Cellular. US provider for Snowbirds?

-lenny- · 12-10-2018, 01:23 AM

So pretty much every provider in the USA offers unlimited data. Care to guess who does in Canada? Zero. For reference, with a Canadian provider we pay $250 for US/Canada calling and 11GB shared data on two lines. Verizon, T Mobile both cut you off if you spend more than one month outside USA. Have not got definitive answers from Sprint, AT&T. Has anyone had good luck?

Elias · 12-10-2018, 11:33 AM

We ran across this issue when we were with Consumer Cellular and discovered they only provided service in the U.S. Our Canadian friends used Facebook messenger to call us and it worked great. Of course it only worked with our Facebook friends but at least I had a way to communicate if needed help. I’ve changed carriers now.

MR.M · 12-11-2018, 01:37 PM

Verizon has unlimited and US canada calls as part of the plan .

elchilero53 · 12-11-2018, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MR.M

Verizon has unlimited and US canada calls as part of the plan .

Most of the major cellular carriers in the States have this unless it is blocked for some reason. I had AT&T years ago and had no issues visiting Vancouver, B.C. on a business trip. I wasn't charged extra for being out of the US.

-lenny- · 12-11-2018, 04:41 PM

The problem is in the fine print. They have a statement that reads, more or less “if you spend too much time in Canada we will/may terminate service.” So for short trips no problem, but as I can not spend more than 6 months Stateside in a rolling 12 month period, that is my stumbling block.

spock123 · 12-11-2018, 07:20 PM

I have Verizon and last year I was under a different plan and could use as much as I wanted too in Canada. This year a different plan and I am limited to half a gig a day. If I use to much in a thirty day period I can be forced to buy more data. No matter how much data I have left on the month. I only use hotspot data to check my bank and credit cards every day

Threegaleh · 12-12-2018, 05:13 PM

I bought a SIM card at AT&T last feb for around $50, it gave me 6gb data and unlimited calling in us and Canada. For 1 month, then you can renew it again. You still have everything in your phone, contacts etc, but you have a different number which is easy to pass on while your away. Some and cheaper than paying Canadian rates.

JerryR · 12-12-2018, 07:19 PM

So pretty much every provider in the USA offers unlimited data.

There is a gotcha to the unlimited data at least in the case of AT&T. Does not apply to data THROUGH your phone to another device (mobile hotspot). That is limited rather severely.

For that reason, since I often find the campground wi-fi to be all but unusable, I am using an old, old, AT&T plan that gives me up to 30GB per month, no matter what portion of that is from hotspot usage. Also unlimited text (but not imessages) and voice calls.

Jerry

Fluffywhitedogs · 12-12-2018, 08:02 PM

Yea, any phones bought since the end of last year will be unlocked, you can throw an American sim like Smart Talk in. Cdn cell providers must also unlock your phone on request if it is locked to them.

Jim in Halifax · 12-12-2018, 08:42 PM

Just signed up today Unlimited calls and texting Can to US and US to canada +5gigs $95.00 one phone a month

spock123 · 12-12-2018, 10:39 PM

Can you tether your MacBook Pro laptop to a iPhone? What would be great for me would be if I could tether my iPhone to my Jetpack but I can’t. The Jetpack that I have I don’t need but I signed a two year contract for it but it’s only twenty bucks a month.

Scheinin · 12-13-2018, 12:55 AM

I recently came back from a 3 month trip through Canada and Alaska. I had to change my AT&T account to unlimited, which gave me coverage throughout Canada, where there was coverage.

PenJoe · 12-13-2018, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -lenny-

The problem is in the fine print. They have a statement that reads, more or less “if you spend too much time in Canada we will/may terminate service.” So for short trips no problem, but as I can not spend more than 6 months Stateside in a rolling 12 month period, that is my stumbling block.

I had the same problem with AT&T, but I was only in the states. The unlimited plan was "any time from anywhere". Anyway, that was the name of the plan. We got the plan in Florida and were building a house in Wisconsin. On the day we moved in, the phone service stopped. We called AT&T tech support whom boomed in and they found nothing wrong in the service. We tried to update the AT&T plan in WI-guess what, we couldn't do it with a FL exchange. The strange thing was, when I tried to explain what was happening with the service, I called my daughter and the call went through loud and clear. We later learned that a call to tech support will direct via the nearest tower (any provider).

On return to Florida, we went with Verizon. Two month later (didn't have AT&A anymore, we got a letter stating the majority of calls were not using AT&T towers. Consequently, they were limiting our calls to AT&T towers. So much for anytime from anywhere. The other thing that turned us off of AT&T was that we had roll-over minutes-a lot of them. But the fact was, they no longer had that plan and the minutes were lost.

