# Cell phone use at WDW



## disneyred

from Canada. I am using a rogers cellphone...(but its UNLOCKED)

now can I (when I) travel to disney....

take my same cellphone to disney, buy a sim card (to stick into my cellphone )and prepaid card from an americancompany (verizon, cingular, etc..) and used it that way ?

I thought it would be cheaper as the sim card never expires so,  i can use it
in the states....
what do you think , would this work ?


----------



## ChisJo

You will still have to pay roaming fees...and they are EXPENSIVE!!!

I bought a US calling package for the month when I went last...well worth every penny. You get 100 minutes for US calling, to and from, and well worth it. I wasn't planning on using my phone very much, but did a couple times just to touch base on some topics that email couldn't handle. I think I paid $30 extra dollars, but it I am planning on doing it again this year when I go....that way, people can still get a hold of me and I don't have to worry about getting a RIDICULOUS phone bill.

I don't know how the Sim card would work - I only thought that Sim cards stored the information on your phone so that you can transfer that to a new phone when you upgrade (corret me if I'm wrong???).

Jo


----------



## DiRTyBuNNy

disneyred said:


> from Canada. I am using a rogers cellphone...(but its UNLOCKED)
> 
> now can I (when I) travel to disney....
> 
> take my same cellphone to disney, buy a sim card (to stick into my cellphone )and prepaid card from an americancompany (verizon, cingular, etc..) and used it that way ?
> 
> I thought it would be cheaper as the sim card never expires so,  i can use it
> in the states....
> what do you think , would this work ?



You'd have to go through Cingular or T-Mobile because those are the only two that are GSM (and use a SIMChip in their phones) but I don't see why that wouldn't work. They both offer pre-paid phones.

--Mr. DB


----------



## nosnobunny2006

I don't believe Rogers charges roaming fees anymore.

Beth


----------



## DiRTyBuNNy

nosnobunny2006 said:


> I don't believe Rogers charges roaming fees anymore.
> 
> Beth



Nope, Calls made in the US back to Canada are quite expensive (per this chart at least)

--Mr. DB


----------



## SaraMc

We have rogers and paid a arm and a leg to call home while in WDW to wish DBIL Happy Birthday.   Also the service was not that great.  DH and I were in two diffrent parks calling each other and could barely hear each other through all the static.


----------



## nosnobunny2006

DiRTyBuNNy said:


> Nope, Calls made in the US back to Canada are quite expensive (per this chart at least)
> 
> --Mr. DB



Maybe that's why my charges aren't bad, because I never call back to Canada.

Beth


----------



## disneyred

ok
so if i understand correctly :

1. my scenario would work if I just made local calls within disney ??
that would work out ok if i was just calling among ourselves in disney

BUT
2. still charge roaming calling to canada..


----------



## Bea

We bought and sold a house (in Ontario) while at WDW this past March and are with Rogers.  Roger's charged us a per minute rate (.99/minute) but the roaming charges were $3.00-$4.00 a minute and were charged by either Singular or T-mobile (whoever picked up our signal, I guess  ). At the time, we didn't care what the roaming charges were (we sold our house!!  ) but when the $365.00 bill came, we cared.


----------



## DiRTyBuNNy

disneyred said:


> ok
> so if i understand correctly :
> 
> 1. my scenario would work if I just made local calls within disney ??
> that would work out ok if i was just calling among ourselves in disney
> 
> BUT
> 2. still charge roaming calling to canada..



Nope you would still be roaming. Think about it this way...no matter where you are your phone is still a canadian phone and you'll play applicable charges. I would suggest just buying a cheap wireless phone on a pre-paid plan. You can get them at any WalMart in the US.

--Mr. DB


----------



## fuzzy164

disneyred said:


> from Canada. I am using a rogers cellphone...(but its UNLOCKED)
> 
> now can I (when I) travel to disney....
> 
> take my same cellphone to disney, buy a sim card (to stick into my cellphone )and prepaid card from an americancompany (verizon, cingular, etc..) and used it that way ?
> 
> I thought it would be cheaper as the sim card never expires so,  i can use it
> in the states....
> what do you think , would this work ?



I don't think that would work your sim card stores the information such as your phone number when you activate the phone( Rodgers asks you to provide the p/n when you call and they match it up with the phone via sattlilte correct me if I'm wrong here), phone#'s you save to the sim as well if the phone is stolen they can "blow the sim card" electronically rendering the phone useless (thanks for the lesson DD). As well would you not have to be issued a new phone number by the company that issues the sim card?
 What if you bought one of the pay as u go cheapies from Wal-Mart in the U.S. for 9.99 and bought a sim card up here would it work( hhhhmmmm might have to go the U.S. this weekend and test my theroy).
Bottom line maybe call Rodgers and ask what if....
Have fun.
Fuzzy164


----------



## disneyred

hmmmmmmmmm ok. ... I hear y'all

I thought:
my sim card carried all my personal data...so in this case, my canadian info..
so I would take it out.... BUT buy a new sim card in disney and just plug
it into my current phone to use...as if I was a disney residence..

am I losing it now ???


----------



## F4disneyfan

Your best bet if you really want to do this is to do a google search on cell phone unlocking there are tonnes of sites and they will actually list how you go about this and there are tonnes of places in the Disney area that sell sim cards for unlocked phones then you buy the card pop it in and away you go. A friend of mine has an unlocked phone and has Rogers and Fido on one phone she just swappes out the sim card and she is good to go the phone uses the data stores on the sim it is not stored in the phone.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3504_7-6625604-1.html

http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/unlockingfaq.htm

http://www.cellphonehacks.com/


----------



## disneyred

F4disneyfan said:


> Your best bet if you really want to do this is to do a google search on cell phone unlocking there are tonnes of sites and they will actually list how you go about this and there are tonnes of places in the Disney area that sell sim cards for unlocked phones then you buy the card pop it in and away you go. A friend of mine has an unlocked phone and has Rogers and Fido on one phone she just swappes out the sim card and she is good to go the phone uses the data stores on the sim it is not stored in the phone.
> 
> http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3504_7-6625604-1.html
> 
> http://www.thetravelinsider.info/roadwarriorcontent/unlockingfaq.htm
> 
> http://www.cellphonehacks.com/



ok...guess I was not clear enough,,,if you read my beginning post..
my phone is already UNLOCKED....


----------



## Mickey1Fan

After an almost $400 bill for roaming if I were you I would check with Rogers. Get the information from them and note who you talked to and when.

I was given incorrect information by others. No one on this board, but people I thought knew how roaming worked.


----------



## CanadianGuy

DiRTyBuNNy said:


> Nope you would still be roaming. Think about it this way...no matter where you are your phone is still a canadian phone and you'll play applicable charges. I would suggest just buying a cheap wireless phone on a pre-paid plan. You can get them at any WalMart in the US.
> 
> --Mr. DB



I hate to argue but that's simply not true.  Rogers is the only carrier that fully supports SIM cards in Canada I believe.  Regardless.. Bell/Aliant/Whatever does not support them period.

The SIM or BRAIN of the phone is removed with the SIM card.  There is nothing to identify the phone to the network as Canadian - or anything else - if the SIM card is removed.  This is only true with Rogers.

I haven't seen pre-paid SIM's in the states but they probably exist.  If you can find 'em.. there would be no roaming fees.  

-

Further.. last time I went to Florida (8 weeks ago), I paid Rogers some amount.. I think it was 75$ for 240 minutes over one month or something like that.  They have a U-S Travelling add-on.  The minutes are prorated for however long you have the option on your bill.   

One little catch.  Last year I cancelled the plan the day I got home.  And then some calls I had made when the plan was active, were actually reported to Rogers by the US Carriers on my bill AFTER I shut the plan off.  I called Rogers and these were credited.  

On my most recent trip.. I left it on my bill for 7 days after I got home and then cancelled.  And everything was reported correctly.

And I reiterate, if you use one of these plans, there are NO roaming fees.

Good luck!

Knox


----------



## CanadianGuy

disneyred said:


> hmmmmmmmmm ok. ... I hear y'all
> 
> I thought:
> my sim card carried all my personal data...so in this case, my canadian info..
> so I would take it out.... BUT buy a new sim card in disney and just plug
> it into my current phone to use...as if I was a disney residence..
> 
> am I losing it now ???



You are correct.  If your phone is unlocked and you can locate a carrier with prepaid SIM cards... you're good to go.

There's nothing left in the phone to identify it to the network without the SIM card.  

Put another SIM card in .. and the phone is only identified with the network of that SIM card.. not the previous one.

Your idea will work - IF you can locate the prepaid SIM card.

Google "PREPAID SIM CARD" and you'll get lots to read.

EDIT: T-Mobile offers these.  Rates start at about 20c a minute and go as low as 10c a minute depending on the initial buy-in amount.  

HOWEVER:  Long Distance to Canada is pricey on their plan tho.  40c a minute... and that's on top of their other rate and this is all in US $.

The Rogers plan includes long distance to anywhere in the US or Canada.  

Info on the Rogers plans is available here.  I've used these plans and the 75$ plan for 240 minutes worked like a charm for me.  That works out to 31c a minute.. TOTAL.  In Canadian dollars.

http://www.shoprogers.com/business/...ess_plans.asp?plan=usroamingaddon&cat=1&typ=2

I got the bill for this all my calls both within the US, and to Canada were 0.00$ -- no charge.  I did not exceed the 240 minutes of course.  I was charged 10c to call an 800 number each time I called it.  I knew about this charge, so the 80c wasn't a shocker.

There's no shortage of people who have nightmare stories about using a Canadian cell phone in the states.  Usually this is because they either were horribly mis-informed.. or simply assumed it wouldn't be that expensive.  

If you are a Rogers customer, the U-S Add-On for Roaming GSM customers is a very good deal and it works.

Knox


----------



## Northstar

I think that's the point of getting your phone unlocked... then your phone isn't a Rogers phone unless you use a Rogers SIM card, is it?

Check with the folks who performed the unlocking service (that sounds weird...the phone-unlocking guys) to make sure. They will know because that's their bread-and-butter. But a pay-as-you-go SIM card on North American standard should work fine.


----------



## F4disneyfan

disneyred said:


> ok...guess I was not clear enough,,,if you read my beginning post..
> my phone is already UNLOCKED....



I know your phone is unlocked I posted some links to info for using an unlocked phone the cellphone hacks site will give you all the info you need just look up the section that is your phone type and your model should be listed and you will find all you need to know. As I said the info is saved to the Sim card so an unlocked phone is an easy way to use your phone in the US with a SIM card from a US carrier and a pay as you go card.


----------



## F4disneyfan

CanadianGuy said:


> I hate to argue but that's simply not true.  Rogers is the only carrier that fully supports SIM cards in Canada I believe.  Regardless.. Bell/Aliant/Whatever does not support them period.
> 
> The SIM or BRAIN of the phone is removed with the SIM card.  There is nothing to identify the phone to the network as Canadian - or anything else - if the SIM card is removed.  This is only true with Rogers.
> 
> I haven't seen pre-paid SIM's in the states but they probably exist.  If you can find 'em.. there would be no roaming fees.
> 
> -
> 
> Further.. last time I went to Florida (8 weeks ago), I paid Rogers some amount.. I think it was 75$ for 240 minutes over one month or something like that.  They have a U-S Travelling add-on.  The minutes are prorated for however long you have the option on your bill.
> 
> One little catch.  Last year I cancelled the plan the day I got home.  And then some calls I had made when the plan was active, were actually reported to Rogers by the US Carriers on my bill AFTER I shut the plan off.  I called Rogers and these were credited.
> 
> On my most recent trip.. I left it on my bill for 7 days after I got home and then cancelled.  And everything was reported correctly.
> 
> And I reiterate, if you use one of these plans, there are NO roaming fees.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Knox




Actually it is not a pre paid sim card it is an open sim card or a sim card for whatever carrier that uses GSM in teh US. You then buy a card for said company and they set you up with a phone number and activate the pre paid account. You then take out your US sim card at home and put your Rogers or Fido sim card back into the phone and your rogers or fido service is back up and running.


----------



## CanadianGuy

T-Mobile refers to them as "prepaid SIM's" .. so I used the same language.

Either way I think we fundamentally agree.  Most phones I have ever seen you can only put in one SIM at a time.  So you take out the Rogers SIM and put in whatever you got the US carrier.  Comes with the phone number and everything. No 'activation' required.

From at least one website.. 



> T-Mobile
> Prepaid SIM card: 60 Minutes: $12.99
> Ready sim card for any GSM phone.
> 60 National minute anywhere in the USA, Roaming included. Comes with 10 digit phone number pre activated.  This sim card will work on any phone offered on our website or any unlocked gsm phone.


----------



## DiRTyBuNNy

CanadianGuy said:


> I hate to argue but that's simply not true.  Rogers is the only carrier that fully supports SIM cards in Canada I believe.  Regardless.. Bell/Aliant/Whatever does not support them period.
> 
> The SIM or BRAIN of the phone is removed with the SIM card.  There is nothing to identify the phone to the network as Canadian - or anything else - if the SIM card is removed.  This is only true with Rogers.
> 
> I haven't seen pre-paid SIM's in the states but they probably exist.  If you can find 'em.. there would be no roaming fees.
> 
> -
> 
> Further.. last time I went to Florida (8 weeks ago), I paid Rogers some amount.. I think it was 75$ for 240 minutes over one month or something like that.  They have a U-S Travelling add-on.  The minutes are prorated for however long you have the option on your bill.
> 
> One little catch.  Last year I cancelled the plan the day I got home.  And then some calls I had made when the plan was active, were actually reported to Rogers by the US Carriers on my bill AFTER I shut the plan off.  I called Rogers and these were credited.
> 
> On my most recent trip.. I left it on my bill for 7 days after I got home and then cancelled.  And everything was reported correctly.
> 
> And I reiterate, if you use one of these plans, there are NO roaming fees.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Knox




Um..I have no idea how I'm wrong because I never mentioned anything about Rogers not using SIM Cards. I know they do. I was more commenting on the fact that it's a lot easier to just buy a prepaid phone (or a prepaid SIM) in the US and slap it in the unlocked phone that currently has a Canadian SIM. If you use a Canadian SIM you will pay roaming rates on the American network along with applicable charges from Rogers. What part of that is wrong?

--Mr. DB


----------



## CanadianGuy

DB:

I misunderstood your posting.  And to compound matters my explanation of what I was trying to say was poorly organized.  My fault.

It sounded to me as if you were saying that even if he put in a US SIM card, he'd still be charged roaming rates because his phone was originally Canadian.  Since that's not what you were saying, then of course.. I apologize.

I do think the Rogers roaming package is the easiest of all.  But of course, that's just my opinion... 

Knox


----------



## DiRTyBuNNy

CanadianGuy said:


> DB:
> 
> I misunderstood your posting.  And to compound matters my explanation of what I was trying to say was poorly organized.  My fault.
> 
> It sounded to me as if you were saying that even if he put in a US SIM card, he'd still be charged roaming rates because his phone was originally Canadian.  Since that's not what you were saying, then of course.. I apologize.
> 
> I do think the Rogers roaming package is the easiest of all.  But of course, that's just my opinion...
> 
> Knox




No problem..no hard feeligns..I was just as confused as to what I said that you took issue with so I tried to explain better...as the kids say "it's all good"...

yeah..I would say to anyone that if you're not tech savvy and know how to open your phone and change sim cards and deal with that..just call Rogers and get the roaming plan...

--Mr. DB


----------



## disneyred

thanks to all.... I love you people on these boards, it just opens up 
all sorts of possibilities which is what I wanted to hear...

and yes.. i will be calling Rogers to get more info about the plan you guys mentioned here !

many thanks again.


----------



## nosnobunny2006

CanadianGuy said:


> And I reiterate, if you use one of these plans, there are NO roaming fees.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Knox



Thanks for the back up.     I don't pretend to be a techie, nor do I understand all the ins and outs of cell phone technology.  But I do know how often I use my Rogers cellphone in Florida and I do know that I've never paid more than $25 in extra charges in all the years I've used it.  People quoting hundreds of dollars in charges leaves me completely bewildered.

I have one question for the Rogers add-on plan.  We rarely travel on a calendar month.  More often than not, it's mid-month to mid-month.  Are the Rogers' plans based on a calendar month?  If they are, they wouldn't likely work for us.

Beth


----------



## CanadianGuy

Beth:

I turn mine on for the full month but you don't have to.

Let's assume your billing date is the 1st.  You can start the plan on the 14th .. and you'll get 1/2 of the minutes for that month and be billed 1/2 of the monthly rate

And you can discontinue it on the 15th of the following month.. and you'll get 1/2 of the minutes for that month.. and be billed 1/2 of the monthly rate.

Me?  I'm a nervous sort.. so I turn it on the 1st of the month I'm travelling so I can have the full amount of US minutes for those few days at the end of the month when I'll be there.  And I leave it on the account till about 10 days after I get home.. (to allow for 'late reporting' from US carriers to Rogers).

This works out for me perfectly.  I usually buy the plan I indicated so it's a bump up that month.. but this covers me perfectly.  I took a few 15 or 20 minute calls from work on my last trip and so the 240 minutes was just about perfect.  I had a few left over... but not much.

I'm not fortunate enough to stay down there for a month.. but good on ya!

Knox


----------



## calgarygary

I'm just going to through an idea out there for your consideration.  You are obviously not concerned about using your existing phone number if you are trying to get a replacement sim card so why not just get a phone from Virgin.com.  Their phones start at $19.99 with a $20. credit for time so they are free.  I emailed them asking if they can be sent to a Canadian address but activated for Florida use and was told yes.  It's pay as you go so there will be no surprises after the fact.


----------



## Cixelsyd

I'm heading to DL for five days during the Christmas holidays, and am pondering what I should do for making phone calls. I'm with Rogers Wireless and have been charged ridiculous international roaming rates several times in the past. I try my best not to use my cell whenever I head south, but situations always arise when I just have to make a call with it every now and then.


I'm thinking of getting a prepaid sim card, and am wondering if anybody knows any good deals for it, or if there are better solutions that have worked for you in the past. Thanks very much!


----------



## CanadianGuy

My past three trips I've called Rogers and added the USA Roaming Add-On.  You keep the same plan you have now.. and it adds USA minutes for the month of your trip.  I call to add this at the start of the billing cycle BEFORE my trip and then cancel it at the end of the billing cycle after my trip.  

If I know I didn't use it hardly at all, then I wait 7 days after I get home to cancel it. (so the billing from the states has time to get reported back to Rogers while the plan is still in place)

Those USA ADD ON packages minutes include roaming and long distance.

40$ = 60 minutes
60$ = 120 minutes
75$ = 240 minutes

I've gone with the 60$ option the last few trips and that has completely covered me.

You can just buy a prepaid Trac-Fone in the states for about 25$ that includes about 120 minutes. But I much prefer having my own number from Canada go with me in case anyone needs to reach me in event of an emergency etc.

Knox


----------



## lolinmr

Buy a calling card for $10.00 (1000 minutes)  and use your hotel or pay phone..... unless you need to receve calls while your at the park.


----------



## nosnobunny2006

I also am on a monthly Rogers plan and use my cell phone all the time in Florida.  Granted I'm very conscious that the cash register is ticking and keep my calls short.  But even with that I've never had the outrageous bills that I keep reading about.    My calls cost approx. $1 per minute.  I can handle that.

Beth


----------



## ChisJo

We opted to get a calling card right through our home phone company. The cost was $10 for prepaid minutes, it is charged right to our phone bill, the minutes never expire, and the cost for US to Canada calling is 3.3 cents per minute. I figure that's a great deal. We will have our cell phones with us to check the missed calls. We can check our voicemail using the calling card, and if the call warrants a return, than we will be able to do so without ridiculous charges. We too are with Rogers for our cell phone provider, and just to add enough minutes to make it worth it for our upcoming trip with not worth the money (our monthly billing fell halfway in between our trip, and to add US minutes, we would have had to do it to BOTH months....not worth the $80, considering we can get WAY more minutes through our own phone company!).

Also, since the minutes never expire, I am confident that we will have these for a long time. We don't actually get a calling card that we would probably lose or misplace, just a phone number that we have to call to input our phone number and pin, and then off we go!


----------



## Cixelsyd

Thanks you guys for all the helpful suggestions! I'll probably get a calling card with my home phone company, and resist receiving or making calls on my cell while at the park. Plus, it might just make a more enjoyable disney immersion experience to cut down on all the phone calls!


----------



## disneyfan2

ChisJo said:


> We opted to get a calling card right through our home phone company. The cost was $10 for prepaid minutes, it is charged right to our phone bill, the minutes never expire, and the cost for US to Canada calling is 3.3 cents per minute.



Do you mind stating what cell compnay you use?  Will they charge you roaming fees for each call.  When we went last year,  our cell co. said the roaming fees are $1.50(+ minutes ) they suggested a calling card as well but said the roaming fees are still high.


----------



## TimNDansMom

We've used T-Mobile Pay As You Go in the past...just a cheap phone bought at Walmart in Detroit before a trip. For $25 it came with 30 minutes/60 days if I remember correctly.

For a recent trip we bought a Tracfone for $15 at Walmart in Detroit which came with 20 minutes total during online activation at tracfone.com (which we did in our hotel room with the laptop) and bought a $10/30min card to add to that, which also adds 45 day to the service end date.  You can make international calls for the same price as calling in the US by calling a 1-800 number first or by assigning up to 10 1-800 numbers to your most dialed international numbers, for faster dialing, which is explained on their website.  So DH programmed the phone with all the numbers we might need here at home, into the address book.  It was nice to be able to call home and not see all the minutes eaten up because we were calling Canada.  I returned to Florida this month and just bought another $10 card to add to what was left from the previous trip last month.  The desk top tells you how many minutes you have left and when the service end date for the phone is if you don't top it up.  Right now our service end date is March 10, 2008.


----------



## nosnobunny2006

TimNDansMom said:


> We've used T-Mobile Pay As You Go in the past...just a cheap phone bought at Walmart in Detroit before a trip. For $25 it came with 30 minutes/60 days if I remember correctly.
> 
> For a recent trip we bought a Tracfone for $15 at Walmart in Detroit which came with 20 minutes total during online activation at tracfone.com (which we did in our hotel room with the laptop) and bought a $10 card to add to that.  You can make international calls for the same price as calling in the US by calling a 1-800 number first or by assigning up to 10 1-800 numbers to your most dialed international numbers, for faster dialing, which is explained on their website.  So DH programmed the phone with all the numbers we might need here at home, into the address book.  It was nice to be able to call home and not see all the minutes eaten up because we were calling Canada.  I returned to Florida this month and just bought another $10 card to add to what was left from the previous trip last month.  The desk top tells you how many minutes you have left and when the expiry date for the phone is if you don't top it up.



We considered this option before we realized how affordable my regular cell phone was.  The only catch is that nobody at home knows the phone number with the throw-away phones.  While it may work for us calling them, nobody at home would know how to get in touch with us.  Hmmm.... that might not be such a bad idea after all.  

Beth


----------



## TimNDansMom

LOL Beth, I know what you mean, but we emailed the phone number to just a few family members, we thought should have it and if anyone else wanted to reach us, they could go through them.  We bought it mainly to keep in touch with the boys at home and if DH went off golfing so we could meet each other later.  Plus DH and I were able to keep in touch when I went back this month with a friend.


----------



## kellyla

We bought a Tracfone alsn their website you can get a Canadian phone number that family and friends can use to call you after you register your phone..They phone the local number(I got a Hamilton number)it then in turns rings at your Tracfone number.That way there is no long distance charges(great for when my boys would call us).I dont have to top up my phone until March 2008 and they are always sending me bonus codes to get extra time for free.


----------



## ChisJo

disneyfan2 said:


> Do you mind stating what cell compnay you use?  Will they charge you roaming fees for each call.  When we went last year,  our cell co. said the roaming fees are $1.50(+ minutes ) they suggested a calling card as well but said the roaming fees are still high.



it's not with my cell phone provider (that's rogers), it's with my home phone provider (in alberta, i use shaw). The calling card is directly through the home phone company. if we use the calling card, we will use a pay phone. I agree with one poster....not having the use of the cell phone while on my trip will probably make for a better trip anyways!


----------



## mousy_in_canada

how much does Tracfone charge per minute? Is it for incoming and outgoing as well? This seems like a good deal!


----------



## PoohsHubby

Just as an FYI, if you are using a calling card and use it in your room, they will charge you 75 cents per call.  What I did in September was use the payphone in the lobby and use the 1-800 number that came with the card.


----------



## encinc

Does anyone know whether there is a Walmart near the airport in Buffalo? Do Tracfones have to be purchased at Walmart, or are they available elsewhere?

We were planning to travel cellphone-less because of how ridiculously expensive the roaming fees are on our cellphone plan (upwards of $3 per minute). If we can get a Tracfone for under $25, I'd love to go that route, just for the peace of mind of having a cell phone in case of emergency.


----------



## mousy_in_canada

I am not 100% sure where you are staying before flying out, but if you go to walmart.com and put in store locator and use zip 14225 you will find some, I know there is quite a few around that area!


----------



## TimNDansMom

I just checked the Walmart website and there's one off Walden Galleria Rd on the opposite side of the I 90 from Walden Galleria Mall.  The website says they have Tracfones in stock.  We have the C 139 shown there at $14.88

One thing, at the Walmart we went to in Detroit, they didn't have the 30min cards out on the floor in the electronic dept. with the other cards and phones, it was at the cashier's counter in the dept.


----------



## encinc

Thanks for the info! We fly out next Saturday, so I hope they have them then.


----------



## seashoreCM

If there are courtesy phones with free local calls where you will be, then you could buy an ordinary calling card with no per-call surcharge from a place such as Rite Aid or Walgreens or even Walmart.

This strategy does not work with Charge A Call phones or pay phones because there is always surcharge equivalent to something like 20 minutes for each call.

Watch the expiration date, or (in your case) find a card with reasonable per minute rates for intra-U.S. and intra-Canada and U.S.-Canada calls which you can finish up after you get back home.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm


----------



## JenH1969

I guess I just buy a package from my provider (Bell) but it is $40 for 100 minutes (if I remember correctly)- seems a bit crazy- 

What have you done? 

TIA, Jen


----------



## Ham Ham

Less than $0.40 a minute not bad. If I'm not mistaken it also includes any long distance in North America.

I bought US minutes through Rogers last month $40 for 60 minutrs.

Here's my first portable bag cell phone supplied by my employer back in '88.


----------



## jtdl

Ham Ham said:


> Less than $0.40 a minute not bad. If I'm not mistaken it also includes any long distance in North America.
> 
> I bought US minutes through Rogers last month $40 for 60 minutrs.
> 
> Here's my first portable bag cell phone supplied by my employer back in '88.



I have a Solo phone and I buy the prepaid cards.  Does anyone know if you can buy US minutes for them? I called to enquire why the phone doesn't work as soon as I cross over into Michigan and they told me I would have to register a credit card on my account to enable the roam function and then I would be billed $2.99/minute!!!!!     So I would definitely love to be able to pay $40 for 60 or 100 minutes.


----------



## DisFan2

I bought a Tracfone for $14.99 once we got to the US.  Bought prepaid cards and used it as needed.  After the first week, I set up automatic payments via my Paypal account.  The phone doesn't work here in Canada, but it was still a lot cheaper than using my Canadian phone in the US.

I mapped out a Walgreens store before we left (we bought it just outside Binghamton, NY), but it turns out I didn't really need to worry; you can't throw a rock without hitting a "pay as you go" cell phone in the US!


----------



## Kurby

i was wondering the same thing - when we went down in May last year Cassandra was only 7 months old and my mother made me call back every night while travelling 

some nights i called collect from the hotel and other times i used my cell phone - a month later mom got a bill for over 200 bucks and my cell bill wasn't far off.

the hotel collect calls were charged at over 3 bucks a minute - good lord - i complained to one hotel and said that with all these 1010 numbers who can give you 1-5 cents a minute their $3+ was robbery.  not to mention they didn't tell me and there was no written notice on how much we would be charged.

i was wondering about buying a pay as you go in buffalo the next time we cross the boarder but would love to know what the rates back to Canada would be if i did.

what are the cell companies down there - maybe i'll look up the rates.


----------



## Kurby

i just looked up a few places and found this from T-Moble

Call Canada for just $0.09 per minute.
T-Mobile is your Canadian connection. For just $4.99 per month, you can make unlimited calls to Canada for only $0.09 per minute. That's a savings of $0.11 per minute over our standard rates!



but i can't see if that means that you have to sign up for a year contract - i'm still looking


----------



## drag n' fly

JenH1969 said:


> I guess I just buy a package from my provider (Bell) but it is $40 for 100 minutes (if I remember correctly)- seems a bit crazy-
> 
> What have you done?
> 
> TIA, Jen



That's what we do (Bell) but remember that includes roaming charges so that is actually a good deal. You can easily rack up 40 bucks pretty quick otherwise.


----------



## JenH1969

I just checked Bell online again- the info I saw before (couple of months ago at most) is gone- there was a plan for all the states or Florida only for snowbirds.

I have a calling card to call anywhere in North America- my problem won't be calling home

I wanted to be able to call others in my family and my friends who are going  with us while at Disney- right in the parks while were are separated- to meet up kind of thing- 

So you can buy a pay as you go for $15 - that includes the phone?  We would have to buy two per family probably but not bad- how many minutes do you get?  Are there trusted sites to view?

Thanks, Jen


----------



## jtdl

JenH1969 said:


> I just checked Bell online again- the info I saw before (couple of months ago at most) is gone- there was a plan for all the states or Florida only for snowbirds.
> 
> I have a calling card to call anywhere in North America- my problem won't be calling home
> 
> I wanted to be able to call others in my family and my friends who are going  with us while at Disney- right in the parks while were are separated- to meet up kind of thing-
> 
> So you can buy a pay as you go for $15 - that includes the phone?  We would have to buy two per family probably but not bad- how many minutes do you get?  Are there trusted sites to view?
> 
> Thanks, Jen



My husband's cell is with Bell Mobility and I took his phone the last time I went to Michigan and he had my Solo.  We texted back and forth (my Solo has free texting anywhere so it didn't cost anything for him to text from Canada to his phone while it was in Michigan, but my Solo phone will not work at all in Michigan) and it ended up costing the same per text message from Michigan to Canada as always (10 cents each). We just got his bill last week.  So if you are with Bell Mobility you can probably still text each other while there for no extra cost.


----------



## debbiet1

Because we arent driving this time  we are going to pick up a phone card in florida  10.00 for 1000 minutes.  Give the ones that need our phone number incase of emergencies the phone number of the hotel. Otherwise just use the calling card to call and say merry christmas.


----------



## Ham Ham

debbiet1 said:


> Because we arent driving this time  we are going to pick up a phone card in florida  10.00 for 1000 minutes.  Give the ones that need our phone number incase of emergencies the phone number of the hotel. Otherwise just use the calling card to call and say merry christmas.



$0.01 a minute? That's pretty good. Who makes that calling card?


_"Pennsylvania 6 5000 please"_


----------



## CanadianGuy

I just signed up for the Rogers US Roaming Add-On for the month of December.  This includes roaming, per minute and long distance charges (even to Canada!).

I got 240 minutes for 75$.  Roughly 0.31c a minute.  I can live with that and know I have WAY more than enough minutes no matter what!

Knox


----------



## Mickey&JoshNut

jtdl said:


> I have a Solo phone and I buy the prepaid cards.  Does anyone know if you can buy US minutes for them? I called to enquire why the phone doesn't work as soon as I cross over into Michigan and they told me I would have to register a credit card on my account to enable the roam function and then I would be billed $2.99/minute!!!!!     So I would definitely love to be able to pay $40 for 60 or 100 minutes.



I would call Bell again and inquire.....I have a Solo phone and use prepaid cards....I have the roaming feature on my phone and didn't have to register a credit card.....I know I can't be billed $2.99 a minute because I check my balance after each call and it doesn't seem to go down very quickly...now I don't use my phone all the time...only when it is necessary.


----------



## debbiet1

I'll have to get the name of it from friends of ours.  they were the ones telling us about it.


----------



## drag n' fly

JenH1969 said:


> I just checked Bell online again- the info I saw before (couple of months ago at most) is gone- there was a plan for all the states or Florida only for snowbirds.
> 
> I have a calling card to call anywhere in North America- my problem won't be calling home
> 
> I wanted to be able to call others in my family and my friends who are going  with us while at Disney- right in the parks while were are separated- to meet up kind of thing-
> 
> So you can buy a pay as you go for $15 - that includes the phone?  We would have to buy two per family probably but not bad- how many minutes do you get?  Are there trusted sites to view?
> 
> Thanks, Jen



It is still available I used it in Disneyland last week. You just have to call them if your still interested.


----------



## encinc

My cell phone is with Telus. I remember that in the past roaming fees were exhorbitant. I checked the website today, and it looks like we'd be paying 95 cents a minute in roaming charges and 50 cents per minute long distance charges. For a few quick calls while we're away, that's not bad. I wouldn't want to use it much, but at least I know it's a possibility without breaking the bank.


----------



## Jedi_Galvatron

Picking up a US version of a Virgin Mobile phone was our solution.  The phone itself cost us 15.99 at a wal-mart and came with 5 dollars of calling time.  I add cards to it whenever I travel to the us, and can use paypal to add time if I want.  Calling back to Canada is cheap (forget how much but much cheaper then using my Canadian phone there) and gave me the opportunity to text friends that traveled with us if we got split up.


----------



## dhluvsDisney

Tracfone fan over here!  We have 2 and it's a great way to communicate!


----------



## PrincessNED

just ordered 2 virgin mobile phones off their website -  $40 plus taxes got us 2 free phones & $ 20 of talk/text time per phone .  $0.10 per min between the phones or $0.10 per text . Should do us for the week we are there.

and free delivery to the resort.  They'll be waiting for us when we arrive next weekend !

Seemed better than the paying our two cel providers ( dw's phone is work on another carrier) either roaming or the packaged programs.


----------



## phillipsphamily

I just added the 100 US minutes to our Bell cell phone for our upcoming
trip.  It is $40.00 which includes your long distance and roaming.  Much 
cheaper than not adding the plan at all.  The customer service person that
I spoke with said that you can also text while you're there which is a lot
cheaper than talking, she said that the regular texting fees apply.
We have used our cell phone in the states in the past without adding the
US plan and the roaming fees are absolutely ridiculous!
You can add it for 1 month and they will automatically remove it from your
plan the following month so you won't have to worry about forgetting to call
and being charged for it when your trip is over.


----------



## wyesguy

Texting worked for me. My wife and I are on Bell. We have unlimited texts and that is what we use.


----------



## jtdl

Mickey&JoshNut said:


> I would call Bell again and inquire.....I have a Solo phone and use prepaid cards....I have the roaming feature on my phone and didn't have to register a credit card.....I know I can't be billed $2.99 a minute because I check my balance after each call and it doesn't seem to go down very quickly...now I don't use my phone all the time...only when it is necessary.



Nope, as soon as I get on the bridge going into Michigan my service gets picked up by a US network and it says I am not a registered customer.  My Solo service does not carry over to the US.  When I was with Bell Mobility my phone worked over there, but not Solo.  

I just put in an email to them asking if I can buy prepaid cards from the US carrier in order to get my phone to work.  Hopefully that'll work.


----------



## jtdl

Mickey&JoshNut said:


> I would call Bell again and inquire.....I have a Solo phone and use prepaid cards....I have the roaming feature on my phone and didn't have to register a credit card.....I know I can't be billed $2.99 a minute because I check my balance after each call and it doesn't seem to go down very quickly...now I don't use my phone all the time...only when it is necessary.



This is the email I received back from Solo customer service:

"In response to your question, in order to use your prepaid phone in the 
USA, you absolutely need your credit card and a top up method in the 
account since no prepaid card compatible with Solo are sold down there. 
You will also need to leave the credit card in your account for at least
90 days after you came back from your trip.

When you use your phone in the USA, you can be charged up to $3/min for 
your calls and web browser, your text messages remains free as long as 
you send anywhere in North America."


----------



## who's ur daddy?

PrincessNED said:


> just ordered 2 virgin mobile phones off their website -  $40 plus taxes got us 2 free phones & $ 20 of talk/text time per phone .  $0.10 per min between the phones or $0.10 per text . Should do us for the week we are there.
> 
> and free delivery to the resort.  They'll be waiting for us when we arrive next weekend !
> 
> Seemed better than the paying our two cel providers ( dw's phone is work on another carrier) either roaming or the packaged programs.



Great deal!

We did not know about this and bought a WalMart AT&T prepaid phone (trusted the name for some reason) for $18 plus taxes with a $10 credit.  So net cost would have be 8 bucks.  Local calls were $0.10 per minute and I think it was $0.50 to Canada.  The phone is garbage, but what can you expect for 8 bucks?  LOL.


----------



## myasmum

DisFan2 said:


> I bought a Tracfone for $14.99 once we got to the US.  Bought prepaid cards and used it as needed.  After the first week, I set up automatic payments via my Paypal account.  The phone doesn't work here in Canada, but it was still a lot cheaper than using my Canadian phone in the US.



We bought the same phone from Wal*Mart when we got into the US even though it doesnt work here in Canada its good as hope whenever we go back to the US we can just buy another card or something but yeah alot cheaper and I got to call Canada as wel when I needed it


----------



## dans0202

PrincessNED
I spent some time on the Virgin Mobile site and I see the 10/20 plan which is the plan I think you are referring to.
Which phones did you purchase? or was there a different deal you purchased under?
I assume after the 90 days the phone goes dead and you just pay to reactivate it the next time you are in the US?
Thanks
Dan


----------



## PrincessNED

dans0202 said:


> PrincessNED
> I spent some time on the Virgin Mobile site and I see the 10/20 plan which is the plan I think you are referring to.
> Which phones did you purchase? or was there a different deal you purchased under?
> I assume after the 90 days the phone goes dead and you just pay to reactivate it the next time you are in the US?
> Thanks
> Dan



yes Dan the 10/20 plan is the one we are using.  got two of the phones that were offered "free" with $20 of time each. Sorry,  can't remember which model -  speaker phone model I think  . 

 All our calls will be between the two phones while we are in the parks so that should be 200 mins on each phone.  PLenty for our use and much better than the $ 2.50 a  min per phone our Cdn phone companies would each charge .  I also saw the 90 day aspect but I'm just presuming you could reactivate with a fee/ more minutes etc.  Not a big concern for us as we are not in the States too much.  Shipping was free -  And according to Fedex they were delivered yesterday to the resort and awaiting our arrival.

regards,


----------



## beachwarmer

PrincessNED said:


> just ordered 2 virgin mobile phones off their website -  $40 plus taxes got us 2 free phones & $ 20 of talk/text time per phone .  $0.10 per min between the phones or $0.10 per text . Should do us for the week we are there.
> 
> and free delivery to the resort.  They'll be waiting for us when we arrive next weekend !
> 
> Seemed better than the paying our two cel providers ( dw's phone is work on another carrier) either roaming or the packaged programs.



I thought this was a great idea.  I just tried to order two phones to have shipped to my resort but I could not do it with a credit card with a non US billing address.  I called Virgin Mobile and they said I needed to do it with a retail store location.  Can you tell me how you did it?  

My back up plan is to go to the Virgin Mega Store at Downtown Disney to get one without a US billing address credit card.

Thanks for the great idea!  Have a great trip.


----------



## PrincessNED

beachwarmer said:


> I thought this was a great idea.  I just tried to order two phones to have shipped to my resort but I could not do it with a credit card with a non US billing address.  I called Virgin Mobile and they said I needed to do it with a retail store location.  Can you tell me how you did it?
> 
> My back up plan is to go to the Virgin Mega Store at Downtown Disney to get one without a US billing address credit card.
> 
> Thanks for the great idea!  Have a great trip.



Sorry I forgot to mention-  I used my  Paypal account  to make the payment and used the resort we are staying at  for the address -  seemed to work fine that way cause they took my $ and the phones are at the resort.


----------



## beachwarmer

PrincessNED said:


> Sorry I forgot to mention-  I used my  Paypal account  to make the payment and used the resort we are staying at  for the address -  seemed to work fine that way cause they took my $ and the phones are at the resort.



Thanks.  I don't have paypal and since we leave on Monday I will have to stick with getting the phones when I get there.


----------



## Northstar

Just a slightly off-topic warning for those of you who are planning to roam with your Canadian phone... I found that my phone needed charging every other day! Someone told me this was because my phone kept looking for a signal instead of quietly humming along minding its own business like usual. I don't know if that's true, but I know the phone was eating battery charge.

Anybody else find this?


----------



## goldwest

We just received 2 phones from Virginmobileusa.com for 9.99 each which includes $10.00 phone credit and they charge 10 cents a minute no long distance no roaming. You need pay pal. We shipped to an american address - not sure if that is necessary. Thought some of you might be interested.


----------



## mjf

who's ur daddy? said:


> Great deal!
> 
> We did not know about this and bought a WalMart AT&T prepaid phone (trusted the name for some reason) for $18 plus taxes with a $10 credit.  So net cost would have be 8 bucks.  Local calls were $0.10 per minute and I think it was $0.50 to Canada.  The phone is garbage, but what can you expect for 8 bucks?  LOL.



We just got back from 10 days at WDW.  Thanks to the info in this thread, we also bought a pair of the AT&T phones for $20 each which included $10 of airtime.

The phones worked out great.  They cost $1 per day of use and all local calls made between the phones (or all AT&T customers I think) are free!  So the $10 of airtime was all we needed for our entire trip.

We had been planning to use 2-way radios but this was much better.

MJF


----------



## wannago2disney

PrincessNED said:


> just ordered 2 virgin mobile phones off their website -  $40 plus taxes got us 2 free phones & $ 20 of talk/text time per phone .  $0.10 per min between the phones or $0.10 per text . Should do us for the week we are there.
> 
> and free delivery to the resort.  They'll be waiting for us when we arrive next weekend !
> 
> Seemed better than the paying our two cel providers ( dw's phone is work on another carrier) either roaming or the packaged programs.



Hi!,  Just wondering how this worked out for you?... and if you would do it again?  Thanks for any info you have. 

Tosh


----------



## PrincessNED

wannago2disney said:


> Hi!,  Just wondering how this worked out for you?... and if you would do it again?  Thanks for any info you have.
> 
> Tosh



Worked really good -  only problem was the special pricing  program changed and they shorted me $10 a phone -  not really an issue -  at 10 cents per minute we still had tons of minutes left on each phone -  we used them to find the inlaws through the day 

Only took about 30 minutes to activate both phones etc once we got them.

Use paypal to pay for the phones -  and put your address when signing up as the resort you are staying at.  

now if I could only convince my MIL to keep the phone on ( she still had the idea there was roaming with an Orlando phone #)


----------



## PrincessNED

ps,.  I'd do this again in a heartbeat, real easy


----------



## wannago2disney

PrincessNED said:


> ps,.  I'd do this again in a heartbeat, real easy



thanks for the info.  I have put the idea in my husbands head and he is very interested.  I will let him roll with it now as he is the gadget guru of our family and again thanks it is a great money saving idea...was having them shipped to the resort easy?  any issues claiming them?  how long ahead of time did you order them?

Tosh


----------



## CindyCan

I've looked at the websites for our cellphones, and this is what I *think* for our trip (leaving in 3 days!!):

-Our Telus pay-as-you-go phone won't work.
-Our Fido pay-as-you-go phone WILL work at $2.50 Cdn per minute.

I'm hoping there's a DIS'er here that can confirm for me that the Fido phone will work:  we are NOT on a monthly plan.

I'd hate to get to the US & find out it doesn't work if we have an emergency.  I have the option of taking my mom's Bell Mobility WITH a monthly plan if my Fido won't work.

Thanks!!


----------



## myasmum

Fido pay as you go will NOT work, before I called about this and I had to change to a monthly plan just to go to the US BUT still it was too expensive to use, we went into Wal*Mart and bought a TracePhone I think it was less then $20 and you can buy pay as you go calling cards to use for emergency which we did and even to call Canada we used it and it was great, plus we have it for when ever we go to the US again


----------



## CindyCan

How long ago did you check?  I'm just wondering because on the Fido website it says "Automatic access to U.S Roaming with prepaid service", and it does seem to be new.

Thanks for the idea of picking up a US phone.  I think that's a great plan if the Fido won't work.  How do you set it up once you buy it, and how long can you keep it without putting prepaid cards on it before they cut it off completely?


----------



## polyhm83

My daughter has a pay as you go phone from rogers, it did not work from the states, but her text messaging did work from West virginia and pennsylvania.
I also believe that 911 will work for emergencies.


----------



## jtdl

I have Solo pay as you go and must add a credit card to my acc't for automatic top-up before they will enable roaming, which will allow it to work in the US.  It will cost up to $2.99/minute.  My plan with Solo includes free text messaging throughout North America and they tell me that the texting will still be free - no charge for roaming unless I make/answer a voice call - but a credit card has to be on the acc't.


----------



## OntFamily

We bought two Tracphones @ Wal-Mart for $19 each (though, now I see the cost has dropped to between $10 and $15 for each phone).


The per minute cost is $0.15 (which includes calling most countries in the world).  

It's a great way to keep in contact @ WDW (especially if one person goes for fast passes @ Splash Mountain, while the other person is in tomorrowland).


----------



## CanadianGuy

Bumping this up for the benefit of new posters.


----------



## CanadianGuy

Also bumping this one up for new members.


----------



## CanadianGuy

Bumping up.. ... we really need a cell phone sticky..


----------



## CanadianGuy

I bumped up a bunch of previous threads about cell phone solutions while travelling in Florida.. 

We really need a sticky for these things.

Thanks,

Knox


----------



## CindyCan

Okay, so this is the FIFTH thread on cells.  We really do need a sticky.  Now I'm interested in the US prepaid phones, but no one really answered how to do it exactly when you're down there.  Does it matter what phone # you get if you buy 2 & want to call back & forth to each other (we don't need to call Canada).  For instance, do we need to ask for an Orlando phone #?

I will buy the phones on the road to Florida & have internet with my laptop the night before we hit Orlando.

(Another sticky we need is "flying out of Buffalo or Detroit"; even though we don't fly!)


----------



## CanadianGuy

For simplicity sake.. Get 2 x tracfones with Orlando numbers.. that will make it nice and easy.

You can activate them on the internet thru the Tracfone website.. or you can call a special number to activate them.. 

More information available here..
http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp


----------



## wee-haggis

encinc said:


> Does anyone know whether there is a Walmart near the airport in Buffalo? Do Tracfones have to be purchased at Walmart, or are they available elsewhere?
> 
> We were planning to travel cellphone-less because of how ridiculously expensive the roaming fees are on our cellphone plan (upwards of $3 per minute). If we can get a Tracfone for under $25, I'd love to go that route, just for the peace of mind of having a cell phone in case of emergency.



There is a Walmart about 10-15 mnnutes from the airport (not far from Walden Galleria).

As far as cellphones are concerned,if they are used to call folk back home .....(in my humble opinion)it makes no sense to use a cell phone. A $10 phone card bought in Loblaws got me over 400 minutes of calls to Canada. As previously mentioned the lobby's are the best (non chargeable-on-site)locations to call from to avoid the toll fee.If you staying offsite,the majority of hotels (at least the ones I've been in) are free calls.


----------



## OntFamily

If you get a TracPhone, there is no price difference between local or long distance calls.  Each costs the exact same.


We've bought 2 phones.  One with a Buffalo number, and the other a Orlando number.  This make it easy to call the phone from either a Buffalo or Orlando hotel - useful for both WDW and those cross border shopping trips.


