 or 3 days before your trip, I'd have advised
you to see if Telus would give you the unlock codes for your phones so
you could put another providers SIM chip in it (so you wouldn't have to
buy new phones) and then buy a couple of prepaid T-Mobile SIM cards on
eBay (they run about $10 US each and come with 30 minutes of airtime) to
put in your Telus phones. This way you'd be out $20 US instead of $80.
Don't worry, though- after 9 days in Orlando, the price of phone calls
will seem like a trivial expense compared to everything else! ;-)
Have a fun and safe trip!
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
- 11-30-2006, 10:33 AM #3Mike AGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
"Todd Allcock" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> At 30 Nov 2006 06:09:48 -0800 Grip wrote:
>> My family is headed to Orlando from Canada this weekend for a 9-day
>> vacation.
>>
>> I called my Canadian mobile provider (Telus) to find out what the
>> roaming rates are. It turns out a <1 minute call is $.95 roaming
>> charge and $.50 Long distance (+ airtime). My wife and I have a family
>> plan that in Canada is billed per second and has no airtime charges --
>> talk about sticker shock.
>>
>> So, I was thinking it might be more economical to buy 'pay and talk' or
>> disposable handsets in Florida and then after our trip, sell them on
>> ebay (whatever ...).
>>
>> Any advice on options and/or providers, etc?
>
> Some of the best deals are by mail-order, so you didn't gie yourself much
> time.
>
> Generally prepaid handsets cost about $40 US, and come with 30-60 minutes
> of airtime depending on carrier, so depending on how much you guys expect
> to use the phone, it may be cheaper to just roam on Telus. Calling back
> to Canada on prepaid costs extra, so using calling cards, or even a
> laptop with Skype (if you're bringing a laptop) might be a good idea.
>
> Now, if you had more than 2 or 3 days before your trip, I'd have advised
> you to see if Telus would give you the unlock codes for your phones so
> you could put another providers SIM chip in it (so you wouldn't have to
> buy new phones) and then buy a couple of prepaid T-Mobile SIM cards on
> eBay (they run about $10 US each and come with 30 minutes of airtime) to
> put in your Telus phones. This way you'd be out $20 US instead of $80.
That would be all well and good, but Telus is CDMA...
- 11-30-2006, 11:02 AM #4Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
At 30 Nov 2006 16:33:49 +0000 Mike A wrote:
> That would be all well and good, but Telus is CDMA...
Oops, sorry- I should've known better- I read Telus, and my addled brain
confused it with Fido! (I knew Canada had two GSM providers, Rodgers and
"the other one!")
My only explanation is that I'm traveling to Mexico next month and have
been researching prepaid options with Telcel, a Mexican GSM provider.
Ok, my friends in the North can insert their favorite "stupid American
doesn't know anything about his closest neighbor!" joke here... ;-)
Sorry for the mix up!
- 11-30-2006, 08:37 PM #5GripGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
Hi Todd,
No stupid american joke from me -- thanks for the info.
Cheers,
Colin
- 12-02-2006, 03:22 AM #6joelGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
Virgin mobile currently have the Oyster flip phone at Circuit City and
selected other retailers for US$20. When I checked their store 3 weeks
ago whilst in Hawaii. You can then buy a $10 recharge via PayPal on
their website or buy a $20 prepaid voucher from most music/technology
retailers for $20, Virgin mobile USA don't accept foreign credit cards
so I found out, but PayPal work fine. You can hang onto the phone until
your next US trip and re-activate it through their website, you may
also want to loan it to friends visiting the US for them to use as
well.
I'm from Australia and this works well for me as I visit the US once
per year and can re-activeate via the web and request a local US number
where-ever I may be visiting.
Rate to Canada is 15 cents per min plus 18 cents per min airtime. Very
good deal I reckon.
Calls made and received within the US are 18 cents per min, but cheaper
options are available. they use the Sprint network and the service is
fine in Orlando
Check out www.virginmobileusa.com
Grip wrote:
> My family is headed to Orlando from Canada this weekend for a 9-day
> vacation.
>
> I called my Canadian mobile provider (Telus) to find out what the
> roaming rates are. It turns out a <1 minute call is $.95 roaming
> charge and $.50 Long distance (+ airtime). My wife and I have a family
> plan that in Canada is billed per second and has no airtime charges --
> talk about sticker shock.
>
> So, I was thinking it might be more economical to buy 'pay and talk' or
> disposable handsets in Florida and then after our trip, sell them on
> ebay (whatever ...).
>
> Any advice on options and/or providers, etc?
>
> Thanks,
> C
- 12-14-2006, 04:20 PM #7GripGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
Hi Joel,
Thanks for the info.
Here is what I did -- I went to Walmart where they had a rack full of
'pay as you go' phones by various providers all for under $25 USD.
I picked up three different packages and went up to the service desk
and asked the clerk which was the best. When I told him I would only
be in the US for 10 days he recommended Cingular.
I paid $20 per handset and recieved a $10 on each phone when I
activated the phones. I tried to activate using the Cingular voice
automated system but I had to stop when it asked me for a US street
address. At that point I was transferred to a live customer service
rep who said they didn't really need a US address OR credit card on
file -- the credit card would only make adding $$ to the phone easier.
I chose the plan where the phone costs $1/day to use but no minutes are
charged between cingular phones ($0.10/min. otherwise). Since I
activated two cingular phones we paid $2 a day, but had unlimited
calling between the phones. The other plan was no daily charge, but
all calls were $0.25/min.
So, now I have two cheap motorola phones and sim cards that have
Florida numbers. Next time I go back to the US on vacation (usually
2x/year), I will go to the Cingular website, add $10 to each of the
phones and I will have unlimited calling between the phones and a low
per minute rate for other calls.
Cheers,
Colin
- 12-15-2006, 08:41 AM #8Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice
At 14 Dec 2006 14:20:48 -0800 Grip wrote:
> So, now I have two cheap motorola phones and sim cards that have
> Florida numbers. Next time I go back to the US on vacation (usually
> 2x/year), I will go to the Cingular website, add $10 to each of the
> phones and I will have unlimited calling between the phones and a low
> per minute rate for other calls.
That probaby won't work. Cingular cancels your account and "recycles"
your number 30 days after you have a $0 balance. Since your starter
airtime is only good for 30 days, those accounts will be dead 60 days
from when you bought the phones.
Weirdly, Cingular won't reactivate the "used" SIMs, forcing you to buy
new SIMs from a Cingular store ($20-30 or so) or simply buying new phones
again when you come back...
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