Here is another suggestion. If you have internet service when in the states, you may want to consider a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), a type of landline. Our daughter used Ooma VOIP for business while in Japan. It is about $15/mo. It makes no difference where you are in the world and there is no charge for long distance. You could get a disposable cell for local calls while in the states or get a cell service with no contract.

dahagen · 12-13-2018, 01:07 PM

I have T-mobile 55+ and it works great for me. Use the hotspot (unlimited) in RV parks. I have not been out of the country yet but it says good world-wide. So I assume it will work in Canada. And I saved $40 a month over Verizon.

spock123 · 12-13-2018, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dahagen

I have T-mobile 55+ and it works great for me. Use the hotspot (unlimited) in RV parks. I have not been out of the country yet but it says good world-wide. So I assume it will work in Canada. And I saved $40 a month over Verizon.

Just curious but what speed on the hotspot

dahagen · 12-13-2018, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spock123

Just curious but what speed on the hotspot

It varies depending upon how busy the cell site I am near is. Usually You-Tube stuff does not have delays, but movies do. Right now I am 15 miles from Quartzsite Arizona and as the desert fills with RV's, the speed is slowing down. Speedtest.net shows download of 7 mbps and upload at 2 mbps. However that is twice as fast as my old Verizon Mi-Fi.

spock123 · 12-13-2018, 04:06 PM

I’ll keep my Verizon hotspot or cellular data. I can’t remember the speed ever being that slow anywhere

-lenny- · 12-13-2018, 08:13 PM

I have a prepaid Verizon jetpack with Unlimited for a more reliable data connection while we are south for the winter. Currently in Benson AZ, 4mbps down 11 up.

Our current cell provider (Telus in Canada) I have unlimited talk and text anywhere in North America, two lines is ~$180. My problem is data. We are sharing 11GB between two users($60), and that is not anywhere close to enough (we used 55GB on the jetpack last month). We can't rely on RV park wifi to offset the difference, and while most US providers will work for short trips to Canada, the problem is I have to spend 6-7 months straight up there.

I may have to suck it up and use a Canadian provider, but I am somewhat reluctant as that would add up to just short of $500 per month, for two lines and ~60GB data.

I am sure the reason providers like Verizon and T -Mobile have this fine print, is exactly people like me. I wouldn't mind having a Texas phone number? The providers in Canada don't compete, because they don't have to. Canadians have to over pay for service USA had 20 years ago. It is embarrassing.

spock123 · 12-13-2018, 09:49 PM

I have to much data, I have three phones, one is granddaughter phone when she comes over. The phones 50 gigs of hotspot data, a Jetpack 15 gigs of hotspot data. A iPad that has 22 gigs of cellular data. Three iPhones that two of the phones is 22 gigs of cellular data plus one phone that has 75 gigs of cellular data. My bill is to high. The carriers have us over a barrel, granddaughters phone is sixty bucks a month but if I cancel the phone I only save fifteen bucks a month so a phone that cost fifteen bucks has 15 gigs of hotspot data

PenJoe · 12-14-2018, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -lenny-

I have a prepaid Verizon jetpack with Unlimited for a more reliable data connection while we are south for the winter. Currently in Benson AZ, 4mbps down 11 up.

Our current cell provider (Telus in Canada) I have unlimited talk and text anywhere in North America, two lines is ~$180. My problem is data. We are sharing 11GB between two users($60), and that is not anywhere close to enough (we used 55GB on the jetpack last month). We can't rely on RV park wifi to offset the difference, and while most US providers will work for short trips to Canada, the problem is I have to spend 6-7 months straight up there.

I may have to suck it up and use a Canadian provider, but I am somewhat reluctant as that would add up to just short of $500 per month, for two lines and ~60GB data.

I am sure the reason providers like Verizon and T -Mobile have this fine print, is exactly people like me. I wouldn't mind having a Texas phone number? The providers in Canada don't compete, because they don't have to. Canadians have to over pay for service USA had 20 years ago. It is embarrassing.

We have a Jetpack that we bought for doing on-line banking only-primarily for balancing the check account while on the road. Trying to get an on-line bank statement consumed our data quickly. Verizon notified us that we were near our limit. But, before we could react, we were .15 over our limit. That was a very expensive .15 GB. Verizon does not allow you to drop a device until the contract is up. That is in the next few days. After about 13 years with them, we will be shopping for a new provider. Great service, but virtually no flexibility.

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