----------



## myasmum

CindyCan said:


> How long ago did you check?  I'm just wondering because on the Fido website it says "Automatic access to U.S Roaming with prepaid service", and it does seem to be new.
> 
> Thanks for the idea of picking up a US phone.  I think that's a great plan if the Fido won't work.  How do you set it up once you buy it, and how long can you keep it without putting prepaid cards on it before they cut it off completely?




Well its been awhile since I checked as since then I have had monthly plan and wasnt worth using it in the US (so not sure about this new pay as you go thing maybe call them up to make sure)

The TracePhone is great the calling cards I think expire every 6 months IF you dont use it as we bought one in July/Aug and it was to expire in Dec so I think thats better then the Canadian ones LoL and as others said no difference calling locally or long distance I just used up more mintues when we left Florida as I had activated it with a Florida # and we were driving so one we left it was like a tiny bit more per min but not a HUGE difference, we picked it up in Georgia as finally wanted to stop at a Wal*Mart just to take a look and didnt activate it til we got there.  

Here is thier web page http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp I bought and activated my phone in July and it will deactivate Feb 2008 so when I go to the US I will have to reacivate it and I havent bought any prepaid cards since Aug

If anything else just e-mail me myasmum@hotmail.com 
Robyn


----------



## PrincessNED

wannago2disney said:


> thanks for the info.  I have put the idea in my husbands head and he is very interested.  I will let him roll with it now as he is the gadget guru of our family and again thanks it is a great money saving idea...was having them shipped to the resort easy?  any issues claiming them?  how long ahead of time did you order them?
> 
> Tosh



I ordered about a week in advance -  They were delivered in 2 business days and I received a Fed ex tracking # from virgin.

Only problem with picking them up was we were at CSR -  They got delivered to the business centre and unfortunately they closed before we arrived at the resort at 9:00pm.  had to wait til the next morning to pick up -  no hassle at all.


----------



## PrincessNED

CindyCan said:


> Okay, so this is the FIFTH thread on cells.  We really do need a sticky.  Now I'm interested in the US prepaid phones, but no one really answered how to do it exactly when you're down there.  Does it matter what phone # you get if you buy 2 & want to call back & forth to each other (we don't need to call Canada).  For instance, do we need to ask for an Orlando phone #?
> 
> I will buy the phones on the road to Florida & have internet with my laptop the night before we hit Orlando.
> 
> (Another sticky we need is "flying out of Buffalo or Detroit"; even though we don't fly!)




When I did it I just put the zip code of the hotel in and they assigned phone numbers for that area-  ie I have 2 phones now with orlando ph #'s.  I guess if you were driving down you could just as easily buy once you get there, I purchased on the net with delivery to the resort as we were using ME and I did not want to chance not having them and having to run to virgin mega store immediately after arriving.


----------



## wee-haggis

myasmum said:


> Well its been awhile since I checked as since then I have had monthly plan and wasnt worth using it in the US (so not sure about this new pay as you go thing maybe call them up to make sure)
> 
> The TracePhone is great the calling cards I think expire every 6 months IF you dont use it as we bought one in July/Aug and it was to expire in Dec so I think thats better then the Canadian ones LoL and as others said no difference calling locally or long distance I just used up more mintues when we left Florida as I had activated it with a Florida # and we were driving so one we left it was like a tiny bit more per min but not a HUGE difference, we picked it up in Georgia as finally wanted to stop at a Wal*Mart just to take a look and didnt activate it til we got there.
> 
> Here is thier web page http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp I bought and activated my phone in July and it will deactivate Feb 2008 so when I go to the US I will have to reacivate it and I havent bought any prepaid cards since Aug
> 
> If anything else just e-mail me myasmum@hotmail.com
> Robyn



the calling cards expire 6 months from the time you first use it.


----------



## PrincessNED

I just checked virgin mobile site and they don't have long distance charges for domestic (u.s.) calls -   so it looks like the area code is actually irrelevant


----------



## CindyCan

PrincessNED said:


> I just checked virgin mobile site and they don't have long distance charges for domestic (u.s.) calls -   so it looks like the area code is actually irrelevant




That's good to know.  I appreciate all the info because I'm running out of time to do research!!  Off to look at the tracphone website now....


----------



## biggroofy

CanadianGuy said:


> For simplicity sake.. Get 2 x tracfones with Orlando numbers.. that will make it nice and easy.
> You can activate them on the internet thru the Tracfone website.. or you can call a special number to activate them..
> More information available here..
> http://www.tracfone.com/index.jsp



Hello, I'm from Toronto and I am trying to understand how this works. I am traveling with my parents and would need two phones - just to communicate with them (e.g. when we go to park while they go to outlets), no need to call Canada (but good to give this 407 number to colleagues so they can call me in case of emergency). Hopefully the phone works in Orlando + Port Canaveral. 

If I am on the right channel and go with Tracefone - do I have to buy phones from them, or just Airtime (SIM Card)? 
I have unlocked GSM phones and proved to work when I was in Asia (Hong Kong) - I just took out the Rogers SIM card and inserted a prepaid SIM card from Hong Kong. 

Looks that they do not ship to Canada. So our best bet is to have it shipped to WDW resort? Are we able to know the phone numbers before we activate the phone?


----------



## CanadianGuy

You need to buy the phones from Tracfone.. or from a Tracfone dealer (ie: Walmart ... most convenience stores etc..)  You can't just take a GSM phone down and put their card in it.

In terms of getting the numbers .. you can't get them prior to activation is my understanding..


----------



## MECH8T7

We were just at WDW last week.

I did the same thing as PrincessNED -- ordered the "free" Oystr phones with the purchase $19.99 of airtime x 2.  I placed the order in the day on 12/24, the order shipped via FedEx ground on 12/26 and they arrived at our resort (AKL) by 12/28.  When we checked in on 12/30, there was a note on the resort computer that there was a parcel from FedEx waiting from us and the resort put it in our room for us.

I had Virgin ship it to me at the resort but, on the first line of the address space, I put the name of the resort and indicated that I was a guest (i.e., "DAKV - guest arr. 12/30")

The phones worked fine, particularly considering the cost.


----------



## digskat

We had a death in the family while we were at WDW, when we returned our phone bill from Bell Mobility was $150 for me (usually around $25) and Hubbie's was $55 (usually $25 also).TTFN Kat


----------



## Allegro

So I've been checking out our cellulaire options.  Tracefone won't work for us since we are flying not driving.  So we've been looking at Virgin mobile.  I noticed a lot of people taking advantage of the free Oyster phone offer.  Great as it is you can go cheaper (the web site is a little deceiving because it brings up the Oyster phone offer right off the bat).  They have a K10 phone for free when you purchase $9.99 in air-time.  At $.10/minute that's 100 minutes.  DH pointed out to me that if we're just using the phone to keep in contact with each other in the parks for a week 100 minutes each is MORE than plenty.  And as the phone will be useless to me on return to Canada - cheap is good! 

Anyway, just wanted to share.  This thread has been VERY helpful to me.  Thanks all.


----------



## CanadianGuy

Allegro said:


> So I've been checking out our cellulaire options.  Tracefone won't work for us since we are flying not driving.  So we've been looking at Virgin mobile.  I noticed a lot of people taking advantage of the free Oyster phone offer.  Great as it is you can go cheaper (the web site is a little deceiving because it brings up the Oyster phone offer right off the bat).  They have a K10 phone for free when you purchase $9.99 in air-time.  At $.10/minute that's 100 minutes.  DH pointed out to me that if we're just using the phone to keep in contact with each other in the parks for a week 100 minutes each is MORE than plenty.  And as the phone will be useless to me on return to Canada - cheap is good!
> 
> Anyway, just wanted to share.  This thread has been VERY helpful to me.  Thanks all.



If it's at all helpful, you can order the tracfones (or any of these) from their respective website and have them shipped to your resort just prior to your check-in.


----------



## CdnDisneyBride08

phillipsphamily said:


> I just added the 100 US minutes to our Bell cell phone for our upcoming
> trip.  It is $40.00 which includes your long distance and roaming.  Much
> cheaper than not adding the plan at all.  The customer service person that
> I spoke with said that you can also text while you're there which is a lot
> cheaper than talking, she said that the regular texting fees apply.
> We have used our cell phone in the states in the past without adding the
> US plan and the roaming fees are absolutely ridiculous!
> You can add it for 1 month and they will automatically remove it from your
> plan the following month so you won't have to worry about forgetting to call
> and being charged for it when your trip is over.



If anyone does add the Connect USA (minimum 1-month term) or the Connect Florida (minumum 2-month term) I would still call customer service when you return to have this feature removed. I deal with Bell customer service on a daily basis and what one representative tells you may vary drastically from what another representative tells you. I would hate for someone to be told that they won't have to call in, that the feature will be removed automatically, and then turn around and have it charged again on their next bill.


----------



## Oscar T. Grouch

we have rogers and this is what we do.

we just add on a US travel plan for the month we are gone, and it is like 90 minutes or something for not much money.  Call and ask them about plans for travel.


----------



## JenH1969

Both of the virgin ones talked about need to be activated in early Feb and we aren't going till late April- I hope a newer similare option will come out-
Jen


----------



## Kurby

"I noticed a lot of people taking advantage of the free Oyster phone offer. Great as it is you can go cheaper (the web site is a little deceiving because it brings up the Oyster phone offer right off the bat). They have a K10 phone for free when you purchase $9.99 in air-time. At $.10/minute that's 100 minutes. DH pointed out to me that if we're just using the phone to keep in contact with each other in the parks for a week 100 minutes each is MORE than plenty. And as the phone will be useless to me on return to Canada - cheap is good!"


but don't forget that you have to buy the plan for $20 and currently the international rate for canada is .15 not .10 

here's the link  http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/internationalCalling.do

the phone is also free with the plan but how long is the plan for?  do you have to have a year contract to get the free phone?  

i was looking a few months ago and all of the carriers said that the long distance minutes cost more if it is a pay as you go and that you could get cheap minutes but you have to sign up for at least 12 months - which if you're canadian doesn't make sense unless you are going once a month for at least 2 weeks and using up your 100 minutes a month.

i think we'll just make it easy on us and the next we go across the Falls we'll pop into Sams and buy a calling card that doesn't expire and while we're driving we'll use the $40 added minutes from Bell and use the calling card once at the parks at a pay phone.


----------



## Kurby

just a little fyi - i called Virgin and asked.  what she told me is that you don't have to have a contract with them but you do have to buy their phone and "top up" a minimum of $20 every 90 days or loose your phone number.

then you're billed every minute at .18 per minute plus what ever the l.d. charge is so calling back to canada would be 18 cents plus 15 cents for a total of 33 cents per minute.

if you let the "top up" laps then thats fine and when you go back the next time you add the top up and get another number and your off and running again.

33 cents for virgin or 40 cents with my bell - not much difference and i don't have to worry about all this top up stuff plus at&t calling card is cheaper then both those fees.


----------



## Allegro

Kurby said:


> just a little fyi - i called Virgin and asked.  what she told me is that you don't have to have a contract with them but you do have to buy their phone and "top up" a minimum of $20 every 90 days or loose your phone number.
> 
> then you're billed every minute at .18 per minute plus what ever the l.d. charge is so calling back to canada would be 18 cents plus 15 cents for a total of 33 cents per minute.
> 
> if you let the "top up" laps then thats fine and when you go back the next time you add the top up and get another number and your off and running again.
> 
> 33 cents for virgin or 40 cents with my bell - not much difference and i don't have to worry about all this top up stuff plus at&t calling card is cheaper then both those fees.



I guess it depends on what you purpose for needing a cell phone is AND what plan you have.  

We have pay-as-you-go Solo so I would end up dealing with roaming charges in the neighbourhood of $3/minute to call my husband in the lobby of the hotel!  We're basically getting the phones to keep in touch with each other in the parks in case we are seperated.  Calls back to Canada are unlikely to occur and even if they did - 33 cents a minute is fine as they would most likely be a "call me back at yadda-yadda land-line number" call.

Oh and .18 per minute it only one of their plans.  The 20/10 plan gives you .10 between Virgin phones (ideal if you're using your phones to communicate with others in your party.)


----------



## Charleyann

The phone with charger and double minutes for life was just $12.88. It came with 10 minutes of free calling. A call to Canada was just a cent per minute and text messaging was only three cents. This is the cheapest rate to go!

Charleyann


----------



## Kurby

i've been busy today making phone calls LOL

i called tracfone and found out the following.

first and foremost - they do not deliver phones to Canada so if you want on you have to pick it up in the States.

2 - there is no activation fee

3 - calls are minute for minute - meaning it doesn't matter if you are calling a land line in the states, another cell phone or calling back to canada - 1 minute costs 1 minute.

4 - they have a $50 double your minutes for life card that you can buy that means a regular 60 minute card for $20 will give you 120 minutes this year, next year and every year (as long as they are in business)

5 - my example was travelling down this april.  If we went down, bought a phone put 60 (120) minutes on it, used it came back to canada and didn't touch it again until next april what happens when we want to use it again.  thats when he said no activation fees but since our phone expires after 90 days of none use we'd have to receive a new phone number (not a big deal since no one would remember the old one anyways LOL)

they seem to be the best one i've seen yet - even better then the AT&T calling card i found at Sam's because if you use them at a pay phone there is a $.75 fee charged which makes a quick phone call very expensive


----------



## Saskmom

My cell phone package is with Sasktel Mobility.  I phoned them to find out what the charges would be for using our cell in Florida.  They told me it was a flat 95 cents per minute for roaming in the US.  I asked about additional roaming charges by US companies and he said they used to do that but they don't anymore.  After reading all of your posts I am beginining to wonder if he knew what he was talking about.  Anyone else used Sasktel mobility?


----------



## angelkk

MECH8T7 said:


> We were just at WDW last week.
> 
> I did the same thing as PrincessNED -- ordered the "free" Oystr phones with the purchase $19.99 of airtime x 2.  I placed the order in the day on 12/24, the order shipped via FedEx ground on 12/26 and they arrived at our resort (AKL) by 12/28.  When we checked in on 12/30, there was a note on the resort computer that there was a parcel from FedEx waiting from us and the resort put it in our room for us.
> 
> I had Virgin ship it to me at the resort but, on the first line of the address space, I put the name of the resort and indicated that I was a guest (i.e., "DAKV - guest arr. 12/30")
> 
> The phones worked fine, particularly considering the cost.



I have some questions ...

Upon Activation (I assume you are doing it by phone) - do you have to give them your credit card information? 

When the 19.99 airtime used up, do they automatically charge your credit card per minute, or the phone just expired (i.e. you can't make any further calls until you buy more airtime)?

I browsed www.virginmobileusa.com and it seems phone number is assigned UPON ACTIVATION? In other words, I could have the phone mailed to New York, while when I activate the phone online, I can enter Orlando address to get a (407) area code?


----------



## PrincessNED

Hi all,

My Virgin phones were shipped to the resort and I picked them up when we arrived by plane.

Activated the phones on their 1-800 # -  

Paid for the transaction using paypal - this avoided them cross referencing my address as Canadian.

I treated the transaction as a cheap way to have cel service -  We used less than $5.00 of talk time on each phone while there for a week!    depending on your usage the K10 deal would work as well - the phones we got are actually the K10.

My original intent was to not worry about the phones after they expired -  I was treating them as "disposable"  -  guessed  I could also reactivate with virgin again in the future if need be.

As chance would have it -  one of my coworkers is presently in Hawaii with family -  He gave me cash and I topped up each phone ( paid with my paypal account again) for him and he is using them right now as we speak -   no problems at all ( still orlando ph #'s and no long distance charges in Hawaii -  I can log in to the phone usage on the web site) -  so My 90 day window is extended and I'll have some more minutes ( if he doen not use them all)  for if we pop over to so some shopping.  

by the way -  when activating you can pick any area code you like in the states -  does not matter really for the cel to cel usage and local calls.  

You do need to ship the phone to a US address.


----------



## PrincessNED

angelkk said:


> I have some questions ...
> 
> Upon Activation (I assume you are doing it by phone) - do you have to give them your credit card information?
> 
> 
> Nope!  Pay when you order and use Paypal
> 
> 
> When the 19.99 airtime used up, do they automatically charge your credit card per minute, or the phone just expired (i.e. you can't make any further calls until you buy more airtime)?
> 
> There is an option on the website that allows you to top up automatically -  you can debit Papal - don't know about after the expiry date -  You also can check your minutes and get a top up card at the virgin mega store -  I actually chose virgin because I knew if needed I could find a topup at the store without having to go off property
> 
> 
> I browsed www.virginmobileusa.com and it seems phone number is assigned UPON ACTIVATION? In other words, I could have the phone mailed to New York, while when I activate the phone online, I can enter Orlando address to get a (407) area code?



Yes -  that would work -    my area code actually is 321 which is also used for Orlando and Cape Canaveral


----------



## nonzerosum

We're on a Telus family plan and the cost for US coverage for 1 month is about $70, however they will prorate it for a week if that's what 's needed.  This is what we'll do as I can't get my head around the tracphone stuff.


----------



## Northstar

Just a heads up on the Aliant US add-on plan: weird, weird, weird! It does not cover toll-free numbers you call from the US! I was charged major roaming fees for the long phone calls to Continental from the airport, keeping on top of weather delays and what that was going to do to our itinerary.

Aliant's comment: well, you should have used the regular airline number, not the toll-free! Thanks for telling me that NOW, guys.


----------



## CanadianGuy

Rogers charges a small fee for toll free numbers as well.. but it's only about 25c per call

What were you charged from Aliant?


----------



## Allegro

Just back from a week at Disney.  We had Virgin Mobile K10 phones shipped to the resort.  2 phones cost us 21.98 incl. tax and they came with $12.50 each in airtime.  We were basically only using them to call each other so that left us with 125 minutes of airtime each.  It was $.28 to call Canada.  In the end we had so much airtime just sitting there that we would call Canada for no particular reason.  

They REALLY came in handy when we got caught in a snowstorm in Chicago.  It was a ready way to keep in touch with family back home and for us to get help from friends in booking us a hotel room in Toronto where we expected to get stuck again.  

We didn't come near to exhausting our time.

It was easy and in the end cheap.  I think there was about $5.00 left on my phone when we crossed the border and it stopped working.  

Worked very well for us.


----------



## Northstar

Northstar said:


> Just a heads up on the Aliant US add-on plan: weird, weird, weird! It does not cover toll-free numbers you call from the US! I was charged major roaming fees for the long phone calls to Continental from the airport, keeping on top of weather delays and what that was going to do to our itinerary.
> 
> Aliant's comment: well, you should have used the regular airline number, not the toll-free! Thanks for telling me that NOW, guys.



Canadianguy asked how much I was charged, and I see that I should have put that in. I was charged straight roaming access, just as if I didn't have the add-on. One call was $14.95! Second call, over $9... don't have my bill in front of me but I remember the amounts more or less because of my outrage.

With the Aliant U.S. add-on plans, you pay a flat monthly fee to buy a certain number of roaming minutes in the U.S.  Then, if you go over that number of minutes, you pay standard roaming fees. My beef with Aliant is that I think excluding toll-free numbers from the plan makes it pretty useless. After all, there are a lot of toll-free numbers you need for traveling... rental car companies, hotel chain reservations, airlines... and who has a phone book handy to look up the local numbers for the place you want?

Going Tracphone next trip.


----------



## CanadianGuy

Northstar:

That's a HUGE exception for them not to mention.

I'd continue complaining till I got that credited as a 'courtesy credit' if I were you.. 

I'd bet you can get that credited.   Talk to a supervisor.  Maybe drop that Rogers doesn't do that and maybe you'll switch or something.. 

That's NUTS.


----------



## The Shamus

Hi Folks:

It's a difficult paradigm to get your head around, but forget that you even own a Canadian Cell phone.  The Canadian cell phone carrier solutions for US travel range from "awful" to "unthinkable".  

The cheapest solution for a cell phone for Canadians travelling in the US is going to be a US carrier which does not require a contract.  The cell phone itself is virtually free or costs very little (often "talk time" is added to the phone to offset the purchase price of the phone).  There is usually no long distance rates within the continental US.  It sounds like Virgin Mobile or Tracphone are good contenders.

In our case, we are travelling to Disney by car in April.  Since we are travelling with another car, we will pick up the phones in Detroit and keep in contact throughout our trip.  As we split at the Disney Parks, we plan to use it.  Also, they are staying at Fort Wilderness, and we are stayout outside the park this time -- so we can keep in touch over our 10 cent a minute phone.  

Think about the phone as disposable.  Your Canadian cell phone carrier can not possibly match these rates or flexibility.

It may be cheaper to purchase a long distance plan if you don't mind calling from a land line back to Canada ... otherwise, those rates are cheap from your cell phone as well.

  /\/\/\/\ the Shamus /\/\/\/\


----------



## CanadianGuy

That all works - unless you need your current phone number for a long list of people to reach you.. 

For me to notify everyone of the new temporary Orlando # in my line of work - is somewhere between impractical and impossible.  So.. I pay a little more (roughly 60$ per trip) for the knowledge that I can take my existing phone, it's 250+ numbers & contacts stored in it and my current phone number and roam freely.

If that's not an issue -- and for many it is not -- yeah.. absolutely the Tracfone/Virgin phone is completely the way to go.

Knox


----------



## csmei

Allegro said:


> Just back from a week at Disney.  We had Virgin Mobile K10 phones shipped to the resort.  2 phones cost us 21.98 incl. tax and they came with $12.50 each in airtime.  We were basically only using them to call each other so that left us with 125 minutes of airtime each.  It was $.28 to call Canada.  In the end we had so much airtime just sitting there that we would call Canada for no particular reason.
> 
> They REALLY came in handy when we got caught in a snowstorm in Chicago.  It was a ready way to keep in touch with family back home and for us to get help from friends in booking us a hotel room in Toronto where we expected to get stuck again.
> 
> We didn't come near to exhausting our time.
> 
> It was easy and in the end cheap.  I think there was about $5.00 left on my phone when we crossed the border and it stopped working.
> 
> Worked very well for us.




I am interest in the way you did. We will arrive WDW on Feb. 29, when do you think I need to order the phones? Here are some more questions, thank you in advance if you can share your experience.
1. Did you order on-line?
2. What address or information do you provide?
3. How do you pay for it?
4. Did you get your phone in the resort front desk?
5. When did you activate it?
6. Did you get the phone no. when you activate?
7. After using up the airtime, will it charge your credit card automatically?

I am still not sure how it work as I know only a little about it. So, I am so excited to look forward for your experience sharing. Thanks.


----------



## Allegro

csmei said:


> I am interest in the way you did. We will arrive WDW on Feb. 29, when do you think I need to order the phones? Here are some more questions, thank you in advance if you can share your experience.
> 1. Did you order on-line?
> 2. What address or information do you provide?
> 3. How do you pay for it?
> 4. Did you get your phone in the resort front desk?
> 5. When did you activate it?
> 6. Did you get the phone no. when you activate?
> 7. After using up the airtime, will it charge your credit card automatically?
> 
> I am still not sure how it work as I know only a little about it. So, I am so excited to look forward for your experience sharing. Thanks.



1. I ordered from www.virginmobileusa.com 
2. I gave the address of the hotel.  In Address line #2 I put my name and "guest arr. xx/xx/xx."
3. I paid using paypal.
4. The CM handed me my phones when I checked in.
5. I activated it the morning (early!) after we arrived.  Needed to charge the phones before activation and didn't get around to putting them on charge until late on the evening we arrived.
6. Yup.
7. No.  They had/have no banking information on me whatsoever. BUT I had to argue a bit with the customer rep. when activating the phones.  The 9.99 free airtime is an ONLINE offer only (if you buy the phones in a store no free airtime).  Once we had established that I had bought my phones online he credited me my 9.99 free air-time PLUS at $2.50 bonus for activating the phones.  

We used the phones freely the entire time we were there and still had airtime on the return home.  It was something like .28/minute to call Canada and I was doing that JUST to burn airtime because I could.  We'll probably gift the phones to BIL for his trip in March.

No need to top up until 90 days have passed and only if we want to keep the phones active.  We'll probably just toss them.  The phones themselves are pretty cheap but served their purpose just fine.


----------



## csmei

Allegro said:


> 1. I ordered from www.virginmobileusa.com
> 2. I gave the address of the hotel.  In Address line #2 I put my name and "guest arr. xx/xx/xx."
> 3. I paid using paypal.
> 4. The CM handed me my phones when I checked in.
> 5. I activated it the morning (early!) after we arrived.  Needed to charge the phones before activation and didn't get around to putting them on charge until late on the evening we arrived.
> 6. Yup.
> 7. No.  They had/have no banking information on me whatsoever. BUT I had to argue a bit with the customer rep. when activating the phones.  The 9.99 free airtime is an ONLINE offer only (if you buy the phones in a store no free airtime).  Once we had established that I had bought my phones online he credited me my 9.99 free air-time PLUS at $2.50 bonus for activating the phones.
> 
> We used the phones freely the entire time we were there and still had airtime on the return home.  It was something like .28/minute to call Canada and I was doing that JUST to burn airtime because I could.  We'll probably gift the phones to BIL for his trip in March.
> 
> No need to top up until 90 days have passed and only if we want to keep the phones active.  We'll probably just toss them.  The phones themselves are pretty cheap but served their purpose just fine.



Thanks, Allegro.
It is very clear. Did you give any instruction to Disney Resort before you order the phone? For my case, I will be at the resort on Feb. 29, when do you think I should place the order? Thanks.


----------



## Allegro

csmei said:


> Thanks, Allegro.
> It is very clear. Did you give any instruction to Disney Resort before you order the phone? For my case, I will be at the resort on Feb. 29, when do you think I should place the order? Thanks.



None whatsoever.

I think I ordered the phone 1 full-week (weekend incl) before we travelled.  They said  3 - 5  days for delivery and I didn't want the package sitting at the resort for too long.


----------



## disneyred

Allegro said:


> None whatsoever.
> 
> I think I ordered the phone 1 full-week (weekend incl) before we travelled.  They said  3 - 5  days for delivery and I didn't want the package sitting at the resort for too long.




Just wondering how do go about getting these phones if I have no paypal??
as I know on the website they will not accept a canadian CC.


----------



## csmei

Allegro said:


> None whatsoever.
> 
> I think I ordered the phone 1 full-week (weekend incl) before we travelled.  They said  3 - 5  days for delivery and I didn't want the package sitting at the resort for too long.



Hi Allegro,

I more question about ordering. In the "First name" and "Last name", what did you fill up? Do you need to fill in "the resort name" somewhere?
Thanks.


----------



## Allegro

I put my name.  The only place I put the resort name was the address line.


----------



## biggroofy

Allegro said:


> I put my name.  The only place I put the resort name was the address line.



Hello, we will be at WDW next Sat (Mar 1) and planning to order the phone today. Some questions. 

1). There are only two address lines, if I do the following, I do not have space for Resort address, is that fine? 
Address Line 1: Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa 
Address Line 2: Guest Arrv. Mar 1, 2008
City: Lake Buena Vista
ZIP code: FL 32830

So do I need to put (if yes, where?) GF's full address: 4401 Grand Floridian Way?

2). Phone number: shall I give my Canadian phone number, or the resort phone number?

3). I am ordering two phones (the 2nd phone is for my parents). Can I activate both phones in one call, or is it easier to activate from their web site?

Thanks!!!!


----------



## encinc

Am I getting this right?: Virgin Mobile has a free phone with $9.99 airtime purchase. Free shipping and free activation. If I were to order two phones, it would cost me about $20, and we could call back and forth for 100 minutes on the 20/10 plan.

What am I missing? Sounds like too good a deal to pass up.


----------



## Kurby

check the delivery - the tracfone wont be sold in canada and canadians can't use their cc to purchase minutes so we can't top up unless we buy a card in the states.


----------



## Allegro

encinc said:


> Am I getting this right?: Virgin Mobile has a free phone with $9.99 airtime purchase. Free shipping and free activation. If I were to order two phones, it would cost me about $20, and we could call back and forth for 100 minutes on the 20/10 plan.
> 
> What am I missing? Sounds like too good a deal to pass up.



Actually the only thing you missed it that when you call to activate your phone there is a $2.50 bonus activation that will give you even more time.


----------



## Allegro

biggroofy said:


> Hello, we will be at WDW next Sat (Mar 1) and planning to order the phone today. Some questions.
> 
> 1). There are only two address lines, if I do the following, I do not have space for Resort address, is that fine?
> Address Line 1: Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
> Address Line 2: Guest Arrv. Mar 1, 2008
> City: Lake Buena Vista
> ZIP code: FL 32830
> 
> So do I need to put (if yes, where?) GF's full address: 4401 Grand Floridian Way?
> 
> 2). Phone number: shall I give my Canadian phone number, or the resort phone number?
> 
> 3). I am ordering two phones (the 2nd phone is for my parents). Can I activate both phones in one call, or is it easier to activate from their web site?
> 
> Thanks!!!!



hmmm.....
 No.
 I would put:

Address Line 1: Grand Floridian Guest Arr. Mar 1 08
Address Line 2: ### Whatever street
City: Lake Buena Vista
ZIP code: FL 32830

I think I put something like that.


----------



## biggroofy

Allegro said:


> I would put:
> Address Line 1: Grand Floridian Guest Arr. Mar 1 08
> Address Line 2: ### Whatever street
> City: Lake Buena Vista
> ZIP code: FL 32830
> I think I put something like that.



Thanks, however their web site is very rigid and do not even accept *"Lake Buena Vista"* - there is not enough space to type the "*a*" - I submitted *as "Lake Buena Vist"* and hopefully it will work


----------



## PrincessNED

encinc said:


> Am I getting this right?: Virgin Mobile has a free phone with $9.99 airtime purchase. Free shipping and free activation. If I were to order two phones, it would cost me about $20, and we could call back and forth for 100 minutes on the 20/10 plan.
> 
> What am I missing? Sounds like too good a deal to pass up.



Yor are not missing a thing -  that's exactly what you get


----------



## highland3

Well... I've ordered my two phones.  

Now we wait and see next week!


----------



## biggroofy

I ordered my phone from Virgin web site yesterday - but their system screwed my shipping address (not sure why but it looks like an unreasonable system bug)

Here is what I typed as shipping address:

Address Line 1: *Grand Floridian Resort (check-in Mar 1)*
Address Line 2: 4401 Grand Floridian *Way*
City: *Lake BuenaVista*
State: FL
ZIP: 32830

However, after the order is submitted (I used PayPal) - the addresses (both Shipping & Billing) are displayed as follows (also on the order status page):

Address Line 1: *4401 Grand Floridian*
Address Line 2: 
City: *Orlando*
State: FL
ZIP: 32830

As you might now notice the problems
a). Address Line 1 (what I have entered) disappeared 
b). The original Address Line 2 has moved up to Address Line 1, and they cut the last word in street address - should be 4401 Grand Floridian *Way*
c). City = I typed in Lake *BuenaVista*, but the system changed to *Orlando*.

Anyone had a similar problem? I hope the phone will be delivered properly - but has to wait to see what I got the FedEX tracking number.

WISH ME LUCK


----------



## encinc

For those who have ordered from virginmobileusa and paid with paypal, what did you do about the shipping address section on paypal? I tried to change that address to the hotel, but couldn't change it to anything other than a Canadian address. Sometimes I've seen a "no shipping required" option on paypal, but that didn't come up as an option. 

Thanks in advance for your help. I want to order today!


----------



## karters*mom

Text message is much easier and cheaper!!!!!
Not alot of people are aware that you can text messege to a home / landline phone now...instead of calling and saying all is well..text messege....here is a little article about it!
I never knew it existed until a friend told me about it!

  Text to Landline

    The Text to Landline Service offered by Bell Mobility (and everyother cel service out there) enables clients to
send text messages to any landline phone. Text messages are converted into an
automated voice message delivered to the recipient's phone. The message can
then be heard live or is sent to voicemail if the call is received by an
answering machine or voicemail. A confirmation message is sent to the sender
indicating whether the message was successfully delivered to a live person or
a voicemail system.
    If delivered to a person, the recipient will have the option to respond
immediately by sending a voice message back to the original sender, who
automatically receives a notification message. The Text to Landline service
works with any landline in Canada or the US. Regular text messaging rates
apply.


----------



## PrincessNED

encinc said:


> For those who have ordered from virginmobileusa and paid with paypal, what did you do about the shipping address section on paypal? I tried to change that address to the hotel, but couldn't change it to anything other than a Canadian address. Sometimes I've seen a "no shipping required" option on paypal, but that didn't come up as an option.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help. I want to order today!



I believe I made an alternate( the resorts address)  address on paypal but vigin used what was on entered on their site - I could tell as my typing skills were so bad that I knew which address they used


----------



## biggroofy

Thank you everyone - a little update (now I am at WDW). Received my virgin phones and activated from their web site. They assigned a 321 area code though but it is ok. Got a $12.50 balance credited to our phones. 

One thing - Virgin Mobile indeed screwed on our delivery address. Luckily FedEX was very helpful and considerate - after lengthy explanation - they allowed me (as a receipent) to modify the correct delivery address. The packaged arrived on Friday afternoon at GF and kept at a package room for me. Upon check-in yesterday, a CM delivered the package right to our room


----------



## Saskmom

I started a new thread because no one on the sticky thread regarding cell phone use seems to be a Sasktel Mobility customer.  I just got my bill from our trip in January.  We have a month to month plan with 150 long distance minutes with Sasktel mobility.  We paid 95 cents per minute total for roaming in Orlando.  We made a couple of calls to each other (both Sasktel Mobility phones) and one call home. All 95 cents per minute.  Our total roaming charges were $9.50 for 10 minutes of roaming.  Any long distance charges and air time charges were included in our monthly package.  This was exactly as Sasktel promised when I phoned before I left and I didn't have to do anything special.  Just turn on my phone and use it.  Hope this helps anyone else from Saskatchewan who was wondering.


----------



## disneyred

CanadianGuy said:


> If it's at all helpful, you can order the tracfones (or any of these) from their respective website and have them shipped to your resort just prior to your check-in.



are you sure about this?? someone from work said that they tried and called the tracfone hotline .. but they only took orders using a United states credit from a U.S.A. address ??? can anyone confirm this ??

thanks !


----------



## joech

I went to Wal mart (20 minutes drive from AKL) and bought 2 Tracfones to used while we were in WDW.  You can also buy cell phone from the virgin store in DTD.


----------



## mom2faith

Saskmom said:


> I started a new thread because no one on the sticky thread regarding cell phone use seems to be a Sasktel Mobility customer.  I just got my bill from our trip in January.  We have a month to month plan with 150 long distance minutes with Sasktel mobility.  We paid 95 cents per minute total for roaming in Orlando.  We made a couple of calls to each other (both Sasktel Mobility phones) and one call home. All 95 cents per minute.  Our total roaming charges were $9.50 for 10 minutes of roaming.  Any long distance charges and air time charges were included in our monthly package.  This was exactly as Sasktel promised when I phoned before I left and I didn't have to do anything special.  Just turn on my phone and use it.  Hope this helps anyone else from Saskatchewan who was wondering.



Hi Saskmom,

That Roaming fee charged by Sasktel is very irritating!!  I was in Edmonton with my sister and we were 1 van apart in traffic and it was long distance.

Any way,  what about texting?  If we have a planthat includes it, there should be no charges, right?

Amy (another Saskmom)


----------



## calmman

i agree with man upper me!


----------



## karters*mom

mom2faith said:


> Hi Saskmom,
> 
> That Roaming fee charged by Sasktel is very irritating!!  I was in Edmonton with my sister and we were 1 van apart in traffic and it was long distance.
> 
> Any way,  what about texting?  If we have a planthat includes it, there should be no charges, right?
> 
> Amy (another Saskmom)



I agree texting is better...you can even text to a home phone number if you want. When they answer they will get an automated message that verbally tells them what the text message says....so even if they don't have a cel phone you can still text anyone!


----------



## highland3

Well, our two "free" Virgin Mobile phone were waiting for us at CSR when we arrived.  We charged them the first night.  

Activating through the toll-free # was quite a challenge.  At first the rep insisted we had to buy more time.  After a transfer to a supervisor, everything was worked out and we had a $12.50 credit on each of the phones.

Pretty good for a cost of $21 through the Virgin website.

The phones weren't the greatest and signal was not perfect... for for the price it was a great way to stay in contact while we split up!


----------



## maggieb9975

I have used the $40.00 coverage for Connect Florida and you DO have to call to cancel it......It costs $20.00 per month but you have to have it for 2 months. It gives you 100 minutes per month. But we have to add that to both phones so is quite costly.

If you have a text plan with Bell that is the way to go I think. That is what my DD and I plan on using 'cause you can also text landlines....see info below:

http://www.bell.ca/support/PrsCSrvWls_Ftrs_TextMessage.page


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

DiRTyBuNNy said:


> Nope you would still be roaming. Think about it this way...no matter where you are your phone is still a canadian phone and you'll play applicable charges. I would suggest just buying a cheap wireless phone on a pre-paid plan. You can get them at any WalMart in the US.
> 
> --Mr. DB



Roaming bites. When I go to the states I don't use my rogers cell b/c of roaming charges. I bought an at&t pay as you go phone at target. also if I have to call from the hotel, I get an at&t phone card from target for that. saves me a ton of $$.


----------



## The Shamus

If you live close to the US border ... and you are making a trip there before your vacation ... the Virgin phones are available at most large retailers.  The Virgin USA site will give you a list of retailers if you type in a ZIP code.  

I picked up my $9.99 phones -- the retailer you go to may not have the selection of the website ... but I got a nice FLIP-style phone.  The guy at the Buffalo, NY store (Radio Shack) activated both phones for me right there.  Once it is activated, you have 90 days to use the credit on the phones.

If you need to be contacted at your regular cell number, I suggest you put a message on your voicemail box giving people your temporary Virgin number to reach you.  

Let's hope one day, the Canadian cell phone companies will be competitive.  Today, they make too much money on roaming to change their ways.

  /\/\/\/\ the Shamus /\/\/\/\


----------



## petbren

We recently returned from the World. 
I activated a Tracfone from home, online, and got 20 min. of airtime by doing so.
We only used it when necessary, to call hotel, dining reservations, etc.
Unfortunately, it looks like we won't be doing a return trip until 2009. 
I have 13 min. left on the phone, expire April 5, and a 60 min. extra air time card. 
If anyone is interested in purchasing this from me, please PM me for details.


----------



## ddawg

If I buy the virgin mobile phone what would it cost to call back to canada and to receive calls from Canada?


----------



## teag_98

Charleyann said:


> The phone with charger and double minutes for life was just $12.88. It came with 10 minutes of free calling. A call to Canada was just a cent per minute and text messaging was only three cents. This is the cheapest rate to go!
> 
> Charleyann




HI, can you tell me where you bought it at WDW? I need to order two and don't know quite where to start, it would be a lot easier if I could just buy them when I get there.
Thanks!


----------



## PrincessNED

ddawg said:


> If I buy the virgin mobile phone what would it cost to call back to canada and to receive calls from Canada?



It's  15 cents per minute if I recall correctly,  no extra to receive.


----------



## jtdl

karters*mom said:


> I agree texting is better...you can even text to a home phone number if you want. When they answer they will get an automated message that verbally tells them what the text message says....so even if they don't have a cel phone you can still text anyone!



I have a plan that includes free text messaging (Solo) and it was still free - NO ROAMING CHARGES - when I sent/received texts while in Orlando.  When I called and asked about options for the US, I was told that the texting is free anywhere in North America and, again, no roaming charges.  I had to put a credit card on the account in order to have the phone activated in the states but nothing was ever charged. I'm not sure why, but service is cut off as soon as I cross the Bluewater Bridge into Michigan without the cc on the account.  I guess they must activate it a different way or something


----------



## F4disneyfan

TimNDansMom said:


> We've used T-Mobile Pay As You Go in the past...just a cheap phone bought at Walmart in Detroit before a trip. For $25 it came with 30 minutes/60 days if I remember correctly.
> 
> For a recent trip we bought a Tracfone for $15 at Walmart in Detroit which came with 20 minutes total during online activation at tracfone.com (which we did in our hotel room with the laptop) and bought a $10/30min card to add to that, which also adds 45 day to the service end date.  You can make international calls for the same price as calling in the US by calling a 1-800 number first or by assigning up to 10 1-800 numbers to your most dialed international numbers, for faster dialing, which is explained on their website.  So DH programmed the phone with all the numbers we might need here at home, into the address book.  It was nice to be able to call home and not see all the minutes eaten up because we were calling Canada.  I returned to Florida this month and just bought another $10 card to add to what was left from the previous trip last month.  The desk top tells you how many minutes you have left and when the service end date for the phone is if you don't top it up.  Right now our service end date is March 10, 2008.



We just picked up a tracfone in Port Huron for 49 bucks with lifetime double minutes so any card you add to it automatically doubles in minutes. The phone also retains teh double minutes even if you let the service become inactive after the 90 days so next time you call to activate the phone you will still get teh double minutes. Not only that but Tracfone will assign a local Canadian number to you to give to people at home so they can call that to reach you on your tracfone in teh US without them incuring any long distance charges.


----------



## F4disneyfan

disneyred said:


> are you sure about this?? someone from work said that they tried and called the tracfone hotline .. but they only took orders using a United states credit from a U.S.A. address ??? can anyone confirm this ??
> 
> thanks !



Tracfone will ship to Canada and sell to a Canadian address using a Canadian CC. I just spoke with them a week ago regarding this mind you we just drove to Sarnia to visit family then hopped over to Port Huron and went to Wally World and picked one up.

Here is the phones we purchased. It is the Motorolla flip with the double minutes for life.
http://www.tracfone.com/get_a_tracfone.jsp


----------



## robinsnest49ers

as Kartersmom said, yes you can text from your cell to a landline and.. you can send texts from your computer to a cell (both Rogers and Bell have "send texts" from your computer on their websites).  my friends are on their way down now and we are texting back and forth, her on her phone, me on my computer.  

she has an add on through bell that gives her texting in North America for $10.00/month.  that means you can text in the parks too instead of calling (you can't hear half the time anyway), or using walkies. 

So far Bell is the only carrier I know that gives you text that includes *north america *(they have 2500 texts/$10.00 now).  I have a Rogers phone and am seriously trying to get them to cover all of North America, not just Canada.  Maybe if we all email/call customer service we could make this happen.  

cmon Canada let's get them to make a change Let's get Rogers Texting


----------



## canadaman

I have a bell phone and I am considering using there connect USA plan when I go to disney world.  
 it gives you 100 minutes.  It says that roaming and long distance are included.  It costs $40/ month.  That seems a little expensive but i will only need it one week anyways.
 Has anyone else used this plan before??  Were there any hidden costs using it??


Thanks.


----------



## BLBCB

In Manitoba, if you don't live in a major city you are limited to only having MTS cell service and even then there are many places around here where you don't get any service at all.  We do have the add-on for free text messages for about $10 I think, and we used this last August in Florida, as well as Disneyland in February.  No charges at all to send or receive text messages.  I'm still from the generation though that I prefer to talk to someone instead of condensing my "orders"  for everyone in a few words.  I've never been a girl of few words! LOL  

Does anyone know how long you have to activate the phones?  I'm thinking of ordering some and I like to plan ahead.  If I order them early do I have to activate them right away?  Another issue could be if we had to cancel our trip.  As long as I didn't activate the phones when they arrived could I wait and activate them later when we were again able to travel, even if it was up to a year later?


----------



## CanadianGuy

I have previously been a big fan of getting the USA Roaming package (I'm with Rogers) *but this trip has made me completely swear off that option for any future trips!*

I'm not sure what has changed with the two main Rogers roaming partners in the US (Cingular & T-Mobile) but I had no end of trouble with my phone last week.   From my room at Pop Century, I could not make or receive calls.  I could occasionally get text messages if I put my phone, on TOP of my refillable mug, on top of the TV armoire... and angled it 'just so.'

Coverage at DTD was pretty good.. but MK was hit or miss and on previous trips it was excellent.  Basically, I was reduced to using text messages to communicate because the call would drop within the first 30 seconds anyway.  Annoying!

My friend had a TracPhone and he had much better coverage than I did and generally didn't have any problems.

Next time, I'll have a TracPhone too!  Tomorrow I have to call Rogers and politely inform them I'm not paying for the US Roaming option ... I ended up using less than 30 minutes of 240 I paid for.. and most of those were redials on dropped calls in the first three days...  and that I want the texts credited too! (Wish me luck on THAT front.. ha ha)


Knox


----------



## Kurby

i made a bunch of calls for information AFTER going to the states and buying a 900 minute card (which when you convert the minutes per call is actually only 300 minutes since it takes 3 minutes per minute to call back to Toronto)  anyways we figured this would be a good option when in hotel rooms driving down to call back home.

turns out we didn't need to do this.

We have Bell mobility and unlimited text messaging.  which means that texting back and forth to each other if one is at the snack bar and one in the pool or doing laundry or whatever we can text for free.

PLUS

when i text message to a land line they get an automated voice that speaks the text message i send and they can send me a voice message to which i just call an 800 number to receive - again all free.

so i think we'll use up that calling card then stick with text messages.


----------



## roxazul

Where can I buy a cheap cellphone in WDW ? 
I only need one for child safety reasons, so even if only 5 minutes are included it will be ok.

I live in QC and I'm with FIDO, so my cell shows no service whenever I pass the border, but I really need one in case of an emergency as I'll travel alone with a 5yo.


----------



## wee-haggis

If I were to buy a Trac Phone and activate for 90 days,if the time expires and I want to use the phone several months later,will I have the same assigned phone number?.......is there a reactivation fee?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks


----------



## tmli

I just bought one and my understanding is that there is no reactivation fee and the number stays with the phone.  I am not sure what the maximum would be before they re assigned the number.

I just bought mine at a Target in California for $28.99 and it included double minutes for life!


----------



## endy

I bought a Tracfone this week. I think I read on their site that you lose the number after it goes inactive and if you don't reactivate within a certain time you also lose the minutes.
By the way if you search online for tracfone codes you'll get lots. I bought 60 minutes and got 60 free doing this. That should give me tons for next month in CA. It also added extra days before it's inactive.
I did the Int'l number thing too so anyone trying  to reach me calls a local Calgary number.
So I've only got $30 invested in it which is a whole lot less than using my Bell phone.


----------



## m&n's mom

My husband and I both have blackberries using Telus - we had no difficulties with receiving calls or emails while at Disney in Jan 08 at the resorts, parks etc.  We also use the mike or walkie talkie portion without charge.


----------



## mithuri

We're visiting WDW next week and we just bought 2 cellphones from virginmobileusa.com - they are basically free - you only pay $20.00 for airtime and shipping is free. Airtime is apprx 0.20 cents/min.  We're staying offsite and have requested to have them shipped to our hotel.  (We just received a FEDEX tracking number from Virgin, so hopefully, we should have them when we checkin.


----------



## canuck12345

Hello, I just joined the forums and was considering getting a Trac Fone. 
I was just wondering if these phones will work when I leave the US and get back into Canada?
Or if they would work in border towns like Sarnia?

I would like to use it while in the US but will it work at all in, say, Sarnia?


----------



## I Am Canadian Eh

Wouldn't count on it working all that much in Canada... might be hit or miss. I've heard of it working for some people, not for others.

Probably will be okay in border towns - I use my Virgin phone a lot in Niagara Falls and Sault Ste Marie with no problems - basically because you're still picking up the US towers.

And if not, hey it's a pretty small investment


----------



## BackSlash3

Forgive me if this has been said before, because I just couldn't make it through 12 pages of thread.  On my last trip to WDW (Christmas '07) I bought 2 AT&T wireless pre-paid phones at Walgreens for $20 each.  They came with $10 of credit on them.

