Cellular. US provider for Snowbirds?

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by -lenny-

This is exactly what I am looking for. Do you use large amounts of data in both countries? With extended periods out of USA? The fine print says they “may” terminate service if we use too much data in Canada. If you would prefer to pm me, please do. Thank you.

This is a definite concern. As stated in a previous post, we had AT&T anywhere anytime calling on a US plan. AT&T later, without telling us, limited us to the use of AT&T cell towers only . These were our only phones and the closest AT&T cell towers were 40 miles away. We were assured when we got the plan that AT&T had mutual agreements with other cell services so there would be no interrupted service no matter where we were. We could have sued, but that would not solve the problem in the short term. Once they have done it, the user is stuck to the contract termination. Fortunately for us, we didn't have an emergency, we were at the end of the contract and were able to switch services. Also, at that time, we were paying for a block of minutes. In any given month, we used about 25%, yet AT&T was not satisfied.

[rskeans]

I had been an ATT customer for 20+ years. It all went downhill with their merger with Directv. In frustration I cancelled and went with T-Mobile. All was well until we got to our AZ house and there was zero T-Mobile service. Had to cancel and went with Verizon. All is good again. I do think our monthly costs might be higher, but all works and zero frustration.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by rskeans

I had been an ATT customer for 20+ years. It all went downhill with their merger with Directv. In frustration I cancelled and went with T-Mobile. All was well until we got to our AZ house and there was zero T-Mobile service. Had to cancel and went with Verizon. All is good again. I do think our monthly costs might be higher, but all works and zero frustration.

We have T-Mobile and spent a month in Yuma, Casa Grande and Surprise and had no issues.

[AZ Pete]

Originally Posted by rskeans

I had been an ATT customer for 20+ years. It all went downhill with their merger with Directv. In frustration I cancelled and went with T-Mobile. All was well until we got to our AZ house and there was zero T-Mobile service. Had to cancel and went with Verizon. All is good again. I do think our monthly costs might be higher, but all works and zero frustration.

fwiw, Directs service has suffered with the merger too.

[rskeans]

Originally Posted by bikendan

We have T-Mobile and spent a month in Yuma, Casa Grande and Surprise and had no issues.

Yeah, I thought that we'd be OK too. We're in eastern Lake Havasu City against the foothills. The T-Mobile coverage maps showed weaker signal at our location, but should have been OK. When we got here it was a total 'goose egg'. T-Mobile was very understanding as we were not the first. But the Cell is our only phone when in AZ. It has to work.

[rskeans]

Originally Posted by AZ Pete

fwiw, Directs service has suffered with the merger too.

We're with Directv also. It looks like DISH is on the horizon

[spock123]

I am stuck with Direct for better or worse. My Trav’ler would cost to much to change to Dish.

[JohnD10]

Here in Yuma, AZ...T-Mobile and AT&T are spotty at best.

Verizon is the only way to go around here!

Or just about everywhere else, for that matter.

[okie dokie]

Originally Posted by PenJoe

Yes, we have 2 cell phones, a Jetpack and Hum. No land lines in over 13 years. We are extremely cautious about using cell phones for any financial transactions or other banking services. Being new to the Jetpack and the gigs of usage is why we went over. We used the Jetpack for minimal use with the RV and no use since selling the RV. Verizon does not allow you to make changes to a plan with life changes.



We had OnStar with our Silverado and a cell phone, but we rarely used the cell in the truck. We store the Slverado when we travel and disconnect the battery. OnStar closed our account telling us we no longer owned the truck.

Hmmm, it's still in our garage. I sent them emails advising they were wrong, but they never responded. We liked the concept of the Hum device because it took the place of OnStar, but allowed it to be used in the Silverado, the toad, or the RV. The one downside is that Hum documents your highest speed for the month even though it was a matter of seconds doing a pass or getting out of a lane of faster moving traffic. So, if law enforcement or an insurance company had access to this information, all they would be able to determine is that the speed limit was exceeded sometime during a 30 day period. But, they could also construe it as your usual driving habits. It would be like having a field for being parked, but nothing to tell for how long.

PenJoe, have you used the Hum for Emergency Satellite Service? Curious how reliable it is. Thank you

[JohnD10]

Most of the snowbirds from Canada are here in Yuma, AZ now and since I work in the electronics/cellular industry now, plus I live amongst them in a +55 RV park, I've been hearing a lot of them saying that TracPhone Cellular has not been allowing them to call Canada phone numbers.

Not sure why this is happening...but has been happening for a few weeks now.

Can't seem to get any answers from TracPhone about it, either.

Most of the Canadians here are buying prepaid phones for their phone calling needs, along with many getting a landline with their cable TV subscriptions.

