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  1. #1
    Grip
    Guest
    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




    See More: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice




  2. #2
    Todd Allcock
    Guest

    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




  3. #3
    Mike A
    Guest

    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...






  4. #4
    Todd Allcock
    Guest

    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!





  5. #5
    Grip
    Guest

    Re: Canadian Visitor to US needs cell phone advice

    Hi Todd,

    No stupid american joke from me -- thanks for the info.

    Cheers,
    Colin




  6. #6
    joel
    Guest

    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





  7. #7
    Grip
    Guest

    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




  8. #8
    Todd Allcock
    Guest

    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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