Although I did have to register them on the AT&T website before using them, AT&T has a plan that for $1/day you can get unlimited calling to other AT&T phones and $0.25/minute back to Canada.  So for $2/day those phones were much more reliable than FRS radios in the parks when my family split up to do separate activities and I didn't bother spending the $30 to unlock my Rogers RAZR.. Until a trip to Europe, but that's a different story altogether.

Good Luck.


----------



## WDWcanuck

I'm heading to Disney in September and looking to get a US based cell phone. 

For those of you with Tracfone experience, I have a few questions: 

I'm looking to pick it up from Wal-Mart in Buffalo. Would I be able to choose an Orlando number even though it's purchased in Buffalo? 

If I buy it there, can I activate the phone online at home before I go on my trip? Or should I wait to activate it in Disney? 

Are the rates the same if I'm in Orlando as they are in New York? I'm connecting through JFK. 

Does anyone have experience with creating a local number for family to call your Tracfone while you're in the States? 

Thanks in advance. 

Dan...


----------



## MikeyA50




----------



## beavdisfan

yes in a word
i sell and own a rogers phone it works perfectly here, when i cross the border i put in a u.s. cingular sim card and away i go


----------



## Step

I just ordered 3 Aloha phones (free with $10 airtime) from virgin mobile. I'm staying at ASMU, arriving 8 days from today. 

Adr.1: 1801 W. Buena Vista Dr.
Adr.2: Guest Arr. 01/09/2008
City: Orlando
State: FL 
Zip: 32830

When I clicked submit my paypal account came up and I was able to change my address to the above (for the paypal shipping address).

I'll let all of you know if this works out smoothly or not when I get back from my trip.


----------



## SaskDisNut

WDWcanuck said:


> I'm heading to Disney in September and looking to get a US based cell phone.
> 
> For those of you with Tracfone experience, I have a few questions:
> 
> I'm looking to pick it up from Wal-Mart in Buffalo. Would I be able to choose an Orlando number even though it's purchased in Buffalo?
> 
> If I buy it there, can I activate the phone online at home before I go on my trip? Or should I wait to activate it in Disney?
> 
> Are the rates the same if I'm in Orlando as they are in New York? I'm connecting through JFK.
> 
> Does anyone have experience with creating a local number for family to call your Tracfone while you're in the States?
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Dan...


 
I bought 2 Tracfones for $9.88 each in Walmart in Billings, Montana a couple of weeks ago. I haven't activated them yet but from what I have read so far you can get a number for just about anywhere you want and activate them online. So when I do activate them closer to my trip, I will get an Orlando area number assigned to them. Airtime costs depend on how many minutes you buy, either online or from a card purchased at Walmart or wherever. A 60 minute card cost $19.88 at Walmart but I didn't buy one. I'll buy minutes online later.

Airtime costs are the same no matter if you are calling from cell to cell, long distance or to Canada. A minute is deducted from your total minutes for each minute you use the phone.

I'm not exactly sure how setting up the Canadian number works for people to phone you on your US phone so hopefully someone who has done it can respond.

If this all works good for us we will probably use them again on another trip. If not, I'll look into using the Virgin Mobile phones next time as that also looks like a good way to go.


----------



## biggroofy

We got two phones (K10 Royale) from virginmobileusa.com in March. Upon planning our Jan 2009 trip, I noticed that one of the phones is no longer valid - guess it has expired - I could not logon to my web account anymore.

Can I still re-activate and top-up the phone? If yes, how? 

Thank you.

*The 2nd phone was fine since a colleague borrowed it in June and topped up around that time.


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

bump - any new info? TIA!


----------



## lisalonglash

We have Rogers cell phones and will be taking them with us to WDW.  We will need to be able to receive calls, make calls and send/receive texts while we're there.  What should I be asking Rogers when I call?  Thanks!!!


----------



## Fellowship9798

I just purchased, received, and activated a Virgin Mobile "Aloha" phone in preparation for our trip next week. We live close to the US border so we're able to have it shipped to a US address in WA state and drive 10 minutes accross the border to pick it up.

As stated before, $9.99 USD including the phone, shipping (to a US address), and $12.50 credit on the account good for 90 days. Calls within the US are $0.20/min and calls back to Canada are $0.35/min.

Sounds good to me so far. The phone feels like light plastic toy phone, but what can I expect for $10? As long as it works, that's all we need.


----------



## Wilec

I would avoid using your rogers phone down there The airtime will hurt... We are using 2 Tracfones which include free calls to Canada and a local Canadian number that family can dial to call us.


----------



## lisalonglash

Wilec said:


> I would avoid using your rogers phone down there The airtime will hurt... We are using 2 Tracfones which include free calls to Canada and a local Canadian number that family can dial to call us.



I called Rogers directly to ask what the charges would be for our cell phones while we're in the US.  Here's how it shakes down:

- 25 cents per text message sent (it's free to receive texts though)
- 60 cents per minute to call a US number.  LD charges will apply for calls to/from a Canadian number plus 70 cents per minute.

There was an International Text Messaging package offered ($7.00 per phone per month for up to 50 text messages in the US), but we didn't take it (I doubt we'd need that many texts anyway lol).

So, we'll just bring our cell phones


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

Hi Lisa!
We used call forwarding (from home phone to the cell) when we were there. Rogers rep was really helpful once I explained what we needed. There is a super nice Target by the really nice outlets (sensing a shopping theme? ) and we picked up a phone card from Target to make calls form the hotel room. 

Have fun!!!!!!!!
xoxoxoxoxo


----------



## Beechnut

DearDaisyinDurham said:


> We used call forwarding (from home phone to the cell) when we were there.



When you call forward who get the charge?
If my cell is 'long distance' from the house phone is it billed to the house phone account or the cell account?

thanks


----------



## MVA

We have 3 cell phones with Bell in BC.  There is zero cost to call each other in Canada.  Will it be costly to use them to call each other in WDW?


----------



## ericsgm

I'm looking to pick up 2 phones just so our large group can stay in touch. It's good to hear that there are at least a couple cost-effective options. Yes, we are prepared that they will be pretty much disposable, but for the peace of mind, they will be worth it! I am hoping we might be able to reactivate them on future trips.  Does anyone know if that would work?


----------



## katscradle

Buying a prepaid phone sounds like a great idea.
Since I am heading for WDW on the 11th of Dec. Walmart is going to be a first stop for me. However we are taking Magical Express where is the closest Walmart?


----------



## Ham Ham

katscradle said:


> Buying a prepaid phone sounds like a great idea.
> Since I am heading for WDW on the 11th of Dec. Walmart is going to be a first stop for me. However we are taking Magical Express where is the closest Walmart?



You can order a Virgin phone on line and they will ship it FOC to your resort.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do

Or you can go to the Virgin Mega Store in DTD West Side and pick one up.


----------



## Charleyann

katscradle said:


> Buying a prepaid phone sounds like a great idea.
> Since I am heading for WDW on the 11th of Dec. Walmart is going to be a first stop for me. However we are taking Magical Express where is the closest Walmart?



 Do you have a Walmart nearby? (In the States?)With the Tracfone you can purchase now and  activate  later from any state or area code. That is what I did. You can also order it directly from the Tracfone website and have it sent to you at home if you have time before you leave on vacation....

Charleyann


----------



## Beechnut

Does either Tracfone or Virgin Deliver to canada?

How much duty/taxes do you have to pay?

thanks


----------



## Ham Ham

Beechnut said:


> Does either Tracfone or Virgin Deliver to canada?
> 
> How much duty/taxes do you have to pay?
> 
> thanks



Don't think they ship outside of the us.
Click on the link provided to poke around and see what info you can find.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do

The Virgin USA pay as you go phones only work in the US. I guessing the Tracphones are the same.

Good tip in a previous post about hitting a US store before you head down to FLA to pick up a phone. Activate it with an Orlando Zip code so your phone is a local one while at WDW.


----------



## mjf

Hi All,

Based on the recommendations in this forum, we decided to buy a couple of Virgin Aloha phones and have them shipped to our resort.  We arrived in Orlando yesterday and they were there at SSR waiting for us (Yay!)

We took them back to the room and began trying to activate them.  The on-line process appeared to be going well until I got to the point where I had to power on the phone and call Virgin to do the activation.  I was assigned a 407 area code phone number, but the instructions on the web site didn't line up with the prompts I was seeing on the phone so I did my best and tried to pick what I thought was right.  In the end though, both of the phones wouldn't activate correctly and the phone told me to call the Virgin 1-800 number.  

When I spoke to a 'Live Advisor' they had no record of the phone number I had just been assigned on the web or the hard-coded serial number on the phone.    They suggested I wait a few hours for the system synchronize or something like that.

This afternoon (after visiting Sea World), I tried again.  I spend well over an hour on the phone with two different 'Live Advisors' who were very professional and tried their best but ultimately unable to help me out.  The last one I spoke with said that I wasn't supposed to activate the phone the way I did (THE WAY THE INSTRUCTIONS TOLD ME) but instead said that the phone was already activated when I bought it... or something like that.  they said they could bump my problem up to the 'Investigation Department' but that it would take 24-72 hours for them to get back to me.  As I need the phones to work NOW, I told them that wouldn't do me any good.

I asked if I could return and/or replace the phones to the Virgin Mega Store and they said that I probably could.  We just got back from Downtown Disney and the Virgin Mega Store wouldn't / couldn't help me.  For starters, they didn't have any Aloha phones and even if they did, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Mega Stores are not really all that closely related.

So, I ended up stuffing the phones into a garbage can on the way out of Downtown Disney.  I'm not really all that disappointed about blowing $20-ish on the phones... it's the over 2 hours I spent tying to activate them and on the phone with Virgin.  I'd rather have been hanging out on the pool... or nearly anything else really.

Next time, I'll probably go with an AT&T phone again like I did last year.  It would cost a little more, but at least it worked.

Oh, one other thing.  The kid at the Virgin Mega Store said that they weren't selling the Aloha anymore, so maybe it won't be an option anyway.


----------



## Fellowship9798

As a counter-point to the post above, I bought an Aloha phone in October, activated it online, and everything worked out fine. I didn't have to call anyone or spend any time on the phone invesitgating anything.

Bear in mind that it does say it will take a few hours to get the phone setup in their system after you do the online activation. I had a day between when I did the activation and the first time I turned it on.

I guess sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't.


----------



## katscradle

I Think when we go I will just buy the cheapest pay as you go that we can find. 1 month today. I am so excited!!


----------



## Disney24/7

I left my cell at home and bought a $10 CiCi phone card at Petro Canada to take on our WDW trip last month.  I believe the cost to call from the US to Canada was 8 cents/minute.

I was able to use it at both airports (Toronto/Orlando) and at the resort without incurring any charges to the room.  Still had plenty of minutes left when we got home.


----------



## beavdisfan

hi 
and yes that will work but you must buy a cingular/at&t card and service.
i have a rogers phone and have done it.


----------



## Csaks

If you have a Telus phone with the Mike option it will work in the States. It changes over to Nextel and using the Mike it is 20 cents a minute, billed by the second so last year it hardly cost anything to talk to my aunt who was on site at the same time as us. Never called home, always used the Mike, but then again most of the people I know have one.


----------



## FigmentsFan

Have switched to a US plan for the trip.  Cheaper.


----------



## nosbig

my friend has bought the disposable type in the us for $20 or so. Works really well.


----------



## Canadave

Just trying to understand how the disposable phone thing works...if I order 2 phones from VirginMobile and have them delivered to the resort, what do I have to do to activate them?  Do I need a laptop?  Some come with $10 or so of air time...can I get more time?  When I'm done my holiday, do I just throw them away???
If this has already been discussed in the earlier 14 pages, I apologize.


----------



## SaskDisNut

Canadave said:


> Just trying to understand how the disposable phone thing works...if I order 2 phones from VirginMobile and have them delivered to the resort, what do I have to do to activate them? Do I need a laptop? Some come with $10 or so of air time...can I get more time? When I'm done my holiday, do I just throw them away???
> If this has already been discussed in the earlier 14 pages, I apologize.


 
I can't speak for the VirginMobile phones but I'll tell you of my experience with the Tracfones I used on our trip in Dec. I bought 2 of them at a Walmart in Montana when we were down there in the summer. They were $10 each. I didn't activate them until the day before we left on our trip. I just went to their website and followed the instructions on the site and used the phone itself to get it registered. They both registered, each was assigned a phone number and had 20 minutes of airtime included. We only used the phones to call each other and they worked great. For what we used them for it was worth it. I wouldn't call the phones disposable as they can be reused again after they expire although you have to go through the registration process again and get another phone number. For calling home I used the PC Phone card that has been described on this thread. At $.04/minute, it is hard to beat.

In the future, I might just switch to our cell provider's new Unlimited Talk North America plan for $40/month.


----------



## mithuri

Hi;
[Sorry for the late reply, we were away during holidays].

This is what we did...

We ordered 2 phones over internet, paid by PayPal since they don't accept Canadian Credit Cards and had them addressed to our offsite hotel.  The phones got to our hotel within 3-4 days.  Since we didn't have internet connection, we simply called their 1-800 number and a very nice lady activated them for us.  To buy additional minutes, you can either buy them from their website (and pay by PayPal) or buy 'Top-Up' minute cards from any store (eg Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven, even some dollar stores, while in States).  The minutes last you 90 days.  If you normally travel to Buffalo or any border city (like we do) and wish to keep the phone active after your vacation, you can simply top-up your phone every 90 days.  Otherwise, simply let the minutes lapse and the phone becomes throw-away. 

I hope this helps,

Mithuri


----------



## Canadave

thanks mithuri
Just a couple of more questions:
Do the phones come charged?  Or better still, how do these phones run...rechargable cell phone batteries or AA's ??....if rechargable, do they come with a charger?
How did you call the 1800 # ...with the actual cell phone or did you use the resort phone?  Not sure how, technically, the activation works.  Sorry if I sound dense, but I don't have a 14 year old son to help me out!


----------



## Jetstar

Forget about using your Canadian cell phone. When we went, we picked up a $20.00 pay as you go cell phone when we crossed the boarder at Tops and activated it before we got on the plane to fly to Disney. It came with I think 100 or 200 min. We texted all the time and made calls when we wanted. By the end of our trip we had used most of the min. It is so much cheaper and it was a lot easer then you would think.


----------



## beavdisfan

1- rogers phones do work very well in wdw.
2 - you can buy an at&t sim and it will work on a pay as you go basis in a rogers phone.
3 -or go in to any 7-11 buy a virgin mobile pay-go phone for $20.00 and $10.00 talk time. 
they work great are cheap to use and can be re-activated any time. i have had one for three years.
4 - or you can buck and up pay the charges to use the phone you already have. if you can afford disney a few calls should not matter.


----------



## bluenosemickey

For those of you flying and not near an american city, you can pick up $10 virgin phones in DTD at the Virgin store (where else?). The only issue may be availability. The first day we dropped in, they only had $60 phones. Since we needed 2 (to call each other) we came back another day when they got more of the cheaper $10 phones back in stock.

So our priority was to be able to call each other while in WDW. Not calling back to Canada. Although, we did do that too(.30/ min for international calling). The phone cards we bought at the store $30 each, were 400 mins each. Too much time really. But we are going back with the 90 day period and so will use up the rest of the time in March. Otherwise, I would have gotten cheaper cards.


----------



## Kurby

how many local minutes did you get on that 10 phone?  and can you reactivate it next year?

do the minutes click off when you use the 800 number for the calling card?

i'm still wondering if we should get a phone down there or just add text messaging to our bell phone and use the calling card from the hotel to call canada and the UK


----------



## Ginzu

Hi folks,

I've been researching some options for my options down in Orlando coming up in February.  Both my wife and I are on Rogers Wireless today and we don't plan on any heavy use while we're down there.

I'm worried about getting dinged heavily for roaming fees so I've decided to look at some prepaid SIM card options.

The main choices seem to be T-Mobile or AT&T Wireless - both have prepaid SIM cards you can buy when you get down there - or another option is buying the SIM card off of EBay before you leave (you could save some money using this option).

What I did find is that there is a MNVO called O2 Wireless (or Oxygen Wireless, depending on what you find) that runs on the AT&T network.  Essentially, it's just like what Petro-Canada Mobile and 7-11 Speakout wireless is like there - it's a 3rd party company offering service on an incumbent network (in the Petro-Canada/7-11 instance, they both run on the Rogers/Fido network).

Anyways, back to O2 Wireless - there are two options to buy an O2 Wireless SIM card. First, you can go to Best Buy and just buy the SIM card there - it includes 50 minutes.  For $10, I think that's the easiest option.  More details here are on the Best Buy website (.com, not .ca)

Option 2 would be to buy one off of Ebay - I went this route since it looked like some of the Best Buy stores near Windsor Hills did not carry the SIM card - price is about the same with shipping.  Search the EBay site for "Oxygen Wireless" and it should come up.

So, the next question is the phone.  If you have an *unlocked* GSM phone, all you need to do is take out your Rogers SIM, pop in your O2 SIM and off you go.  When you come back, put your Rogers SIM back in and you're back to your original setup.  If your phone is not unlocked - there are plenty of unlocked phones floating around on EBay or unlocking websites that will unlock your phone for you.

Hope this helps - I'll provide feedback on how the O2 service went.


----------



## disneyred

Ginzu said:


> Hi folks,
> 
> I've been researching some options for my options down in Orlando coming up in February.  Both my wife and I are on Rogers Wireless today and we don't plan on any heavy use while we're down there.
> 
> I'm worried about getting dinged heavily for roaming fees so I've decided to look at some prepaid SIM card options.
> 
> The main choices seem to be T-Mobile or AT&T Wireless - both have prepaid SIM cards you can buy when you get down there - or another option is buying the SIM card off of EBay before you leave (you could save some money using this option).
> 
> What I did find is that there is a MNVO called O2 Wireless (or Oxygen Wireless, depending on what you find) that runs on the AT&T network.  Essentially, it's just like what Petro-Canada Mobile and 7-11 Speakout wireless is like there - it's a 3rd party company offering service on an incumbent network (in the Petro-Canada/7-11 instance, they both run on the Rogers/Fido network).
> 
> Anyways, back to O2 Wireless - there are two options to buy an O2 Wireless SIM card. First, you can go to Best Buy and just buy the SIM card there - it includes 50 minutes.  For $10, I think that's the easiest option.  More details here are on the Best Buy website (.com, not .ca)
> 
> Option 2 would be to buy one off of Ebay - I went this route since it looked like some of the Best Buy stores near Windsor Hills did not carry the SIM card - price is about the same with shipping.  Search the EBay site for "Oxygen Wireless" and it should come up.
> 
> So, the next question is the phone.  If you have an *unlocked* GSM phone, all you need to do is take out your Rogers SIM, pop in your O2 SIM and off you go.  When you come back, put your Rogers SIM back in and you're back to your original setup.  If your phone is not unlocked - there are plenty of unlocked phones floating around on EBay or unlocking websites that will unlock your phone for you.
> 
> Hope this helps - I'll provide feedback on how the O2 service went.


I will be waiting to hear this works out for you ?? you mention going to best buy to pick up the SIM card for 02 ..?? is there one close to disney ??


----------



## momdad4kids

Has anyone used the connect Florida plan through Bell? $20 a month,2 month minimum with 100 free mins per month,total $40 per phone ,additional minutes are charged out at $0.39.I know its cheaper perhaps to go with disposable phones but due to   home/work  commitments I want to be available while away


----------



## I Am Canadian Eh

Just back from WDW... noticed at the ticket centre at Walmart on S.John Young Parkway (so I can assume the others as well) - a shelf full of the $9.99 Virgin Mobile phones.   Went into home electronics and cheapest ones they had were $20 - but sure enough they had the cheap ones right there where you get your passes - so obvoiusly they know people are doing just this.

Besides - this way you can give your "new" # to only people that really need it, and leave the rest of the world behind! I quite enjoyed not getting a phone call for 2 days.


----------



## Beechnut

We bought 10$ virgin phones and got 10$ worth of free minutes.  They came uncharged, but with a house charger (6hr recommended 1st charge - overnight)  We activated them on line and used them to call each other while there, as well as make local calls.  We have about $2 left on one of the phones.  They shut off (out of service) when we crossed the border.
For reasons nothing to do with the US phones I made a call on my own cell.  one phone call was 42.00 .  and we were charged 0.60 for each text sent from the canadain phone. (again my problem, I thought 'unlimited' meant unlimited. not unlimited only in canada. - my problem   )

So when I do it again. I'll dig out the phones and top them up with 10bucks and off we go again.
By far the most economical way to do it.

My  2  cents


----------



## Kurby

bell used to be unlimited in the states for text messaging and as of august 08 then changed that to 60 cents a message.  of course they push their "Florida" plan but when i mentioned the 10 buck phones we could get in the states they hummed and ahhhhed.  in this day and age there is no need to pay 60 cents a message or 6 bucks a mb when using your laptop.  it's insane 

and lets not discuss the long distance rates hotels gouge you for - it's completely insane.

i just wish those 10-10 numbers worked on cell phones.

but for me - we bought a 900 minute card for $20 bucks which gives us about 300 minutes to call canada with - more then enough minutes to call home.  

but of course my parents decided that they were going to go to england at the same time we go to florida so now there's no one left at home to call so we prob wont use the calling card.  good thing they don't expire.


----------



## Ginzu

disneyred said:


> I will be waiting to hear this works out for you ?? you mention going to best buy to pick up the SIM card for 02 ..?? is there one close to disney ??



I'm not sure - check with the Best Buy website and their Store Locator function.  I think there's one near the Universal Studios area but I've never been to Orlando yet - so I'm going into unknown territory...


----------



## CanadianGuy

> 4 - or you can buck and up pay the charges to use the phone you already have. if you can afford disney a few calls should not matter.



I cannot disagree with this statement enough.

On one trip to Florida, my cell phone bill was over $1000 because I decided to "Buck up and pay for the calls.."    My whole trip to Disney didn't cost $1000!

Obviously .. that's a lot of cash and i gotta tell ya, yes a family emergency was involved so at the end of the day - I had to make those calls.  However, had I had a disposable phone - it woulda been much less.. probably around $150.  

Live and learn.  I won't ever take my Canadian phone down there again.

Knox


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

Konx, that's awful. I hope your cell phone company was sympathetic to your family emergency and refigured your charges. That'd be decent of them.


----------



## taycreekcropper

Hi all!

This is my first post and I am planning my first trip April 5 for WDW - Staying at Pop Century.

This post intrigued me, I don't want to pay all the charges incurred but I do need to call home every couple of days or my MIL will be all stressed out.

So is it true that I can buy a disposeable cell phone at Wal-mart for like $20 and use that to call home to Canada?

Please show me the way........


----------



## mom2the3cs

taycreekcropper said:


> Hi all!
> 
> This is my first post and I am planning my first trip April 5 for WDW - Staying at Pop Century.
> 
> This post intrigued me, I don't want to pay all the charges incurred but I do need to call home every couple of days or my MIL will be all stressed out.
> 
> So is it true that I can buy a disposeable cell phone at Wal-mart for like $20 and use that to call home to Canada?
> 
> Please show me the way........



What I did last year, and it worked out well for us.  
In a post on this board someone said they ordered a phone from Virgin and had it shipped to Pop.  
This is what I did as well, ordered it online, and it was waiting for me when I arrived and checked in at Pop Century.  called the 1800 number the next morning (after I charged the phone over night) and got the mins that came free with the phone activated.  I called home to canada daily.. and on the last day I ran out of mins.
Paid 19.99 for the phone, with free shipping to the resort, and 20$ phone credit.  
Hope that helps


----------



## taycreekcropper

awesome thank you so much!  I'll do just that......


----------



## pampam

taycreekcropper said:


> Hi all!
> 
> This is my first post and I am planning my first trip April 5 for WDW - Staying at Pop Century.
> 
> This post intrigued me, I don't want to pay all the charges incurred but I do need to call home every couple of days or my MIL will be all stressed out.
> 
> So is it true that I can buy a disposeable cell phone at Wal-mart for like $20 and use that to call home to Canada?
> 
> Please show me the way........



If you don't really need a cell phone with you, just buy long distance phone card from No frills, value Mart etc.  It's $.04 a minute.  I just got back from Pop.  We were there 23 days.  I had a $10.00 card, phoned home every day, either on the hotel room phone or a pay phone, and still have $2.40 left on the card. WDW used to charge   for using the room phone, but now there is no extra charges for local or 1-800 numbers, and  this card uses a 1-800 #.   I know this thread is about cell phones but this is another option.


----------



## taycreekcropper

Hi

Is there a link to this no frills or value mart you can send me, I am in NB, is this an American Company or Canadian?  That would work too?

thanks


----------



## NJR

You can buy phone cards (VOX) at Sobeys too


----------



## 4_canucks

I went on the virginmobile.com website today but the cheapest phone that comes with airtime is $39.99.   If you purchase a $10 no contract phone you can also buy $20 of airtime separately.  I guess they are out of the $10 or $20 phones that come with $12.50 airtime (as some previous posters had mentioned).
So i called the virgin megastore in Downtown Disney - the cheapest prepaid phones they have on the floor right now is $50 (then you have to buy airtime) .  I asked if they sell SIM cards (since we do have unlocked GSM phones) but the person i talked to had no idea what a SIM Card is.  

We are 4 canucks flying down from the Great White North and taking the Magical Express - no chance to pick up a prepaid package anywhere enroute.  We are also cutting close in terms of timing (arriving next wednesday) so i guess at this time my options are:

a) rent a car/hail a cab from the resort to get to the nearest Target, they seem to have some nice prepaid bundles that are stores-only.  Or hit Walmart/Bestbuy
b) pay Rogers for the $40 US plan, for two phones it'd be $80Cdn
c) pay Virgin $50 for a prepaid phone and $20 for airtime card, for two phones it'd be $140US
d) go on EBay and hope that the seller would ship priority TODAY
e) forget the phones, just use telepathic powers to connect with the family (yeah right) 

My ideal would have been the AT&T $29.99 bundle that allows us to have unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls (since our main use would be to call each other while at the parks).  Besides not accepting Canadian billing addresses,  AT&T also has a one-week backlog just to PROCESS orders, then we get the 2 day shipping for free..so that wouldn't work. 

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears  (pun intended)..


----------



## taycreekcropper

I went onto VirginMobile last night and the phones are $10, if the Virgin Mobile store sells pay as you go cards then you'd be just fine?  The pay as you go seems like a perfect set up, plus you can have the phone delivered to your resort before you arrive for free.  

If you try this option, keep us posted, I leave in 30 days!!!

have a great trip!


----------



## taycreekcropper

VOX works in Florida, I can use this on the Disney phones?  I wish this was much easier what a pain just to save a load of money on calling.  I need some way to contact people.


----------



## 4_canucks

taycreekcropper said:


> I went onto VirginMobile last night and the phones are $10, if the Virgin Mobile store sells pay as you go cards then you'd be just fine? The pay as you go seems like a perfect set up, plus you can have the phone delivered to your resort before you arrive for free.
> 
> If you try this option, keep us posted, I leave in 30 days!!!
> 
> have a great trip!


 

Thanks.  i believe the mega store does sell Pay as you go cards but we'd need a virgin SIM Card (right?).  When i called, the store clerk didn't seem to know what a SIM card was, plus i do not see that as a purchasable item on their website...we'd have to use the SIM that comes with one of their non-contract phones.  

To get a non-contract phone, the cheapest model they have on the store floor is the $50 one (as of this afternoon).  So to get the $10 models, i'd have to order from their webiste, but at this point we might not get the phones in time.  Free shipping says 3-5 business days and i'm already within that window (arriving on wednesday).

I'm now considering an O2 SIM card from eBay (again we have unlocked GSM phones).  It's advertised to come with 50 minutes free airtime.  Of course I would have to assume the risk of not getting it in time.


----------



## taycreekcropper

For those of us leaving next month...here is the e-mail Virgin Mobile sent me
******************

Thanks for contacting us here at Virgin Mobile.

Glad to know that you plan to use Virgin Mobile phone while you stay in USA!

To answer your question: you can buy a new phone at many retail outlets nationwide, or you can purchase one directly from Virgin Mobile.  If you choose to purchase the handset directly from Virgin Mobile you can do so by calling one of our advisors or via our website at www.virginmobileusa.com. The website lists our retailer outlets, information about our phone models (with an impressive set of features you won't find on any other phones out there), and great stuff about Virgin Mobile.

Keep in mind, with Virgin Mobile, you're free. Free from binding contracts, monthly bills and hidden fees. We offer simplicity, fun and the kind of customer satisfaction that makes you feel good all over. You'll stay with us because you love us. The only requirement we have is that you Top-Up (how you add airtime to your account) $20 every 90 days to keep your account active. 

We have several service offers from which to choose - one that will be guaranteed to fit your needs! 

Here's just a little bit more about our 20¢ per Minute plan: Add money to your account, then talk all you want ? all calls are 20¢ per minute. When you run low add some more. Just make sure to add at least $20 every 90 days to keep your service working . . . even if you have money in your balance.

Further, we only ask you to Top-Up $20 every 90 days, even if there is balance on your account. However, if you did not Top-Up your account after 90 days your account will become inactive and you will not be able to make/receive calls and if you still do not Top-Up, your account will remain in inactive state for yet another 60 days and then the account will expire and you will lose your number and balance on the account.

With Virgin Mobile phones, you can certainly use your phone to dial internationally, including Canada!

To know more about the listed countries, the code and pricing, you might want to access the link below,

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/internationalCalling.do

What’s more if you happen to be a brand new customer then, I think you have made the right decision in choosing Virgin Mobile as your phone carrier, because we are offering “FREE” bundled airtime on select few handsets, for more info please access the link below,

http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/catalog.do

Once you have accessed the link you will view that free bundled airtime is being offered on Super Slice and Cyclops phone models, just click on “DETAILS”, to know more about the eligibility criteria, you can even place online order using the link.

Our International customer service number is (215) 757-9645.  However, please be aware that calling this number will incur International toll charges!

Welcome to USA!

Hope we have been able to shed some light on this for you! If you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to contact us via the web or by dialing 1-888-322-1122. We'll be delighted to assist you.

Ralph
Virgin Mobile At Your Service


----------



## pampam

taycreekcropper said:


> Hi
> 
> Is there a link to this no frills or value mart you can send me, I am in NB, is this an American Company or Canadian?  That would work too?
> 
> thanks



It's Canadian.  If memory serves me correctly, it's Loblaws.  Do you have any stores near you that sell PC or President's Choice  products?  They are all under the same umbrella.  You might try www.valuemart.ca.


----------



## redrosesix

taycreekcropper said:


> I went onto VirginMobile last night and the phones are $10, if the Virgin Mobile store sells pay as you go cards then you'd be just fine?  The pay as you go seems like a perfect set up, plus you can have the phone delivered to your resort before you arrive for free.
> 
> If you try this option, keep us posted, I leave in 30 days!!!
> 
> have a great trip!



We bought phones from Virgin US for our trip in Feb.

You can also top up your Virgin phone through paypal (also by giving them a CC over the phone or online too, I think)  We had them delivered to ASMusic (it took 3 days) and they were waiting at the front desk when we arrived.  They also have a good rate on l.d. minutes.

Also, you don't have to top up if you're back in Canada and not using the phones.  Just let it de-activate and lose the minutes left over.  Then when you go to the US again, re-activate the phone and top it up.  You'll get a new phone #.

Yes, it is that easy.


----------



## redrosesix

taycreekcropper said:


> Hi all!
> 
> This is my first post and I am planning my first trip April 5 for WDW - Staying at Pop Century.
> 
> This post intrigued me, I don't want to pay all the charges incurred but I do need to call home every couple of days or my MIL will be all stressed out.
> 
> So is it true that I can buy a disposeable cell phone at Wal-mart for like $20 and use that to call home to Canada?
> 
> Please show me the way........



Welcome to Dis -- the place that will save you lots of money   

The phones from Virgin US aren't really disposable, they just de-activate if you don't top them up.  If you're going to Walmart anyway, you can plan to buy a phone there, but I liked having them waiting at the resort when I arrived.  We each had a phone, so it was great to keep in touch with each other in the parks.

And yes, you can also call home to Canada - their l.d. rates are way better than ours.


----------



## 4_canucks

Again we are 4 canucks flying down from the Great White North to see Mickey this coming wednesday.  Will be using Magical Express , not renting a vehicle.  Two people want to be able to call each other while in the parks .  Calling back to Canada wasn't a priority.

We have two unlocked GSM phones but we need SIM cards.

After countless hours of research and debating options and finally realizing there's no time left, we are doing the following:

1.  bought two AT&T SIM cards from eBay, requested priority shipping to our disney hotel.  Transaction = $15.75US.   
Lesson learned:  buy the ones that come with $10 bonus airtime when you activate and fill up with a $25 airtime card.    I needed a seller who'd ship today via priority , so this wasn't a choice :-(

2.  Will bid on eBay for 2 $25 AT&T prepaid airtime cards.   Shipping is not an issue here because the seller will actually email us the PIN so we do not need the physical cards.    

3.  our plan will be the Pay-as-you-go unlimited talk where for $1/day mobile-to-mobile between two AT&T plans are free.  To other numbers it's 10 cents a minute (for me to call Disney dining to change reservations ha ha).   The $25 minutes also expire in 90 days, perfect for us to use them again when we next visit the US in June.

whatever you choose to do..good luck and try not to wait till the last minute (like what happened to us


----------



## flyguy

redrosesix said:


> Welcome to Dis -- the place that will save you lots of money
> 
> The phones from Virgin US aren't really disposable, they just de-activate if you don't top them up.  If you're going to Walmart anyway, you can plan to buy a phone there, but I liked having them waiting at the resort when I arrived.  We each had a phone, so it was great to keep in touch with each other in the parks.
> 
> And yes, you can also call home to Canada - their l.d. rates are way better than ours.



That's what we did back in Feb, we went to Walmart and bought 3 virgin phones so DW and I could keep in touch with each other and our son. Would have liked to have been able have got the virgin $10 airtime free phone deal but it stopped the week before. Virgin online will take Paypal so you can order from Canada and ship to your hotel. Virgin Us wont let you top up with a Canadian credit card, so to top up you need to buy a card from a store. The Walmart I went to only had the $19.99 phones which came with $10 air time.


----------



## Jennifer16

This may be a silly question but I have been on the websites for Virgin Mobline and Tracphone ... where are you able to see how much airtime come with the phone?  Also if you purchase from a store like Target in the States, do they print the amount of included airtime on the packaging.  I don't think we will use a phone that much ... perhaps just to arrange meeting times when we split up at a park or to compare wait times.  Several people at work have suggested we use "Walky - Talkies" instead ... any input would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## taycreekcropper

I just spoke to a friend who just came back from Florida and they purchased a Virgin phone in Bangor and minutes, the phone worked great, they had 200 mins and have tons left, they called home every other day to family.  

The reason I need the phone is because we have elderly parents (both sides) and if something were to happen and they could not get in touch with us would be devasting.  Plus they will need us to give a quick call every other day to say we are having fun and all is good.


----------



## flyguy

Jennifer16 said:


> This may be a silly question but I have been on the websites for Virgin Mobline and Tracphone ... where are you able to see how much airtime come with the phone?  Also if you purchase from a store like Target in the States, do they print the amount of included airtime on the packaging.  I don't think we will use a phone that much ... perhaps just to arrange meeting times when we split up at a park or to compare wait times.  Several people at work have suggested we use "Walky - Talkies" instead ... any input would be greatly appreciated.



The Virgin web site shows the airtime that comes with the phone, last time I was there it marked in red under the phones. When I bought mine at Walmart I asked the electronics guy how much airtime was included. It is said that at times Walmart sell phones for $9.99, that include $9.99 in airtime and free activation(thus a free phone). This is the same deal that was available on the website up until the Feb 09, but is now gone.The best at the Walmart I visited was 19.99 phone with $10 airtime at activation.


----------



## Honeystar120608

I wish I would have learned about this last time we went. This time my parents are coming along.
This is great!!!
So, just to be sure I have it down, if I were to get the cheapest phn
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/phones/phoneDetail.do?skuId=VMK127#BVQAWidgetID
Buy that, doesnt appear to come with minutes.  Now, how do I go about getting minutes? Whats the cheapest way? Can you just get $10 in mins?  Are txt msgs included?
My mom will be thrilled over this idea!!!
Thanks everyone, this is just awesome! I was looking into walkie talkies, but was afraid of the static and channel issue.


----------



## Cdnmom2001

Need help

We are debating the Tracfone as it is 19.99 for the phone and what appears to be 140 minutes on it. My inlaws are currently in florida till the end of the month and I can have it shipped to them. They will bring it back here intime for our trip and we will take them back down to Orlando with us and then acitvate them. We will not  have a laptop with us, can we activate via land line?

Also we had considered the virgin phones and having them shipped directly to the CBR but they don't have air time on them, would we have to then designate time to go out and buy an air time card?  Will a Canadian airtime card work on the US phone. Which is the better deal??? 

Anyone ? this is our frist trip of me, my hubby, my 2 kids and my parents. My parents are intending to be with us for a good part of the day and then leave and do their own thing. So we will need to meet/co-ordinate with them where and when and we feel the 40.00 would be well worth it.


----------



## Mybails

We are in manitoba and have unlimited texting and a family call plan from Telus.  Last summer in WDW we used texting and we didn't have any roaming charges.  The only time we had roaming was when we received or made calls to home.  The rules were don't call each other unless it was an emergency.  And folks from home were told to call and we would call back from a landline with a prepaid ld card that we activated at home. (the card thinks you're calling locally)


----------



## Salinger

On the Virgin Mobile USA site they have several phones now with free airtime.

One, for example, has the phone for $9.99 and you get $9.99 of free airtime, essentially making the phone free.  

My question is, how much airtime would that be?  Their chart only mentions a minimum of $20 airtime card for 200 minutes.

Does anyone know?  Our time's getting short and I'm still trying to figure out what's best for us!!   Thanks in advance for any advice.

P.S. we're flying, so not able to pick a phone up in the U.S.

ETA: Contacted Virgin & got the answer.


----------



## Wazzo

Hi everybody!  

I was wondering what type of charger usually comes with these prepaid phones.  Is it usually an AC charger to plug in at home?  Or is it a car charger that I can use on the road?

Also, do you know if these phones can be activated in Canada (with a FL zip code) before we leave?  We're driving, and I'd like it to be ready to go when we cross the US border.

Thanks!!


----------



## SaskDisNut

Wazzo said:


> Hi everybody!
> 
> I was wondering what type of charger usually comes with these prepaid phones. Is it usually an AC charger to plug in at home? Or is it a car charger that I can use on the road?
> 
> Also, do you know if these phones can be activated in Canada (with a FL zip code) before we leave? We're driving, and I'd like it to be ready to go when we cross the US border.
> 
> Thanks!!


 
The Tracfones I bought came with AC chargers but it was the $9.99 phone at Walmart so maybe more expensive ones come with car chargers too.

I activated both of our Tracfones at home using Tracfones website and following the instructions. I can actually use my Tracfones here at home too so I don't know if that made a difference or not.


----------



## Wazzo

SaskDisNut said:


> The Tracfones I bought came with AC chargers but it was the $9.99 phone at Walmart so maybe more expensive ones come with car chargers too.
> 
> I activated both of our Tracfones at home using Tracfones website and following the instructions. I can actually use my Tracfones here at home too so I don't know if that made a difference or not.



Thank you for this information!


----------



## Salinger

I would highly doubt they'd come with car chargers unless you're getting some sort of special package deal.  Car chargers are generally an after-purchase accessory so unlikely for it to be included.

I know a lot of people have used and like Tracfone, but we ended up going with Virgin.  We found Tracfone's customer service to be absolutely abysmal, and this was before we even became customers.  I hate to think how we'd have been treated once we'd already signed up.

They authorized my US friend's credit card 4 times for the one purchase, all the while the website was telling us the transaction wasn't being approved.  After the fourth time, my friend's bank fraud department called her to see if she had indeed made 4 transactions with Tracfone within 11 minutes.

Trying to get someone at Tracfone to straighten it out for us was a nightmare.  We finally called their head office in Miami and "think" we are now in the clear.  Anyway, it was enough to frighten us off and we're sticking with Virgin mobile.  The transaction (just one!) went through without a hitch and their customer service was extremely friendly and helpful.

Having said all that, we've not yet activated the phones.  I'm hoping if we run into any problems, Virgin will be as helpful as they have shown already.


----------



## Wazzo

Salinger said:


> I would highly doubt they'd come with car chargers unless you're getting some sort of special package deal.  Car chargers are generally an after-purchase accessory so unlikely for it to be included.
> 
> I'm hoping if we run into any problems, Virgin will be as helpful as they have shown already.



Thanks!  I have emailed Virgin, and they do seemed super helpful.  I just wish they'd ship their phones to Canada.  I may have to make a quick trip to a border town so that I can get this sorted out before we leave!


----------



## cslittle999

How does re-activation work with Tracfone and others? We'll only need the phones one or twice a year. I don't want to be paying for the phone for the entire year. Do I get to keep the same phone number of do I get a new one each time?


----------



## Salinger

From what I've read, your account will become inactive and you will lose your phone number after 90 days with no new minutes added to your account.

To reactivate, you simply buy a prepaid card, and activate your phone again, adding the minutes to it.  You will be assigned a new phone number at that time.

Depending on special offers available at the time, and how much trouble it would be to pick up a new phone, it is conceivable it might actually be cheaper to buy a new phone with bonus minutes than to buy a prepaid card.


----------



## cslittle999

Okay that makes sense.


----------



## jmann

Has anyone tried Net 10? They have great deals and if you can get to a US Walmart you can pick up a phone that comes with 300 minutes and lasts 60 days. They also have a long distance program where your family at home get a number to call so it does not cost them ld charges when they call you.


----------



## Snibs2412

Yes!!  My family and I just took our first trip to WDW this past March Break, and on our drive down we picked up 2 Net10 phones (one for me and one for my husband) at Wal-Mart.  They worked wonderfully, and were such a great deal.  Why would we pay outrageous fees to use our Bell cell phones in Florida when the US has options like this??!?


----------



## SaskDisNut

Snibs2412 said:


> Yes!!  My family and I just took our first trip to WDW this past March Break, and on our drive down we picked up 2 Net10 phones (one for me and one for my husband) at Wal-Mart.  They worked wonderfully, and were such a great deal.  Why would we pay outrageous fees to use our Bell cell phones in Florida when the US has options like this??!?



Net10 is a subsidiary of Tracfone so I would expect that they offer very similar deals to them.  I looked at them at Walmart as well but decided to go with Tracfone since that's what I had read more about.

It is good to get an opinion an Net10.  Thanks.  And to the Disboards!


----------



## Snibs2412

Thanks - I *love *these boards!!!


----------



## jmann

Snibs2412 said:


> Yes!!  My family and I just took our first trip to WDW this past March Break, and on our drive down we picked up 2 Net10 phones (one for me and one for my husband) at Wal-Mart.  They worked wonderfully, and were such a great deal.  Why would we pay outrageous fees to use our Bell cell phones in Florida when the US has options like this??!?


 I know, my Rogers phone would cost me a fortune to make a call or text. For $30 I get a phone and can make local calls without thinking about it.


----------



## cdnmousegirls

When there last Sept we still paid some very expensive roaming charges but used our unlimited texting free to communicate with the rest of our party in the parks!


----------



## Styx555

Sorry, I'm sure this has been answered already, however can't find it. I have 2 rogers phones that we will be bringing down with us. If we text each other, are there additional charges?

What about texting to a phone back home on Canada?

Thanks


----------



## Kurby

yes - but you can get a texting package when you go.

we got one from bell - $5 for 50 messages.

it is the cheapest way to go since roaming charges are a *itch


----------



## Styx555

we currently have unlimited texting. Will this work or is it a seperate package needed when visiting the States?


----------



## Wazzo

I picked up two prepaid cell phones in the US yesterday (just across the border), and I am now trying to activate them at home.  The activation doesn't seem to be updating the phone.  Is it possible to activate them from Canada?  Or do I need to be in the US?

I have a Florida phone number on the online account for the phone, but the phone itself doesn't seem to be connecting to the service.  I'm wondering if I need to wait until I'm across the border for the phone to pick up the right American signal??


----------



## cslittle999

Wazzo said:


> I picked up two prepaid cell phones in the US yesterday (just across the border), and I am now trying to activate them at home.  The activation doesn't seem to be updating the phone.  Is it possible to activate them from Canada?  Or do I need to be in the US?
> 
> I have a Florida phone number on the online account for the phone, but the phone itself doesn't seem to be connecting to the service.  I'm wondering if I need to wait until I'm across the border for the phone to pick up the right American signal??


You probably need to be in the US. Most pay-as-you-go phones don't work outside of the country they are bought in.


----------



## Wazzo

cslittle999 said:


> You probably need to be in the US. Most pay-as-you-go phones don't work outside of the country they are bought in.



Thank you!    I will try again once we cross the border.


----------



## peacefrogdog

1. Is there a time delay to activate the phone once in the US? I'm debating buying a T-Mobile or Virgin phone once I arrive in Orlando for November but would like to start using it right away.  Wil it work right away once activated?

2. Also, when you buy a pre-paid card, do you have to activate it by certain time? For example, if I buy a pre-paid card now, could I wait to use it (and activate it in November)?

3. Also, can you buy pre-paid cards in Canada (e.g. Virgin) and use them for a US-based phone?


----------



## Wazzo

peacefrogdog said:


> 1. Is there a time delay to activate the phone once in the US? I'm debating buying a T-Mobile or Virgin phone once I arrive in Orlando for November but would like to start using it right away.  Wil it work right away once activated?
> 
> 2. Also, when you buy a pre-paid card, do you have to activate it by certain time? For example, if I buy a pre-paid card now, could I wait to use it (and activate it in November)?
> 
> 3. Also, can you buy pre-paid cards in Canada (e.g. Virgin) and use them for a US-based phone?



Hopefully someone will have better answers for you, but here's a start:

1.  I haven't activated my phones yet (they won't activate at home in Canada), but I have read that people have started using the phones 10 minutes after activation.  You _do _have to charge the phone _before _activation though, and that can take 4-6 hours.  So, that might be a delay for you.

2.  You should be able to buy a pre-paid card and wait to use it.  They usually don't start the clock until you activate the card.

3.  Not sure on this one, sorry!


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

Any new info?? Would love updates.


----------



## CDNmouse

Just back from a week in Naples FL folowed by a week in Orlando. 

I picked up three Net10 pay as you go phones from a Target Store in Detroit before going.

Phone were on sale, reg $29.99 on sale for $19.99 and came with 300 minutes each.

Activated the phones online in Naples. We had a Naples area code assigned but this was not big deal as there was no additional cost for long distance calls anywhere in the USA. We went to Orlando for a family reunion at Disney World so I gave my brother and sister each a phone.

They worked great and we were able to remain in contact if we separated in the parks or allowed the kids to head over to the parks first and call to meet up when we got there.

300 minutes was more than enough for us. Charges were by the minute meaning that if our calls were 1 min and 5 secs, 2 minutes were deducted. At the end of our week in Orlando we still have almost 200 minutes left on each phone.

Since we all headed home at different times on different flights we were even able to call each other from different parts of the US for no additional cost. When I arrived back home in Detroit I called my sister from the plane, she was still at the Magic Kingdom during Extra Magic Hours.

So in total for about $60 plus tax we had three phones to use in Disney World. Worked well for us!

Gary


----------



## Wazzo

I recommend Net10 too!  We bought ours across the border (on sale at Target for $15.49 including 300 minutes), and I activated them online back home in Canada.  I used a Lake Buena Vista zip code during the activation, and I got a phone number local to WDW.

We drove down to Florida, and the phones activated perfectly once we crossed the Canadian border.  We used them for texting and calling, and had a ton of minutes left.  Great service!