[elchilero53]

Originally Posted by rskeans

Yeah, I thought that we'd be OK too. We're in eastern Lake Havasu City against the foothills. The T-Mobile coverage maps showed weaker signal at our location, but should have been OK. When we got here it was a total 'goose egg'. T-Mobile was very understanding as we were not the first. But the Cell is our only phone when in AZ. It has to work.

None of the maps provided by any of the cellular companies are very accurate. They are based on their own mapping of their signal strengths and the variations are not accurately plotted; many of the field strengths are either extrapolated (projected from data) or vary so much due to signal drift that areas that should have signal, don't. We were staying at an RV park on the west mesa of Albuquerque a number of years ago. Even though we could see the Sprint tower close to our location, we had poor signal strength. The Verizon tower was in the same place and our neighbors had no issues at all. Go figure.

One thing we seem to all forget is that we are dealing with advanced radio telephone technology. The same problems that plagued older radio telephones (signal drift, atmospherics, line-of-sight) are still with use. Just have to deal with it.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by elchilero53

None of the maps provided by any of the cellular companies are very accurate. They are based on their own mapping of their signal strengths and the variations are not accurately plotted; many of the field strengths are either extrapolated (projected from data) or vary so much due to signal drift that areas that should have signal, don't. We were staying at an RV park on the west mesa of Albuquerque a number of years ago. Even though we could see the Sprint tower close to our location, we had poor signal strength. The Verizon tower was in the same place and our neighbors had no issues at all. Go figure.

Yup!

When I was in Albuquerque earlier this year (Route 66 RV Resort & Casino on I-40) my Verizon Jetpack was at full bars!

[elchilero53]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

Yup!

When I was in Albuquerque earlier this year (Route 66 RV Resort & Casino on I-40) my Verizon Jetpack was at full bars!

There's good Sprint signal there as well. We were at Enchanted Trails RV Park farther east.

[steven skare]

In the US we use Verizon, but making calls back home in Ontario we sue whats app when we have WIFI for calling USA Mexico and Europe

[iproff]

Originally Posted by steven skare

In the US we use Verizon, but making calls back home in Ontario we sue whats app when we have WIFI for calling USA Mexico and Europe

Get a Magic Jack, we have two one has an Ontario number the other a Florida number. The kids call the Ontario number when we are home or in the US. Both accounts are less that 70.00ca a year. They have an app that allows us to use wifi and make calls all over North America free. When we went to England we could use our cells on wifi to call home for free and receive calls from home also. We will be buying a Jetpack on Monday or Tuesday for 70.00 a month no contract we get unlimited internet when in the US. It will work great in the parks that have really limited wifi internet.

Ken

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by iproff

We will be buying a Jetpack on Monday or Tuesday for 70.00 a month no contract we get unlimited internet when in the US. It will work great in the parks that have really limited wifi internet.

Ken

That is assuming you can find a Verizon store that has any of the Mifi devices available.

They've been in very short supply for several months now.

Even the corporate-owned Verizon store here in town hasn't had any since before Christmas.

[-lenny-]

We bought a Verizon Jetpack in November. It has worked great in most places we have been, but 3 places have been intermittent to non existent. So it isn’t the be all end all. But it’s a damn site better than anything available in Canada. I just wish it worked there.

[iproff]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

That is assuming you can find a Verizon store that has any of the Mifi devices available.

They've been in very short supply for several months now.

Even the corporate-owned Verizon store here in town hasn't had any since before Christmas.

I was able to get one at the Version store on 98 in Lakeland. I paid 199.00 and 70.00 for the first month plus tax no activation fee. It will be 65.00 the next time I buy 30 days worth of wifi. I am getting 30mbps most of the time and my Magic Jack phone worked using the WIFI while traveling. The park we are going to stay in next winter in Bartow has limited wifi this gave me 5 bars most of the time while driving in the park.

[JohnD10]

Originally Posted by iproff

I was able to get one at the Version store on 98 in Lakeland. I paid 199.00 and 70.00 for the first month plus tax no activation fee. It will be 65.00 the next time I buy 30 days worth of wifi. I am getting 30mbps most of the time and my Magic Jack phone worked using the WIFI while traveling. The park we are going to stay in next winter in Bartow has limited wifi this gave me 5 bars most of the time while driving in the park.

Be very careful about leaving your Mifi device plugged in charging a lot.

I got 10 months out of mine before the battery bloated and actually popped the back off of it and the entire device bounced off of the desk and to the floor.

I was unable to purchase a new battery from Verizon, nor were there any aftermarket replacement batteries available anywhere.

I fought with Verizon for two days before they finally decided to cover it under warranty, which basically came down to the fact that Verizon had absolutely no batteries available to sell me, so they replaced my unit with a refurb.