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

CDNmouse said:


> Just back from a week in Naples FL folowed by a week in Orlando.
> 
> I picked up three Net10 pay as you go phones from a Target Store in Detroit before going.
> 
> Phone were on sale, reg $29.99 on sale for $19.99 and came with 300 minutes each.
> 
> Activated the phones online in Naples. We had a Naples area code assigned but this was not big deal as there was no additional cost for long distance calls anywhere in the USA. We went to Orlando for a family reunion at Disney World so I gave my brother and sister each a phone.
> 
> They worked great and we were able to remain in contact if we separated in the parks or allowed the kids to head over to the parks first and call to meet up when we got there.
> 
> 300 minutes was more than enough for us. Charges were by the minute meaning that if our calls were 1 min and 5 secs, 2 minutes were deducted. At the end of our week in Orlando we still have almost 200 minutes left on each phone.
> 
> Since we all headed home at different times on different flights we were even able to call each other from different parts of the US for no additional cost. When I arrived back home in Detroit I called my sister from the plane, she was still at the Magic Kingdom during Extra Magic Hours.
> 
> So in total for about $60 plus tax we had three phones to use in Disney World. Worked well for us!
> 
> Gary





Wazzo said:


> I recommend Net10 too!  We bought ours across the border (on sale at Target for $15.49 including 300 minutes), and I activated them online back home in Canada.  I used a Lake Buena Vista zip code during the activation, and I got a phone number local to WDW.
> 
> We drove down to Florida, and the phones activated perfectly once we crossed the Canadian border.  We used them for texting and calling, and had a ton of minutes left.  Great service!



Thanks, we'll definitely look into Net10 at Target & hope we catch a sale. Hope it's as easy to reactivate after a couple months without using them, KWIM?


----------



## jasmom

Last week I was in Syracuse and they didn't have any at Target. That was one of the reasons we went was to look for phones. I am still trying to figure out how we are going to communicate.


----------



## CDNmouse

DearDaisyinDurham said:


> Thanks, we'll definitely look into Net10 at Target & hope we catch a sale. Hope it's as easy to reactivate after a couple months without using them, KWIM?



We are not even going to bother trying to reactivate the. I looked at the cost of reload minutes and 300 minutes was $30 ... more than what we paid for the phone. We will just get new phones again next trip.

We got ours at target but I have also seen them at other big box stores like Walmart.

Gary


----------



## DisneyStiles

First - my apologies as I haven't read all of this thread.  We are flying to WDW, taking the ME and will not be in the US prior to our trip.  Is there anyway to get these phones in Canada ahead of time?  Sorry if this has already been answered.  

Also does anyone know if the walkie talkies work well at WDW

Thanks,


----------



## CupidsKiss

I was browsing Walmart.com & Target.com for the Net 10 and Trac phones. They do not specify that they come with minutes. Is it everyones experiences that they generally do or do you need to purchase the phone cards too?


----------



## Wazzo

DisneyStiles said:


> First - my apologies as I haven't read all of this thread.  We are flying to WDW, taking the ME and will not be in the US prior to our trip.  Is there anyway to get these phones in Canada ahead of time?  Sorry if this has already been answered.
> 
> Also does anyone know if the walkie talkies work well at WDW
> 
> Thanks,



I personally couldn't find any companies that would ship the phones to Canada, so I had to go and get them across the border.  You could have them shipped to your hotel in Florida, but you'd still need to charge and activate them.   HTH!



CupidsKiss said:


> I was browsing Walmart.com & Target.com for the Net 10 and Trac phones. They do not specify that they come with minutes. Is it everyones experiences that they generally do or do you need to purchase the phone cards too?



When I was shopping for the phones in person, the only phone that came with minutes was the Net10 phone.  All of the other prepaid cellphones I saw at Target, Walmart, KMart etc. did not come with minutes included.  Online deals may be different though...


----------



## CupidsKiss

Wazzo said:


> When I was shopping for the phones in person, the only phone that came with minutes was the Net10 phone.  All of the other prepaid cellphones I saw at Target, Walmart, KMart etc. did not come with minutes included.  Online deals may be different though...



Thanks Wazzo


----------



## bluenosemickey

My experience is with a virgin phone. We originally bought them last year at the DTD virgin store. They were 9.99 each and we bought $30 phone cards for each phone. They activated with very little trouble by phone. We used them for 2 trips because the minutes were valid for 90 days and we were just within the limits with the Dec and March vacations. Very pleased at that time and found the phones invaluable.

Now, we returned in august and because the virgin store is now closed (princess Di exibit) we tried to buy phone cards on line. Well that was an exercise in frustration, for some reason it wouldn't accept our am$ visa card. Kept saying to try another credit card. I suspect it had something with the matching of the address and the credit card. Anyway, we tried to call virgin with the phones, managed to get a new phone number assigned to the phone but still couldn't manage to get any minutes purchased to actually use the phones. I was extremely frustrated with their phone system, kept getting sent back to the start of the automated process

I really had counted on using these phones with my extended family along for the trip this time. I think for next trip I will try to stop somewhere across the border prior to pick up some of these other phones mentioned and start again. I'm scared to buy virgin prepaid cards for fear that we won't get them working for some reason and their system is so difficult to troubleshoot. Not ever was I able to talk to an actual living breathing human!!

If you can get phones, they are fantastic and well worth $50-75 for the benefit.


----------



## peter-nf

We're going to disney world in 3 weeks for a week and currently have 3 phones with bell. The lady on the phone said i could add a US roaming service to our plan that would give us 100min for $40, 200min for $70 or 400min for $100 on all 3 phones combined. Is there any reason i shouldn't add the service? Something i'm missing? My understanding is i will get 400 minutes total on the 3 phones combined for calls to each other in Florida, other phones in Florida and calls home to Canada with no extra charges (except  for the $100) and most importantly can anyone confirm that my phones will actually get service? (no old phones).


----------



## ont/ohana

We purchased 3 NEt10 phones today in Buffalo and brought them home to Canada.  If we activate them ahead of time here we know the time will start right away but will they pick up a signal as soon as we cross the border again a week later.  Assuming they won't work here at all.  Was going to use a Disney hotel zip code for activation


----------



## petbren

ont/ohana said:


> We purchased 3 NEt10 phones today in Buffalo and brought them home to Canada.  If we activate them ahead of time here we know the time will start right away but will they pick up a signal as soon as we cross the border again a week later.  Assuming they won't work here at all.  Was going to use a Disney hotel zip code for activation



Not going for another month(28 days, actually, but who's counting)
Where in Buffalo did you buy them, and did they come with the 300 minutes?


----------



## ont/ohana

petbren said:


> Not going for another month(28 days, actually, but who's counting)
> Where in Buffalo did you buy them, and did they come with the 300 minutes?



Bought them at Target.  When we got to Florida one phone quit working and Net10 offered to ship us another phone but would would take 5 business days to get it so didn't bother.  The other 2 worked great the whole time.
Net 10 phones come loaded with 300 minutes and 60 days service.


----------



## Ham Ham

Picked up a couple of Net10 phones for a trip we were talking with a couple of other families this past August. Activation of the phones was a much longer process than with our Virgin Mobile phone bought last March. Net10 phones are a great price but the activation process and the inability for them to allow us to call back to Canada would have me looking for different options in the future.

I followed the supplied instructions on international calling by activating it on their website. Wait the instructed 24 hours still could not call back to Canada. Called customer support they said they would activate it and to wait 24 hours. 
Played this game several more times during the trip all to no avail for calling the great white north was elusive.

No issues with using the Net10 phones in the US.


----------



## DearDaisyinDurham

Tried the Net10 on a trip to the States, great deal at Target, charged it up, called to activate & it was a customer service nightmare. On hold for an extended time then they said the store didn't activate the phone correctly - though the activation was noted on the receipt, etc., just a hassle. Went back to the store (now this is day 3 of the 5 day trip) and they checked it out & said it WAS activated correctly.

When I explained the customer service situation, the store felt bad & they took the phone back. Never again will we try Net10. Thank goodness Target is so easy to deal with ... I will always look for my phones at Target first.

HTH someone w/ a trip coming up!


----------



## petbren

DearDaisyinDurham said:


> Tried the Net10 on a trip to the States, great deal at Target, charged it up, called to activate & it was a customer service nightmare. On hold for an extended time then they said the store didn't activate the phone correctly - though the activation was noted on the receipt, etc., just a hassle. Went back to the store (now this is day 3 of the 5 day trip) and they checked it out & said it WAS activated correctly.
> 
> When I explained the customer service situation, the store felt bad & they took the phone back. Never again will we try Net10. Thank goodness Target is so easy to deal with ... I will always look for my phones at Target first.
> 
> HTH someone w/ a trip coming up!



Thanks for the tip, I think I'll stick with Trac pone, had good luck with them in the past.


----------



## jasmom

We got 2 net10 phones in sept and they worked great. Very easy to activate and we did it very late at night. I had no problem using them to call Canada even before the 24 hours had passed. The way they had you call canada was a little different and easier than calling other countries. The canada instruction was a couple of lines further down. My parents just took the phones with them when they went to New York city with out any problems calling back to Canada. My parents had problems calling Canada last year with a Trac phone. They said the net10 phone was much easier.


----------



## mickeyfanatic09

I go to the US alot, and I have a Virgin Mobile USA phone.   Great way to keep cost down, and the phone card lasts for 3 months (just have to renew your card every 3 months).   Plus I go to WDW twice a year, so it's definitely worth having a US Paygo Phone.   Look into it, Walmart, Target and K Mart in the US are your friends


----------



## roberthodgson

We picked up 2 AT&T Phones last year $15.00 each  we now keep them active all the time as they come in handy when traveling in the US and when I go on a ride that my wife does not want to go on she no longer is stuck waiting in one place.


----------



## Honeystar120608

We have been sitting here trying to figure out what to do. My dh has a cell phn and my sister has one. The theory we have is that we can txt one another when one group of us is off a ride to get ahold of the other half of the group so we can meet up. 
I know the other option is the prepaid cell phones. So, if we did the cell phones, I get we order them and have them delivered to Disney World. I went to the At&t website, asks me for my local zip, would I enter Maine or Florida (as Im closest to Maine and will be flying out there).

DH's phn is through Rogers and Sis is through Telus. So Im wondering if we can do the txting without roaming charges???? Any help is great!!


----------



## cslittle999

Honeystar120608 said:


> We have been sitting here trying to figure out what to do. My dh has a cell phn and my sister has one. The theory we have is that we can txt one another when one group of us is off a ride to get ahold of the other half of the group so we can meet up.
> I know the other option is the prepaid cell phones. So, if we did the cell phones, I get we order them and have them delivered to Disney World. I went to the At&t website, asks me for my local zip, would I enter Maine or Florida (as Im closest to Maine and will be flying out there).
> 
> DH's phn is through Rogers and Sis is through Telus. So Im wondering if we can do the txting without roaming charges???? Any help is great!!


Rogers charges 75 cents per text you send in the US. I'm not sure about Telus.

If you have a rental car it can be straight forward to pick up phones when you get to WDW. The gas station outside of the BW has Tracfone and Net10 phones. I'm assuming that the Car Care Center does too. I picked up our Tracfone's at the Target at 192.

The zip code you enter in the web sites determines where the phone number will be. We used the zip code for BW when we setup our phones.


----------



## bluenosemickey

Can you walk to the gas station outside BW? We picked up virgin phones when the virgin store was in DtD. But now it's gone and we tried to reactivate our virgin phones with no luck last trip. Would like to just buy new phones, but wouldn't have a car.


----------



## cslittle999

bluenosemickey said:


> Can you walk to the gas station outside BW? We picked up virgin phones when the virgin store was in DtD. But now it's gone and we tried to reactivate our virgin phones with no luck last trip. Would like to just buy new phones, but wouldn't have a car.


It would be an easy walk from BW.


----------



## YukiPhnx

If you're with Virgin Mobile and subscribe to one of their plans, you can add $5 a month to get 500 texts to use between the US and Canada, or $3 a month to 30 texts to use.

Unlimited texts between US and Canada is $15 a month and 2500 texts is $10/month

I think the $5/month add-on is a great idea. 500 texts is more than enough to use during my vacation, and I'll have the rest of those texts for personal use.

If you only need to use texting to keep people posted, and you're only going on a week long trip, the $3/month add-on would be a better choice. If your vacation happens to be between two "plan" months, then you'll have 60 texts to use for your trip! For me, that's more than enough to keep in touch with my friends while in the World, and with my family here in Toronto.


----------



## GrtWtNorth

Bought the Net 10 at Walmart for a trip to Hawaii.  It worked great for US calls, but I had the same difficulty as others with activating the international calling feature.  I spent +$15 of airtime calling customer service 3 times, I finally was allowed to call and text Canada, six days into the trip. 

One lesson learned for cross-border shoppers, the international calling feature cannot be activated during a brief stop-over in the US or on the day you fly.  The phone should be inside the US and active for 24 hours to get international calling feature activated.


----------



## dave 2

What about BBerry Messenger? I know the roaming charges are expensive but if you just use Bberry Messenger, we are charged a set rate per MB on a data plan through Telus.  Messenger texts do not use much bytes (we use around 1MB a month including emails as it is).  I figure for 1 week the charges wouldn't be that bad?


----------



## TreesyB

I just investigated with Telus for my brand new iPhone.

- 60cents for text
- 50cents / minute for phone time (international roaming included)
- $3/Mb for data 

I'm not happy!  That's really expensive for the $57/month I already pay.  And I really don't know how to control my iPhone to turn off data.

So I'm really glad to read about buying cheap phones in the US.  But have questions, hopefully someone can help.

- will I be able to use it in Canada to call US with the Pay as You Go Cards(like TracPhone that has the same charge as local plans)?  I have friends in US and that would be cool, since I don't call them that often but would love the option without the huge L/D charges.

- what happens if we don't top up minutes?

- do they take US Debit cards?  I have a US debit, but not a US CC.

thanks!  I never even noticed this thread before   but necessity breeds needing to pay attention.


----------



## Ham Ham

To turn off 3G & data roaming on an iPhone


Settings
General
Network
-3G: select off
-Data Roaming: select off​
I own an iPhone with no data plan and request Rogers disable the data service on their end.

Buy a phone  in Florida activate it there where you will be staying this way if  out your party can call from the hotel and it will be a local call.

Try a Tracphone. Last time down with friends I pick up two Net 10 phones challenging to activate and couldn't call back to Canada after numerous attempts dealing with the CSR's. We own a Virgin phone and just ad $10 each time we are in Florida, MYC or where ever in the US.


----------



## jmann

When I went in October I had my wifes Net 10 phone. I could not call back to Canada because she had not set it up properly. I was travelling with my 6 year old so I went into Best Buy in Port Huron and for $9.99 + $20 airtime I bought a Virgin phone that worked great and with the bonus time start up credit I still have time left. The great thing about Best Buy was the girl set the whole thing up for me while we waited. I had a working phone in 15 minutes and peace of mind while travelling.


----------



## TreesyB

I ended up getting 2 Tracfones for $9 each. It worked great for communication in the parks however I have to say that the Samsung phone had really poor quality for noisy places. Like when you are at a restaurant trying to call Disney dining to find out why your reservation has been lost on New Years Eve.

Everything else worked great. You just have to remember that you cannot text to phones in Canada.


----------



## yellownovawife

we have a Bell plan. At home, my hubby, daughter and I can text each other for free. What would it cost to text each other when we are all in Florida?


----------



## YukiPhnx

That's what I'm trying to find out on my Virgin phone.

The phone websites have info about calling while in the states, but next to no info about texting.

I don't know if this is new, but if you have a Virgin phone with a myPlan, you can add on a $40/month/100 minutes for roaming in the US.

http://virginmobile.ca/vmc/en/plans/myplan-addons.html


----------



## Laurene14

We were just in Florida over Christmas (and now heading back to WDW for holiday - yay!). We paid about $50 for 2 phones at Walmart in the US, had unlimited calling between phones for $1 a day, (which was included in the $50).  Much better than walkie talkies, just as cheap, and we can re-activate them just by purchasing another phone card.
It really beats those roaming fees from Rogers!


----------



## TreesyB

Laurene14 said:


> We were just in Florida over Christmas (and now heading back to WDW for holiday - yay!). We paid about $50 for 2 phones at Walmart in the US, had unlimited calling between phones for $1 a day, (which was included in the $50).  !


which phone company did you use?


----------



## Fundytrail

bluenosemickey said:


> Now, we returned in august and because the virgin store is now closed (princess Di exibit) we tried to buy phone cards on line.



Can anyone tell me if the Virgin Mega Store in DTD is now open or closed?


----------



## cslittle999

Fundytrail said:


> Can anyone tell me if the Virgin Mega Store in DTD is now open or closed?


It is closed. All of the Virgin Megastores in the US closed at the end of the summer.


----------



## Laurene14

We used Verizon - only drawback I'm finding now - I can't top up the phone before we go, I have to wait and buy a card on the way to WDW. Not a big problem, they just don't have the capabilities to use Cdn. credit cards on their web site.


----------



## carolynb

Laurene14 said:


> We used Verizon - only drawback I'm finding now - I can't top up the phone before we go, I have to wait and buy a card on the way to WDW. Not a big problem, they just don't have the capabilities to use Cdn. credit cards on their web site.



We are going down in May and we're wondering what kind of phone from Verizon did you get and what type of phone plan? Are they available at all Walmarts in the US? Thanks


----------



## Cockburn Family

Heading down to WDW in a couple of weeks...I usually hang in the Camping Boards but really appreciate all the great tips as we need a phone on site....Thanks fellow Canucks!


----------



## Fundytrail

We are staying at  Disney (Port Orleans Riverside) , where is the nearest/best spot to pick up a cell phone in the area via taxi or shuttle? 

Thanks in advance for any info!


----------



## chicaholic4ever

What if you buy this $10phone from Walmart USA.I would buy 2 one for me and one for the hubby?Then I think the minutes are another $10 for 150 minutes..So basically $20...
Just go to the Walmart USA website there are so many cheap phones there.


----------



## M_T

Hello

I was wondering if it's possible to buy a AT&T (or other) SIM from ebay and activate  as pay as you go in the Rogers iphone (removing the rogers sim)? 

I would really like data access in WDW but Rogers rates are a killer.

I would jail break my iPhone if needed but would rather not. 

Has anyone tried this ?


----------



## cslittle999

M_T said:


> Hello
> 
> I was wondering if it's possible to buy a AT&T (or other) SIM from ebay and activate  as pay as you go in the Rogers iphone (removing the rogers sim)?
> 
> I would really like data access in WDW but Rogers rates are a killer.
> 
> I would jail break my iPhone if needed but would rather not.
> 
> Has anyone tried this ?


I haven't tried it but it should work. You would need to jail break the iPhone because it is locked to Rogers network. Beyond that you just need to find a sim and provider that does pay-as-you-go data.


----------



## M_T

Was just reading on another thread that for 10/month the rogers data plan can be used in the US. This would be great if it can be removed once we get back.
If this is true I can then save a lot by tethering and not have to purchase Internet at the resort


----------



## cslittle999

M_T said:


> Was just reading on another thread that for 10/month the rogers data plan can be used in the US. This would be great if it can be removed once we get back.
> If this is true I can then save a lot by tethering and not have to purchase Internet at the resort


You still pay $1/MB on top of the $10/month making it too expensive to use for anything other than some light email.


----------



## M_T

ACK ... not worth it for sure!
back to jail break I guess.


----------



## joannalh

Hmm, we were going to buy walkie-talkies which is what we had the last time we were at DW, but I keep hearing about people having trouble with them... it sounds like a cheap US phone is the way to go.  We won't have a car though.  How would we get to Walmart/Target?  By cab?  How far would that be?  (From Wilderness Lodge)


----------



## Da2154

Our group bought 2 Verizon LG phones with $10 prepaid, 99 cents per day.  They were about $25 each at a Wal-Mart Supercentre (oops, spelled Supercenter down there, of course!) near WDW.  So the phone itself was really only $15.  Activated them with 407 phone numbers, and they worked great in the parks when we split into 2 groups. 

Don't bother taking photos with them though, the only way to get them off was to message them to my normal Canadian cell phone while still in Florida and that used up some of the $10 allocation.  USB link didn't allow photo transfer.


----------



## holidaygirl

Since we live in Saskatchewan we have a plan through Sasktel that allows us to phone our cell phones or any other Sasktel mobility customer free, in Canada or the U.S.. We have used our phones with no problems (have also called back to Canada again no problem).


----------



## GrtWtNorth

joannalh said:


> Hmm, we were going to buy walkie-talkies which is what we had the last time we were at DW, but I keep hearing about people having trouble with them... it sounds like a cheap US phone is the way to go.  We won't have a car though.  How would we get to Walmart/Target?  By cab?  How far would that be?  (From Wilderness Lodge)



Walkie talkies work OK in the parks, but the range is limited, and there may be interference from other users. We found that we could communicate well within 500 yards, but only through cryptic static from land-to-land within Magic Kingdom. FYI, walkie talkies are not allowed in carry-on luggage.

Before you run off to Walmart or Target, try the HESS gas station or convenience stores in non-Disney resorts.  There's some in the vicinity of Downtown Disney. (We've always found car rental deals, so never took a cab off property.)


----------



## Belle599

M_T said:


> Was just reading on another thread that for 10/month the rogers data plan can be used in the US. This would be great if it can be removed once we get back.
> If this is true I can then save a lot by tethering and not have to purchase Internet at the resort



I investigated this for our Apr/May trip and it turns out there is a 3 month commitment to add on the $10 charge and use your data in the US.

Best value for us was to each pay $10 and get 20 txt mssgs....after that they were $0.50 each.  Still a crappy price but better than without the package!

In 2009 we had Virgin cells shipped to our resort and that worked well too.


----------



## M_T

Belle599 said:


> I investigated this for our Apr/May trip and it turns out there is a 3 month commitment to add on the $10 charge and use your data in the US.
> 
> Best value for us was to each pay $10 and get 20 txt mssgs....after that they were $0.50 each.  Still a crappy price but better than without the package!
> 
> In 2009 we had Virgin cells shipped to our resort and that worked well too.



Looked into it ,, you still have to pay $1/MB on top of the $10/month charge.
I'm thinking of forwarding my text msgs to email and using data instead of texting.


----------



## LovesHerTaurus

I was wondering. If there are two phones from the same carrier that usually have free txting between each other, for txting only (CANadian phone!) would I pay roaming charges?

I have a work business Blackberry and if there are crazy charges on there, my director of finance may fly down to Florida and murder me and bury me in a lagoon. My fiance has a cell phone from the same company (kmts) and usually all our texting is free.

Also, I get about 100 emails a day on my Blackberry for work. Do I have to turn it off while I am in WDW? 

Anyone have experience with this??


----------



## glendalais

LovesHerTaurus said:


> I was wondering. If there are two phones from the same carrier that usually have free txting between each other, for txting only (CANadian phone!) would I pay roaming charges?
> 
> I have a work business Blackberry and if there are crazy charges on there, my director of finance may fly down to Florida and murder me and bury me in a lagoon. My fiance has a cell phone from the same company (kmts) and usually all our texting is free.
> 
> Also, I get about 100 emails a day on my Blackberry for work. Do I have to turn it off while I am in WDW?
> 
> Anyone have experience with this??



Generally yes. Unlimited features don't normally apply once you cross the border. You would probably not only have to pay roaming charges, but also international text charges. You should check with your company and carrier to make sure, though.

As to your email. You don't have necessarily have to turn it off while abroad, just disable the data and push email features (at least that's how it works for iPhones, I'm not so sure about Blackberries).


----------



## LovesHerTaurus

glendalais said:


> Generally yes. Unlimited features don't normally apply once you cross the border. You would probably not only have to pay roaming charges, but also international text charges. You should check with your company and carrier to make sure, though.
> 
> As to your email. You don't have necessarily have to turn it off while abroad, just disable the data and push email features (at least that's how it works for iPhones, I'm not so sure about Blackberries).



I could just turn off my Blackberry and ignore work, enjoy a real holiday for once, and have a big 10 day party with my new husband and my daughters 

Texting would be handy, BUT I'm thinking with all the hassle we should just create whistles for each other a la Sound of Music. Mine will be "you're a cute babe" whistle, his can be the Batman theme, and I can do a bird for my 10 year old and a death march for my tomboy....


----------



## GrUvGrL

We were just in Michigan 2 weeks ago - walked into a walmart and phone a 30 dollar phone that comes with 300 minutes! Bought two of them and plan to leave them in the fridge from our fridge swap so that other people can hopefully benefit from them.

Figure I don't have to worry about roaming charges and we'll never use 600 minutes in 2 weeks!


----------



## sk8jdgca

i have an old tracfone but was looking to chang eit up- for anyone wit a net 10. on trac phone i just called up and reactivated my phone and there was no charge- i just bought new minutes also i called a 1800 number than a canadian number and it was a local call
Net 10 says canadian calls are 15 cents per minute. Can i let by net 1phone go dead and reactivate at anytime for no fee- does anyone know-taget had a deal 200 minutes with phone for 29.99


----------



## pampam

GrUvGrL said:


> We were just in Michigan 2 weeks ago - walked into a walmart and phone a 30 dollar phone that comes with 300 minutes! Bought two of them and plan to leave them in the fridge from our fridge swap so that other people can hopefully benefit from them.
> 
> Figure I don't have to worry about roaming charges and we'll never use 600 minutes in 2 weeks!



That is very thoughtful of you.  I'm sure whoever swaps that fridge with you will be tickled too.


----------



## disneybound08

My husband and I both have iphones, but the rates for US data are crazy!!! $30 for 10 MB - We will probably only use facebook to keep in touch with family and maybe check email, but I dont think 10mb will be much. We recently go a new wireless router, I was thinking about taking the old router down with us and purchasing internet though our Disney resort a few times during our stay, perhaps the 2nd night/3rd morning, 5th night/sixth morning. Can I set up the internet access without my computer, Im assuming my router is still set up using our WEP so we'd be protected?? Any help or suggestions appreciated, or should I just bite the bullet and pay for the rogers add on


----------



## M_T

Please don't close your router off 
.
As for your data ... clear your statistics on your iPhone and use it for a couple days like you would in the US then check your usage. Turn off your WiFi to force cell.
.
Can anyone recommend a good small travel wireless router?


----------



## GrtWtNorth

sk8jdgca said:


> Can i let by net 1phone go dead and reactivate at anytime for no fee- does anyone know-taget had a deal 200 minutes with phone for 29.99


You don't pay a fee to reactivate, but you will need to purchase more minutes.


----------



## BonnieMB

holidaygirl said:


> Since we live in Saskatchewan we have a plan through Sasktel that allows us to phone our cell phones or any other Sasktel mobility customer free, in Canada or the U.S.. We have used our phones with no problems (have also called back to Canada again no problem).



Wow of MTS in Manitoba has the same thing that would be enough to make me switch! 
Sadly my BB is with Telus and the DH is a luddite and remains cellphone-less 
But having the BBMessenger with my sister (Also Canadian but with Rogers) would make things SO much easier when we are scattered across parks during some days. Anyone know if Telus has such a great deal as Sasktel?


----------



## Sugar Jones

Okay this cellphone in the U.S. business is all so confusing!!!!    I have all our reservation info and intineraries saved into my phone.  We were planning on using the Google Maps on our drive down if we needed to (we will print off our route, but use the phone as a just in case)  I was also counting on using the phone to call ahead to a hotel when we were ready to stop for the night.
I could live without social networking for the week we are gone I guess, but I was looking forward to posting a couple of pictures on Facebook for family before we came home.

I am with Bell and was going to ad the $10.00 U.S data package to my plan before we leave.  It will still cost me $1.00/MB.   I don't understand the whole MB stuff, but I don't imagine I'd use that much MB just by checking out a few webistes right?????    

I'm so confused


----------



## M_T

You will not use that much "MB" just checking a couple website but you will use a lot with google maps.

If you want to do a test ,, reset your devices statistics (ie Data usage) and try using it for a couple days with maps .. then check the amount of MBs used.

When I drove down last month I borrowed a GPS from a friend and it worked out great.

mt


----------



## abear_hugs

Ok so my Mom and myself have Blackberry cells with no SIM card with Telus. My mom and myself have planned to take them down to Disney World in September. We plan to use BBmessanger between the two of us when our group get separated. However I also have the Lines application from touring plans book marked on my phone. I went to the telus site. One thing says $3/MB roaming for blackberry but then another part says .10cents per page view on the web plus the $3/MB.

So my question is when I go to use the web am I going to be charged .10cents per page or just the $3/MB because I'm on a black berry.

You'd think they would figure out a way to explain it clearly like give examples. But of course they don't because then they earn more. And phoning Telus gives me a big huge headache, but I know I am not alone.

Anyways, any help would be much appreciated.

UPDATE: Used only BBM & Web on my vacation and was only charged $4 for using just over 1MB of data on my blackberry. Had no other charges. So I didn't find it to be a bad price.


----------



## Fabooliss

GrUvGrL said:


> We were just in Michigan 2 weeks ago - walked into a walmart and phone a 30 dollar phone that comes with 300 minutes! Bought two of them and plan to leave them in the fridge from our fridge swap so that other people can hopefully benefit from them.
> 
> Figure I don't have to worry about roaming charges and we'll never use 600 minutes in 2 weeks!




Hmmm... great idea. Maybe a Cell phone swap is in order?


----------



## roberthodgson

last time we went down and used the Iphone for checking a few sites and Twitter we used around 60MB worth of data in a short time
I bought an Ipad 3G for our last trip $25.00 for a 2GB data Package from ATT


----------



## M_T

Watch your cell phones by the pool
I had my iphone stolen from the beach pool at the GF.


----------



## Hockeychic

Anyone know what the charges are if you use your bell phone in the states but for text messages only

Thank you


----------



## H-Rad

So say I have an iPhone with a 6gb plan through fido, does anyone know if it's just the roaming charges I would pay for data or is there an extra charge? And what is the roaming fee?


----------



## cslittle999

H-Rad said:


> So say I have an iPhone with a 6gb plan through fido, does anyone know if it's just the roaming charges I would pay for data or is there an extra charge? And what is the roaming fee?


That data is only usable on the Fido network. Roaming data can bankrupt you. If you have the US Data Roaming add-on ($10 per month) US data costs $1 per MB. You can also buy U.S. Data Travel Packs. Travel packs are valid for one month. There are three different plans. You can look them up on Fido's site.


----------



## H-Rad

cslittle999 said:


> That data is only usable on the Fido network. Roaming data can bankrupt you. If you have the US Data Roaming add-on ($10 per month) US data costs $1 per MB. You can also buy U.S. Data Travel Packs. Travel packs are valid for one month. There are three different plans. You can look them up on Fido's site.


Thanks a lot, I was just going to use my data there, didn't realize it was only for the fido network.


----------



## H-Rad

Called fido, the plans are $25 for 10MB, $50 for 25MB, and there is a 3rd, I think it was $100. I went with the $50 so I can use my gps while there. Thanks for the help. Just thought I'd pass the info on.


----------



## mbb

We're Bell customers.

Both DH and I have phones, and just added the North America package. 

It was $70, no roaming, 75 minutes (I think).
That was for the month of March 2009.

He's on the phone right now, setting it up for our trip to the World for Halloween.

I'll post the particulars.


----------



## mbb

$80 for both phones..
100 minutes

Price went up a little, but so did minutes.
Easy - works for me


----------



## petbren

mbb said:


> $80 for both phones..
> 100 minutes
> 
> Price went up a little, but so did minutes.
> Easy - works for me



So that is $80 total for both phones?
Does that include text and/or browser use?

DH and I both have blackberrys we are hoping to set up with Bell for our trip too.


----------



## Camilo

I just came back from Disney this week.
Before I went, I stopped by a Fido store. They wanted 40.00 to allow me to talk for 70 minutes while there (too little for me).
I decided not to take my cell phone with me and bought an LG one one from Net10 at a Walmart SuperCenter in Buffalo.
Phone costed me 15.00 (there were more expensive models) and it came with 100 minutes to USA or 67 minutes internationally (which would allow me to call Canada and Brazil forthe same rate - .15 per minute).
I brought another card for 20.00 for extra 200 minutes and had a total of 300 USA minutes or 200 international minutes for U$ 37.00 total price taxes in.
I came back with 40 minutes left and the phone is mine to keep for whenever I decide to fly there again (although they will give me a new number then, I don't care about keeping the number).
The sales guy at Walmart activated for me, it was totally worth it.

Camilo


----------



## wdwexpert

We have an unlocked World phone and intended to buy a US SIM card for our stay and it was a nightmare.

Due to the cheapness of cell phones in the US, almost none of the US cell phone carriers sell SIM cards.  We went to four cell phone suppliers in Syracuse on our way down and after an hour and a half of frustration, went to Best Buy and bought a disposable cell phone for $30.00 (including 300 minutes!).

While it is a difficult task to activate it (you have to use another line to activate it...hotel phone...) once it was working it worked well for us to communicate with the other family we were travelling with who already had a US cell phone.

We used NETZero the first time and our international calling never did work.  You have to have the company enable international calling and something happened so we could never phone home.  But, home could call us, and, you can get a free Canadian phone number with your US cell phone, so your Canadian family can call a Canadian phone number when they are calling you on your US phone so there are no long distance charges.

Most recently we bought two Tracphones (brand name) which worked out just fine.  

We have a Rogers phone as well, and despite paying additional money for US minutes you still pay roaming charges which WILL add up.  we just turn ours off.

We are considering a phone plan on the two tracphones since I shop in Watertown and Syracuse regularly and we travel to Disney at least twice a year.  We can get a family plan for the two phones for $14.99 per month total, no contract.  Phones are SO MUCH CHEAPER in the US...

You can buy these dispoable phones at US Best Buy, Walmart, Sam's Clubs, Target, etc.  Cheap and cheerful but difficult to activate, you must make the time to do it properly so that all of your calling features are activated.

Sorry to be so long winded...cell phones trials in Disney has been a long process for us!


----------



## kevinedenmarg

Hi friends,
I bought this phone last Christmas challenge. In fact, I bought two. One for me and my then 15 years old step daughter, and  I have a little less expensive to buy with my credit card at the time.


----------



## romburgundy

we picked up a $30 phone as well from an FYE store  (like HMV)  it came with a prepaid 300 min cardand we used it for an entire week calling and texting home.  lent it to a friend who went to Florida and it came back with minutes to spare.


----------



## Susan R

I've scanned as much of this post as I can so if it's already been asked I'm sorry!

Is there a place on Disney property that I can buy on the the "Cheap" phones that people are buying from Wal-Mart?  I don't have access to a car while I'm down there.

Thanks for any info,
Susan


----------



## pampam

I can't really answer your question, although I doubt very seriously that cheap phones are available on site.  However, if you don't have a car, just take the bus to MK, take the ferry or monorail to TTC and catch the #56 Lynx bus.  It goes down hwy#192 past Walgreens, Publix, etc to a Walmart.  It's about a 40 minute bus ride.


----------



## Susan R

Thanks pampam!  That's a good option but I don't know if I want to spend a couple of hours out of my Disney time to go to Wal-Mart.  I thought there might be a store in DTD or maybe MCO that might have some for sale.  I'll probably just shell out the $40/100 minutes on my Bell Blackberry...after all it will be a lot cheaper than calling home collect and getting the $200 phone bill that I had a few years ago! 

SusanR


----------



## pampam

Here's another idea.  Go to No Frills, Value Mart etc., and pick up a  Presidents Choice long distance card.  It's 4 cents a minute long distance.  You can call home from a pay phone or your own room.  We use it all the time.  A $10 phone card lasts us for a 3 week vacation calling home once or twice a day.


----------



## glendalais

Susan R said:


> Thanks pampam!  That's a good option but I don't know if I want to spend a couple of hours out of my Disney time to go to Wal-Mart.  I thought there might be a store in DTD or maybe MCO that might have some for sale.  I'll probably just shell out the $40/100 minutes on my Bell Blackberry...after all it will be a lot cheaper than calling home collect and getting the $200 phone bill that I had a few years ago!
> 
> SusanR



I believe there's a store that sells prepaid phones at the airport. Near the Food Court, I want to say. 

There's certainly nothing on Disney property, except for perhaps at the Hess Express gas stations.


----------



## stefanospops

As a DVC member I have free Internet as a perk when I am in the room. So I bought a Magic Jack for $40 and it gives my unlimited calling to anywhere in North America. All I need is a computer to connect it to which I bring anyways since I have the free Internet. Just plug the hotel phone into the Magic Jack and I get to keep the same number. I turn my cell phone off and return any calls when back in the room. Works like a charm.


----------



## Kurby

that's a good idea about the magic jack.


we have skype and for 2 bucks a month we get unlimited North American calls.  if we paid more we could get a number associated to our account but we don't need to.  

we use skype to make clear phone calls whenever we are away in NA.

I don't know if it will work when we're in London next year but we'll try it and see


----------



## Susan R

pampam & glendalais: great ideas!  I was wondering about the PC calling card...I'll be down there for 10 days and I don't intend to spend a lot of time chatting on the phone but I do want to spend a few minutes a day checking in with my parents.  I have some family memebers who are going through some pretty tough health issues right now and I want to make sure they are okay...although there's not a darn thing I can do about it from Disney, it's still nice to keep in touch.

I think I will end up getting the calling card and then I can just turn off my Blackberry and not worry about roaming charges!


----------



## bfost87

Pay as you go if definatly the way to go. I was wondering the same thing about using my cell phone down there so I research it a bit and you can pick up a pre paid phone for under 8 bucks


----------



## disneyred

bfost87 said:


> Pay as you go if definatly the way to go. I was wondering the same thing about using my cell phone down there so I research it a bit and you can pick up a pre paid phone for under 8 bucks



i have never seen one for under 8 bucks.can you tell me where ??
though i have seen several for 25-35 bucks..did not know if it was worth it.


----------



## braddillman

... unless you buy one of their text plans. I called to confirm, it's $0.75 per RECEIVED text  (also $0.75 per text sent). DW and I both have rogers smartphones, so for one of us to text the other is $1.50/per text. Plus, if someone back home texts us it cost $0.75 each.

So the $12.50 for 25 SENT messages plus unlimited received messages is looking pretty good right now. Plus, it's a way to communicate to each other when there's no free wi-fi.

For calling back home, it's free wi-fi, e-mail, facebook and skype.

So, the total is $12.50 x 2 = $25. I think that's cheaper than 2 disposable phones. I don't think we'll use more than about 25 messages each while we're there, but if we do they're $0.50 each (since received would be free).

I expect the other carriers are similar.

So: be careful about paying for incoming texts while in the USA.


----------



## pampam

Susan R said:


> pampam & glendalais: great ideas!  I was wondering about the PC calling card...I'll be down there for 10 days and I don't intend to spend a lot of time chatting on the phone but I do want to spend a few minutes a day checking in with my parents.  I have some family memebers who are going through some pretty tough health issues right now and I want to make sure they are okay...although there's not a darn thing I can do about it from Disney, it's still nice to keep in touch.
> 
> I think I will end up getting the calling card and then I can just turn off my Blackberry and not worry about roaming charges!



We just got back from a 23 day trip at Pop.  We had a $20 pc card, used it at least twice a day to phone home, and still have $3 left on it.  Those minutes are good for 6 months, and can be used here or in USA.


----------



## Hemlock

disneyred said:


> i have never seen one for under 8 bucks.can you tell me where ??
> though i have seen several for 25-35 bucks..did not know if it was worth it.



Walmart.com has them for $9.88.  If you walk into any Walmart in Orlando you will find them.  I have seen them for $7 and change.


----------



## CindyCan

Has anyone taken a Telus phone (on a plan) to WDW?

We've always gone the route of buying cheap US phones because we've always been on prepaid at home.

Now, 2 of us are on plans that include free unlimited texting.  Telus has add-ons ($20 for the month for US/roaming texting) that make it worthwhile to use our own phones when we're down south.  We only text each other as a group, so this is cheaper for us than setting up our US phones again.

I'm wondering 2 things:

Have you had experience with your Telus phone in the US?

What do you need in order to use the new line time app that everyone's talking about?  Has anyone used this with their Canadian phone, and if so what kind of phone do you need?

Thanks!


----------



## Kurby

we're thinking of getting iphones and the guy at Bell told us not to put roaming on and when we travel down to the states we can pick up free wifi in most major cities 

does anyone know bout this?  is it like picking it up on the lap top when you go into starbucks? 

i'm guessing disney does NOT have any free wifi anywhere near it so can you pick it up at the resorts if you have it?


----------



## bankr63

We bought a couple of Net10 phones this trip (March 12 2011) following the tips here.  I bought them at Publix (they are at the customer service desk).  I got the last $15 LG standard handset, and had to pay $20 for a Samsung flip phone; 2nd cheapest option.  No free air time offered at this time, so add $30 for a 300 minute card.  Apparently there is a $20 card, but we couldn't find them there or a couple of other stores we checked.  Add 6% state tax for total purchase price.

Activation was relatively simple, but does require an Internet access.  The salesperson had indicated that it could be done from the handset, but the instructions provided do not support this.  Note that one advantage to 300 minutes is that the activation period is 2 months; less than 300 minutes only last 1 month.  Note that Net10 merged with Tracphone - our LG turned out to have been repackaged.  No problems related to the brand change however.

Service was marginal.  In our resort (Vistana) we had no issues making or receiving calls.  At the Disney Parks, we had a couple of non-connections, but most calls completed.  At Universal Studios, service was horrendous.  Over several hours both of our touring groups tried calling the other group several times (probably about 25 attempted calls) with no ability to connect.  Note that you are charge 1 minute for each of these failed calls - only a dime each perhaps, but adds insult to injury.  I think that this was a Net10 service issue, as many others around were talking on their cells without issues.  Luckily we managed to run into the other party as we were making our way to the exit; no easy feat in the Universal complex!

International dialing was not as good as advertised.  At activation, they indicate that international dialing should take about 3 days to start.  You need to dial *1 (send) 1 for English, then enter the long distance number.  We activated on Sunday, and finally got our first international connection on the following Saturday evening at the airport as we were leaving.  Prior to Saturday, international calls gave us a fast busy, but did actually ring the receiving phone.  SIL had her Rogers phone with her, so if she got a strange ring, she knew to call us back.

Overall, I give Net10 about about a 50% grade - barely passing.  I still like the idea, but would probably spring a bit more for phone with a major carrier.  I may also consider jailbreaking my Android phone next time and getting an ATT SIM card for it instead.


----------



## LYNNEL2003

Sorry if this has been asked before but there are sooooo many posts to go thru!!

I am looking for a phone for texting, not necessarily calling.  We have free international long distance from our villa off site so we really only need the phones for texting to each other at the parks (sometimes we split up so dh and ds can go on rides that do not interest dd).

Suggestions? Pay as you go...do they have texting plans? We have iPhones but I do not plan on using mine (it will be sooooo hard! LOL!) so I need a phone to be able to communicate with dh.

We will be in Buffalo early that day for our 5pm flight so please give me suggestions of where to go/what to buy!

Thanks everyone!
Lynne


----------



## Pumba's Truth

LYNNEL2003 said:


> Sorry if this has been asked before but there are sooooo many posts to go thru!!
> 
> I am looking for a phone for texting, not necessarily calling.  We have free international long distance from our villa off site so we really only need the phones for texting to each other at the parks (sometimes we split up so dh and ds can go on rides that do not interest dd).
> 
> Suggestions? Pay as you go...do they have texting plans? We have iPhones but I do not plan on using mine (it will be sooooo hard! LOL!) so I need a phone to be able to communicate with dh.
> 
> We will be in Buffalo early that day for our 5pm flight so please give me suggestions of where to go/what to buy!
> 
> Thanks everyone!
> Lynne




Personally we picked up a CommonCents phone and had no problem with signal or use in WDW in November. Infact I still have the phone - minutes have expired but I am topping it up in May when we go back. 

I think it was something like $0.07 per text/min if I recall correctly. 

The phone it self was pretty inexpensive as well. We picked up at Wal-mart. It was an LG.


----------



## ABCanada

LYNNEL2003 said:


> I am looking for a phone for texting, not necessarily calling.  We have free international long distance from our villa off site so we really only need the phones for texting to each other at the parks (sometimes we split up so dh and ds can go on rides that do not interest dd).
> 
> Suggestions? Pay as you go...do they have texting plans? We have iPhones but I do not plan on using mine (it will be sooooo hard! LOL!) so I need a phone to be able to communicate with dh.



We just take our iPhones and add a "Travel Pack", there are a variety of options.  Find this is much simpler than trying to pick up a disposable and adding minutes.  This way you have your regular number and can get calls and texts from home at any time.  We turn off the data roaming and pick up our email with free internet.

We are not big on texting so we get the $25 for 40 minutes.  For $40 you can get 40 minutes plus 100 texts and reduced rates for anything beyond that.  A 25 text package is $12.50 and $.50 for each additional text.


----------



## LYNNEL2003

ABCanada said:


> We just take our iPhones and add a "Travel Pack", there are a variety of options.  Find this is much simpler than trying to pick up a disposable and adding minutes.  This way you have your regular number and can get calls and texts from home at any time.  We turn off the data roaming and pick up our email with free internet.
> 
> We are not big on texting so we get the $25 for 40 minutes.  For $40 you can get 40 minutes plus 100 texts and reduced rates for anything beyond that.  A 25 text package is $12.50 and $.50 for each additional text.



I will have to check with Rogers but I found their packages very expensive.  I also thought I saw it mentioned on the website that the package had to be purchased for 3 months but I could have misunderstood.  I will have dh check with them just in case.  I need to be able to text him while in the parks so I need to find my best option without going overboard on price since we have 2 phones to purchase these add ons for.

A friend of mine just got a $1600 phone bill from Rogers for her trip to Florida so I want to be sure to avoid that!!!

Thanks!


----------



## petbren

We just came back from March break trip
Have bought Tracphone before, so this trip were thinking about picking up 2 so we could mostly text-same situation as you DH and DS could seperate but we could keep in touch through texting.  After looking at the phones and plans in Buffalo before we left-crappy phone, old flip type to text on, we decided against it.
We are with Bell, so for $10 each/month we added on the US textiing plan. gives you unlimited text-free sent, and 25 cent received(or could be vice versa) Like the other poster, I turned off the data on my BB, and could make a call for some rediculous fee of $1.45/minute if necessary--never did though.
This worked great for us, we used it a lot but haven't got the bill yet
Didn't add any plan when we went for a long weekend last summer to see JB in Syracuse, and it cost us almost $200 Gotta be better than that


----------



## LYNNEL2003

I am going to have dh call Rogers and will have him mention the price for Bell add on for texting!  I would prefer to use my baby (my iPhone! LOL) for texting so I am hoping we can get something decent...

Thanks!


----------



## Pumba's Truth

LYNNEL2003 said:


> I will have to check with Rogers but I found their packages very expensive.  I also thought I saw it mentioned on the website that the package had to be purchased for 3 months but I could have misunderstood.  I will have dh check with them just in case.  I need to be able to text him while in the parks so I need to find my best option without going overboard on price since we have 2 phones to purchase these add ons for.
> 
> A friend of mine just got a $1600 phone bill from Rogers for her trip to Florida so I want to be sure to avoid that!!!
> 
> Thanks!



After a couple of trips down south of some waaaaay over the top pricing, we opted for a CommonCents plan that we found in Wal-mart. Worked out great for us. 

The cool thing is that you can get it registered as a local phone number to where ever you are.


----------



## ABCanada

LYNNEL2003 said:


> I will have to check with Rogers but I found their packages very expensive.  I also thought I saw it mentioned on the website that the package had to be purchased for 3 months but I could have misunderstood.  I will have dh check with them just in case.  I need to be able to text him while in the parks so I need to find my best option without going overboard on price since we have 2 phones to purchase these add ons for.



What you want to add is a "Travel Pack" which is a one time add good for up to one month.

Her is the link:
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/add-ons/travelwithyourphone

Click on the highlighted "U.S. Travel Packs and Add-ons" and drill down to US Text and it is explained.  

" U.S. Text Messaging Travel Packs  - plus there's no charge for received text messages
Purchasing a U.S. Text Messaging Travel Pack makes using your phone while traveling more affordable than ever! With a U.S. Text Messaging Travel Pack you make a one-time purchase of text messages that you can use in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). These Travel Packs are valid for one month from the date of purchase. If you run out of travel text messages1, you can keep on sending messages at the reduced rate provided by your Travel Pack until your one month is up!2 Remember to add one to your voice plan before you leave!"


----------



## Kurby

does Bell have that kind of travel pack?


----------



## ABCanada

Kurby said:


> does Bell have that kind of travel pack?



Looks like they have something similar but a bit more expensive.  They call it a Travel Bundle.

http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpWls_FeaSvcLanding.page#tabCont6-tabs


----------



## newfiegirl

Can I purchase a walmart calling card (I live in Newfoundland) and just use the pop century regular phone??? Or do i need to get a calling card from say walmart in the US?


----------



## pampam

newfiegirl said:


> Can I purchase a walmart calling card (I live in Newfoundland) and just use the pop century regular phone??? Or do i need to get a calling card from say walmart in the US?



Not sure if you have a No frills, Value Mart etc in Newfoundland or not.  If not, check out a Presidents choice  long distance Card on the internet.  You can't beat 4 cents a minute, and you can call from your Pop room or any pay phone.


----------



## tribus121

newfiegirl said:


> Can I purchase a walmart calling card (I live in Newfoundland) and just use the pop century regular phone??? Or do i need to get a calling card from say walmart in the US?


 i would all so recommend the PC phone card you can get them at the super store and save easy .


----------



## KeroKero

Sorry didn't feel to read through the whole thread (it's huge).  My blackberry (Telus) is unlocked and I usually just change SIM's when I travel.  I've never done it in the States, as I don't find the Telus rates that bad when in the US - this time I'm looking to change my SIM.  Is there somewhere at MCO I can get a SIM from a US carrier?  Or would I have to get one elsewhere before I get to my resort?


----------



## SmilingGrump

There's a couple of other options for keeping in touch that work for some people:

1 - Google - if you have a gmail account, you can make calls from your gmail account to anywhere in Canada or the US for free through to the end of 2011 (there's a little "Call Phone" icon on the left). I've never tried it using my cell phone and a free wi-fi zone so I'm not sure if that works, but I've used it frequently via laptop. In fact, that's how my DW and kids kept in touch with me while they spent last summer in Arizona. Fees for overseas calls are VERY reasonable.

2 - Skype - similar to Google, but requires both callers to have Skype. Allows free skype to skype calling anywhere in the world.

They're not the most convenient options, but they're free. I still wind up getting a US package for my Rogers phone because of work, but this way I'm able to really limit the minutes I need to buy.


----------



## scoop

anyone with koodo use their phone down there or not worth it?


----------



## KellifromCanada

Re:  Telus Mobility Customers

I was just on the phone with Telus Mobility (Alberta) to find out about cell phone use this January.  I.haz.a.teenager.  Feel.my.pain.

Ok - so since her existing texting plan on her iPhone is "unlimited", they are suggesting their $20 US Travel Text Pass which continues the "unlimited" texting with no additional roaming, for 30 days.  Forgive my ignorance, but is that possible - texting without roaming? 

Naturally I would want to confirm the rate again before we go.  My BB has the same, so it will be $20 x 2 = $40.00 for unlimited texting, no additional roaming charges.  I am okay with that.  It means she can text her friends, we can text eachother, and dh. so that's good.

Now, the data plan "US Travel Pass" is not so attractive but even more so, confusing!!! For their $10 Data Pass we get $1.00 per MB.

How the heck do I estimate what a MB looks like in terms of actual usage???  On their website, it says 100 KB = "Facebook".  Well, is that like, to click on FB and then click away?   To leisurely visit FB and all your buddies???

  Like, I know she'll want to look at FB.  So, a normal day at home, she'll want to read her News Feed and send messages, and chat. For hours.  Naturally, that wouldn't be happening at DW, but how can I figure out *what* she *could* be allowed to do, say, if we were to ok "some" data usage....maybe like 5MB per day.  Or, maybe we should just buy internet for the room periodically, and she can use the laptop to access the interwebs but no usage of data on the phone.  Room internet is $9.95 per day, right? 

What to do ... what to do....

Kelli


----------



## disneyfan2

Kelli, I feel your pain.  Same boat but I haven't spoke with Telus yet.. I have no idea how much data is used viewing Facebook, and I want to be somewhat prepared, or have DD forgo texting/Facebook for the week.

I really hoped to use the iPhone wait time apps but I'm afraid how much that will set me back...
Anyone else have some suggestions how to determine usage for these sites?? Ballpark anyways


----------



## MikeyNS

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/NS/mobile_internet_guide/data_calculator.shtml that's the Telus data calculator. You'll notice that a Blackberry uses a lot less data than other devices.

I think I mentioned this before, but if not here it is again.. 

We used our Telus BB in Florida for 10 days. Added the $10 US data plan. Did the touringplans mobile site quite a bit to check reported wait times, uploaded a few pictures to FB, cruised FB from time to time.. did a few emails, etc.
We used just under 9Mb of data. BB's are notoriously data efficient.

We added the $10US data plan.. so grand total it cost us $19 for data. 
If we didn't add the plan it would have been $27. Not a huge difference.
There are apps that you can get to track your data usage, that way you can keep track of everything.
Hope that helps.


----------



## KeroKero

We're leaving day after tomorrow and after debating and researching we decided to use my Telus BB while we're there.  We added on the US Voice Travel Pack for $20, and the $10 US Data Travel Pack so that we can use bbm.  They didn't mention anything about unlimited minutes (which would have been nice), all I was told is that it brings my per minute/roaming minutes down for voice and data.  So instead of $1.45/min for voice I'll be paying .25 and for data $1MB instead of $3.  So I'll be paying an additional $30 for the month, I think I'll come out well in the end.


----------



## Tiger926

Help with Data Roaming to US on Blackberry Bold 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Have spent tons of time on phone with Rogers over the past few months since getting our new Blackberries, and they just can't seem to answer my questions, so here goes:

1. When roaming in US (visit Micigan 1-2x per month), phones switch to AT & T network. Can only receive BBMs -phones will not send BBMs out, unless we take out batteries and switch network service.  My sis and brother in law have exact same phones, and they are on Telus, and no issues at all. Phones work as normal. Anyone else have this issue and know why it happens? 

2. Can't figure out what my regular data roaming rates are? I just used 2.4mbs US roaming, and have no idea what that is going to cost? I think regular rates are $6mbs, and the travel packs give big discounts, as mentioned above.

Both hubby and I only use BBM while in US - no Internet and no apps in our phones at all to avoid heavy data roaming. Strictly BBM.

If someone here could help, that would be great, as I've spoken to Rogers, as well as their Blackberry specialists (we have Bold 9780), and they are no help.

Thanks so much, Tiger


----------



## KNovacovschi

Tiger926 said:


> Help with Data Roaming to US on Blackberry Bold
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Have spent tons of time on phone with Rogers over the past few months since getting our new Blackberries, and they just can't seem to answer my questions, so here goes:
> 
> 1. When roaming in US (visit Micigan 1-2x per month), phones switch to AT & T network. Can only receive BBMs -phones will not send BBMs out, unless we take out batteries and switch network service.  My sis and brother in law have exact same phones, and they are on Telus, and no issues at all. Phones work as normal. Anyone else have this issue and know why it happens?
> 
> 2. Can't figure out what my regular data roaming rates are? I just used 2.4mbs US roaming, and have no idea what that is going to cost? I think regular rates are $6mbs, and the travel packs give big discounts, as mentioned above.
> 
> Both hubby and I only use BBM while in US - no Internet and no apps in our phones at all to avoid heavy data roaming. Strictly BBM.
> 
> If someone here could help, that would be great, as I've spoken to Rogers, as well as their Blackberry specialists (we have Bold 9780), and they are no help.
> 
> Thanks so much, Tiger



My daughter just got a new BB bold as well and we shop in the states on a regular business but am unsure how the roaming charges work with BBM. She is with Rogers as well and was just wondering if you have found the answers to your questions. I've been trying to find out but have had no luck. I personally have an iPhone and am with Bell so not sure how Rogers works.

Thanks.


----------



## Susan595

Well I've been and back and I can tell you my phone was USELESS even if there was Wifi and I'm with Bell.  Even my Undercover Tourist app line checker thing I purchased was useless to me, talk about ticked off !  I couldn't even use my phone at the Detroit airport, it just sucked lol.  I called them before I left and they could have sold me a package the cheapest one was 30 bux, it was a limited amount of texts and I dont have a clue for data plan I'm guessing not that great because the guy didn't suggest doing it.  So ya, phone be ok for taking pictures that's about it   Soon as we were on the bridge poof it was gone.................I couldn't understand why when there was free wifi at my hotel why it wouldn't work even then, makes NO sense to me at all.
Editing to add BBM's wouldn't even work it was a total useless tool for me to even take.


----------



## Tiger926

Susan595 said:


> Well I've been and back and I can tell you my phone was USELESS even if there was Wifi and I'm with Bell.  Even my Undercover Tourist app line checker thing I purchased was useless to me, talk about ticked off !  I couldn't even use my phone at the Detroit airport, it just sucked lol.  I called them before I left and they could have sold me a package the cheapest one was 30 bux, it was a limited amount of texts and I dont have a clue for data plan I'm guessing not that great because the guy didn't suggest doing it.  So ya, phone be ok for taking pictures that's about it   Soon as we were on the bridge poof it was gone.................I couldn't understand why when there was free wifi at my hotel why it wouldn't work even then, makes NO sense to me at all.
> Editing to add BBM's wouldn't even work it was a total useless tool for me to even take.



Sorry about that...

We are in the US at least 2-3 times per month, and our phone is hit and miss unless we take out battery and restart the phone, and then it's fine.

We have 2 Blackberry Bolds, and sometimes it works fine without doing the battery switch, so we always do a test BBM to make sure. We are with Rogers, and they aren't much help, as they are saying it's the US carrier - AT & T usually, and sometimes Verizon. But, like I said, if we do the battery thing, we are good to go!

This only has to do with BBM as it uses data. Texts are through the phone system, and so we have no issues ever with texts.

Hope this helps, Tiger


----------



## eculmone




----------



## BLBCB

First question - what are the risks of unlocking an iPhone? I think that is the right term, meaning I can use a different SIM card in it.

Second question - how do you get a US sim card to use down there?


----------



## Sillyminny40

Oh I just noticed this sticky after posting below! This is just too darn complicated for me. Maybe walkie talkies. I miss being fully covered all over North America. LOL!


----------



## kelliott66

Sillyminny40 said:


> Oh I just noticed this sticky after posting below! This is just too darn complicated for me. Maybe walkie talkies. I miss being fully covered all over North America. LOL!


This is what I have discovered and am trying this trip.........
1)  I am buying a pay as you go android phone in Walmart in the US.
2)  All US major carriers - AT&T, Virgin etc have unlimited talk/text/data  for around $50.00 pay as you go, so I will buy a pay as you go card for that amount
3)  I will download the android markets free app for turning my android phone in to a wifi hotspot
4)  Voila:  I will have unlimited talk/text and mobile browsing on my phone while at Disney....PLUS i will be able to use my laptop without paying the daily internet access rate at Bay Lake Towers (where I am staying), and it will allow up to 4 users at a time so my dear family can use it as well for their IPOD touches etc.

for any techie out there.....does this make sense?  I think it does, if I am wrong let me know.

My reasoning is that I can get a pretty good deal with VIRGIN as I buy the phone for $100, I get a free minutes card worth $50, the apps from the app market are free that I need and not paying the $70.00 plus taxes it would cost for Internet access at the hotel, brings me to cost of about $30 for a week of unlimited talk/text to my family in disney as well as unlimited internet and I can use the line app on my nook colour, our IPODS etc. Much cheaper than purchasing walkie talkies.


----------



## Tiger926

Sillyminny40 said:


> Oh I just noticed this sticky after posting below! This is just too darn complicated for me. Maybe walkie talkies. I miss being fully covered all over North America. LOL!



Walkie talkies don't really work as too many people on the same frequencies.



kelliott66 said:


> This is what I have discovered and am trying this trip.........
> 1)  I am buying a pay as you go android phone in Walmart in the US.
> 2)  All US major carriers - AT&T, Virgin etc have unlimited talk/text/data  for around $50.00 pay as you go, so I will buy a pay as you go card for that amount
> 3)  I will download the android markets free app for turning my android phone in to a wifi hotspot
> 4)  Voila:  I will have unlimited talk/text and mobile browsing on my phone while at Disney....PLUS i will be able to use my laptop without paying the daily internet access rate at Bay Lake Towers (where I am staying), and it will allow up to 4 users at a time so my dear family can use it as well for their IPOD touches etc.
> 
> for any techie out there.....does this make sense?  I think it does, if I am wrong let me know.
> 
> My reasoning is that I can get a pretty good deal with VIRGIN as I buy the phone for $100, I get a free minutes card worth $50, the apps from the app market are free that I need and not paying the $70.00 plus taxes it would cost for Internet access at the hotel, brings me to cost of about $30 for a week of unlimited talk/text to my family in disney as well as unlimited internet and I can use the line app on my nook colour, our IPODS etc. Much cheaper than purchasing walkie talkies.



Disney has free wi-fi now at Deluxe, DVC and Coronado Springs Resorts.

We had no issues with our wi-fi at Old Key West during this past trip.

Tiger


----------



## kelliott66

Tiger926 said:


> Walkie talkies don't really work as too many people on the same frequencies.
> 
> 
> 
> Disney has free wi-fi now at Deluxe/DVC resorts and Coronado Springs.
> 
> We had no issues with our wi-fi at Old Key West during this past trip.
> 
> Tiger


Hi Tiger:  Quick question about the free wifi:  we are renting DVC points in March for BLT can you confirm if a non DVC member also gets free wifi?


----------



## Tiger926

kelliott66 said:


> Hi Tiger:  Quick question about the free wifi:  we are renting DVC points in March for BLT can you confirm if a non DVC member also gets free wifi?



Sorry, I should have said Deluxe and DVC Resorts (as well as Coronado Springs) have free wi-fi.

Free wi-fi is not a DVC perk, so you will be fine!

Enjoy, Tiger


----------



## M_T

If your going to the US a lot you can get the OneRate package from Rogers. It allows you to use your DATA in the US. For an extra $10/month (3 years term). I saved a good amount by using Skype for calls and texting (iMessages help to for you iPhone users). I switched my 6gig plan to the 1gig onerate and made sure they did not restart my contract.


----------



## pacostrano

Hi all,

I'm new here and I saw that thread about using your cell phone in the US. Even Myself I was searching about that question because I have an unlock phone and I wanted to be able to use data in Disney World. 

This evening I found this article on CBC because I was searching where I could buy a Sim Card for my cell phone in the US.

You can search on google for Roam Mobility

Sorry can't put URL because i don't have 10 post

This is a Canadian company in Vancouver that are in partnership with t-mobile for roaming in the US.

On the website that you can buy a phone, hotspot device or sim card them after you can had plan (voice/text/data) per day. It's will also give you a US phone number and you can call unlimited US/Canada

I hope this will help people like me to be able to use their cell phone in Disney. At least it's wayyyyy less expensive then Bell/Rogers/Telus for roaming service.

FYI: don't forget you need to have a *UNLOCK* Cell Phone and I don't work for the company too lol it's only to be able to give information to my fellow Canadians to be able to use there Cell Phones with low fees. 

Sorry if I do spelling mistake I'm french Canadian lol


----------



## pampam

pacostrano said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm new here and I saw that thread about using your cell phone in the US. Even Myself I was searching about that question because I have an unlock phone and I wanted to be able to use data in Disney World.
> 
> This evening I found this article on CBC because I was searching where I could buy a Sim Card for my cell phone in the US.
> 
> You can search on google for Roam Mobility
> 
> Sorry can't put URL because i don't have 10 post
> 
> This is a Canadian company in Vancouver that are in partnership with t-mobile for roaming in the US.
> 
> On the website that you can buy a phone, hotspot device or sim card them after you can had plan (voice/text/data) per day. It's will also give you a US phone number and you can call unlimited US/Canada
> 
> I hope this will help people like me to be able to use their cell phone in Disney. At least it's wayyyyy less expensive then Bell/Rogers/Telus for roaming service.
> 
> FYI: don't forget you need to have a *UNLOCK* Cell Phone and I don't work for the company too lol it's only to be able to give information to my fellow Canadians to be able to use there Cell Phones with low fees.
> 
> Sorry if I do spelling mistake I'm french Canadian lol





It's greast to see your first post.


----------



## Salinger

pacostrano said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm new here and I saw that thread about using your cell phone in the US. Even Myself I was searching about that question because I have an unlock phone and I wanted to be able to use data in Disney World.
> 
> This evening I found this article on CBC because I was searching where I could buy a Sim Card for my cell phone in the US.
> 
> You can search on google for Roam Mobility
> 
> Sorry can't put URL because i don't have 10 post
> 
> This is a Canadian company in Vancouver that are in partnership with t-mobile for roaming in the US.
> 
> On the website that you can buy a phone, hotspot device or sim card them after you can had plan (voice/text/data) per day. It's will also give you a US phone number and you can call unlimited US/Canada
> 
> I hope this will help people like me to be able to use their cell phone in Disney. At least it's wayyyyy less expensive then Bell/Rogers/Telus for roaming service.
> 
> FYI: don't forget you need to have a *UNLOCK* Cell Phone and I don't work for the company too lol it's only to be able to give information to my fellow Canadians to be able to use there Cell Phones with low fees.
> 
> Sorry if I do spelling mistake I'm french Canadian lol



Roam is better than paying for a roaming package from any of the major Canadian carriers, but it's still a bit pricey (especially for data) and don't forget, unless your unlocked phone is from one of the new carriers (Wind, Mobilicity etc) you will only have data on "Edge" or 2G as T-Mobile's 3G network is not compatible with Rogers/Bell/TELUS.  

That means, your phone will work to make calls, text and even data but the data speed will be excruciatingly slow. 

I have an unlocked iPhone 4S.  I buy a prepaid sim card from AT&T, cut it down to micro-sim (you can do it by hand or buy a punch on ebay/Amazon for $5) and then I buy the $2/day unlimited plan with a $15 or $25 data add-on.  Works great, is super speedy and lets you do everything with your iPhone in the US that you do at home.


----------



## Binoo

Has anyone use this plan before? You can buy a GoPhone from them as low as $19.99 then join a $ 2 Daily Unlimited Plan. You only need to pay the day you use the phone. Unlimited calls, unlimited text.It sounds great for my upcoming trips. I am not sure if Canadian can join this plan. I wonder if I can buy it from Buffalo and get a Florida phone number. Any thoughts?


----------



## Charleyann

Wow...that sounds better then the tracfone .Would be nice if we could join...


----------



## dontthrowsand

There are 3 of us going in August. As we don't require calling unless it is an emergency, we are planning on going to bring our iPhones and get us data packages to use iMessage to communicate. Should be less than $30 per person and no worry about major overages.


----------



## ChrisParker

Hello,

I've read through the most recent of these posts and had a look at the Rogers website and I'm just wondering... has anyone recently had any luck putting a US sim into an unlocked phone and going from there with a pay as you go? I'm starting to have the feeling I'll have to suck it up and pay Rogers  for data in the parks to use the Mobile Magic or TP apps... 

Thanks!

Beth


----------



## dontthrowsand

I've put a pre-paid sim in my old clunky phone. It was easy. Now the iPhone, it was a challenge being canadian and convincing them to let me pay for data.


----------



## LivieTARDIS

How crazy expensive are roaming charges in florida I'm on virgin super tab and I don't really know how it works [I've always done pre-paid] and I dont want to come back from an awsome trip and I have a 3 million dollar bill


----------



## canadiankim

LivieTARDIS said:


> How crazy expensive are roaming charges in florida I'm on virgin super tab and I don't really know how it works [I've always done pre-paid] and I dont want to come back from an awsome trip and I have a 3 million dollar bill



I have a iPhone 4s and have a contract with Virgin which includes data.  I went to them yesterday to ask about data for Florida and they said if you just go ahead and use it it will cost you $6 per mb.  You can also pay $10 per month (or just the month you are away) and that brings the cost of data down to $1 per mb.  text messages are $0.65 per text.

Hope this helps.


----------



## stickerstyler

Binoo said:


> Has anyone use this plan before? You can buy a GoPhone from them as low as $19.99 then join a $ 2 Daily Unlimited Plan. You only need to pay the day you use the phone. Unlimited calls, unlimited text.It sounds great for my upcoming trips. I am not sure if Canadian can join this plan. I wonder if I can buy it from Buffalo and get a Florida phone number. Any thoughts?



My wife and I used that plan.  We bought the phones for 20 bucks with free 10 bucks which lasted the week because we only called each other and only used it for a few days.  

I am picking up another couple of phones when I go to DW in may.  There are a couple of good deals at Walmart with $25 dollar phones with 750 minutes.  My go phone was retired because I didn't use it for a year, I tried it today.


----------



## Kindigo

Hi.  New to the thread and just need some clarification if possible.  I am going to Disney this August/September.  Both my husband and I have BlackBerries with Rodgers which we both use on a regular basis for data (email, text, BBM etc.)  My questions are: 

Is there a plan for this when we go to the US?
How soon should I speak to Rodger before going?
Is it very costly?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  And again I am sorry if this has already been asked.  Thanks.


----------



## Tiger926

Kindigo said:


> Hi.  New to the thread and just need some clarification if possible.  I am going to Disney this August/September.  Both my husband and I have BlackBerries with Rodgers which we both use on a regular basis for data (email, text, BBM etc.)  My questions are:
> 
> Is there a plan for this when we go to the US?
> How soon should I speak to Rodger before going?
> Is it very costly?
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.  And again I am sorry if this has already been asked.  Thanks.



Rogers has the best US plans as far as we are concerned, as they have a variety of plans to suit all needs.

They have short term plans which you pay a one-time fee, and get a certain amount of data. Some are 24 hours or a week, and others are for certain amounts of data.

They also have a plan in which you can pay $10.00/month, and get a very reduced data rate. You can do this on a monthly basis.

They also have the One Rate Plan, which we have as we are in the states at least 2-3 per month, plus all of our time at Disney. This allows us to use our phone in the states, and not pay roaming as it comes from our regular data. You have to sign up for this 3 months at a time.

Here is the link that you will need to see prices and packages:

http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=AppsAddons&category=12

** make sure you read the details, as some plans are just for 24 hours, so they are for short term visits only **

You can purchase these plans right on your Blackberry if you have the My Rogers App installed, and if not, you can purchase from the text that you will receive once you cross over the border. If you want One Rate though, you have to call for that.

Lastly, texting does not use data, as it's SMS. You will need to purchase a texting package separately (which I find expensive) from your data package.

Hope this helps! Tiger


----------



## CanadianGuy

Has anyone used the T-Mobile Pay By the Day plan?

A 9 day trip would cost $27 and include 200 MB of 4G data per day and unlimited calls (USA only) and unlimited texting...

That seems pretty perfect.  Wondering if anyone has done that?


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Just an fyi for Telus customers with iPhones.  As of June 1, Telus is now unlocking their iPhones (about darn time) for $50.  

Your carrier choices in the US are AT&T and T-Mobile, however AT&T no longer does pay by the day, so you are left with T-Mobile if you are going on a short trip.

Downside of T-Mobile - you will only receive 2G/Edge speeds on your data - they say that they will be upgrading their network before the end of 2012, to allow for 3G.  Accordingly, if you go with their pay by the day, go for the $2 per day plan and not the $3, since you are paying an extra dollar for data speed that you won't get.

The only other option (other than paying Telus' ridiculous roaming/data charges) is to go with Roam Mobility - the Canadian company.  FYI - Roam works on T-Mobile's network, so you're still getting lousy data speed, but you do have unlimited calling back to Canada, which you don't have on T-Mobile's pay by the day plan.  It is more expensive upfront than T-Mobile, but if you plan to call home, it's the way to go.


----------



## LuvSnowWhite

Salinger, 

Can you elaborate more on what your method is about buying a sim card and cutting it down? Please elaborate more on the step by step.
The technical stuff confuses me a bit.
Thanks.


----------



## nannye

Ughh I need some help  I am so completely cell phone Stupid Yes I admit it. 

My cell is with Wind Mobile I have a Blackberry Bold. 

I am in Florida from July 1-15 and I am at Disney July 5-12. I will have Wifi access at the Disney resort (although I've heard it can be sketchy) and wifi at the house in Sarasota the other days. 

1. The only calling I really will need to do is 1 call for a few minutes (less than 5) once a day at Disney or at the resort.

2. I would like to be able to send a couple bbm's or txts if needed, which if I am hooked up to wifi it is my understanding i can do for free right? Or is there roaming ontop of being connected to wifi?

3. Since we are going July when it is oh so busy. I would really like to be able to use a lines app or another helpful app to help TRY to cut down on our times. 

4. I do not want a HUGE surprise Bill. I know that the bill will obviously be higer with roaming charges etc... I will turn my roaming off when not needed. Turning on only if I need to use an App or make a call.  I just don't know how much Data, using an App etc... costs. My rate is $1/MB.  Can anyone help me with telling me how much it could cost to use the app? 

5. any other information that I should know from my provider or just general tips?

I know there is the option of purchasing a pay as you go, but since my phone calls are so limited and I will probably purchase a calling card to use the resort phone when we are there to call within Florida (never to Canada) I'm not sure that purchasing a pay as you go phone is the way to go for me. 
 I can connect to wifi, and I can eliminate the automatic downloading of emails to help keep my bill down...


I assume with Pay as you go phones you can't access internet/line apps?
Would just appreciate some advice/experience

Thanks
Erin


----------



## Maddysdaddy

nannye said:


> Ughh I need some help  I am so completely cell phone Stupid Yes I admit it.
> 
> My cell is with Wind Mobile I have a Blackberry Bold.
> 
> I am in Florida from July 1-15 and I am at Disney July 5-12. I will have Wifi access at the Disney resort (although I've heard it can be sketchy) and wifi at the house in Sarasota the other days.
> 
> 1. The only calling I really will need to do is 1 call for a few minutes (less than 5) once a day at Disney or at the resort.
> 
> 2. I would like to be able to send a couple bbm's or txts if needed, which if I am hooked up to wifi it is my understanding i can do for free right? Or is there roaming ontop of being connected to wifi?
> 
> 3. Since we are going July when it is oh so busy. I would really like to be able to use a lines app or another helpful app to help TRY to cut down on our times.
> 
> 4. I do not want a HUGE surprise Bill. I know that the bill will obviously be higer with roaming charges etc... I will turn my roaming off when not needed. Turning on only if I need to use an App or make a call.  I just don't know how much Data, using an App etc... costs. My rate is $1/MB.  Can anyone help me with telling me how much it could cost to use the app?
> 
> 5. any other information that I should know from my provider or just general tips?
> 
> I know there is the option of purchasing a pay as you go, but since my phone calls are so limited and I will probably purchase a calling card to use the resort phone when we are there to call within Florida (never to Canada) I'm not sure that purchasing a pay as you go phone is the way to go for me.
> I can connect to wifi, and I can eliminate the automatic downloading of emails to help keep my bill down...
> 
> 
> I assume with Pay as you go phones you can't access internet/line apps?
> Would just appreciate some advice/experience
> 
> Thanks
> Erin



Not sure if this will work or not, but you may want to look at RoamMobility - if your phone is unlocked).  They are Canadian, and from what I recall when I looked at their website, for about $3 a day, you can have unlimited calling and texting in Florida and back to Canada, and lots of data.  I can't recall if there was some trick with blackberries or not...


----------



## KarmaLady

This is slightly off topic, but since DH and I don't have cell phones (barbaric, I know!), we use our iPads to communicate with each other. He has 3G, I only have wifi (which my research indicates I will only be able to operate at the resort, Earl of Sandwich). 

However, any suggestions for iPad plans for his 3G? Currently he uses Telus. 

He has used Rogers in the past, but never again (they owed us $100 for over 2 years and finally paid up when my husband asked if there was a magic number of times to call to get the cheque). 

Thanks!!! I think we're going to stop in Buffalo to pick up a cheap pre-paid phone anyway, but it would be nice to use the iPad for maps, internet, etc. 

75 days until POR for my 1st stay in the World!


----------



## Maddysdaddy

KarmaLady said:


> This is slightly off topic, but since DH and I don't have cell phones (barbaric, I know!), we use our iPads to communicate with each other. He has 3G, I only have wifi (which my research indicates I will only be able to operate at the resort, Earl of Sandwich).
> 
> However, any suggestions for iPad plans for his 3G? Currently he uses Telus.
> 
> He has used Rogers in the past, but never again (they owed us $100 for over 2 years and finally paid up when my husband asked if there was a magic number of times to call to get the cheque).
> 
> Thanks!!! I think we're going to stop in Buffalo to pick up a cheap pre-paid phone anyway, but it would be nice to use the iPad for maps, internet, etc.
> 
> 75 days until POR for my 1st stay in the World!



Don't know if this is feasible or not, but having been dinged by Telus in the past, I would suggest that your husband turn off data completely while you are in the U.S. and that you find a pre-paid phone with an unlimited data plan (I think on T-Mobile, you can get unlimited calling and data for $3 a day) and then use the phone as a wireless wifi hub to give you both wifi access on your ipads wherever you are.  

I think on T-Mobile, the first 200mb a day are on their 4G network and then they throttle you down to their 2G network - unless you're streaming media or downloading movies, that's a whole heck of a  lot of data to go through.


----------



## lisa21

Sorry if this has been discussed, but could anyone explain how roaming works? I was looking at the rates on the Telus website, and it has rates for calls, text and data, but nothing about what I thought was "roaming" (having your phone on, and connected to a US tower) so does that mean you are not charged for just having your phone on? I don't plan on using my phone much except for emergencies, and I will have data turned off, so would I only be charged the per use call and text rates?


----------



## Tiger926

lisa21 said:


> Sorry if this has been discussed, but could anyone explain how roaming works? I was looking at the rates on the Telus website, and it has rates for calls, text and data, but nothing about what I thought was "roaming" (having your phone on, and connected to a US tower) so does that mean you are not charged for just having your phone on? I don't plan on using my phone much except for emergencies, and I will have data turned off, so would I only be charged the per use call and text rates?



As soon as you cross over out of Canada, you will be roaming.  But, if you have data turned off, then you will only be charged for a text (does not use data as it's SMS) and phone calls, which are separate from data roaming.

So, if your phone is on, and set to roam, you will incur data roaming charges for using the Internet or messaging (such as BBM on Blackberry).

If you turn roaming off within your phone, and find free Wifi, then you won't be charged data roaming fees.

Hope this helps, Tiger


----------



## CanadianGuy

Ok so for my trip this year, I stopped at an AT&T store and for a prepaid SIM for my unlocked Canadian Samsung Galaxy Note from Telus. 

Initially could have unlimited texts and phone calls for 7 days for 14 dollars.  But I wanted unlimited data as well.

For S50 I had all three.  With a local Orlando number that only a select few back home had access to.

That was a good setup! I used about 400 mb, 55 minutes and about 400 texts.  Pretty good over all.


----------



## disneyred

CanadianGuy said:


> Ok so for my trip this year, I stopped at an AT&T store and for a prepaid SIM for my unlocked Canadian Samsung Galaxy Note from Telus.
> 
> Initially could have unlimited texts and phone calls for 7 days for 14 dollars.  But I wanted unlimited data as well.
> 
> For S50 I had all three.  With a local Orlando number that only a select few back home had access to.
> 
> That was a good setup! I used about 400 mb, 55 minutes and about 400 texts.  Pretty good over all.



this sounds good , first I need an unlocked phone.. but wanted to ask how much you paid for the SIM card. thanks.


----------



## LuvSnowWhite

CanadianGuy said:


> Ok so for my trip this year, I stopped at an AT&T store and for a prepaid SIM for my unlocked Canadian Samsung Galaxy Note from Telus.
> 
> Initially could have unlimited texts and phone calls for 7 days for 14 dollars.  But I wanted unlimited data as well.
> 
> For S50 I had all three.  With a local Orlando number that only a select few back home had access to.
> 
> That was a good setup! I used about 400 mb, 55 minutes and about 400 texts.  Pretty good over all.



First of all WHERE did you get an unlocked Galaxy note??? DUH I just reread your post and you say Telus. How much was it?
Secondly, where is the AT&T location that you went to?


----------



## Lizzzys

This is a really dumb question.... but if I use the Roam Mobility option.... will I have to download all of my apps on my iPhone? Or will they still appear with the new sim card?

Liz




Maddysdaddy said:


> The only other option (other than paying Telus' ridiculous roaming/data charges) is to go with Roam Mobility - the Canadian company.  FYI - Roam works on T-Mobile's network, so you're still getting lousy data speed, but you do have unlimited calling back to Canada, which you don't have on T-Mobile's pay by the day plan.  It is more expensive upfront than T-Mobile, but if you plan to call home, it's the way to go.


----------



## Geodoc

dontthrowsand said:


> There are 3 of us going in August. As we don't require calling unless it is an emergency, we are planning on going to bring our iPhones and get us data packages to use iMessage to communicate. Should be less than $30 per person and no worry about major overages.



I like this idea. We have a trip planned in Augest as well and will try iMessage to communicate after turning off push notifications and not doing any other data heavy things.....ie web pages twitter facebook apps etc. at $.006 a Kb it should be doable. (We have Rogers iPhones)
Has anyone done this and at the end of the day did it rack up big costs??


----------



## Tiger926

Ok. Posted on the Community Board too in hopes of getting some more responses, but not much.

What US carriers and phones have you purchased as Canadians for use in the states? We think we'll just purchase a US phone, as we are in states several times per month, and several weeks per year for our Disney vacations.

We want data, and would love to be able to text from US to Canada as well. 

We would even purchase a monthly plan, but what about the prepaid, no contract plans? Can we get an iPhone this way?

I have been researching for days on all of the major US carrier websites, and it's very confusing!

Any help would be appreciated, Tiger


----------



## mickeyman42

So i have a telus iphone 4.  If I get it unlocked by telus, how do i get a t-mobile sim card, and how do i setup a pay per day plan with them?  Seems to be a great way to go but i cant seem to figure out how to do it without spending half a day driving to a t-mobile store and then spending more time trying to activate it


----------



## Tiger926

We just bought a US cell phone yesterday! Since we are in US several times per month, and vacation to Disney and other states for several weeks per year, we had placed the One Rate data sharing package on our Blackberries. This meant that for $10.00 plus tax per phone/month, we would share our CDN and US data, and as long as we stayed under our cap, we had no roaming charges.

Problem is that to text or voice, we had to buy another package (eg. $40.00/month on US texting) or temp passes. Since this just keeps adding to the costs, we only did the data portion on a monthly basis. So, I would purchase temp text passes for like $12.00 or $25.00 several times per year.

Yesterday while in the US, went to Metro PCS and purchased a cool Samsung phone for $100.00 and for $60.00 flat/month (no contract), we get unlimited talk, text and data. We can let it lapse for 3 weeks each month if we need to, but not anymore as we will lose our phone number, and then at week 3, we can restart the monthly fee again (prepaid on credit card). Easy! Pretty good service yesterday too as we made some calls home.

I just cancelled the One Rate on my phones and will be cancelling our On Star in our van (satellite phone) as well as no more long distance cards to buy, and between all of that, and with no text passes, we are actually going to come out cheaper!

I realize not everyone will want to do this, but for those who go often like us, you should check out the prepaid/no contract options such as Metro PCS, Boost and T-Mobile, as when all is said and done, you may be pleasantly suprised with the final result. We will actually be cheaper doing this, than all of the other stuff we used to do before!

Tiger


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Lizzzys said:


> This is a really dumb question.... but if I use the Roam Mobility option.... will I have to download all of my apps on my iPhone? Or will they still appear with the new sim card?
> 
> Liz



Can't say for certain, but I assume not.  I just came back from San Francisco and did the T-Mobile sim, and the only thing that changed on my phone was my phone number.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

mickeyman42 said:


> So i have a telus iphone 4.  If I get it unlocked by telus, how do i get a t-mobile sim card, and how do i setup a pay per day plan with them?  Seems to be a great way to go but i cant seem to figure out how to do it without spending half a day driving to a t-mobile store and then spending more time trying to activate it



Turn your data and roaming off before you hop your plane to come down south.  When you arrive, head to your nearest T-Mobile store (they seem to be everywhere) and they will set you up.

I just came back from San Francisco and purchased a T-Mobile microsim (for the iPhone) for $10, which gave me a $3 use credit, and put down another $10 on the account.  I then had them set me up on the $2 day unlimited calling/texting in the US plan which also has unlimited data (2G so it's slow, but they say they will have 3G for the iPhone this fall - anyway, wifi still works fine).

Your sim card and credits will last for 90 days - i.e. they will expire at the 90 day mark unless you top up your account (once you have put $100 on your account, 90 days turns into a year).


----------



## Maddysdaddy

For those of you who purchase a US phone or US sim card - when you are in the States, log into GoogleVoice.

Once you have a US number, you can use this service to obtain a phone number through Google.  This is a permanent number, so you never have to worry about losing your number if your phone plan or sim card expire - you just go online and link your Google number to whatever US phone number you happen to have active at the time.

The system works much like Voip, so when I was just in San Francisco and wanted to call home to Calgary, I would dial the number through Google (you can use their App if you have a US iTunes account, or just go through the Google website) and it would connect me to Canada via a local US phone number.  There is talk that they may start charging for this service at some point, but I think it's been running about 2 years and it's still free.


----------



## elaine amj

i love my Tmobile prepaid plan on our unlocked cellphones. I almost bought a cheap US cellphone, but like our nice smartphones so switch the SIM instead. Means we're not really reachable on vacation other than by close friends given our US number, but that's OK 

We travel over to the US frequently, so spent the $100 to get Gold status so our $100 is valid for a year.

One thing to keep in mind - phone coverage in the US does not seem as consistent as here. I'm OK in most places but last year I travelled to Cincinatti and was shocked to find it a "dead zone" for Tmobile. We had to use our Cdn SIMs for that trip.


----------



## mickeyman42

So if i get a microsim, use it for 2 weeks, then use mu regular telus sim when i get back, how much would i have to pay to use my tmobile sim next year?  Ie would i have to buy a new sim or pay a fee to reactivate it orwould i just have to pay the per day fee and be assigned a new number?


----------



## Maddysdaddy

mickeyman42 said:
			
		

> So if i get a microsim, use it for 2 weeks, then use mu regular telus sim when i get back, how much would i have to pay to use my tmobile sim next year?  Ie would i have to buy a new sim or pay a fee to reactivate it orwould i just have to pay the per day fee and be assigned a new number?



The simcard will expire after 90 days unless you top up your account (or put $100 on your account - in which case it won't expire for a year).

Given how much it costs to purchase a travel pack from the big 3, plus the inflated talk/text/data rates they charge, even with these packages, you're still way ahead even if you have to purchase a new sim every trip.


----------



## fdecker

1. Have an unlocked GSM Global phone (has all the transceivers for all the frequencies in the different countries. This is usually a quad-band phone)

2. Get a Google Voice number

3. Get a SIM card and a pre-paid card to load up your minutes in whatever country you are in.

4. From now on, only give out your GV number, not your cell number and forward that number to your cell and any other numbers you want.

5. Done

Roaming is just ridiculous, so it makes no sense to try and keep your service when traveling. But if you use a new SIM and prepaid, you can't use your old number while in another country. This is where the google number comes in. Use that as your permanent number and then just forward the calls to whatever phone or phones you are using at the time. Viola, no matter when and where anyone dials you, it will connect to you. Many times, I didn't even use a google number if I was on vacation, I used the phone to make local calls and did not want people from my home country calling me or visa versa.

Blackberry users have an advantage for internet use. Because internet (except for music or video streaming) goes through the RIM servers (BIS), most providers have a flat-fee add-on for unlimited internet. For example, while I was in South Africa, I bought a SIM card for 99 cents. I then bought $30 worth of air time and $10 for a month's worth of connecting to BIS. I was in SA for over a month and used the phone like crazy. I never spent another cent above my $40. I downloaded a lot of apps to my phone and did a ton of browsing, email, Blackberry Messenger, etc, etc.


----------



## mommyof2boys1girl

So, I know nothing about cell phones, plans, etc...  All I know is I want to be able to text dh while in WDW without paying $.25 per text!!!

Dh has a blackberry bold, I have an iphone 3 and we are with Bell (both phones are locked).  Can we buy a prepaid phone while down in the US and just use that?  Or do we need a US billing address?  We just need to be able to communicate and not pay a fortune to do it - in this day and age, why is that so hard??

Anyone have any ideas??


----------



## dontthrowsand

the texting plans from bell aren't bad. I used them in Cuba. Figure out how many texts you will need. If all you are doing is texting, you should be fine.


----------



## Tiger926

mommyof2boys1girl said:


> So, I know nothing about cell phones, plans, etc...  All I know is I want to be able to text dh while in WDW without paying $.25 per text!!!
> 
> Dh has a blackberry bold, I have an iphone 3 and we are with Bell (both phones are locked).  Can we buy a prepaid phone while down in the US and just use that?  Or do we need a US billing address?  We just need to be able to communicate and not pay a fortune to do it - in this day and age, why is that so hard??
> 
> Anyone have any ideas??



As I said above, we just purchased a US phone a few weeks ago. You don't need a US billing address for most of the ones we checked on (actually went into the stores and spoke to the reps).

We bought Metro PCS, and it is no contract. We have set it up for automatic payment off of our credit card, but you don't have to do that. No US billing address is necessary.

You can even set it up through Target if you like, as they have a bunch of prepaid/no contract phones as well.

Good luck, Tiger


----------



## Geodoc

BREAKING NEWS for us Canadians...........free Wifi has been turned on at Magic Kingdom park.....others to follow soon.....we will investigate it on Monday Aug 6

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/08/02/disney-rolls-out-free-wifi/

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## Kurby

We just left yesterday and it wasn't in effect but hopefully it'll get all set up soon

We paid 3 to Skype for unlimited calls to Canada and it was great

We were able to call back home every couple of days and not worry about cost


----------



## Geodoc

Happy to report there was free Disney Wifi at Typhoon lagoon today....this post is coming from there!!!


----------



## Geodoc

Wifi is online at Magic Kingdom today. Using the mobile magic app on my iPhone!!!! Awesome!!


----------



## sare

I am so excited about the free wifi! This will allow me to keep in touch with my loved ones at home and send them some photos in real time of me and DBF enjoying the magic. Normally I wouldnt feel compelled to communicate with home in real time, however my family generously donated their airmiles so we could go and they certainly have earned smiling updates with the mouse 

Any word of free wifi in other parks? So far I have seen MK and TL.

I have iPhone and had contacted telus and they told me apart from purchasing an add on plan (which Im not doing), the best thing would be to put a data and text block on my phone so I can use the wifi and not worry about 60cent texts incoming. :S


----------



## Geodoc

Message from Geodoc the intrepid wifi reporter!! Looks like there is free Disney Wifi at Blizzard beach as well. So both water parks and MK are covered as of Aug 11 2012.


----------



## fdecker

So an interesting question for those with 4G, have you tried to compare browsing and using apps like "lines" or the Disney magic app? Is the wifi faster even than 4G? I would think it should be, but who knows.


----------



## Geodoc

fdecker said:
			
		

> So an interesting question for those with 4G, have you tried to compare browsing and using apps like "lines" or the Disney magic app? Is the wifi faster even than 4G? I would think it should be, but who knows.



I found the wifi speed to be very good. The mobile magic app worked great at MK. For the most part I only needed to sign in once at MK. At the water parks multiple sign ins occurred. I was happy with the wifi service!!


----------



## grover

This is probably a silly question..but I will ask anyways 

I won't buy a extra plan for my iphone in order to use it at Disney. 
So is this what I should do/anticipate how it will work:

Switch it to airplane mode in order to turn off all the data functions?
When I go into the park the phone will automatically pick up on the wifi when I go to use any of my apps or check my email?

Just want to be sure I do things correctly to avoid any charges.

I am so glad they finally have wifi, Rogers charges a arm and leg for data!  Between the wifi at the resorts and the parks I should be totally fine with not buying there travel packs!


----------



## Maddysdaddy

grover said:


> This is probably a silly question..but I will ask anyways
> 
> I won't buy a extra plan for my iphone in order to use it at Disney.
> So is this what I should do/anticipate how it will work:
> 
> Switch it to airplane mode in order to turn off all the data functions?
> When I go into the park the phone will automatically pick up on the wifi when I go to use any of my apps or check my email?
> 
> Just want to be sure I do things correctly to avoid any charges.
> 
> I am so glad they finally have wifi, Rogers charges a arm and leg for data!  Between the wifi at the resorts and the parks I should be totally fine with not buying there travel packs!



Nope - not quite.

Turning your phone to airplane mode will disable wifi.  You need to go into your settings and turn off data roaming instead.  Airplane mode essentially turns your iPhone into an iPod.

The downside to your plan is that the actual "phone" part of your iPhone will still be working, so you run the risk of some fairly significant phone bills if you make or receive any calls.  

I "think" (and you should double check this), that even with data roaming disabled, you will still receive text messages as well, the cost of which could be quite significant.  I am not 100% certain of this though.


----------



## Geodoc

grover said:
			
		

> This is probably a silly question..but I will ask anyways
> 
> I won't buy a extra plan for my iphone in order to use it at Disney.
> So is this what I should do/anticipate how it will work:
> 
> Switch it to airplane mode in order to turn off all the data functions?
> When I go into the park the phone will automatically pick up on the wifi when I go to use any of my apps or check my email?
> 
> Just want to be sure I do things correctly to avoid any charges.
> 
> I am so glad they finally have wifi, Rogers charges a arm and leg for data!  Between the wifi at the resorts and the parks I should be totally fine with not buying there travel packs!



Hi Grover

  Airplane mode will likely turn off your wifi!  What you need to do is make sure data roaming is off.....for most iPhones the default is off....so no 3G data usage occurs unless you turn it on.  Data roaming is found in settings/General/Network  So for our recent trip.....I left my iPhone on as usual, and used the wifi at MK and the resorts. My wife and I did buy a texting bundle for texting home, and for when we were in non wifi areas. The price for that is reasonable if you need it. The only charges we incurred were for the US text package. There is no charge for keeping your phone on......of course making phone calls will be extra. Hope that helps!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## grover

Maddysdaddy said:


> Nope - not quite.
> 
> Turning your phone to airplane mode will disable wifi.  You need to go into your settings and turn off data roaming instead.  Airplane mode essentially turns your iPhone into an iPod.
> 
> The downside to your plan is that the actual "phone" part of your iPhone will still be working, so you run the risk of some fairly significant phone bills if you make or receive any calls.
> 
> I "think" (and you should double check this), that even with data roaming disabled, you will still receive text messages as well, the cost of which could be quite significant.  I am not 100% certain of this though.



thanks for the tip ..I have not had to turn off the data for so long..I am glad I asked because I never would have gone into the screens you mentioned..I know I have in the past now that I checked it is coming back to me..lol!  I rarely use my phone as a phone..so should be good there.


----------



## grover

Geodoc said:


> Hi Grover
> 
> Airplane mode will likely turn off your wifi!  What you need to do is make sure data roaming is off.....for most iPhones the default is off....so no 3G data usage occurs unless you turn it on.  Data roaming is found in settings/General/Network  So for our recent trip.....I left my iPhone on as usual, and used the wifi at MK and the resorts. My wife and I did buy a texting bundle for texting home, and for when we were in non wifi areas. The price for that is reasonable if you need it. The only charges we incurred were for the US text package. There is no charge for keeping your phone on......of course making phone calls will be extra. Hope that helps!
> 
> Sent from my iPad using DISBoards




Very helpful! Thanks..you guys are awesome


----------



## Geodoc

More good news...EPCOT has free wifi..... http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...ism-disney-wifi-0903-20120903,0,4402263.story

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## MaMudduck

grover said:


> Very helpful! Thanks..you guys are awesome



Hey Grover
I haven't spoking with you in ages...when are your dates for WDW. Looks like all us Cdn. go the same time when we return the WDW. We are going Sept 29-Oct 6.


----------



## chimo2u

MaMudduck said:


> Hey Grover
> I haven't spoking with you in ages...when are your dates for WDW. Looks like all us Cdn. go the same time when we return the WDW. We are going Sept 29-Oct 6.



 It's looking like it might be more busy than I thought! I too, will be there Sept 28-Oct 4.... Then move over to Universal Oct 4,5,6 and depart home Oct 7. I hope it's not toooo busy 
Thanks for the cell phone tips. I am buying my son unlimited US text for $40 (Telus) for his iPhone, and I'll buy 200 outgoing, unlimited incoming text for $30 (BELL) for my iPhone. And I'll use wifi where I can....POLY, MK and Epcot....I figure that should keep us connected in the event we split up, and give me enough texts to say ui to DH who'll be holding the fort down at home with our FUR BABY/ FELINE!


----------



## grover

omgohs..Hi!! how are you? 

lol..okay..i see now i have not updated my ticker  that is from last year..lol! we are not going until next fall..plan to take my nephew!



MaMudduck said:


> Hey Grover
> I haven't spoking with you in ages...when are your dates for WDW. Looks like all us Cdn. go the same time when we return the WDW. We are going Sept 29-Oct 6.


----------



## HeatherLassell

Yay!  Thanks for posting how to turn off data!  I'm not used to my iPhone yet!

I'm also going this month!!

Sept 29-Oct 10 at POR!


----------



## sare

I called Telus (my provider) and asked them the best way to avoid data roaming charges (iPhone), unwanted calls/texts while im in the park, and to still be able to use the wifi. They told me, outside of buying a travel package, what they can do is put a temporary block (1 week for me) on my data, calling, texting while I am away and this will insure no fees will incure. They also said that it may be possible for me to retrieve these texts when I return and cancel the block. They also said that this would be free of charge for them to do. My phone would still work perfectly with wifi for email, imessage, facetime, apps etc. Im sure Rogers will do a similar thing.


----------



## poppypetal

So confused.
We go to Disney next week and just learned a huge mistake by my husband going to PA for 4 days.  Came home with 100.00 in roaming charges and text.  50.00 for each.... ridiculous.
We are with Telus.

But what should we do, or where to go to make this as easy as possible.  Can we go to Walmart and get a prepaid with data and text on it?  We would like something so if we need to check maps or anything as we are doing a mini tour in Florida...

Anyone have any suggestions?  I'm tired of giving money to Telus.


----------



## Kurby

MK and all the resorts have free wifi now.  turn roaming off and get one of the apps that use wifi for im's instead of texting.

we only used it that way when we were down in july and came back to a normal bill after 4 weeks in the states not just disney.

if you absolutely must text then pay the text fee otherwise wait until you connect to wifi for free.


----------



## poppypetal

What is a free IM app? or what app should we download for that?


----------



## Tiger926

poppypetal said:


> So confused.
> We go to Disney next week and just learned a huge mistake by my husband going to PA for 4 days.  Came home with 100.00 in roaming charges and text.  50.00 for each.... ridiculous.
> We are with Telus.
> 
> But what should we do, or where to go to make this as easy as possible.  Can we go to Walmart and get a prepaid with data and text on it?  We would like something so if we need to check maps or anything as we are doing a mini tour in Florida...
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?  I'm tired of giving money to Telus.



Texting is an SMS system, which means it's separate from data, and there is no Canadian carrier who gives free US texting. And you have Telus, and they actually charge for received texts as well. The only way to deal with that is to block texting on your phone in that regard. So bottom line for texting is that you have 3 choices:

- pay per use 
- buy a text pack
- don't text at all (and block incoming texts)

If you don't want to give money to Telus, you can buy a prepaid phone. We just did that (MetroPCS), but after 8 weeks we are done with it. It didn't work in many areas while driving down i-75 and is extremely slow. We will use the phone around the house like an iPod, but we have since cancelled the monthly fee (60.00/month) and added a special Blackberry Canada/US monthly rate to our phones (Rogers is the only carrier who offers this - One Rate), and will just add a long distance phone pack during our next trip. I will not pay for US texting ever again, as it's very expensive for a small amount of texts. MetroPCS charged 10.00/month for unlimited texting to Canada, yet Rogers charges $49.00/month!!!!! 

We did research Tracfone, but they seemed yucky and cheap, as well as some other phones at Target and Walmart in the states.

Good luck! 



Kurby said:


> MK and all the resorts have free wifi now.  turn roaming off and get one of the apps that use wifi for im's instead of texting.
> 
> we only used it that way when we were down in july and came back to a normal bill after 4 weeks in the states not just disney.
> 
> if you absolutely must text then pay the text fee otherwise wait until you connect to wifi for free.



Yes, MK as well as Epcot, resorts and Water Parks all have free wi-fi. The wi-fi @ MK was a bit slow and very glitchy for Face Timing on our iPad, but for small things it would be fine, and it's free!

Some good data apps are What's App and Text Plus.

Tiger


----------



## poppypetal

So if we go to Walmart, we should be able to find a prepaid phone there, in the US?
Will we be able to put some data on it?
Like I said we are doing some driving so if we have the data, it can be a back up GPS for us if incase we need something...


----------



## MaMudduck

I'm sure what I'm about to say has probably been said many, many times in this thread already but without reviewing all the previous pages I'll just let you know what I've been doing since 2003:
DH & I can't go anywhere without our computers and at least 1 cellphone.
I am with Rogers (have been for years). And between DH & I we are in the U.S.  combined for approx. 6-8 weeks throughout a year. What we did was we had 2 of our cell phone (that we got from Rogers) unlocked by a third party that supplies you the code to unlock them, cost $15 p/p. These 2 phones then became our permanent travel phones. As we did "hardware" upgrades for our phones we just kept our old unlocked phones for travel. 
Each time we go to the states, we stop in at an AT&T store and buy a pay-as-you-go SIM card, with a plan we usually go with $2 a day of use which is unlimited US calling, unlimited text, voicemail & call waiting. Long distance, calling to Canada is .25 cents a minute,free incoming calls from Canada. 
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/plans/prepaidplans.html

So when we need both phones (so we can call people within our group) we get 2x $25 prepaid card. expires in 30days if not reloaded.
In July, DD & I were in California for 2 weeks- 1 unlocked phone, but knowing that this year I would need a min of 5 weeks of cell phone within 90 days, I bought a $100 card this card will not expire until Jul. 2013 if i don't roll it over. There are other plans that will included data if that's what you need.

For me this is easier than doing "Tracfone"- it works exactly the same way (same plans etc.) but then I'm not locked to Tracfone (AT&T or Sprint) and I can use my unlocked phone in other places in the world...I can even continue to use in Canada if I want. Bonus: if I save my contacts to the phone-not the SIM card I don't lose them or have to reload them with each tracphone.

Short summary:
1) Get your phone SIM phone "unlocked"- if your worried about doing this use an older phone that you might have. (e.g. I just got a iPhone, but it is my old Blackberry Pearl that I got unlocked)-not all carriers use SIM cards in their phones
2) Buy a prepaid phone plan with a SIM card included, when in US. (Walmart, BestBuy, AT&T store etc.)
3) Put the card in the phone & your all set to go!- No more Rogers roaming


----------



## poppypetal

Would this work?
If i bought one of those trutrac phones for like 10.00 or whatever it says at Walmart.
And then get this... can I split this between the phone and my tablet, so I can use the data on my tablet, but the text and calls from the phone?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Straight-...b-Access-Service-Card-Email-Delivery/15443343


----------



## MaMudduck

Is your tablet "locked" to a carrier?- if it is locked- then no, your idea will not work. 
Do you really need data (3G)- on your tablet or can you use wi-fi at the parks & hotel?


----------



## poppypetal

MaMudduck said:


> Is your tablet "locked" to a carrier?- if it is locked- then no, your idea will not work.
> Do you really need data (3G)- on your tablet or can you use wi-fi at the parks & hotel?



My tablet is actually an ereader with wifi... I dont actually have anything else but wifi on it... not sure if this is the same thing?

We want it for security purposes because of the fact we are driving, want it like a GPS if we should get misrouted


----------



## Tiger926

poppypetal said:


> My tablet is actually an ereader with wifi... I dont actually have anything else but wifi on it... not sure if this is the same thing?
> 
> We want it for security purposes because of the fact we are driving, want it like a GPS if we should get misrouted



If it is only wi-fi, then you have no signal while travelling in the car. Once you get to Disney, you can use the free wi-fi, or if you stop at a Starbucks or some other restaurant with free wi-fi, and then you would get service on your ereader.

In order to use it while driving though, you must have data of some kind, so you would have to tether your existing phone (not all carriers allow this). Tethering is when you use your phone's data in a connection sort of way to another electronic device.

If your phone is Canadian, than you would incur data roaming charges, so you might as well just pay Telus for a data roaming travel pack.

If you get a US phone, you have to ask them whether tethering is allowed. If it is not, then your ereader will not work for you as a GPS as it is only wi-fi enabled, and you don't have any wi-fi signals while travelling in your car.

Good luck, Tiger


----------



## poppypetal

ok thanks it's a new ereader, so wasn't sure exactly how it would work, being as we needed wifi on it.

i'll check this out when we go look at something in the store... worst case scenario at least we will have a cell phone


----------



## Tiger926

poppypetal said:


> ok thanks it's a new ereader, so wasn't sure exactly how it would work, being as we needed wifi on it.
> 
> i'll check this out when we go look at something in the store... worst case scenario at least we will have a cell phone



You are welcome! Why not purchase an actual GPS unit, and then you don't need to worry.

We love our Garmin (has a large screen) as we travel often, not counting several weeks per year to Florida.

Good luck, Tiger


----------



## poppypetal

Tiger926 said:


> You are welcome! Why not purchase an actual GPS unit, and then you don't need to worry.
> 
> We love our Garmin (has a large screen) as we travel often, not counting several weeks per year to Florida.
> 
> Good luck, Tiger


how much is an actual GPS - hmm actualy that gives me an idea, maybe I'll see if we can borrow my moms, and then just get a simple pay as we go phone, since we have friends who live in the US coming to visit with us, this way we can stay in touch when we need to 
Thanks again.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

poppypetal said:
			
		

> how much is an actual GPS - hmm actualy that gives me an idea, maybe I'll see if we can borrow my moms, and then just get a simple pay as we go phone, since we have friends who live in the US coming to visit with us, this way we can stay in touch when we need to
> Thanks again.



You can find Garmin or Tom Tom units with lifetime map updates at places like Costco for less than $150. 

If you have an iPhone (don't know about Android)  you can download the Garmin app for $50, and it does not use data - the maps are saved in your phone and it uses satellite positioning.


----------



## glorania

okay, just keep in mind i'm a technological moron here....but, i've just bought the new iphone 5, my carrier is with Sasktel. We are going to WDW for the first time this Dec. I'm not concerned about callling back to Canada, but i'm curious regarding texting/wifi.  So let me know if i have this straight: Disney resorts and the parks have wifi....so, if i turn off the 'roaming' on my phone can i not just use the wifi and not be charged? I have used my blackberry in the past in the US where free wifi was available and never incurred any additional charges (ie. airport). I would really like to use the line apps for the parks.  If we really need to call back to Canada, we will just get a calling card. But otherwise, why not just use wifi to send messages?


OR....would it be possible for DD and i to take our ipods, access the wifi to be able to text each other and use the line apps?

or am i really out to lunch?


----------



## Tiger926

glorania said:


> okay, just keep in mind i'm a technological moron here....but, i've just bought the new iphone 5, my carrier is with Sasktel. We are going to WDW for the first time this Dec. I'm not concerned about callling back to Canada, but i'm curious regarding texting/wifi.  So let me know if i have this straight: Disney resorts and the parks have wifi....so, if i turn off the 'roaming' on my phone can i not just use the wifi and not be charged? I have used my blackberry in the past in the US where free wifi was available and never incurred any additional charges (ie. airport). I would really like to use the line apps for the parks.  If we really need to call back to Canada, we will just get a calling card. But otherwise, why not just use wifi to send messages?
> 
> 
> OR....would it be possible for DD and i to take our ipods, access the wifi to be able to text each other and use the line apps?
> 
> or am i really out to lunch?



Texting - texting straight through your phone uses the SMS system, which is separate from data, which means you cannot use wi-fi for texting. The only way to use data for texting, is to get a texting app such as TextPlus, and this then uses data through your phone. If you don't want to do this, then you have no choice but to pay for a text package on your phone. The other option is a data message app such as What's App or Kik which uses data (not texting), but it would require that the people who you are messaging also have this program (What's App is similar to BBM, which you would be familiar with since you  had a Blackberry).

iPods - you can use these on wi-fi, and if you have the TextPlus app, then you can text each other, or use iMessage (only if you have a newer iPod).

Lines App - this uses data, so you can turn roaming off on your phone as this would through wi-fi. 

Hope this helps, Tiger


----------



## pampam

Is the free wifi at the parks too, or just at the resorts?


----------



## Tiger926

pampam said:


> Is the free wifi at the parks too, or just at the resorts?



Parks - MK & Epcot (Ak & Studios soon), and Water Parks

Resorts - All resorts & common areas eg. lobby

Tiger


----------



## Geodoc

pampam said:
			
		

> Is the free wifi at the parks too, or just at the resorts?



As of Sept 20, 2012 so far there is free Disney Guest wifi at all the WDW resort hotels, MK, EPCOT and both water parks.     AK , HS and Downtown Disney will eventually have it.......we just didn't know when.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## glorania

Tiger926 said:


> Texting - texting straight through your phone uses the SMS system, which is separate from data, which means you cannot use wi-fi for texting. The only way to use data for texting, is to get a texting app such as TextPlus, and this then uses data through your phone. If you don't want to do this, then you have no choice but to pay for a text package on your phone. The other option is a data message app such as What's App or Kik which uses data (not texting), but it would require that the people who you are messaging also have this program (What's App is similar to BBM, which you would be familiar with since you  had a Blackberry).
> 
> iPods - you can use these on wi-fi, and if you have the TextPlus app, then you can text each other, or use iMessage (only if you have a newer iPod).
> 
> Lines App - this uses data, so you can turn roaming off on your phone as this would through wi-fi.
> 
> Hope this helps, Tiger



This helps tremendously!! Thankyou! We will use our ipod/iphone to text each other in the park if needed. nice to know we can do this without being charged. Will have to let DD know not to text back home or the bill will be a fortune! lol


----------



## Tiger926

glorania said:


> This helps tremendously!! Thankyou! We will use our ipod/iphone to text each other in the park if needed. nice to know we can do this without being charged. Will have to let DD know not to text back home or the bill will be a fortune! lol



You are most welcome. Have a great trip!! Tiger


----------



## Geodoc

And the DisBoards is reporting that free wifi is now online at Hollywood Studios!!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## CanadianGuy

> Short summary:
> 1) Get your phone SIM phone "unlocked"- if your worried about doing this use an older phone that you might have. (e.g. I just got a iPhone, but it is my old Blackberry Pearl that I got unlocked)-not all carriers use SIM cards in their phones
> 2) Buy a prepaid phone plan with a SIM card included, when in US. (Walmart, BestBuy, AT&T store etc.)
> 3) Put the card in the phone & your all set to go!- No more Rogers roaming



I only have one small correction.. I fly out of Portland Maine and I just stopped at the AT&T store in the mall there with my unlocked Canadian phone and asked for a SIM with data and a phone number for the duration of my trip.  They gave me the SIM, I put it in my Galaxy Note and voila!

Bing bang boom and away I went.. total cost for me was $65 for the whole trip.. I had an Orlando number.. international texting was included.. no issues whatsoever and no ugly surprises in the bill when I got home.

Couldn't have been easier.


----------



## shillee

I am trying to make sense of this and figure out what might be best. I have a pay-as-you-go from Rogers. It is something like $10-$15/month. It is voice only. For texts I pay $0.30 each (which I never use).

We will be in Disney and DH has his iphone. I am thinking it might be good if for once I have a phone with me in case we do a few separate things with the kids.

So either text/voice (or both) would be nice. I am wondering what my best (and cheapest) option would be? Should I try to get something for Rogers for a couple of weeks or am I better to pull out my SIM card and buy something in the US? 

Oh, and we have an old iphone 3 (or 3S or whatever it was) since DH upgraded but it is still locked with Bell. If we could somehow get that unlocked that would be great but have no idea where/how to do this.


----------



## MaMudduck

shillee said:


> So either text/voice (or both) would be nice. I am wondering what my best (and cheapest) option would be? Should I try to get something for Rogers for a couple of weeks or am I better to pull out my SIM card and buy something in the US?
> 
> Oh, and we have an old iphone 3 (or 3S or whatever it was) since DH upgraded but it is still locked with Bell. If we could somehow get that unlocked that would be great but have no idea where/how to do this.



Ok I'm not sure if you asking: "If I pull out the Rogers sim, and put in a US sim, will it work?..or are you asking "If I stop using my Rogers phone & get a phone in the US will that be cheaper?"

So based on question #1- I've tried to answer below: 

If you got your phone from Rogers originally then it's locked to Rogers (regardless what type of plan you have) unless you know for-a-fact that phone has been unlocked. So you will not be able to pull out the SIM card and put in a US one.
I don't know if you can have a the Rogers US thingy added on a prepaid Rogers phone, you'll need to check with them directly. 

To get your phone unlocked there are many companies that will email you the unlock code for a price.($5 to $30) Google search, there are even youtube videos. the last one I used was from "mobile-phone-unlock.com"not an endorsement, just a statement


----------



## MaMudduck

delete- answered already


----------



## shillee

Thanks Wendy. I don't think my Rogers phone is locked as it was one we bought while not under contract. But I better check that out in case!

And I will also look into the web site you listed. DH did 'buy' a code to unlock the old iPhone but it didn't work (not sure where he got it from but did pay for it through an online site). I wasn't sure if this is something that does work so at least knowing there are places people have successfully used is good! He had even bought me a nice Disney cover for the phone so I would love to be able to use it 



MaMudduck said:


> Ok I'm not sure if you asking: "If I pull out the Rogers sim, and put in a US sim, will it work?..or are you asking "If I stop using my Rogers phone & get a phone in the US will that be cheaper?"
> 
> So based on question #1- I've tried to answer below:
> 
> If you got your phone from Rogers originally then it's locked to Rogers (regardless what type of plan you have) unless you know for-a-fact that phone has been unlocked. So you will not be able to pull out the SIM card and put in a US one.
> I don't know if you can have a the Rogers US thingy added on a prepaid Rogers phone, you'll need to check with them directly.
> 
> To get your any phone unlocked there are many companies that will email you the unlock code for a price.($5 to $30) Google search, there are even youtube videos. the last one I used was from "mobile-phone-unlock.com"not an endorsement, just a statement


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Just as an FYI - there is no way to unlock an iPhone if your cell provider is not offering the service.

Unlike other phones where there is the "secret code", all iPhones are registered with Apple's central database, and unless your provider has an agreement with Apple to unlock phones, it can't be done.

There have been semi-successful workarounds in the past (Gevey), but those are not official unlocks and every time Apple updates its IOS, the phones revert back.  Even so, without an official unlock (Telus is doing it, and I think Rogers 'might' be - Bell isn't), you aren't going to be able to swap sim cards in an iPhone.



shillee said:


> Thanks Wendy. I don't think my Rogers phone is locked as it was one we bought while not under contract. But I better check that out in case!
> 
> And I will also look into the web site you listed. DH did 'buy' a code to unlock the old iPhone but it didn't work (not sure where he got it from but did pay for it through an online site). I wasn't sure if this is something that does work so at least knowing there are places people have successfully used is good! He had even bought me a nice Disney cover for the phone so I would love to be able to use it


----------



## MaMudduck

Maddysdaddy said:


> Just as an FYI - there is no way to unlock an iPhone if your cell provider is not offering the service.
> 
> Unlike other phones where there is the "secret code", all iPhones are registered with Apple's central database, and unless your provider has an agreement with Apple to unlock phones, it can't be done.
> 
> There have been semi-successful workarounds in the past (Gevey), but those are not official unlocks and every time Apple updates its IOS, the phones revert back.  Even so, without an official unlock (Telus is doing it, and I think Rogers 'might' be - Bell isn't), you aren't going to be able to swap sim cards in an iPhone.



Thank you...I knew there was always a problem with unlocking iPhones, but I didn't know why. What I always noticed on those unlocking website was that the iphone wasn't usually on the request list...
I personally have had 4 cell phones unlocked, Samsung, Nokia, Blackberry, Motorola- I've always used my phone that was a few years older (when I done a hardware upgrade) and never try it on the current one that I plan on continuing using at home, just in case "it would void the warranty" on the phone.


----------



## magpie0327

Sorry to repeat all the info on here already, but I just want to doublecheck what I think is right--I have an Android, with no data plan, on Bell.  If I get the TextPlus app, I can use that to text back to Canada as long as I am in a wifi area?  And the other party in Canada can text back to that TexyPlus number free as well?  Also, I could post to Facebook in a wifi area?  I was planning on getting a plan to cover texting and calls for the 9 days we are there, and using Facebook as a mailing system, but this kind of sounds like we won't need to spend the extra money??  Am I completely wrong here??  No?


----------



## RoxyJ

I have a few questions:
I have an unlocked iphone 4 from Telus. I would like to purchase the $2 per day pay-as-you-go from T-Mobile.

This is what I plan to do:
Order the no contract micro sim from T-Mobile website for $0.99 (about 2 weeks in advance) to be shipped to where I am staying. Or is it easier to just get the sim at the T-Mobile location?

Before I hop onto the plane, I disable data roaming, and turn on "airplane mode" (turn back on wifi while in airplane mode if I need wifi)
_Tip: You can turn wifi back on after you turn on Airplane mode. _

Activate the new T-Mobile Sim: How do I do that? How long does it take to be activated, can I activate from Canada before I leave?

Purchase a pre-paid T-Mobile card to add funds to my account.

Questions:
Do I need to connect to itunes to use the new sim card?
Will it work immediately when I put in the new sim, or will there be settings that I need to change?
Can I reuse the sim for future trips (with a new activation)?
This may be a silly question, but will removing the telus sim and replacing it with T-Mobile sim card prevent roaming charges from Telus?

Thanks!


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Hi Roxy.  My comments are incorporated into the body of your message (in bold).



RoxyJ said:


> I have a few questions:
> I have an unlocked iphone 4 from Telus. I would like to purchase the $2 per day pay-as-you-go from T-Mobile.
> *Smart move.  One thing you will want to check is whether T-Mo has rolled out their upgraded network in the area you are travelling to.  If so, you will be able to get 3G/4G data speeds on your iPhone, so it may be worth an extra dollar a day to you to not have to suffer through the Edge speed at $2, which limits you to very basic (and slow) web surfing.  The upgraded network is supposed to be rolled out this fall, so you might luck out.*
> 
> This is what I plan to do:
> Order the no contract micro sim from T-Mobile website for $0.99 (about 2 weeks in advance) to be shipped to where I am staying. Or is it easier to just get the sim at the T-Mobile location?
> *Unless you have a US dollar credit card with a US billing address, T-Mo won't let you order online.  You'll have to go into one of their stores and buy the sim in person ($10 - not $0.99).  The upside is that they will set up your phone for you - just make sure that calling/texting/data are running before you leave the store.*
> 
> Before I hop onto the plane, I disable data roaming, and turn on "airplane mode" (turn back on wifi while in airplane mode if I need wifi)
> _Tip: You can turn wifi back on after you turn on Airplane mode. _
> *Yup.  Just make sure that you have gone into your settings and have switched 'data roaming' to "off".*
> 
> Activate the new T-Mobile Sim: How do I do that? How long does it take to be activated, can I activate from Canada before I leave?
> *Per comment above, you will have to activate in the US.   *
> 
> Purchase a pre-paid T-Mobile card to add funds to my account.
> *You can go online or call their 800 number to add $, if you prefer.*
> 
> Questions:
> Do I need to connect to itunes to use the new sim card? *No.*
> Will it work immediately when I put in the new sim, or will there be settings that I need to change? *Should work immediately.  If it doesn't, the salesperson in store will make sure it does.*
> Can I reuse the sim for future trips (with a new activation)? *The sim expires after 90 days, unless you add money (I think the minimum is $10).  If you plan on travelling often, it may be worth adding money every 89 days to keep the card active, otherwise you just need to buy a new card every time you go down. *
> This may be a silly question, but will removing the telus sim and replacing it with T-Mobile sim card prevent roaming charges from Telus? *YES!!!*
> 
> Thanks!



*May I suggest that you look at my posts over the past couple of pages where I talk about Google Voice.  It's a free product from Google which will:
1 - give you a permanent US phone number, so even if you change sim cards, your US phone number will never change; and,
2 - allow you to call Canada for free.

How it works is much like Skype - your T-Mo phone number will call the closest Google hub (US roaming is free on T-Mo), and the Google hub places the long distance call.  You're making a local call (unlimited on T-Mo) and Google is the entity calling Canada.

You can't set this up in Canada, but will only take you all of 5 minutes once you get down to the US.*


----------



## doug74

How do I go about buying US prepaid phones (throwaway) with minutes (60?) online and having them shipped to my resort?

I just want to use it for communicating with family inside the parks..

Bringing my Motorolla 2-way radios, but I dunno how well they'll work..

I'm thinking this might be the best option..  I have a Telus pay and talk phone, but if it's going to be more of a hassle..


----------



## 5mouseketeersforus

Ok experts.....talk to me like i am a 5 year old - slowly and don't use too many big words 

Last time we were in The US, i called Telus and added on the US 30 day packages for phone/text/data.  IIRC, total cost was approx $75?  Weeks later i got my bill......close to $300!!!!! The data/roaming charges were insane even with the add-ons 

Obviously i don't want this to happen again.  So here is the situation:

I want to be able to text DH & the kids as well as folks back home, use gmail and also access the web.  Not really concerned with using the phone.

I have an Iphone4 with Telus - under contract for another year or so.

The kids have ipod4s so would like to be able to text them and they want to surf the net. 

DH has a company BB. 

I have an old BB (i think it is the curve?)

What is the least expensive way to do this?

Unlock the Iphone through Telus & then pick up a sim card here or pick up a sim card in the US?
Somehow get the old BB unlocked and then get a sim card?
Other??

Remember i am 5; at least when it comes to this kind of stuff LOL


----------



## robinsnest49ers

OK so I just found out that Disney has wifi in all the parks and their resorts.  So if you have an iphone or an ipod download the text plus app and use that.

Not sure what to do with the blackberry.

But Make sure you go to your settings on your iphone and turn OFF your 

cellular Data
Enable 3G
Data Roaming

To do this go to 

Settings
General
Cellular

I'm pretty sure this will work, I am going to try it in a few weeks.

But if you are really worried about getting dinged for something, ask your cell provider if they can disable internet etc. for a specified period of time.

Canadians have always been looking for a way to use their phones in Disney and I think they finally responded by getting wifi.  I have heard it works pretty good, will see soon I guess.

Not sure when you are going but I will update this post when I get home and let u know how it went.

Just keep an eye on you phone and make sure the little "?g" is NOT on.  If it says "3g" or 4g you are connected to a network and may get charged.


----------



## 5mouseketeersforus

robinsnest49ers said:
			
		

> OK so I just found out that Disney has wifi in all the parks and their resorts.  So if you have an iphone or an ipod download the text plus app and use that.
> 
> Not sure what to do with the blackberry.
> 
> But Make sure you go to your settings on your iphone and turn OFF your
> 
> cellular Data
> Enable 3G
> Data Roaming
> 
> To do this go to
> 
> Settings
> General
> Cellular
> 
> I'm pretty sure this will work, I am going to try it in a few weeks.
> 
> But if you are really worried about getting dinged for something, ask your cell provider if they can disable internet etc. for a specified period of time.
> 
> Canadians have always been looking for a way to use their phones in Disney and I think they finally responded by getting wifi.  I have heard it works pretty good, will see soon I guess.
> 
> Not sure when you are going but I will update this post when I get home and let u know how it went.
> 
> Just keep an eye on you phone and make sure the little "?g" is NOT on.  If it says "3g" or 4g you are connected to a network and may get charged.



Ok thanks. Will give that a try!!  

We are heading down jan 29th for 2 weeks.


----------



## robinsnest49ers

Well, you are going before me so let me know how it goes.

Good Luck


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Please see my posts above and over the past few pages with respect to iPhone unlocking with Telus and buying a sim card from T-Mobile.  

The unlock is $50 (but if you're nice to the person on the phone, they may waive the fee) and unlimited talk/text/data from T-Mo is $3/day, so even if you have to pay the Telus unlock fee, you're still paying less than you did on your last trip and you don't have to worry about any unexpected data charges.

It's one thing to have free wifi in the parks (which you're sharing with nine gazillion other park visitors), but what about your hotel/travelling outside the park/driving to wherever...  Most of us don't blink twice about paying thousands for a Disney trip, or $15 for a burger and drink in the park, but when you ask them to pay $3 for their phone, look out.

The alternative, if you don't want to go to T-Mo and are willing to pay more for less data, is to look at Roam Mobility here in Canada.  Their website is pretty informative.



5mouseketeersforus said:


> Ok experts.....talk to me like i am a 5 year old - slowly and don't use too many big words
> 
> Last time we were in The US, i called Telus and added on the US 30 day packages for phone/text/data.  IIRC, total cost was approx $75?  Weeks later i got my bill......close to $300!!!!! The data/roaming charges were insane even with the add-ons
> 
> Obviously i don't want this to happen again.  So here is the situation:
> 
> I want to be able to text DH & the kids as well as folks back home, use gmail and also access the web.  Not really concerned with using the phone.
> 
> I have an Iphone4 with Telus - under contract for another year or so.
> 
> The kids have ipod4s so would like to be able to text them and they want to surf the net.
> 
> DH has a company BB.
> 
> I have an old BB (i think it is the curve?)
> 
> What is the least expensive way to do this?
> 
> Unlock the Iphone through Telus & then pick up a sim card here or pick up a sim card in the US?
> Somehow get the old BB unlocked and then get a sim card?
> Other??
> 
> Remember i am 5; at least when it comes to this kind of stuff LOL


----------



## 5mouseketeersforus

Maddysdaddy said:
			
		

> Please see my posts above and over the past few pages with respect to iPhone unlocking with Telus and buying a sim card from T-Mobile.
> 
> The unlock is $50 (but if you're nice to the person on the phone, they may waive the fee) and unlimited talk/text/data from T-Mo is $3/day, so even if you have to pay the Telus unlock fee, you're still paying less than you did on your last trip and you don't have to worry about any unexpected data charges.
> 
> It's one thing to have free wifi in the parks (which you're sharing with nine gazillion other park visitors), but what about your hotel/travelling outside the park/driving to wherever...  Most of us don't blink twice about paying thousands for a Disney trip, or $15 for a burger and drink in the park, but when you ask them to pay $3 for their phone, look out.
> 
> The alternative, if you don't want to go to T-Mo and are willing to pay more for less data, is to look at Roam Mobility here in Canada.  Their website is pretty informative.



Thanks very much.
Embarassingly, i did read through the posts but still didn't "get it".  Told ya i was 5.
Called Telus - the fee is now $35. I asked them for the super loyal customer discount (been with them for over 12 years!!!) and he reduced it to $20.  
Currently having trouble getting it unlocked (they sent a msg via Itunes but i haven't seen it??) but hopefully it all works out.


----------



## 5mouseketeersforus

Anyone have any experience with roammobility (based in BC)???  
Just trying to figure out if it would be easier/better to go with a supplier here vs. T-Mobil in the US??
Roam's plans are $3/day for talk/text/data so for the 14 days i need - it would be $36.95 which includes 1,000MB of data.  

My only concern is that i am still on the 3G network.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

5mouseketeersforus said:
			
		

> Anyone have any experience with roammobility (based in BC)???
> Just trying to figure out if it would be easier/better to go with a supplier here vs. T-Mobil in the US??
> Roam's plans are $3/day for talk/text/data so for the 14 days i need - it would be $36.95 which includes 1,000MB of data.
> 
> My only concern is that i am still on the 3G network.



Roam 'roams' on T-Mo's network, so if you're in an area where T-Mo has recently upgraded their towers (check the map on their website), you should be getting faster speeds. 

The biggest issue with Roam is the limited amount of data you get. 1GB can go pretty quick. They are good in that their plan lets you call back to Canada, but if you go T-Mo and spend 10 minutes setting up a Google Voice account, you get free calling to Canada anyway.


----------



## joech

We just came back from our Christams/New year trip and the Free wi fi at the parks and resorts are spotty to say the least.  We even had trouble in our rooms at Ak.

I ended up getting a couple Verizon pay & talk phones for $15 each for my DW and I. Both phones come with $10 credit to start.  The plan I choose was the 99 cents per day with unlimited calling between the two phones.


----------



## 5mouseketeersforus

Ok another question from me (sorry but i seriously don't keep up on all this tech stuff);

My Iphone4s is now unlocked.  Once i pu the new sim card in for it, is everything missing? For example, would all of my apps/music/tv shows still be there?  Would all of my contacts still remain?  What about gmail - would it still be there with all of my messages or would i have to set it up again?


----------



## cyros

We are leaving for WDW in less than two weeks and as I do not have a cell phone that can work outside Canada at all, I purchased a cheap no contract phone to keep in touch my phone only (no texts or otherwise)with the other half of our party when we split up.  I got this AT&T Samsung a157 Prepaid GoPhone (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007X6FFLS/ref=oh_details_o04_s02_i02) and I'm assuming I'll be able to activate it and choose my usage plan when I arrive at the rental home and have access to the computer (at least I hope so?)  Also, has anyone used AT&T service in the parks? I'm worried now because I have now read that AT&T does not have good coverage. Is this going to work for us or did I pick the wrong provider?


----------



## mjf

5mouseketeersforus said:


> My Iphone4s is now unlocked.  Once i pu the new sim card in for it, is everything missing? For example, would all of my apps/music/tv shows still be there?  Would all of my contacts still remain?  What about gmail - would it still be there with all of my messages or would i have to set it up again?



All of your apps / music / TV shows / contacts / e-mail messages will still be there.  Putting in the new sim card won't impact any of those things.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Everything will still be there.

One thing you will want to consider doing when you are down in the US, is to buy a $10 (or whatever) iTunes card and setting up a US iTunes account.  There are a bunch of apps (including Disney related ones) that are not available in the Canadian iTunes store. 



5mouseketeersforus said:


> Ok another question from me (sorry but i seriously don't keep up on all this tech stuff);
> 
> My Iphone4s is now unlocked.  Once i pu the new sim card in for it, is everything missing? For example, would all of my apps/music/tv shows still be there?  Would all of my contacts still remain?  What about gmail - would it still be there with all of my messages or would i have to set it up again?


----------



## 5mouseketeersforus

Maddysdaddy said:


> Everything will still be there.
> 
> One thing you will want to consider doing when you are down in the US, is to buy a $10 (or whatever) iTunes card and setting up a US iTunes account.  There are a bunch of apps (including Disney related ones) that are not available in the Canadian iTunes store.



That is an awesome tip!!! Thnk you so much


----------



## Fabooliss

doug74 said:
			
		

> How do I go about buying US prepaid phones (throwaway) with minutes (60?) online and having them shipped to my resort?
> 
> I just want to use it for communicating with family inside the parks..
> 
> Bringing my Motorolla 2-way radios, but I dunno how well they'll work..
> 
> I'm thinking this might be the best option..  I have a Telus pay and talk phone, but if it's going to be more of a hassle..



I think Walmart will do this, I know amazon will, and you can use PayPal for a us payment.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## YukiPhnx

Since they now have wifi in all the parks and resorts, I highly recommend getting a calling app or a text app, or both!

Whatsapp is good on iOS and Android. It's a texting app. They have a free trial period and then it's $1 after that. It's definitely worth it.

A great calling app is Viber. It also works on iOS and Android but I don't know about Blackberry. My parents in China use this app to call us. 

I'm so glad I no longer have to deal with sim cards and tracphones!


----------



## Jennifer16

We are traveling in March and just want to check on the wifi status at the parks.  I have read in earlier posts that it can be spotty?  Is this still the case.  Also, just checking if all the parks have wifi now?  Thinking that we would use our iPhones and iPods for messaging each other while in park and to use line apps.  If this will work then we really don't need to "call" each other so a phone plan does not seem necessary.  Also staying at OKW so I figure we will also have wifi at resort.  Just trying to make this simple ...


----------



## Geodoc

Jennifer16 said:
			
		

> We are traveling in March and just want to check on the wifi status at the parks.  I have read in earlier posts that it can be spotty?  Is this still the case.  Also, just checking if all the parks have wifi now?  Thinking that we would use our iPhones and iPods for messaging each other while in park and to use line apps.  If this will work then we really don't need to "call" each other so a phone plan does not seem necessary.  Also staying at OKW so I figure we will also have wifi at resort.  Just trying to make this simple ...



All the parks have wifi now....Downtown Disney should be live soon.....if it isn't already. In August we found the wifi at MK just fine and used our iPhones and iPod touch devices to communicate with iMessage!  The Disney apps for wait times etc are great!!! Just be aware like most public wifi, it times out after awhile.....so always good to keep an eye on that. I'm glad that WDW has made wifi available almost everywhere now.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## ccudmore

We were at WDW just over a week ago and loved the free WiFi. Put the phones on Airplane Mode all week and then enabled WiFi. iMessage and My Disney Experience worked with no problems. In-park coverage was pretty solid with the exception of the Jungle Cruise plaza. Even worked inside a number of rides. Lots of people using FaceTime to video-call people, especially while waiting for parades.

Art of Animation had WiFi but that was pretty spotty. Good in common areas but hit and miss in the room.

I usually end up with $100 in data fees each trip but this time it was $0.


----------



## eculmone

ccudmore said:


> We were at WDW just over a week ago and loved the free WiFi. Put the phones on Airplane Mode all week and then enabled WiFi. iMessage and My Disney Experience worked with no problems. In-park coverage was pretty solid with the exception of the Jungle Cruise plaza. Even worked inside a number of rides. Lots of people using FaceTime to video-call people, especially while waiting for parades.
> 
> Art of Animation had WiFi but that was pretty spotty. Good in common areas but hit and miss in the room.
> 
> I usually end up with $100 in data fees each trip but this time it was $0.



I have a Blackberry. When I put it on Airplane mode it shuts off my WiFi?? Is there something special I need to do?


----------



## montrealdisneylovers

eculmone said:


> I have a Blackberry. When I put it on Airplane mode it shuts off my WiFi?? Is there something special I need to do?



I would like to know this too.  Any Blackberry experts out there who can help?


----------



## bankr63

For my BB I go to the top bar on the home screen, and press the select button.  That opens the manage connections window.  Select Mobile Network to turn OFF the checkmark.  Select Wi-Fi if it is not on so you can join the wi-fi network.


----------



## mamabear0222

ccudmore said:
			
		

> We were at WDW just over a week ago and loved the free WiFi. Put the phones on Airplane Mode all week and then enabled WiFi. iMessage and My Disney Experience worked with no problems. In-park coverage was pretty solid with the exception of the Jungle Cruise plaza. Even worked inside a number of rides. Lots of people using FaceTime to video-call people, especially while waiting for parades.
> 
> Art of Animation had WiFi but that was pretty spotty. Good in common areas but hit and miss in the room.
> 
> I usually end up with $100 in data fees each trip but this time it was $0.



Flight mode is an awesome idea!!

Sent from my Samsung S3 using DISBoards


----------



## mamaCta

Can I have some clarification? When you say there is wi-fi in all the parks, does that mean DL as well of just the WDW parks?

Does anyone know? I'm debating if it is worth $40 each to add international texting to 3 iphones.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Unless something has changed in the last few months, there is no wi-fi in DL or DCA.  There is wifi in the hotels (worked reasonably well at the GC when we stayed there in September, but barely worked when we stayed at the DH last February).


----------



## rockchica

Hi Everybody!
There's a fairly new company in town called Roam Mobility that specializes in giving Canadians cheaper rates for roaming. Basically how it works is you order one of there SIM cards and they assign you an American phone number that's yours to keep (you just have to use there service once a year). You get free calling, voicemail, texting to Canada and the States for $2.95 a day and if you want to add data it's only an extra $1 per day for 100MB. This is the route I went as I am traveling solo and wanted the comforts of having a cellphone with me.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

rockchica said:


> Hi Everybody!
> There's a fairly new company in town called Roam Mobility that specializes in giving Canadians cheaper rates for roaming. Basically how it works is you order one of there SIM cards and they assign you an American phone number that's yours to keep (you just have to use there service once a year). You get free calling, voicemail, texting to Canada and the States for $2.95 a day and if you want to add data it's only an extra $1 per day for 100MB. This is the route I went as I am traveling solo and wanted the comforts of having a cellphone with me.



Roam's service is good as long as you don't plan on using much data.  To be clear though, unless they've changed their pricing scheme recently, $2.95 a day is if you sign up for a month - the cost is more than that if you sign up daily or weekly.


----------



## rockchica

Maddysdaddy said:


> Roam's service is good as long as you don't plan on using much data.  To be clear though, unless they've changed their pricing scheme recently, $2.95 a day is if you sign up for a month - the cost is more than that if you sign up daily or weekly.



They must have changed their pricing scheme recently because when I bought it you could buy plans for 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days. In total I paid $11.95 for 3 days which works out to just over $3.95 a day. I only need service for 4 days as am going on a cruise and planning on shutting down my phone while on the ship. I don't think I will need all that much data because WDW offers free wifi and so does all the hotels I am staying at.


----------



## rocknroll

Hi, for the BB experts out there, is the following scenario (that my boys say can be done) possible?

My family wants to celebrate my 50th birthday with me while I am solo at WDW.  (To keep it short, through several circumstances a trip for 10 is down to one).  My tech savvy boys think I can use the bridge function on my BB phone and synch my Playbook video cam function to stream a "current" event using the free WiFi at the parks.

Specifically, they want me to do a live video of my Illuminations Cruise that is booked on my birthday, and the family will sing Happy Birthday back right after.

Back up plan is to just save the video to YouTube for them to view, then when back at hotel celebrate with them through internet then.

Any advice or comments, including the answer "not possible" are more than welcome.

Additional info:  I will have a US travel pass on my Telus Plan for roaming, calls, text and some data.  Assumption is that roaming will allow the phone to pick up a WDW carrier for data as well as phone and the cynical side of me that doesn't trust wireless providers is saying that this would be too good to be true.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!

Roehl


----------



## Maddysdaddy

rocknroll said:


> Hi, for the BB experts out there, is the following scenario (that my boys say can be done) possible?
> 
> My family wants to celebrate my 50th birthday with me while I am solo at WDW.  (To keep it short, through several circumstances a trip for 10 is down to one).  My tech savvy boys think I can use the bridge function on my BB phone and synch my Playbook video cam function to stream a "current" event using the free WiFi at the parks.
> 
> Specifically, they want me to do a live video of my Illuminations Cruise that is booked on my birthday, and the family will sing Happy Birthday back right after.
> 
> Back up plan is to just save the video to YouTube for them to view, then when back at hotel celebrate with them through internet then.
> 
> Any advice or comments, including the answer "not possible" are more than welcome.
> 
> Additional info:  I will have a US travel pass on my Telus Plan for roaming, calls, text and some data.  Assumption is that roaming will allow the phone to pick up a WDW carrier for data as well as phone and the cynical side of me that doesn't trust wireless providers is saying that this would be too good to be true.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> Roehl



My concern would be with the spottiness of wifi coverage at the parks.  When I was there last month, my phone would keep switching between wifi and 3g as a roamed around.  

I would be surprised if you could find/maintain a consistent wifi signal in the parks, let alone on the water, and if you lose that signal and start streaming using your data, it will get very expensive very quickly (even with a roaming package).


----------



## rocknroll

Maddysdaddy said:


> My concern would be with the spottiness of wifi coverage at the parks.  When I was there last month, my phone would keep switching between wifi and 3g as a roamed around.
> 
> I would be surprised if you could find/maintain a consistent wifi signal in the parks, let alone on the water, and if you lose that signal and start streaming using your data, it will get very expensive very quickly (even with a roaming package).



I "knew" there was something wrong with our plan.  NOT!  LOL.  Thank you very much for keeping me from being another news story about an unexpected >$1,000 phone bill.  Deifinitely nixing that live feed idea.

And when you brought up that the part about being on the water, I also remembered that if the wind/breeze is going the wrong way, the boat is going to be at least partially under a bridge.

Thanks again fellow Calgarian.

Cheers!

Roehl


----------



## coastgirl

So we have service with Eastlink here in NS.  Their US roaming info reads like this: "Calls to North American are 50¢/min, text is 50¢/msg and data is $1/MB."

50 cents per text seems like a lot.  I'm not sure how the data rate is--I have a smartphone but only very recently.  I'd like to have the advantages of surfing, touring apps, email etc. Wondering if it's worth it to buy a US phone.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

coastgirl said:


> So we have service with Eastlink here in NS.  Their US roaming info reads like this: "Calls to North American are 50¢/min, text is 50¢/msg and data is $1/MB."
> 
> 50 cents per text seems like a lot.  I'm not sure how the data rate is--I have a smartphone but only very recently.  I'd like to have the advantages of surfing, touring apps, email etc. Wondering if it's worth it to buy a US phone.



Here's a chart from AT&T as to data usage.  As you'll see, $1/MB could get very expensive, very quickly.

Data Legend for Smartphone
Below are general guidelines for the amount of data used per service:
 1 email (no attachment)  20KB	 
 1 social media post with photo 350KB
 1 email (with standard attachment) 300KB	 
 1 min. of streaming video (standard) 2MB (120MB/hr)
 1 min. of streaming music 500KB (30MB/hr)	 
 1 min. of streaming video (HD) 5.1MB (306MB/hr)
 1 web page 1MB	 
 1 app/game/song downloaded 4MB
Note: Data usage varies by device. The above examples are based on averages and are estimates only. The actual amount of data used for the described activity can vary.
1MB = 1,024KB
1GB = 1,024MB


----------



## michelle1

rockchica said:


> Hi Everybody!
> There's a fairly new company in town called Roam Mobility that specializes in giving Canadians cheaper rates for roaming. Basically how it works is you order one of there SIM cards and they assign you an American phone number that's yours to keep (you just have to use there service once a year). You get free calling, voicemail, texting to Canada and the States for $2.95 a day and if you want to add data it's only an extra $1 per day for 100MB. This is the route I went as I am traveling solo and wanted the comforts of having a cellphone with me.



We use this service also and it's great for us. We already had an extra blackberry we weren't using so got it unlocked and then just put their sim card in and we get unlimited calls and texting for a few dollars a day.  If we are away and my DH is still "working" he puts call forward on his cell to the number on the sim card. We actually would like an extra one so we can each carry a phone when we are away so we are going to buy an inexpensive unlocked phone from Best Buy and get another sim card.


----------



## coastgirl

Still trying to work this out.  I checked my data usage on my phone and I used 170 mb last week--I could be more careful with that, but still, with Eastlink that's going to cost me at least $100/wk if I use my phone the way I like to.

I just used a youtube video to unlock my phone, but I can't be sure it works without a compatible sim card.  (My kids' phones are still on PC mobile, but they have larger sims, I can't fit them in.)

I checked with Roam, and I can get the service I need for about $40 for two weeks, but then a sim is going to cost another $20.  So, $60 (plus tax I guess) all in.  Plus whatever charges dh would need to use his phone.  (Realistically, I do most of the talking/surfing, so maybe $20 more on his Eastlink account.)  Could be worse, but I'm still looking for cheaper!

I just found something called "Optel", which has a $5 sim, plus a cheaper pay as you go rate--anyone use them?


----------



## eculmone

Here's a thought... Put the phones DOWN and back away SLOWLY  I WISH I COULD DO THIS! What evet happened to the good ol days?


----------



## coastgirl

eculmone said:
			
		

> Here's a thought... Put the phones DOWN and back away SLOWLY  I WISH I COULD DO THIS! What evet happened to the good ol days?



Lol!  Me too! Just think though,  in the old days we took the package the travel agent offered,  and didn't have the fun of all this planning ahead! :-D


----------



## eculmone

coastgirl said:


> Lol!  Me too! Just think though,  in the old days we took the package the travel agent offered,  and didn't have the fun of all this planning ahead! :-D


----------



## Jareds_mommy

montrealdisneylovers said:


> I would like to know this too.  Any Blackberry experts out there who can help?



on my iphone I put it in airplane and it turns everything off, then I have to manually toggle just Wi-Fi back on


----------



## bankr63

Just got an e-mail from Roam mobility indicating that they have increased the amount of data on the dollar a day add on to 300MB from 100MB (per day!)  That's SIX times the amount that Rogers offers for $8/day

TO whoever originally posted here about Roam - THANK YOU!!!!  After using several throwaway cheap phones (and feeling bad about the waste), buying roam sim cards for our two (now) unlocked android phones was the smartest think we could have done!  The $3/day for unlimited US/Canada voice and text plus $1/day data add on is a really smart deal.


----------



## ottawarob

michelle1 said:


> We use this service also and it's great for us. We already had an extra blackberry we weren't using so got it unlocked and then just put their sim card in and we get unlimited calls and texting for a few dollars a day.  If we are away and my DH is still "working" he puts call forward on his cell to the number on the sim card. We actually would like an extra one so we can each carry a phone when we are away so we are going to buy an inexpensive unlocked phone from Best Buy and get another sim card.



We've been looking seriously at Roam as well.

This may be useful for some: We took advantage of a promotion from Roam that allowed us to exchange an old, no-longer-active U.S. SIM card for a Roam SIM for free, except for the price of postage.  (Just do a search for "Roam Mobility" and "SIM swap".)  So our SIM was basically free.

We have an unlocked Telus iPhone 4S which, unlike the iPhone 5, doesn't work on the traditional frequencies used by T-Mobile (Roam's U.S. partner).  This means we'll be depending on T-Mobile's "refarmed" GSM-1900 band in the Orlando area.  Roam says we should be fine, but I'd like to hear from someone outside of their sales department.

We'll be at WDW in mid-November, and were thinking about using Roam as a backup in case Disney's free WiFi is spotty.  But we're not sure whether it's worth the money to bother.

I'm wondering about people's experience using Roam at WDW, both in resorts and on-park -- especially those using the GSM-1900 band:

1. How good is Roam's coverage and signal strength at WDW?
2. Is it even necessary, given the free WiFi available from Disney?

Any and all insight would be appreciated!


----------



## ottawarob

bankr63 said:


> Just got an e-mail from Roam mobility indicating that they have increased the amount of data on the dollar a day add on to 300MB from 100MB (per day!)  That's SIX times the amount that Rogers offers for $8/day
> 
> TO whoever originally posted here about Roam - THANK YOU!!!!  After using several throwaway cheap phones (and feeling bad about the waste), buying roam sim cards for our two (now) unlocked android phones was the smartest think we could have done!  The $3/day for unlimited US/Canada voice and text plus $1/day data add on is a really smart deal.



Great to hear!  How did you find the coverage?  

Any idea which frequencies your phones were operating on?  We have a Telus iPhone 4S, so we'll be dependent on the new GSM-1900 system T-Mobile has just rolled out in Orlando.


----------



## bankr63

ottawarob said:


> Great to hear!  How did you find the coverage?
> 
> Any idea which frequencies your phones were operating on?  We have a Telus iPhone 4S, so we'll be dependent on the new GSM-1900 system T-Mobile has just rolled out in Orlando.



To be clear, we have been using Roam on other US trips; our last trip to Disney was the last time I used a throwaway (Virign Mobile - which worked better for us than the Net10 on the previous trip).  We haven't seen a lot of issues with our phones in the Northern US.  

We have a Samsung Galaxy SIII:
2g 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz GSM / GPRS / EDGE
3G 850, 1900, 2100 MHz UMTS / HSPA+
4G 700 (Band 17), 1700/2100 (AWS) MHz

and a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10(a)
850/900/1800/1900 frequency bands for GSM 
800/850/1900/2100 bands UMTS

Actually just noticed that my 3G bands don't overlap well with T-Mobile - I will have to watch my connection a bit more closely to see what band I actually connect on.  Connection can have a lot to do with the vintage of the towers in any specific area, but T-Mobile does have pretty solid coverage across Florida.

As for your previous post - our experience in March 13 with wireless in the parks was NOT good.  Connections would drop/connect constantly using both our iPod and SIII.  When trying to check the line apps, we'd generally be through the line in less time than it would take to check the app.  Frustrating when you are wondering if it's worth walking across the park for a last ride on your favorite coaster.


----------



## mabba18

Been trying to pull together info from many different sources, and I want to make sure that I'm not missing something.

First, glad to here that Orlando will have 4G on the 1900 band. Thanks to the person that posted that.

Second, lots of people are praising ROAM, but as far as I can tell the only advantages over T-Mobile are a bit more data, and the ability to get them SIM card quickly in Canada. Otherwise it is much more expensive (Roam's 7 day plan is the same as the T-mobile Wal-Mart plan), and the same coverage.

Since I will have no problem grabbing a T-Mobile SIM on the way down (We're driving from Ottawa to Syracuse for the flight to MCO), and the difference in data isn't important, is there any reason for us to consider ROAM?


----------



## petbren

Anyone buy their Breeze phone?
Thoughts on it?
I have an older Blackberry and it says the data will not work with it.


----------



## ottawarob

mabba18 said:


> Been trying to pull together info from many different sources, and I want to make sure that I'm not missing something.
> 
> First, glad to here that Orlando will have 4G on the 1900 band. Thanks to the person that posted that.
> 
> Second, lots of people are praising ROAM, but as far as I can tell the only advantages over T-Mobile are a bit more data, and the ability to get them SIM card quickly in Canada. Otherwise it is much more expensive (Roam's 7 day plan is the same as the T-mobile Wal-Mart plan), and the same coverage.
> 
> Since I will have no problem grabbing a T-Mobile SIM on the way down (We're driving from Ottawa to Syracuse for the flight to MCO), and the difference in data isn't important, is there any reason for us to consider ROAM?



Roam includes unlimited calling back to Canada.  Also, the Roam SIM / phone number doesn't expire -- I'm not sure whether it would for T-Mobile's Pay-by-the-Day.  Otherwise, sounds like you're right.

Coincidentally, we'll be driving from Ottawa and catching a flight out of Syracuse, too.  Maybe we'll see you at the Walmart in Watertown.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

ottawarob said:


> Roam includes unlimited calling back to Canada.  Also, the Roam SIM / phone number doesn't expire -- I'm not sure whether it would for T-Mobile's Pay-by-the-Day.  Otherwise, sounds like you're right.
> 
> Coincidentally, we'll be driving from Ottawa and catching a flight out of Syracuse, too.  Maybe we'll see you at the Walmart in Watertown.



Adding on to this - Roam's phone number does expire, but you have a year to "pay for another day" to keep it active.  T-Mobile's SIM theoretically expires after 90 days if you haven't topped up your account (if I recall, the minimum top up is $10 and if you don't use it in the following 90 day period, you lose it).  

If you are a frequent traveler down south, T-Mo is the way to go - you will have access to other companies cell towers that T-Mo roams on where they don't have coverage, plus you have unlimited data.  As I have noted in this earlier, you can set up a Google Voice account once you are in the US and you will have that number forever - and that is the number you will use to call back to Canada for free.  On a per day basis, T-Mo is also less expensive than Roam - although once you have committed to spending thousands on a Disney trip, what's another few bucks, right?

That being said, T-Mo is also a pain in the rear, as it requires you to find and stop at one of their corporate stores and then go in and go thru the whole purchase/set-up process.  That is 30 minutes that is probably better spent elsewhere.

Despite what I have said above, I like using T-Mo/Google Voice and think it is a better value (for me, the unlimited data is important), but am the first to admit that for many, the benefits don't outweigh the hassle.


----------



## bankr63

And that is the ROAM magic.  Much less expensive than using your Canadian carrier's roaming, but the convenience will cost a bit more than a pure US carrier.  Your sim is shipped to you in Canada from a Canadian company, activated in advance, and can be programmed to be active as soon as you expect to hit the US (in 15 minute increments) by land or air; no hurried stop south of the border, and hassles with setup and activation (I've been through that a few times).  If you are first timer, you have your number in advance, so if you want to forward to your cell phone or leave a contact number, you can set it up  before you leave.

Last night I setup for a trip next week.  Five minutes online selecting the number of days, and what date and time I wanted to start.  That's it.  When I cross the border that night it'll be active.  This is a huge benefit for those who take the "all in" Disney vacations with ME from the airport to the resort.  They don't have the opportunity to make a field trip to Wal-Mart to pickup a phone or SIM card.

There is no wait for your Canadian dialling to activate.  3 years ago with Net 10, we bought the phones in Orlando on day 1 and requested activation of international dialling.  I think they claimed it could take up to 72 hours to activate.  The first call I was able to make back home was from the airport before we boarded to return home 6 days later.

Having lived through a few rounds of getting setup in the US on our first day, this is heaven and worth a little extra cost.


----------



## ottawarob

Maddysdaddy said:


> Adding on to this - Roam's phone number does expire, but you have a year to "pay for another day" to keep it active.  T-Mobile's SIM theoretically expires after 90 days if you haven't topped up your account (if I recall, the minimum top up is $10 and if you don't use it in the following 90 day period, you lose it).
> 
> If you are a frequent traveler down south, T-Mo is the way to go - you will have access to other companies cell towers that T-Mo roams on where they don't have coverage, plus you have unlimited data.  As I have noted in this earlier, you can set up a Google Voice account once you are in the US and you will have that number forever - and that is the number you will use to call back to Canada for free.  On a per day basis, T-Mo is also less expensive than Roam - although once you have committed to spending thousands on a Disney trip, what's another few bucks, right?
> 
> That being said, T-Mo is also a pain in the rear, as it requires you to find and stop at one of their corporate stores and then go in and go thru the whole purchase/set-up process.  That is 30 minutes that is probably better spent elsewhere.
> 
> Despite what I have said above, I like using T-Mo/Google Voice and think it is a better value (for me, the unlimited data is important), but am the first to admit that for many, the benefits don't outweigh the hassle.



Great info -- thanks.  This is obviously a big issue for Canadians traveling south of 49, so I think the discussion will be helpful to many.  I was wondering if you could answer a few questions about your setup...

1. How's the quality of Google Voice?  I've used Skype in the past and been, at various points, anywhere from delighted to disappointed.  Does it work well over T-Mobile's data network?

2. Do you pay roaming fees on T-Mobile when connecting via non-T-Mo towers?  The broader coverage is obviously a plus, but I'm wondering if it comes at an added cost?

For me, the new higher data caps on Roam are close enough to unlimited to make than a non-issue. Lower price and better coverage by dealing with T-Mobile directly would be a plus.  But since I'm on a Telus iPhone 4S (which only works in areas where T-Mobile operates a re-farmed GSM-1900 network), I'm not sure whether roaming onto partner networks would work for me or not.

I suppose all this gets solved if/when I upgrade to an iPhone 6 once my 3-year contract runs out...


----------



## ottawarob

...by the way, is anyone aware of an active discount code for Roam Mobility's talk/data plans?

I have the SIM already, thanks to Roam's SIM swap program, but was wondering if there was any way to save a few bucks on the 14-day plan, which runs about C$49 -- plus HST, I believe (13% in ON).

Signed up for the Roam newsletter about a month ago, which they claim included their promo offers, but haven't received one yet.  I've also scanned the usual suspects for active e-coupons, but no dice.

The last valid code I saw was for 25% off back in February, for SXSW...


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Answers in bolded italics following your questions.



ottawarob said:


> Great info -- thanks.  This is obviously a big issue for Canadians traveling south of 49, so I think the discussion will be helpful to many.  I was wondering if you could answer a few questions about your setup...
> 
> 1. How's the quality of Google Voice?  I've used Skype in the past and been, at various points, anywhere from delighted to disappointed.  Does it work well over T-Mobile's data network?
> 
> _*In general, T-Mo's data network has been hit and miss for me.  I found that it worked better in Southern California than in Orlando.  During our trip in March, there were a number of areas in and around WDW where I could not get a data signal.
> 
> That being said, the majority of the time I have used Google Voice, it has been on a wifi network, where it has worked really well.  About the only time I used it on T-Mo data was in San Francisco, where it worked just fine.
> 
> That being said, I am still using an iPhone 4, so there are still some compatibility issues with the upgrades that T-Mo has done over the past two years, that I understand don't exist with the newer generation iPhones.* _
> 
> 2. Do you pay roaming fees on T-Mobile when connecting via non-T-Mo towers?  The broader coverage is obviously a plus, but I'm wondering if it comes at an added cost?
> 
> _*I've never used Roam before (I will this upcoming trip, as they had a promo on Canada Day where if you purchased a SIM, you could have a week free).  In my previous trips using a T-Mo SIM, I was never charged any more than the pay-by-the-day rate.
> 
> If you are planning to stay in metropolitan areas, there should be minimal issues connecting with T-Mo.*_
> 
> For me, the new higher data caps on Roam are close enough to unlimited to make than a non-issue. Lower price and better coverage by dealing with T-Mobile directly would be a plus.  But since I'm on a Telus iPhone 4S (which only works in areas where T-Mobile operates a re-farmed GSM-1900 network), I'm not sure whether roaming onto partner networks would work for me or not.
> 
> I suppose all this gets solved if/when I upgrade to an iPhone 6 once my 3-year contract runs out...


----------



## mabba18

ottawarob said:


> Roam includes unlimited calling back to Canada.



Yup, looks like this is the biggest difference. From what I can tell, PAYG T-Mobile calling to Canada is 50¢/min or jumping through a few hoops to set up Google voice. For the amount of times we expect to call back to Canada, it won't be an issue.



ottawarob said:


> Coincidentally, we'll be driving from Ottawa and catching a flight out of Syracuse, too.  Maybe we'll see you at the Walmart in Watertown.



lol, looks like you're going soon, we still have another month!



Maddysdaddy said:


> That being said, T-Mo is also a pain in the rear, as it requires you to find and stop at one of their corporate stores and then go in and go thru the whole purchase/set-up process.  That is 30 minutes that is probably better spent elsewhere.



No need to hit a T-Mobile store, just grab a SIM kit at Wal-mart. Since we can do that without going out of our way, it's no hassle, and no time wasted. Plus if we really had to, we could stop at the T-Mobile store in Carousel Mall when we go for lunch.

Thanks for the info everybody. I'm going to try for a free SIM from ROAM with the swap program (which I just found out about tonight), but I think I'll still go with T-Mobile. The promise of better coverage and lower prices is more important than convenience. I understand the appeal, but I've gotten lucky this trip, everything's been booked for a while and was very simple. So I really don't really mind having one complicated thing to focus on, lol.


----------



## Maddysdaddy

mabba18 said:


> No need to hit a T-Mobile store, just grab a SIM kit at Wal-mart. Since we can do that without going out of our way, it's no hassle, and no time wasted. Plus if we really had to, we could stop at the T-Mobile store in Carousel Mall when we go for lunch.



Are you certain about this?  Last time I dealt with T-Mo - granted it was about a year ago - all pay-by-the-day accounts had to be set up through a corporate store, and Wallyworld was not equipped to set up those types of accounts.


----------



## mabba18

Maddysdaddy said:


> Are you certain about this?  Last time I dealt with T-Mo - granted it was about a year ago - all pay-by-the-day accounts had to be set up through a corporate store, and Wallyworld was not equipped to set up those types of accounts.



As far as I understand this is all you need: http://www.walmart.com/ip/T-Mobile-SIM-Kit/24099996

I'm not 100% sure if they can activate it in store, but I am sure it can be done online.


----------



## MrMike77

Hi,  has anyone experimented with the roam mobility SIM while on a caribbean cruise with DCL?

we're doing land and sea and I took a Roam sim for the 2 days we will be in WDW, would I be able to use it while I will be in the US Virgin Islands?


----------



## Maddysdaddy

MrMike77 said:


> Hi,  has anyone experimented with the roam mobility SIM while on a caribbean cruise with DCL?
> 
> we're doing land and sea and I took a Roam sim for the 2 days we will be in WDW, would I be able to use it while I will be in the US Virgin Islands?



Not going to work while you're on the boat.  Once you're offshore (3 miles? 5 miles?), you will lose the cell signal and the only way you can call on your cell is through the "Cellular at Sea" signal.  There is more about this on the DCL website, but I seem to recall that it's somewhere around $3 per minute to connect.

With respect to being on land in the Virgin Islands, I put that question to Roam quite some time ago, and was told that the answer was "no", because T-Mobile (the network Roam roams on) has no native towers there.  Might be worth you giving them a call to see if anything has changed - if you do, please let us know.

The alternative would be to find a wifi hotspot and to use something like Skype.


----------



## Maytai

Looks like Teambuy has a deal on a Roam mobility phone, talk, and text plan. It's too bad that it takes 3-4 weeks shipping though or I would have bought it for my dh for our upcoming trip. I bought the SIM on its own and planning to unlock my phone with Telus, so this deal works out better. (If only I knew about it before.) It would have been great to have two phones so that we could separate and take the teens to the big rides and pre-school to smaller rides.


----------



## cmmc

Don't know when your trip is but if you're staying at a Disney hotel you could have it shipped there and they'll hold it for you.  

When we stayed at Beach Club Villas, we shipped all sorts of things including cell phones from Virgin.  It was really handy, everybody having a cell phone.


----------



## kc1

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but to add to the T-Mobility vs. Roam argument, I believe that TM does not allow tethering while RM does.  That's important to me because I was hoping to have the kids share an access point on the drive down.  I think the data speeds will be low, so maybe they'll have to limit their use to just browsing and checking email.

Our decision is easy; my sister has a Roam sim card that she is lending us.  I can't find any reports on Roam from Canadians driving down to Florida.  Anyone have any reviews?

BTW, I unlocked my son's Koodo phone on eBay for ~$4 and am planning on doing the same to my Bell phone.  I think it's quite a bit cheaper and more convenient than getting the carrier to do it.


----------



## petbren

kc1 said:


> Could you please post the site you used to do this?  I need to unlock 1 or 2 phones we have with Bell for March break trip and there are so many sites out there, I'd like to use one people can recommend.
> You can PM me if that's easier.
> Thanks


----------



## kc1

PM sent.


----------



## Salinger

So, has anyone had any recent experience with Roam in WDW?  In particular, I'm wondering about data speeds.  I've read very mixed reviews. 

T-Mobile is notoriously spotty for data but I can't seem to find many real-life reports from the Disney Parks (which is the only place I really care about).

I got a free Roam SIM but if coverage is spotty, I'd rather pay a little extra and go with an AT&T MVNO (like Redpocket).  Now that AT&T has done all their upgrades at both WDW and DL given they're the official wireless partner, I'm assuming their connections and speeds are quite good.  But again, first-hand reports are scarce.


----------



## Maytai

I am leaving FL right away and have been using ROAM for the 12 days I have been here.  I was glad I had data, other than just relying on park wifi because the wifi in the parks was so slow I would get disconnected sometimes. But I could rely on my ROAM data plan.  The only thing I noticed was that I couldn't watch Netflix using ROAM data because I would get an error saying it was too slow. Not that I would watch Netflix over data, but it would happen when I would get disconnected from the house wifi.


----------



## CanadianDISfan

I'm considering buying an unlocked cell phone so that I can switch SIM cards when we travel to the US.  Has anyone done this before?  How much would I save on Data because with my plan (Virgin) I pay $1/5MB.  Are there pre-pay unlimited data plans?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Maytai

CanadianDISfan said:
			
		

> I'm considering buying an unlocked cell phone so that I can switch SIM cards when we travel to the US.  Has anyone done this before?  How much would I save on Data because with my plan (Virgin) I pay $1/MB.  Are there pre-pay unlimited data plans?  Any help would be greatly appreciated.



I just returned from vacation and did just that. I bought the SIM card from ROAM Mobility and unlocked my own phone (Note 2 with Telus). While I was still in Winnipeg, (I was excited so this happened about a month before our trip) I put the ROAM SIM card in my phone. This allowed me to receive my US telephone number and give it to anyone who might need it. Then i put my own Telus SIM card back in. I then bought a talk+text+data plan from ROAM and scheduled it to start at a certain time. Since I was driving from Winnipeg to Grand Forks to catch our flight, and the plan only works in the US, I scheduled my plan to start around the time I arrive at the US border (about 2 hours from when I planned to leave my house in Winnipeg).  After we crossed the US border I switched out my Telus SIM card for the ROAM SIM card. It was easy!

My kids and hubby were able to tether on to my phone so that they could use Facebook, Twitter, etc.

After our trip, I switched back my SIM cards. Without sounding like a ROAM Mobility salesperson, which I'm not, I was really happy with their service.


----------



## CanadianDISfan

Thanks so much for all the info!!  That sounds easy even for a non-techie like me.  I will try it out this summer when go to WDW in July.  I didn't even know Roam existed.


----------



## MikeyNS

We used ROAM in February and March and it worked fantastic, both for us in Orlando, Port Canaveral and the US Virgin Islands (didn't think it would work there). 
Friends of ours tried them out and it worked great in Maine, Tampa and elsewhere in Florida. 
No complaints what-so-ever.


----------



## Disneyhabs

If anyone uses wind this is a great deal.

http://www.windmobile.com/usunlimited

http://mobilesyrup.com/2014/01/30/w...ng-add-on-gives-unlimited-data-talk-and-text/


----------



## KingstonGirl77

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help. I have read through the thread and I am not sure if these exact questions have been answered so I apologize if I missed it.

My family and I will be driving down to Disney in a few weeks. We have 3 locked phones. There is no way we can get them unlocked so I was considering the ROAM mobility Liberty Hotspot (with a data only plan) then connect locked phones via WiFi. Data is more important than phone calls to us. We can always email or use a messaging app.

1) Does anyone have experience with the ROAM Liberty Hotspot? I am concerned about service availability while driving down.
2) Is the Liberty Hotspot only available online or can you buy it in stores?

Thanks!! 21 days to go...

*EDIT:*
Did more research and realized we could in fact unlock one of our phones. We have unlocked my husband's Iphone 5. Purchased and activated a ROAM SIM. Read tons of stuff online about making sure it is actually unlocked, that I know how to change the APN. I think I am now ready. This plan will be much better for our family and ultimately cheaper. Really hoping we get some data coverage along 81-77-26-95-4.


----------



## Salinger

@Maytai, thanks so much for your feedback! 

@CanadianDISfan Don't roam on data from your Canadian carrier!  Even the best of travel packages are still insanely expensive.  There is just no cheap way to roam in the US and keep your Canadian carrier unless you're with Wind.  If you already have a phone, you can just call your carrier to get it unlocked, no need to buy another phone.  If your phone is over a year old and out of warranty, i wouldn't even go through the carrier.  Check out reputable sellers on eBay and you'll likely get your unlock code for a fiver.

@ KingstonGirl77 not to be overly nosey, but may I ask why you say there is no way to unlock your phones?  It is actually the law in Canada now that carriers MUST unlock phones if you request it unless you just signed a contract fewer than 90 days ago.

I've been searching around the web, and am hearing more and more good things about Roam's coverage in Orlando.  Orlando is one of T-Mobile's "refarmed" cities, meaning for many of us, you will get good data speeds and many of the newer phones will work well on their network.  I think that's the way I'm going to go for my upcoming trip.  It is by far, the best all around deal for Canadians.  You can do a little better if you buy and choose the right SIM and package once in the US from a US carrier, but I love the simplicity of already having the SIM card and package already squared away before I leave, as well as the VERY generous data allowance Roam gives now.  Also, most of the US-based plans don't give you calling and texting back to Canada, only within the US.

Sorry, now I'm sounding like an ad for Roam.  I will report back once I've tried them out and let everyone know how it went.


----------



## KingstonGirl77

Salinger said:


> @ KingstonGirl77 not to be overly nosey, but may I ask why you say there is no way to unlock your phones?  It is actually the law in Canada now that carriers MUST unlock phones if you request it unless you just signed a contract fewer than 90 days ago.



Hey @Salinger, not nosey. I did edit my post after I learned different yesterday. It was a mix of ignorance and old info found on the web that led me to belive we couldn't unlock. We were able to unlock just yesterday at Rogers even though our phone is under contract for 2 more years. This is one of the reasons I thought I could not unlock (never trust everything I find on the web). We were charged $50 and they performed the unlock over the phone. I picked up my ROAM sim and purchased a plan. I think we are ready to go. We are driving down so I will report back with our experiences with coverage along the way.


----------



## Maytai

Again, not wanting to sound like I work for ROAM Mobility, another reason why I chose ROAM Mobility vs. a different USA carrier is because most of the USA carriers require you to keep a phone number valid by keeping it active once every 30 days.  I had one for a couple of years was able to keep the same phone number but only because I was in the States at least once a month. When I didn't travel so much, it was a nuisance to pay for a service once per month just to keep the same number. ROAM Mobility allows you to keep your phone number by keeping it active once every year. So paying for a 1-day plan once a year to keep the same phone number is better than a 1-day plan once per month.

Just be sure to check that ROAM Mobility will work where you are going. But then again, the ROAM website has said that I would only get "good" reception in a town in North Dakota. When I got there, I had full bars of reception, which is better than I have ever gotten with my Telus plan. It exceeded my expectation!


----------



## DISNEY180

I was looking at the ROAM website and it looks like we can buy the SIM card in Canada at various places like Best Buy and Future Shop.  Is it only the SIM card we can get or can we sign up for the plan at the same time?

Cheers


----------



## MikeyNS

DISNEY180 said:


> I was looking at the ROAM website and it looks like we can them in Canada at various places like Besty Buy and Future Shop  Is it only the SIM card we can get or can we sign up for the plan at the same time?
> 
> Cheers



You just buy the SIM card, then create an account on ROAM's website, put in the number on the SIM card and pick your plan and activation date. Easy peasy. 

Actually there is no reason why you can't get your ROAM account set up now and put the SIM info in later.


----------



## Computermama

Has anyone had any experience with Koodo's Roaming add on?  Wondering specifically if I'll get dinged with charges over and above the $35 that the addon costs.  It looks ideal, but I'm hesitant to take it directly at face value.


----------



## mithuri

Hi Computermama;

I don't have an answer specifically to Koodo, but lately, we have been using Roam Mobility - Basically, you buy their sim card for $20 (sometimes they have free promo) - It fits into any spare Android phone - and the daily plan is $2 for talk and text and $3 for talk, text and data - Talk and text is unlimited within US and back to Canada - Data has a limit of 200 MB/day. Basically, for 7 days of unlimited talk and text, you'll pay  $21, not having to worry about roaming charges.

Hope this helps,

Thanks,


----------



## Computermama

mithuri said:


> Hi Computermama;
> 
> I don't have an answer specifically to Koodo, but lately, we have been using Roam Mobility - Basically, you buy their sim card for $20 (sometimes they have free promo) - It fits into any spare Android phone - and the daily plan is $2 for talk and text and $3 for talk, text and data - Talk and text is unlimited within US and back to Canada - Data has a limit of 200 MB/day. Basically, for 7 days of unlimited talk and text, you'll pay  $21, not having to worry about roaming charges.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Thanks,



I have seen people talking about Roam, but I'd rather keep my own phone number, and if I can use this it will end up cheaper since it's $35/month and we're planning to be gone for 2 weeks.  I don't need a tonne of time or text, but enough to text or call my husband or my mother if we get separated on the way down and back. If the Koodo thing doesn't work out, I'll consider it, but I was hoping for someone to have some experience with the add on.


----------



## KeroKero

Glad I finally clicked on this thread.  I didn't know a thing about ROAM.

I usually (I'm with Telus) add on the $65 US combo add on to my phone and I've never had issues.  With that I get unlimited texting (which is basically what I want), 300 talk minutes (which is way more than enough, when most of the time I'm texting) and 300 MB of data (not great, but I just use wi-fi in the better wi-fi areas I come across)


----------



## Computermama

KeroKero said:


> Glad I finally clicked on this thread.  I didn't know a thing about ROAM.
> 
> I usually (I'm with Telus) add on the $65 US combo add on to my phone and I've never had issues.  With that I get unlimited texting (which is basically what I want), 300 talk minutes (which is way more than enough, when most of the time I'm texting) and 300 MB of data (not great, but I just use wi-fi in the better wi-fi areas I come across)



Thanks!  Since Koodo is a subsidiary of Telus, the Koodo US combo probably works the same.  Since my phone is also my buisness phone I'm much happier to keep my number while I'm gone.


----------



## MaMudduck

I'm not sure if this is a good option for anyone, but Wind Mobile (windmobile.ca) has a new customer promo for $39 per month unlimited cdn minutes,data, roam & unlimited U.S. Roam, data!!!!!!! 

I know WIND isn't everywhere in Canada yet, but they are the only ones offering US roam/data in a regular price packages. I pay more than that now with Rogers and I'm going to make the switch. Promo ends May 30th.

https://www.windmobile.ca/phone-plan-39 

It so worth it to me, even if I only go once a year (I'm in the US more than that usually) I'll still come out better.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## VDrolet

I wanna make sure I understand how Roam works.

1. I get my phone unlocked;
2. I order a Roam SIM card;
3. I login to the Roam website and chose a dataplan when I'm ready to use it.

Correct?


----------



## cslittle999

VDrolet said:


> I wanna make sure I understand how Roam works.
> 
> 1. I get my phone unlocked;
> 2. I order a Roam SIM card;
> 3. I login to the Roam website and chose a dataplan when I'm ready to use it.
> 
> Correct?



If you're in a rush you can find Roam SIM cards at most Staples stores. That's where I got mine.

You can setup the plan ahead of time. You get to choose the day and time when it starts.

You can install the Roam SIM while in Canada but you won't have data or cell service until you're in the US.

If you have an iPhone make sure you bring the SIM tray removal tool. I forgot mine on one business trip one time and it took me awhile to find a needle the right size to get the tray out.

After you reboot the phone with the new SIM installed you will need to fill in the APN value to have data work. The Roam Mobility site has details on how to do this on a number of different phones and OS's.

If you're an iPhone/iMessage user then be sure to have people connect with you via your Apple ID. iMessage get's confused with multiple phone numbers. In particular you likely won't receive iMessages sent to your Canadian cell number. I changed my phone to start iMessage conversations with my Apple ID instead of my phone number.

My only other tip is to record your Roam number somewhere convenient. I can never remember mine and you end up share it more often than you might think.


----------



## bankr63

cslittle999 said:


> My only other tip is to record your Roam number somewhere convenient. I can never remember mine and you end up share it more often than you might think.



I just add mine to my contact card in the phone app itself (Android).  My contacts stay with me for either sim, so I always have it along.

BTW - ROAM has now updated to the 4G LTE network, and is including Premium SMS messaging (used by a few secure apps).  Their data plans now include unlimited 2G data.  If you are on a 4G plan, you will throttle back to 2G once you use up your 4G allocation (which is still more than most users reasonably use).


----------



## cslittle999

bankr63 said:


> I just add mine to my contact card in the phone app itself (Android).  My contacts stay with me for either sim, so I always have it along.
> 
> BTW - ROAM has now updated to the 4G LTE network, and is including Premium SMS messaging (used by a few secure apps).  Their data plans now include unlimited 2G data.  If you are on a 4G plan, you will throttle back to 2G once you use up your 4G allocation (which is still more than most users reasonably use).


Adding it to the contact makes sense. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that. Likely because I think of the contacts as permanent and the Roam number is only live occasionally. I'm an Evernote user and I added it to the top of my note for the trip since I'm typically in there looking up reservation numbers.

For iPhone users the 4G LTE update is a mixed blessing. I was in Orlando last week on business with my newly updated SIM. Unfortunately I couldn't enable LTE on my iPhone because Roam isn't a partner carrier with Apple and I have a carrier settings file installed. From doing some research it would appear to need to fully wipe your phone and set it up as new to remove the carrier settings file. Not exactly Roam's problem but also something they don't mention on their website beyond a note that if you can't enable LTE you should talk to Apple. I'm sent Roam an email asking if I've totally missed something.

I ended up on 3G all week but single strength was good. I was only in Epcot and Downtown Disney for part of a day though.


----------



## VDrolet

cslittle999 said:


> If you're in a rush you can find Roam SIM cards at most Staples stores. That's where I got mine.  You can setup the plan ahead of time. You get to choose the day and time when it starts.  You can install the Roam SIM while in Canada but you won't have data or cell service until you're in the US.  If you have an iPhone make sure you bring the SIM tray removal tool. I forgot mine on one business trip one time and it took me awhile to find a needle the right size to get the tray out.  After you reboot the phone with the new SIM installed you will need to fill in the APN value to have data work. The Roam Mobility site has details on how to do this on a number of different phones and OS's.  If you're an iPhone/iMessage user then be sure to have people connect with you via your Apple ID. iMessage get's confused with multiple phone numbers. In particular you likely won't receive iMessages sent to your Canadian cell number. I changed my phone to start iMessage conversations with my Apple ID instead of my phone number.  My only other tip is to record your Roam number somewhere convenient. I can never remember mine and you end up share it more often than you might think.



Fantastic, thank you so much! Didn't know you could get them at Staples, pretty convenient.


----------



## Laughingsher

When visiting in December, I did all my corresponding through Wifi (Facebook Messenger, emailing). Phone in Airplaine mode - no chance for roaming costs. Used the cellphone/texting sparingly - as a few calls had to be made to arrange rentals. But my extra costs for all usage was only $21 - through Rogers.


----------



## Donald - my hero

Anyone have any info on BLACKBERRY use??? We're with ROGERS and will need to be able to both call and text. Hubby has own business so will on occasion need to check in


----------



## MegaSilver

Donald - my hero said:


> Anyone have any info on BLACKBERRY use??? We're with ROGERS and will need to be able to both call and text. Hubby has own business so will on occasion need to check in



According to the ROAM FAQ, if you are using BB10 then yes. If not, no


----------



## Donald - my hero

MegaSilver said:


> According to the ROAM FAQ, if you are using BB10 then yes. If not, no



well then, that could pose a problem. Might need to upgrade my ancient flip-phone before we go


----------



## bankr63

A quick warning to ROAM mobility users.  We took a day trip to Watertown this past week while camping in the Thousand Islands area.  When I tried to top up my phone using SMS messaging from the US side, I got a message back from ROAM saying that their SMS facility would be down for several weeks, and to please use the website to reload.  

Not very helpful when you are already on the road.  Tried to reload when we grabbed lunch at Panera using their free Wi-Fi with my phone, but couldn't get the transaction to go through (well, I gave up because everyone else had finished eating and I was still trying to get the transaction done).

So lesson learned: top up before you leave.  However, since I get all kinds of other notifications and promotions from ROAM, it would have been nice if they had sent out a warning about this!


----------



## stefanospops

We just got back from two weeks at the world and we both switched to Wind Mobility prior to going down. Specifically, my wife switched and I got a temp number to use the service for a month to try it out. While down there we didn't have many issues other than needing to change settings on the iphone to allow data to work. The coverage was very good in the Orlando area and not bad for the drive from Toronto either. They use T-Mobile and AT&T so reasonable coverage throughout.

If your trip will be less than 19 days then ROAM is the more economical choice. The cost for 19 days is $60.30 and includes just under 6GB of data. With WIND for $60 you get unlimited data and 1000 minutes for the month. If going for just a week ROAM is much better at $27.65 with 2GB of data.


----------



## supradupafast

I switched to WIND a year ago, and have the $30 plan (now $35)
When I go south of the border, I just Add-on the $15/mth USA Unlimited Roaming.


----------



## KennedyDCL

I group of 35 of us just went down to Darien Lake last weekend.  About 10 people purchased the Roam mobility SIM cards prior to departing including myself.  My DW, who is on Wind, I just upgraded to the $15 Unlimited US Roaming add-on.

A few people had initial hiccups getting the Roam to work but primarily it was caused by those individuals not reading all the instructions provided by Roam.  We had created a Whatsapp group for everyone prior to departing and used it the entire length of the trip.  Roam worked perfectly for our situation.  We were all able to communicate quickly and easily, while doing are cross boarder shopping on the Friday.  While at the park people could share pictures of their location or of the activities they were doing, so everyone was aware of what was happening throughout the park.

From a speed perspective, I found my DW's Wind phone was a little better service wise, especially comparing the upload time of photos her's uploaded twice as fast as myself on Roam.  However, neither were what I would consider "slow".

We found Staples had the best price for the Roam cards at $14.95 each + taxes.  Setup was a breeze and I like that you can pre-book the time you want to start the 1-day, 3-day, 7-day plans.  Also, most of us received a credit of $3.95 as well because we all setup our Roam SIM cards in September when they had a deal on.  I used the credit, paid the $1 LTE upgrade fee and for $11.50 received unlimited calling, text and 900MB of data for 3 days.


----------



## Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina

KennedyDCL said:


> I group of 35 of us just went down to Darien Lake last weekend.  About 10 people purchased the Roam mobility SIM cards prior to departing including myself.  My DW, who is on Wind, I just upgraded to the $15 Unlimited US Roaming add-on.
> 
> A few people had initial hiccups getting the Roam to work but primarily it was caused by those individuals not reading all the instructions provided by Roam.  We had created a Whatsapp group for everyone prior to departing and used it the entire length of the trip.  Roam worked perfectly for our situation.  We were all able to communicate quickly and easily, while doing are cross boarder shopping on the Friday.  While at the park people could share pictures of their location or of the activities they were doing, so everyone was aware of what was happening throughout the park.
> 
> From a speed perspective, I found my DW's Wind phone was a little better service wise, especially comparing the upload time of photos her's uploaded twice as fast as myself on Roam.  However, neither were what I would consider "slow".
> 
> We found Staples had the best price for the Roam cards at $14.95 each + taxes.  Setup was a breeze and I like that you can pre-book the time you want to start the 1-day, 3-day, 7-day plans.  Also, most of us received a credit of $3.95 as well because we all setup our Roam SIM cards in September when they had a deal on.  I used the credit, paid the $1 LTE upgrade fee and for $11.50 received unlimited calling, text and 900MB of data for 3 days.



We used Roam for the first time on our trip this past August.  We loved it.  It was so nice having unlimited calling and texting, and we used the free wifi everywhere we went rather than purchasing data.  We got so much more value for the money versus the travel add-ons provided by Telus.  We would totally recommend Roam!


----------



## 101Pongo

Roam Mobility is the way to go!

CAD$3.95/day for unlimited talk, text and data. Only thing is we found the coverage a bit sketchy at WDW but all-in-all it was a good deal. We used the free wifi wherever it connected and data otherwise.


----------



## Disney_Alli

I will first admit I have not read all of this thread but...

Has anyone used Telaway to put a SIM into an unlocked iPhone for their unlimited calls, texts and data? It's $59.97 for 11-30 days (we'll be away for 22 days) plus a $9.99 fee for the SIM itself. It sounds like a great way for my fiancé and I to be able to stay in touch during our honeymoon trip without worrying about dropping the wifi signal.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards


----------



## bankr63

Disney_Alli said:


> I will first admit I have not read all of this thread but...
> 
> Has anyone used Telaway to put a SIM into an unlocked iPhone for their unlimited calls, texts and data? It's $59.97 for 11-30 days (we'll be away for 22 days) plus a $9.99 fee for the SIM itself. It sounds like a great way for my fiancé and I to be able to stay in touch during our honeymoon trip without worrying about dropping the wifi signal.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using DISBoards



Think this is the first time that Telaway has been mentioned here, but it looks essentially the same as Roam Mobility.  Same T-Mobile backbone, same operating premise, a little bit cheaper as Roam would set you back $63 for 22 days.  

The one bonus that I see for Telaway is that they also provide you with a local number that you forward your cell to before leaving your service area.  This allows you to avoid some LD charges.  That is a neat idea. Currently I forward my Rogers number to my FL Roam number before I leave, but those forwarded calls do generate LD charges on my Rogers bill.  

Looks like Telaway has been around for quite some time in the rental cell phone market as well, so they have some history.  I'd give them a try, you're really only out the cost of the sim card for your trouble.


----------



## ccudmore

Just read up on the Rogers Roam Like Home package.

If you have a Share Everything plan and sign up for Roam Like Home, you simply pay $5/day that you're in the US and get free roaming up to their usage limit at home. This covers talk, text and data. No extra charges, no roaming caps. If you go over your cap, the extra charges are exactly what they would be if you'd gone over at home. The $5 is per device.

If I'm going for 7 days, I'd gladly just pay $35 instead of having to fuss with swapping sim cards and pre-paying.


----------



## bankr63

Would be interested in hearing about others' real-life experiences with Roam Like Home.  Any hidden fees charged?  Whose network are you roaming on - coverage good in Orlando?  I just switched my existing Rogers to the new plan (works out a bit cheaper than what we had for 2 phones), but honestly trust Rogers about as much as I'd trust a hungry tiger in a sheep barn.  

Really like ROAM and have used for a few trips South, but Rogers will only be $1 more/day than ROAM and we can keep our Canadian numbers so others can reach us easily.  We will be bringing our ROAM Mobility sim cards just in case, and my son will probably still use one in his Nexus phone as he is PAYG in Canada.


----------



## cslittle999

bankr63 said:


> Would be interested in hearing about others' real-life experiences with Roam Like Home.  Any hidden fees charged?  Whose network are you roaming on - coverage good in Orlando?  I just switched my existing Rogers to the new plan (works out a bit cheaper than what we had for 2 phones), but honestly trust Rogers about as much as I'd trust a hungry tiger in a sheep barn.  Really like ROAM and have used for a few trips South, but Rogers will only be $1 more/day than ROAM and we can keep our Canadian numbers so others can reach us easily.  We will be bringing our ROAM Mobility sim cards just in case, and my son will probably still use one in his Nexus phone as he is PAYG in Canada.


With Rogers you roam on AT&T. AT&T added a number of microcell site around the park back in March. Like you I've been using Roam up till now so I can't give you a report on the quality of the signal.


----------



## lilia78

We use Roam Mobility and it's great! We used it last year in Richmond, Virginia and Columbus, Ohio and this year so far in Minneapolis. We will be using it for 8 days in Florida. Easy to use with our unlocked iPhone 5 & 6.


----------



## hardis5

bankr63 said:


> Think this is the first time that Telaway has been mentioned here, but it looks essentially the same as Roam Mobility.  Same T-Mobile backbone, same operating premise, a little bit cheaper as Roam would set you back $63 for 22 days.
> 
> The one bonus that I see for Telaway is that they also provide you with a local number that you forward your cell to before leaving your service area.  This allows you to avoid some LD charges.  That is a neat idea. Currently I forward my Rogers number to my FL Roam number before I leave, but those forwarded calls do generate LD charges on my Rogers bill.
> 
> Looks like Telaway has been around for quite some time in the rental cell phone market as well, so they have some history.  I'd give them a try, you're really only out the cost of the sim card for your trouble.



A few differences between Roam (I've used numerous times) and Telaway looking at their offerings,  Telaway sells a fixed minimum of days (i.e. 10 days) so if I want 5 days you are paying for a minimum of 10.  Their prices are in USD (at least on their website) and comparing 10 days, Roam is $39.50 CDN and Telaway is $49.97 USD.  Add in the current exchange rate and the price difference grows even more. I have always added to my existing sim with Roam (keeping the same number) but it appears you can only buy the prefixed number of days with Telaway while needing to order a sim each time (which adds $9.97 USD to the cost).  The local number may be an advantage, but they only offer numbers for 4 cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal).  If a call to one of these cities is long distance for you within Canada, this feature is not worth much.


----------



## disneyred

101Pongo said:


> Roam Mobility is the way to go!
> 
> CAD$3.95/day for unlimited talk, text and data. Only thing is we found the coverage a bit sketchy at WDW but all-in-all it was a good deal. We used the free wifi wherever it connected and data otherwise.



I have been reading how great ROAM is .. and would like to try it .. but at some point would it not be cheaper to stay with your own provider depending on the number of days your vacation is and price of roaming package >>. that is , for example, if going for 14 days, ROAM= 3.95x12days=47.40 cost to you.
if you can get a roaming package from your own provider for cheaper.. would you not pick the cheaper one ....

so what I am saying is depending on #days of your vacation .. it would be beneficial to take a roaming package from your provider if your vacation tends be be longer...
what do you think .. any comments ? thx...


----------



## hardis5

Two advantages I see with Roam.  All calling back to Canada is free and unlimited (no long distance) within your daily rate.  A call of just a few minutes could easily eat into any savings of using your own plan given you exceed the minutes within the roaming package of your own provider.  Given data plan with Roam, they provide 400Mb a day (so if having for 14 days, you have 5.6Gb of data available to use (which we do use with tethering for our tablets when not having WiFi available).


----------



## RatherDrive

I have used roam and liked it, but to keep the same number you have to ensure you use it once per year. Now with our provider we have the "roam like home" where we can now use our phone for only $5/day/phone up to a maximum of $50/phone. We get unlimited calling and texting in the US and Canada as well as access to our data plans. For us this is the better way. We still use the Wi-Fi while at Disney since it saves on our data usage.


----------



## Queen of Oakville

I just looked at roam mobility.  it seems you have to get a new cell#.  is that correct?  I just switched from rogers to bell.  I think rogers had better travel plans.  Looks like I'm in for $20 for the data plan and then $30 for a talk and text plan with bell.


----------



## Queen of Oakville

how good is the wifi at the resorts (cabana bay).  If I can switch to wifi at the resorts, I should be good with the smaller of the two data plans.


----------



## RatherDrive

Queen of Oakville said:


> I just looked at roam mobility.  it seems you have to get a new cell#.  is that correct?  I just switched from rogers to bell.  I think rogers had better travel plans.  Looks like I'm in for $20 for the data plan and then $30 for a talk and text plan with bell.


I got a Chicago number with our Roam Sim card.  I thought about keeping my Roam plan but for the amount of time that I would actually use the phone in the US was limited so we opted to not use the Roam in the future. Remember that Roam requires you to keep your sim card in service so you will have to use it at least once per year otherwise you will need to get a new sim card and number.



Queen of Oakville said:


> how good is the wifi at the resorts (cabana bay).  If I can switch to wifi at the resorts, I should be good with the smaller of the two data plans.


On our trip to Florida, both WDW and Universal, in 2013, we decided to only get a talk and text plan with our Canadian provider and not use data since we could connect to Disney's Wi-Fi easily and it was reliable. Not sure if it was just me, but I had better success with the Wi-Fi at WDW than the Universal resorts, we stayed at Royal Pacific. I always lost the signal or had issues with weak signals at Universal. I used their app as suggested, while it worked it proved slow.


----------



## hardis5

Queen of Oakville said:


> I just looked at roam mobility.  it seems you have to get a new cell#.  is that correct?  I just switched from rogers to bell.  I think rogers had better travel plans.  Looks like I'm in for $20 for the data plan and then $30 for a talk and text plan with bell.



They will assign a US number to your Roam sim (your phone needs to be unlocked) and after initially being assigned a number you will have the opportunity to select another US region to have a number within.  We chose the Kissimmee area so our area code for our Roam US number is 321.


----------



## Queen of Oakville

Keeping the card active isn't a problem.  We travel to/through the US at least twice a year, plus we do a lot of cross-border shopping trips - 2 to 3 times min.

What concerns me is the new number.  I supposed I could get bell to forward all calls/texts, but then I have too do this every time I travel, which makes it more complicated.  I'm not sure how easy it is to get bell to forward calls (i.e. self-service or you have to call in).

does the resort wi-fi work in the parks or just within the resort?  I would assume its the latter.


----------



## xlxo

Queen of Oakville said:


> I just looked at roam mobility.  it seems you have to get a new cell#.  is that correct?  I just switched from rogers to bell.  I think rogers had better travel plans.  Looks like I'm in for $20 for the data plan and then $30 for a talk and text plan with bell.


Yep you get a US number that friends can call you with.  BTW... if you have other travellers, Roam has a TWO sim deal for $15.

Rogers?  Check out this comparison...
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/rogers



Queen of Oakville said:


> What concerns me is the new number.  I supposed I could get bell to forward all calls/texts, but then I have too do this every time I travel, which makes it more complicated.  I'm not sure how easy it is to get bell to forward calls (i.e. self-service or you have to call in).



I have voice mail on my Canadian number.  I just call my Canadian number to retrieve my voice messages on Roam Mobility to call them back.
Email is my preferred way to keep in touch on my smartphone.  You can use the Roam Mobility data.  People won't know the difference on which sim your email is working on.
Text messages?  I use BBM.  iMessage also works with Roam Mobility's data.


----------



## Queen of Oakville

xlxo said:


> Yep you get a US number that friends can call you with.  BTW... if you have other travellers, Roam has a TWO sim deal for $15.
> 
> Rogers?  Check out this comparison...
> https://www.roammobility.com/compare/rogers
> 
> 
> 
> I have voice mail on my Canadian number.  I just call my Canadian number to retrieve my voice messages on Roam Mobility to call them back.
> Email is my preferred way to keep in touch on my smartphone.  You can use the Roam Mobility data.  People won't know the difference on which sim your email is working on.
> Text messages?  I use BBM.  iMessage also works with Roam Mobility's data.



My first step is to get my phone unlocked.  not sure how long it takes and I leave next week, so I may not have enough time to sort all this out for this trip.

I have an iPhone.  My work email pulls/pushes to my phone through a microsoftt exchange server.  my personal imap email also pushes to my phone.  If I swap out the SIM card - do I have to make any changes in my settings or does it all just happen automatically?  same with imessage - it just recognizes the new cell connection and it all works?

you make it sound easy : )


----------



## Queen of Oakville

xlxo said:


> Yep you get a US number that friends can call you with.  BTW... if you have other travellers, Roam has a TWO sim deal for $15.
> 
> Rogers?  Check out this comparison...
> https://www.roammobility.com/compare/rogers
> 
> 
> 
> I have voice mail on my Canadian number.  I just call my Canadian number to retrieve my voice messages on Roam Mobility to call them back.
> Email is my preferred way to keep in touch on my smartphone.  You can use the Roam Mobility data.  People won't know the difference on which sim your email is working on.
> Text messages?  I use BBM.  iMessage also works with Roam Mobility's data.



My first step is to get my phone unlocked.  not sure how long it takes and I leave next week, so I may not have enough time to sort all this out for this trip.

I have an iPhone.  My work email pulls/pushes to my phone through a microsoftt exchange server.  my personal imap email also pushes to my phone.  If I swap out the SIM card - do I have to make any changes in my settings or does it all just happen automatically?  same with imessage - it just recognizes the new cell connection and it all works?

you make it sound easy : )


----------



## xlxo

Queen of Oakville said:


> My first step is to get my phone unlocked.  not sure how long it takes and I leave next week, so I may not have enough time to sort all this out for this trip.
> 
> I have an iPhone.  My work email pulls/pushes to my phone through a microsoftt exchange server.  my personal imap email also pushes to my phone.  If I swap out the SIM card - do I have to make any changes in my settings or does it all just happen automatically?  same with imessage - it just recognizes the new cell connection and it all works?
> 
> you make it sound easy : )


It is easy to unlock a phone...

If you had the phone for more than 90 days, call 611 to have Telus provide you the unlock code to be done in 5 minutes.  It's $35.
The competition likes to over charge you nearly double with $50 plus GST.
There are mall kiosks and cellphone repair places that can unlock your phone cheaper.  However, your phone may relock the moment you sync your phone.


----------



## Sailormoon2

Total, techno-novice here:
If I use ROAM (which seems to be about $30 for 7 Days in Orlando) but have to pay to unlock my phone at an additional $35+ than it seems more economical to me to add on my providers roaming package at $40 for the month (I'm with Koodo). Or do I still have to unlock my phone for the Koodo roaming to work as well? Clearly I don't "get" technology! The only reason I even want my phone is to access WDW apps for Fastpass+ and ADR (for possible changes).  I may send the odd social media photo post. No need to call or text Canada unless there is an emergency. Given these limited needs, is there a third option I should persue?


----------



## RatherDrive

You don't have to unlock your phone to use your provider's roaming packages, your phone is locked to your provider. Unlocking allows you to use any other carrier's SIM card. Disney offer's Wi-Fi at no cost to park/resort visitors so you don't need a data package, maybe just a talk and text.  We used this option last year and it worked really well. I just turned the data off on my phone and used Wi-Fi. The only place the wi-fi doesn't work is when you are on the buses between the parks and your resort.


----------



## xlxo

Check out this Koodo comparison... are you happy with 250mb?  Or are you happier with 2gb with unlimited 2G?
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/koodo


----------



## Disney_Alli

hardis5 said:


> A few differences between Roam (I've used numerous times) and Telaway looking at their offerings,  Telaway sells a fixed minimum of days (i.e. 10 days) so if I want 5 days you are paying for a minimum of 10.  Their prices are in USD (at least on their website) and comparing 10 days, Roam is $39.50 CDN and Telaway is $49.97 USD.  Add in the current exchange rate and the price difference grows even more. I have always added to my existing sim with Roam (keeping the same number) but it appears you can only buy the prefixed number of days with Telaway while needing to order a sim each time (which adds $9.97 USD to the cost).  The local number may be an advantage, but they only offer numbers for 4 cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal).  If a call to one of these cities is long distance for you within Canada, this feature is not worth much.



I'm with Bell so Roam won't work for me plus since we're out of the country for 22 days roam adds up quickly. We're in Calgary so that would eliminate the possibility of the LD charges... Now to see about getting my phone unlocked...


----------



## xlxo

Disney_Alli said:


> I'm with Bell so Roam won't work for me plus since we're out of the country for 22 days roam adds up quickly. We're in Calgary so that would eliminate the possibility of the LD charges... Now to see about getting my phone unlocked...


Check out this Bell comparison...
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/bell

How many of those 22 days are you in the states with Roam coverage?
Roam offers discounts if you choose a 22 day plan instead of a single day plan
how many mb does Bell offer for those 22 days?  how gb does Roam offer?  fyi.... Roam is offering you 2G UNLIMITED data!


----------



## Disney_Alli

We leave Calgary for FL on August 7th and don't return until the 30th

Using Teleaway it's unlimited calls, texts and unlimited 3G data


----------



## xlxo

Just had a look at the Telaway website to compare with Roam...

Telaway offers coverage in Anchorage.  They map does not show coverage in Skagway, Juneau, or Ketchikan where the Disney Wonder goes.
Telaway daily rates is a little bit more expensive than Roam. Telaway charges in US funds, not sure about Roam.
Telaway has a contact information in Quebec, but is the main company from Australia? Roam Mobility is based in Vancouver, Canada
Telaway has coverage in Idaho and Wyoming.
Telaway appears to offer service in Australia and UK.  Roam provides service in Mexico.
Telaway throttles your 3G data after 5gigs.  Roam Mobility provides you 4G data and you decide the quantity when it will be throttled based on the days you subscribe to.
Telaway mails you the SIM... Roam SIMs are available at airports, duty free shops, drug stores, and various other retail outlets


----------



## Disney_Alli

xlxo said:


> Just had a look at the Telaway website to compare with Roam...
> 
> Telaway offers coverage in Anchorage.  They map does not show coverage in Skagway, Juneau, or Ketchikan where the Disney Wonder goes.
> Telaway daily rates is a little bit more expensive than Roam. Telaway charges in US funds, not sure about Roam.
> Telaway has a contact information in Quebec, but is the main company from Australia? Roam Mobility is based in Vancouver, Canada
> Telaway has coverage in Idaho and Wyoming.
> Telaway appears to over service in Australia and UK.  Roam provides service in Mexico.
> Telaway throttles your 3G data after 5gigs.  Roam Mobility provides you 4G data and you decide the quantity when it will be throttled based on the days you subscribe to.
> Telaway mails you the SIM... Roam SIMs are available at airports, duty free shops, drug stores, and various other retail outlets


Thanks for all that great info! I was thinking Roam was that new thing for Rogers - my bad!


----------



## xlxo

Disney_Alli said:


> I was thinking Roam was that new thing for Rogers - my bad!


Yah Rogers is appears to be trying to confuse customers.  Here's a comparison...  pay attention to what Rogers wants to charge you.  Again Roam Mobility is the bargain.
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/rogers


----------



## PhotoJen143

I don't know if anyone has posted this already...
But buy a Roam SIM card. Get it at London drugs for 10 bucks and then log onto the website and buy a really cheap Canadian plan for the states. I usually buy 60 days at a time. It's $106 with unlimited calls in Canada and USA with 24GB of data. It's fantasstic!! That's the way to go. For sure!!


----------



## bankr63

xlxo said:


> Yah Rogers is appears to be trying to confuse customers.  Here's a comparison...  pay attention to what Rogers wants to charge you.  Again Roam Mobility is the bargain.
> https://www.roammobility.com/compare/rogers


 The Rogers information on the ROAM site is old.  Rogers Roam Like Home plan is $5/day to extend all your Canadian bundle into the US.  Just back from 12 days.  My son was using my ROAM Sim in his Nexus 5.  I am now on Rogers RLH on my Samsung Galaxy SIII.  DW is part of the that plan as well on a Samsung Galaxy Core LTE.  I will have to wait a bit for the final Rogers bill to see if there were any hidden surprises.  Will post back with a real world comparison when I get the bill.  One thing to consider though is that you are still paying for your Canadian plan while it is dormant up here in Canada - that should be factored into the cost comparison as well.

As far as service goes, Rogers appeared to be better - they roam primarily on ATT which does have better connections in many locations.  I did catch my phone on T-Mobile a couple of times as well.  ROAM is only on T-Mobile, and DS did have a couple of service issues, but nothing  that couldn't be solved by moving a couple of hundred yards.  It was interesting that he could never get a signal INSIDE Disney attractions, where my ATT was solid; outside in the fresh air, he was fine.  Guess Disney must have a deal with ATT?


----------



## jkquinn

bankr63 said:


> I will have to wait a bit for the final Rogers bill to see if there were any hidden surprises.



I've used my 'roam like home' about four trips now and my bill is marginally higher...it's really just $5 a day so pretty good value.  I used to have an ATT sim card in an unlocked phone and it worked out to be more expensive without data so glad Rogers now offers this option.


----------



## Mortlives

jkquinn said:


> I've used my 'roam like home' about four trips now and my bill is marginally higher...it's really just $5 a day so pretty good value.  I used to have an ATT sim card in an unlocked phone and it worked out to be more expensive without data so glad Rogers now offers this option.



We just switched to Rogers specifically for Roam Like Home.


----------



## Exmo

We used Roam mobility on 2 phones at POP back in 2012 and it was not very good at all.

We are going again this year and was wondering if it has improved?


----------



## Maddysdaddy

Exmo said:


> We used Roam mobility on 2 phones at POP back in 2012 and it was not very good at all.
> 
> We are going again this year and was wondering if it has improved?



Can't speak to reception at POP, but I just returned from 10 days at BCV and reception on Roam was great throughout the entire property, Orlando and all the way through to Dunedin/Clearwater (had to catch a couple of Jays games).


----------



## Starwind

bankr63 said:


> The Rogers information on the ROAM site is old.  Rogers Roam Like Home plan is $5/day to extend all your Canadian bundle into the US.  Just back from 12 days.  My son was using my ROAM Sim in his Nexus 5.  I am now on Rogers RLH on my Samsung Galaxy SIII.  DW is part of the that plan as well on a Samsung Galaxy Core LTE.  I will have to wait a bit for the final Rogers bill to see if there were any hidden surprises.  Will post back with a real world comparison when I get the bill.  One thing to consider though is that you are still paying for your Canadian plan while it is dormant up here in Canada - that should be factored into the cost comparison as well.
> 
> As far as service goes, Rogers appeared to be better - they roam primarily on ATT which does have better connections in many locations.  I did catch my phone on T-Mobile a couple of times as well.  ROAM is only on T-Mobile, and DS did have a couple of service issues, but nothing  that couldn't be solved by moving a couple of hundred yards.  It was interesting that he could never get a signal INSIDE Disney attractions, where my ATT was solid; outside in the fresh air, he was fine.  Guess Disney must have a deal with ATT?



The challenge with Rogers' Roam Like Home plan is that one has to have an eligible (read: newer, with much less data included for the same price as many grandfathered plans) Rogers wireless plan.

So there are a bunch of factors to consider.  For example, my Rogers grandfathered plan includes 6 GB of data; a new plan with that much data would cost over twice as much; and a new plan that cost about the same would include no more than 2 GB data.  Having done the math, for my situation I am much better off keeping my existing Rogers plan and using ROAM.  FWIW, I also have an AT&T GoPhone sim (voice and data only) for my phone, which with Roam I only use when I am having connection issues with Roam.

I do agree with you that AT&T, who Rogers roams on, has better coverage than T Mobile, at least where I have traveled.

-SW


----------



## elaine amj

Just to add some data points. I live right by the border and travel to the US every 2-3 weeks. I also vacation there frequently - probably every 2-3 months. I was looking for a phone plan with a little bit of calling, texting and some data (preferably more since I like to surf).

I used to have T-Mobile PAYGO and it was an awesome plan for me. 10 cents a call, 5 cents a text, and a 1-day unlimited data plan I could add on as needed for $2. Only a $10/yr minimum topup. Sadly, that setup is gone and I can only use that SIM for talk and text. I am going to see if any of my friends want to buy it off me since I really want data.

Roam Mobility looked like a good plan and simple to use. However, I would have to schedule each day and plan ahead for use. Plus, the $2 a day ($4 for faster internet) access would add up fast.  Most of the time, I don't browse heavily and access 2-10 webpages just to quickly look stuff up (so using perhaps 10-20MB a day). For longer trips (1-2x a yr), I like more data so I can surf to my heart's content. I ended up feeling that Roam's $2/day would end up costing me more in the long run since most of the time, I only need tiny bits of data. I didn't like that I would have to pay $2/day if I just needed to send a few texts or I just need to request an Uber ride (last trip with no data I had to hunt down nearby Starbucks for wifi to use Uber).

I went through every phone plan I could find with my use in mind. I ended up settling on Truphone.

Truphone works on both AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T has much better coverage than Tmobile (which is what Roam uses). I like the extra coverage as I did experience some dead zones with T mobile, even in some large cities. 9 cents a call, 9 cents a text, and 9 cents a MB. 27 cents/min or 9 cents/text to Canadian numbers (We make very rare, short calls back home). No refills required and money never expires. For such limited, occasional use, this is awesome news since I am not tied to spending a a minimum every year. Cost of calls, texts, and data is a little higher but the flexibility will likely make it a wash.

When I travel for 1-2 weeks and really want serious data, I plan to sign up for a prepaid 1 month plan and then cancel it (losing the number) after the trip. For my July 2015, 2 week trip to California, I plan on Pure Talk (also runs on AT&T - worried about the more limited coverage of Tmobile in that area). They have a $5/month plan for 80 mins talk & text with a $20 1G data add-on. Best of all, they offer a free SIM so I can toss the SIM afterwards with no worries. I probably won't upload too many photos but I should be able to surf fairly freely without stressing.

I'll report back if it all works out.


----------



## disneyred

I would love to hear your experiences with PureTalk .. and anyone else that has use this in the states...
I have not used ROAM .. but at $4/day for 15days of vacation ...I was hoping for something cheaper , if available...


----------



## SaraJR

would it possibly be cheaper to buy a prepaid throw away? im als curious about how to comunicate while theremy party s 2 groups and we are in different resorts


----------



## elaine amj

Yeah - prepaid throwaways are often cheap. I just like using my unlocked phones so I have access to all my apps, etc. It didn't cost much to unlock my phones. For the Galaxy, I think we just went online and bought a code - followed the instructions, and we were unlocked.


----------



## SaraJR

My phone is also unlocked i figured i would shut off service and turn on wifi and use fb to message the others in the mornings


----------



## samsteele

I've used a talk & text pkg with Fido in the past that wasn't too bad. But for my last few trips, I decided, since I was on vacation, that I didn't want to be constantly tethered to an $$ cell phone & contract. So I went old school. I bought a pre-paid Bell long distance card before I left home and used the real phone in my room to check in with family in Canada. No phone charges/surcharges from the resort at all. I just dialed the number for an outside line. My parents were impressed. My brother not so much. I got the OMG you didn't take your cell phone? What century are you living in  I really wound him up when I told him that I had actually used a pay phone in the lobby. Oh, and a pay phone in the park. With my Ma Bell calling card.  I couldn't resist. But you know, old school worked fine & was cheap. To use the MDE, I took my old itouch & used Disney wi-fi. It worked as well. Just so you know that there are alternatives to 75$ plus roaming fees on your Disney vacation. ps I bet many Cdns under the age of 30 have never used a pay phone. Think of it as an educational retro adventure.


----------



## CanadianGuy

I'm  Rogers Wireless customer with a Share Everything plan, so I'm going to try out the Roam Like Home option on this upcoming trip.  Provided it works as advertised, that will work fine for me and be a better deal than a US number plan .. which is what I've always done in the past.  10$ setup fee + $3/day AT&T Wireless .. data, calls, texts..


----------



## ginny_lynn

CanadianGuy said:


> I'm  Rogers Wireless customer with a Share Everything plan, so I'm going to try out the Roam Like Home option on this upcoming trip.  Provided it works as advertised, that will work fine for me and be a better deal than a US number plan .. which is what I've always done in the past.  10$ setup fee + $3/day AT&T Wireless .. data, calls, texts..




I am Rogers as well and plan on using this plan. We are going out of country for 16 days, so it will be $50.00. This doesn't seem too high to me. Hopefully I can see some reports of this working well before my trip


----------



## bankr63

bankr63 said:


> The Rogers information on the ROAM site is old.  Rogers Roam Like Home plan is $5/day to extend all your Canadian bundle into the US.  Just back from 12 days.  My son was using my ROAM Sim in his Nexus 5.  I am now on Rogers RLH on my Samsung Galaxy SIII.  DW is part of the that plan as well on a Samsung Galaxy Core LTE.  I will have to wait a bit for the final Rogers bill to see if there were any hidden surprises.  Will post back with a real world comparison when I get the bill.  One thing to consider though is that you are still paying for your Canadian plan while it is dormant up here in Canada - that should be factored into the cost comparison as well.
> 
> As far as service goes, Rogers appeared to be better - they roam primarily on ATT which does have better connections in many locations.  I did catch my phone on T-Mobile a couple of times as well.  ROAM is only on T-Mobile, and DS did have a couple of service issues, but nothing  that couldn't be solved by moving a couple of hundred yards.  It was interesting that he could never get a signal INSIDE Disney attractions, where my ATT was solid; outside in the fresh air, he was fine.  Guess Disney must have a deal with ATT?


 
And so now that the bills are all in, I would say that Rogers RLH was a winner for us.  Better service as it did switch carrier networks down there, and there were no hidden fees.  Used SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging) US and Canada, voice local and LD, and data all without hiccups and no extra fees over the $5/day.  ROAM came a close second on DS's phone as the price was nearly the same, but he did have a couple of areas where reception was difficult.  Note that DW also had her phone on RLH with Rogers, but only used it sporadically while there (days when we did separate things); we were only charged for the 3 days of 12 that the phone actually connected to a network.  It hurts to say it, but Kudos to Rogers for FINALLY doing something right for the customer.


----------



## elaine amj

elaine amj said:


> Just to add some data points. I live right by the border and travel to the US every 2-3 weeks. I also vacation there frequently - probably every 2-3 months. I was looking for a phone plan with a little bit of calling, texting and some data (preferably more since I like to surf).
> 
> I used to have T-Mobile PAYGO and it was an awesome plan for me. 10 cents a call, 5 cents a text, and a 1-day unlimited data plan I could add on as needed for $2. Only a $10/yr minimum topup. Sadly, that setup is gone and I can only use that SIM for talk and text. I am going to see if any of my friends want to buy it off me since I really want data.
> 
> Roam Mobility looked like a good plan and simple to use. However, I would have to schedule each day and plan ahead for use. Plus, the $2 a day ($4 for faster internet) access would add up fast.  Most of the time, I don't browse heavily and access 2-10 webpages just to quickly look stuff up (so using perhaps 10-20MB a day). For longer trips (1-2x a yr), I like more data so I can surf to my heart's content. I ended up feeling that Roam's $2/day would end up costing me more in the long run since most of the time, I only need tiny bits of data. I didn't like that I would have to pay $2/day if I just needed to send a few texts or I just need to request an Uber ride (last trip with no data I had to hunt down nearby Starbucks for wifi to use Uber).
> 
> I went through every phone plan I could find with my use in mind. I ended up settling on Truphone.
> 
> Truphone works on both AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T has much better coverage than Tmobile (which is what Roam uses). I like the extra coverage as I did experience some dead zones with T mobile, even in some large cities. 9 cents a call, 9 cents a text, and 9 cents a MB. 27 cents/min or 9 cents/text to Canadian numbers (We make very rare, short calls back home). No refills required and money never expires. For such limited, occasional use, this is awesome news since I am not tied to spending a a minimum every year. Cost of calls, texts, and data is a little higher but the flexibility will likely make it a wash.
> 
> When I travel for 1-2 weeks and really want serious data, I plan to sign up for a prepaid 1 month plan and then cancel it (losing the number) after the trip. For my July 2015, 2 week trip to California, I plan on Pure Talk (also runs on AT&T - worried about the more limited coverage of Tmobile in that area). They have a $5/month plan for 80 mins talk & text with a $20 1G data add-on. Best of all, they offer a free SIM so I can toss the SIM afterwards with no worries. I probably won't upload too many photos but I should be able to surf fairly freely without stressing.
> 
> I'll report back if it all works out.



Reporting back  I ordered a Truphone SIM and it arrived quickly. I activated it when I was in the US but had some trouble - it just wouldn't work as they said it would. I called and talked to a super friendly rep in the Phillipines with perfect English. She tried a couple of things quickly and then said that there were problems with the activation which she promised would be fixed within an hour. She offered to call/email me the moment it was fixed. I was leaving the US at that time and told her I was worried because I wouldn't be able to test the data properly since I would be in Canada ($4.50/MB - ouch!. She immediately offered me a $15 credit (my activation fee) to make up for the trouble (and to pay for my data testing in Canada). Wow.

As promised, it worked when I got home and I tested it in Canada, paying $4.50/MB. The credit showed up immediately. I was very impressed now.

Best of all, logging in online displays my detailed bill easily letting me see exactly what I used and when. It promises to show up within an hour (In practice, it showed up almost immediately). Great for monitoring use.

I was at Universal Studios last weekend and it worked flawlessly. With wifi everywhere I knew I wouldn't use data much but still wanted it available. This is what I used:

- 1 call (3mins) to Universal dining to make a dining reservation (did not want to fuss with making it online at that time).

- 1 call to my DH when we split up (9 cents)

- 1.5 MB to make an Open Table reservation when The Kitchen (at Hard Rock Hotel) said no tables were available for a walkup. I tried doing it with their wifi first but it was horrible there. Irritated, I just switched on my data plan and made the reservation super quickly.

That's it - everything else was fine with wifi. I spent about 58 cents all weekend and I am so glad I didn't do something like Rogers Roam Like Home which is just too much for the few little things I needed - that weren't even true emergencies but just convenient. RLH would have cost me $15 for the 3 days I used. Reception was perfect and data was snappy. I am loving this plan and it is entirely possible that I might only use $10-$20 per year (or less) just based on my mood and how often I want to surf. I do still miss TMobile's plan which offered an option of $2/day unlimited OR pay per MB which would have been nice. Since there's nothing else out there that quite matches that, I think Truphone is my most economical, yet reliable option. Particularly since I really want the reliability of being on a MVNO that uses BOTH T-mobile AND AT&T networks. I did find T-mobile's network not as good for many places in the US (although it is fine in Orlando) so this will be a fantastic travel SIM card.

In July, I'll test out Pure Talk and report back.


----------



## csmart1152

Just got back from parents only trip and I'm a big proponent of Roam.  We had very spotty Wifi in our room at OKW (which is not the norm) but with Roam we had almost full bars of LTE the entire time.  And Roam works great in all the parks, which is not something you can say for Disney's WiFi.  For $3.95/day its better than anything Telus could offer me.


----------



## elaine amj

csmart1152 said:


> Just got back from parents only trip and I'm a big proponent of Roam.  We had very spotty Wifi in our room at OKW (which is not the norm) but with Roam we had almost full bars of LTE the entire time.  And Roam works great in all the parks, which is not something you can say for Disney's WiFi.  For $3.95/day its better than anything Telus could offer me.



Glad that Roam worked out so well for you. It really is a decent option for travelling Canadians. I was impressed with their offering. The major reason I didn't go with Roam was because Roam uses only T-Mobile while Truphone uses both At&T and T-Mobile. Also I was looking for a more flexible option for very, very limited use that was still reasonable for more extended use.


----------



## madame_jedi

I am with Bell and for my last trip they had an add on that gave unlimited incoming and outgoing texts and calls while in the USA for $30.  I thought it was a fantastic deal at the time but since I had virtually no cell reception in my room in Pop Century, it ended up being kind of pointless to have the unlimited talk.  Also, they have since changed the deal to 500 minutes talk (I think) and unlimited texts for the $30.


----------



## elaine amj

elaine amj said:


> Just to add some data points. I live right by the border and travel to the US every 2-3 weeks. I also vacation there frequently - probably every 2-3 months. I was looking for a phone plan with a little bit of calling, texting and some data (preferably more since I like to surf).
> 
> When I travel for 1-2 weeks and really want serious data, I plan to sign up for a prepaid 1 month plan and then cancel it (losing the number) after the trip. For my July 2015, 2 week trip to California, I plan on Pure Talk (also runs on AT&T - worried about the more limited coverage of Tmobile in that area). They have a $5/month plan for 80 mins talk & text with a $20 1G data add-on. Best of all, they offer a free SIM so I can toss the SIM afterwards with no worries. I probably won't upload too many photos but I should be able to surf fairly freely without stressing.
> 
> I'll report back if it all works out.





disneyred said:


> I would love to hear your experiences with PureTalk .. and anyone else that has use this in the states...
> I have not used ROAM .. but at $4/day for 15days of vacation ...I was hoping for something cheaper , if available...



I just ordered my Pure Talk SIM for my July trip to California. I found a promo code for 20% off (TEACH20) which brought my $25 plan down to $14.92. I debated upgrading to one of the bigger plans but that would have been $30 and really more than I need for a 12 day trip. I figure 1G will give me about 44 hours of surfing so I should be fine. I did have to agree that they can charge my CC monthly. I set myself a reminder to cancel before a month is up. I'll report more when I return. For now, $25 was the cheapest I could find and with the promo code, $15 is CRAZY cheap for my particular set of needs. (What I have learned when researching cellphones is that there is no 1 "best" plan. All depends on your circumstances and needs). Rogers Roam Like Home would cost me $60 or Roam Mobility would be $48 in comparison (and both use TMobile, which does not have as good coverage as AT&T, which is what Pure Talk uses).


----------



## Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina

We have a Roam phone (and it worked very well on our 2014 trip), but on our May vacation we added on unlimited talk and text to our existing Telus cell, and it was a good choice for us.   A nice benefit....it allowed our son (who was home alone) and my Mom (also back in Canada) to call us from their cells without using any of their "other" minutes or incurring any long distance charges (as the Roam number would not be considered a local call). 

Service was excellent....not one problem the entire 9 days.


----------



## Lesverts

I did Roam Like Home and it was awesome to not have to worry like you use to when you had to buy the travel packs. Made the trip so much more enjoyable because I was able to keep up on MDE and phone home whenever I wanted.


----------



## Sunshine25

We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.

Am I understanding this correctly?
You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back

Am I missing anything?



elaine amj said:


> I just ordered my Pure Talk SIM for my July trip to California. I found a promo code for 20% off (TEACH20) which brought my $25 plan down to $14.92. I debated upgrading to one of the bigger plans but that would have been $30 and really more than I need for a 12 day trip. I figure 1G will give me about 44 hours of surfing so I should be fine. I did have to agree that they can charge my CC monthly. I set myself a reminder to cancel before a month is up. I'll report more when I return. For now, $25 was the cheapest I could find and with the promo code, $15 is CRAZY cheap for my particular set of needs. (What I have learned when researching cellphones is that there is no 1 "best" plan. All depends on your circumstances and needs). Rogers Roam Like Home would cost me $60 or Roam Mobility would be $48 in comparison (and both use TMobile, which does not have as good coverage as AT&T, which is what Pure Talk uses).


----------



## Mortlives

Sunshine25 said:


> We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.
> 
> Am I understanding this correctly?
> You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
> Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
> When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back
> 
> Am I missing anything?



If you bought your phones from a carrier, make sure they are unlocked before you go. Otherwise, changing sims won't work.


----------



## bankr63

Sunshine25 said:


> We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.
> 
> Am I understanding this correctly?
> You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
> Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
> When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back
> 
> Am I missing anything?


 
I wouldn't cancel.  Most of us want to keep the same US phone number (especially travelling 2-3 times per year); the struggle with throwaways and most US plans is to keep the phone active so you can keep the same number.  If you cancel the plan, you will lose your number, and probably deactivate the SIM card, so you would need to get a new one next trip.  One of the best ROAM advantages is that you can keep your number alive as long as you pay for 1 day per year, and you don't need to actually be in the US to do it.

And yes, as Mortlives said, make sure your phone is unlocked before you try this.


----------



## elaine amj

Sunshine25 said:


> We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.
> 
> Am I understanding this correctly?
> You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
> Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
> When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back
> 
> Am I missing anything?



Like they said - first and foremost your phone has to be unlocked for ANY alternate carrier plan to work. You can pay for an online service (usually very cheap) or talk to your carrier (depending how long u have had your plan. We usually pay an online service about $10-20 (depending on phone type - my blackberry a few years back was $1) to unlock our phones.

2. With Puretalk and the like, u get a new phone number. If you cancel, u lose that phone number. I am OK with that since I only talk to my husband when we travel (when we split up etc). The cost savings are worth the hassle of losing the number to me. (Still miss my old tmobile plan which gave me rverything I wanted AND I didn't have to change the number AND was dirt cheap). Just consider what u need and go from there.

3. After u switch the SIM card it is likely u have to change your Apn number. It is usuallybsimple and your phone does it automatically (most phones do). I try and set aside sometime on my travel day after I get to the US to make sure my phone is working properly and test everything. (And call customer support if necessary).

4. Give yourself enough time for the sim to be mailed to u.they are usually quick.Not sure about how mailing to Canada works as I have a US address.

I am in Cali now and using Puretalk and it has been fabulous. $15 for 2Gdata, a bunch of phone minutes and texts. .very freeing and has been very very useful for adjusting travel plans on the fly.


----------



## Sunshine25

Great thanks.  Has anyone had this mailed to Canada?  Noticed there is no Province option when checking out.


----------



## vacation_junkie

disneyred said:


> from Canada. I am using a rogers cellphone...(but its UNLOCKED)
> 
> now can I (when I) travel to disney....
> 
> take my same cellphone to disney, buy a sim card (to stick into my cellphone )and prepaid card from an americancompany (verizon, cingular, etc..) and used it that way ?
> 
> I thought it would be cheaper as the sim card never expires so,  i can use it
> in the states....
> what do you think , would this work ?



We have net talk and it suits us well. Let me explain though .it's a VoIP home phone service..but I also have the app installed on my celphone. Our home phone is plugged into the little box that's connected to our computer. Super cheap.

When I travel and have wifi service I use the app on my cel. It freaks people out when I call from Disney and my home phone number shows up on their phone. This also means that when someone calls my home number it will ring wherever we are. You can use it with your cel data but that gets expensive in the U.S. 

At the airport..connect to wifi..use the app to call the hotel shuttle. No long distance in Canada or the U.S. 

For the $30 a year that net talk costs us.. You can't beat the ability to take your home phone with you 

Disney has free wifi in the parks..


----------



## vacation_junkie

CanadianGuy said:


> I hate to argue but that's simply not true.  Rogers is the only carrier that fully supports SIM cards in Canada I believe.  Regardless.. Bell/Aliant/Whatever does not support them period.
> 
> The SIM or BRAIN of the phone is removed with the SIM card.  There is nothing to identify the phone to the network as Canadian - or anything else - if the SIM card is removed.  This is only true with Rogers.
> 
> I haven't seen pre-paid SIM's in the states but they probably exist.  If you can find 'em.. there would be no roaming fees.
> 
> -
> 
> Further.. last time I went to Florida (8 weeks ago), I paid Rogers some amount.. I think it was 75$ for 240 minutes over one month or something like that.  They have a U-S Travelling add-on.  The minutes are prorated for however long you have the option on your bill.
> 
> One little catch.  Last year I cancelled the plan the day I got home.  And then some calls I had made when the plan was active, were actually reported to Rogers by the US Carriers on my bill AFTER I shut the plan off.  I called Rogers and these were credited.
> 
> On my most recent trip.. I left it on my bill for 7 days after I got home and then cancelled.  And everything was reported correctly.
> 
> And I reiterate, if you use one of these plans, there are NO roaming fees.
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Knox


 All our Bell phones have SIM cards.. 

They haven't used ESN numbers in years! It's been all SIM cards for Atleast 4 years.. Any phone you buy now according to the CRTC guideline must be unlocked or they have to unlock it for you.  

Some Rogers phones are locked only to Rogers /Fido network. Again they have to unlock them for you..your provider can't refuse . If you buy a phone outright just say on the Apple Store ..they come unlocked


----------



## vacation_junkie

disneyred said:


> ok...guess I was not clear enough,,,if you read my beginning post..
> my phone is already UNLOCKED....


Then you can use any SIM card you wish! Just go over to Walmart and there will be a bunch of options for you


----------



## elaine amj

bankr63 said:


> I wouldn't cancel.  Most of us want to keep the same US phone number (especially travelling 2-3 times per year); the struggle with throwaways and most US plans is to keep the phone active so you can keep the same number.  If you cancel the plan, you will lose your number, and probably deactivate the SIM card, so you would need to get a new one next trip.  One of the best ROAM advantages is that you can keep your number alive as long as you pay for 1 day per year, and you don't need to actually be in the US to do it.
> 
> And yes, as Mortlives said, make sure your phone is unlocked before you try this.



Definitely something to consider when choosing a plan. For my "regular" travel SIM with a number I don't plan to change, I went with Truphone. It uses BOTH AT&T and Tmobile networks (very rare) so I feel good that I have coverage most places I go (since some spots are not covered by Tmobile and vice versa). While it is slightly more expensive for what you use - 9 cents a minute, 9 cents a text, 9 cents a MB, it makes up for it by being one of the very few plans with NO MINIMUM TOPUPS  Calling Canada is not that expensive either. 

I use wifi most of the time so I only really need it a handful of times each trip - requesting an Uber car, texting my DH when we are separated, a call to make a restaurant reservation, a quick call to check on a travel provider, etc. When I was in Universal, I was in a restaurant that told me a 45 min wait for a table. The wifi in the place was terrible. I turned on my cellular data and 2 minutes later, I made a reservation for a time 5 mins in the future on Open Table. I got seated very quickly. I use maybe $1-2 each trip. My $15 truphone credit could possibly last me a couple of years. Any other plan requires at least $10-$100 in minimum top-ups a year or $2-$5 per day of access. Relying on just wifi annoys me. We tried that in Washington and while we managed, had a lot of extra walking to the nearest Starbucks to get wifi to request an Uber car. 




Sunshine25 said:


> Great thanks.  Has anyone had this mailed to Canada?  Noticed there is no Province option when checking out.



That's the only issue - not sure if Puretalk (or any of these US SIMs) actually mail to Canada. We use a US friend's address. Might be worth calling to ask.


----------



## bankr63

vacation_junkie said:


> All our Bell phones have SIM cards..
> 
> They haven't used ESN numbers in years! It's been all SIM cards for Atleast 4 years.. Any phone you buy now according to the CRTC guideline must be unlocked or they have to unlock it for you.
> 
> Some Rogers phones are locked only to Rogers /Fido network. Again they have to unlock them for you..your provider can't refuse . If you buy a phone outright just say on the Apple Store ..they come unlocked


 
Yes, it is nice that this Cell Phone Freedom Act (C-343) has passed.  Note that you have to request the unlock, and the provider is allowed to charge a fee to unlock your phone.  Seems to be about $50 for most providers - you can do it cheaper yourself.

Know your new cell phone rights at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/t15.htm


----------



## starvenger

My recent trip to Hawaii I used Ready SIM.  Bit more expensive - $35 for 14 days (Unlimited Talk/Text + 1GB data) minus a 10% discount - but worked quite nicely and zero issues apart from zero reception on most of the Road to Hana (which I suspect is par for the course).  I'm on Virgin and considered adding their US data plan, but at $50 for 1GB... no thanks.  1GB was plenty, even taking into account the fact that I was doing the vacation thing of constantly posting pics to social media.  And I went with Ready SIM as they didn't lock me into a plan that I had to cancel later.  I've been known to forget to do these things, even with a reminder set.

With that said, if (_read: when_) I go to WDW again I may go with Truphone.  Since there's free wifi in the parks the pay-as-you-go pricing becomes very attractive.

I should note that I did buy the SIM cards at the end of last year, so the exchange rate was not as terrible as it is now.  Looked at our CC bill after Hawaii and Yikes!

As far as phones go, I do recommend buying them outright without a plan.  The initial spend is higher, but the advantages are that your phone will come unlocked, and you can continue to use your existing plan, which as mentioned previously, is usually cheaper than the new plans (probably has something to do with older plans configured for 3G and newer ones for 4G/LTE).  I did this when moving from an iPhone 4 to a 6 (the 4 effectively became an iPod touch for the kids) and have no regrets.

The exception to this is if you are with one of the Big 3 and can haggle/threaten to cancel your way to a great deal.


----------



## elaine amj

starvenger said:


> My recent trip to Hawaii I used Ready SIM.  Bit more expensive - $35 for 14 days (Unlimited Talk/Text + 1GB data) minus a 10% discount - but worked quite nicely and zero issues apart from zero reception on most of the Road to Hana (which I suspect is par for the course).  I'm on Virgin and considered adding their US data plan, but at $50 for 1GB... no thanks.  1GB was plenty, even taking into account the fact that I was doing the vacation thing of constantly posting pics to social media.  And I went with Ready SIM as they didn't lock me into a plan that I had to cancel later.  I've been known to forget to do these things, even with a reminder set.
> 
> With that said, if (_read: when_) I go to WDW again I may go with Truphone.  Since there's free wifi in the parks the pay-as-you-go pricing becomes very attractive.
> 
> I should note that I did buy the SIM cards at the end of last year, so the exchange rate was not as terrible as it is now.  Looked at our CC bill after Hawaii and Yikes!
> 
> As far as phones go, I do recommend buying them outright without a plan.  The initial spend is higher, but the advantages are that your phone will come unlocked, and you can continue to use your existing plan, which as mentioned previously, is usually cheaper than the new plans (probably has something to do with older plans configured for 3G and newer ones for 4G/LTE).  I did this when moving from an iPhone 4 to a 6 (the 4 effectively became an iPod touch for the kids) and have no regrets.
> 
> The exception to this is if you are with one of the Big 3 and can haggle/threaten to cancel your way to a great deal.



Ready SIM sounds like it offered a very attractive plan. Nice not having to worry about cancelling later (we just had to cancel our Puretalk). And you're right - 1 GB ended up being a lot. I had purposely made sure I got at least 2GB because I had planned to surf online a lot and use social media during our trip and knew we only had access to free wifi in our hotels at night. With Puretalk, I only used 0.5 GB in 2 weeks and had loads left. On top of that, they calculated my minutes by the second so even after calling Otto (Disneyland wait times number) about 10-15 times a day for 5 days, I still had a bunch of minutes left over from my 80 minute allotment.


----------



## Sunshine25

Pure Talk does not ship to Canada


----------



## elaine amj

Sunshine25 said:


> Pure Talk does not ship to Canada



 

you could have it shipped to your hotel if you wanted. Otherwise you'll have to consider other options.


----------



## elaine amj

elaine amj said:


> Reporting back  I ordered a Truphone SIM and it arrived quickly. I activated it when I was in the US but had some trouble - it just wouldn't work as they said it would. I called and talked to a super friendly rep in the Phillipines with perfect English. She tried a couple of things quickly and then said that there were problems with the activation which she promised would be fixed within an hour. She offered to call/email me the moment it was fixed. I was leaving the US at that time and told her I was worried because I wouldn't be able to test the data properly since I would be in Canada ($4.50/MB - ouch!. She immediately offered me a $15 credit (my activation fee) to make up for the trouble (and to pay for my data testing in Canada). Wow.
> 
> As promised, it worked when I got home and I tested it in Canada, paying $4.50/MB. The credit showed up immediately. I was very impressed now.
> 
> Best of all, logging in online displays my detailed bill easily letting me see exactly what I used and when. It promises to show up within an hour (In practice, it showed up almost immediately). Great for monitoring use.
> 
> I was at Universal Studios last weekend and it worked flawlessly. With wifi everywhere I knew I wouldn't use data much but still wanted it available. This is what I used:
> 
> - 1 call (3mins) to Universal dining to make a dining reservation (did not want to fuss with making it online at that time).
> 
> - 1 call to my DH when we split up (9 cents)
> 
> - 1.5 MB to make an Open Table reservation when The Kitchen (at Hard Rock Hotel) said no tables were available for a walkup. I tried doing it with their wifi first but it was horrible there. Irritated, I just switched on my data plan and made the reservation super quickly.
> 
> That's it - everything else was fine with wifi. I spent about 58 cents all weekend.



I just got off the phone with Truphone and I had to come back here to comment - I was so pleased.

I managed to brick my iPhone a couple of days ago. I am planning to use an unlocked Blackberry for an upcoming weekend trip to Kentucky. I called and thankfully, there is no charge for them to mail me a replacement SIM (I was fully expecting to pay something). The kicker is, I have no time to pick it up from my US friend's place (where I send all my US mail). I asked, and amazingly, they will mail it to me here in Canada for free!

I had a couple of different questions so I talked to 2 reps today - both based in the Phillipines. Both spoke excellent English and were very friendly and helpful. I have now interacted with 3 different reps and all have been fabulous. So unexpected considering the reputations of all cellphone companies these days.


----------



## newdeal

First of all...Roam mobility would work well they use the t mobile network and you can get the sim card easily.  That said if I want to make calls at Disney I just use the magic jack app on my phone when connected to disney wifi.  If I want to send a text I just text people who have iPhones and then it goes through iMessage also via wifi.  There are also many other apps that you can send free texts with over wifi to non-iphones as well such as text plus


----------



## Disney_Alli

We used Telaway in August. It was awesome! We were there for 24 days and had unlimited calls, texts and data for the whole trip. We paid about $60 each and they mail the SIM cards to you in Canada. Super easy!


----------



## Sunshine25

Roam Mobility just raised their plans


----------



## xlxo

Even with the $1 daily increase.... there is still significant savings compared to Canadian providers and convenience to getting a pre-paid card when in the USA.

BTW... the increase came with bonus 500mb daily data!

https://www.roammobility.com/plans


----------



## Blackadder337

Does anyone have other non sim card swapping options?   Are there any companies that offer a 1 month option that maybe comes with a phone... preferably a phone that can install the Disney Experience app


----------



## xlxo

Without a sim card swap.... I think you options would be...

airplane mode where your app will not work.
public wifi.  Hope you are using a VPN.
paying roaming charges or getting US plan with your local carrier with limited data
get a second phone, some get phones with dual sim's
For 30 days.... it would justify me to be on Roam Mobility.

https://www.roammobility.com/compare/free-wifi-hotspots
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/rogers
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/fido
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/bell
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/telus
https://www.roammobility.com/compare/us-sim-cards  the thing I don't like about US SIM's is that they do NOT allow you call back to Canada
For a 30 day stay with Roam...

$10 for a sim/$15 for two SIM's.  Sometimes there are promo's.
$85 for 30 day talk+text+data plan.... you get 15gb of data!


----------



## bankr63

I find it interesting the Roam Mobility still doesn't have a comparison up for Rogers Roam Like Home.  The price points are very similar, and you no longer have to swap out SIM cards.  I still use Roam for my DS' phone (he's on Virgin here), but DW and I both have RLH on a Share Everything and it is completely no hassle, better connectivity in the US, for same $$$.


----------



## xlxo

bankr63 said:


> I find it interesting the Roam Mobility still doesn't have a comparison up for Rogers Roam Like Home.  The price points are very similar, and you no longer have to swap out SIM cards.


If you scroll down that comparison link.... you find a link to this page.
https://www.roammobility.com/blog/c...-to-roam-mobilitys-prepaid-usa-roaming-plans/

Some people's data consumption goes down on vacation.  While others will go up.... Google Maps, checking home surveillance systems, researching last minute itineries, and of course.... lack of convenient fast home wifi.  I just like the choice for high consumption, especially as a high data consumption user.


----------



## Hemlock

I went to Staples today to buy a Roam Mobility SIM card and saw that they have Ready SIM cards.  14 days of unlimited nationwide talk+text+date was $45, you can also add 500 minutes of international calling for $5 (rates for calling Canada are .01/minute).  It seems would be cheaper than Roam mobility.  Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with Ready SIM?


----------



## Aladora

Hemlock said:


> I went to Staples today to buy a Roam Mobility SIM card and saw that they have Ready SIM cards.  14 days of unlimited nationwide talk+text+date was $45, you can also add 500 minutes of international calling for $5 (rates for calling Canada are .01/minute).  It seems would be cheaper than Roam mobility.  Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with Ready SIM?



I looked at ReadySIM when I was researching Roam and I chose Roam because we can and have reused our Roam SIMs on subsequent trips. I don't believe you can reactivate ReadySim cards. We've used our Roam cards on 3 US trips so far and will be using them again in May.


----------



## disneyred

Hello
How much are you spending per day or per trip on roam ?


----------



## Hemlock

disneyred said:


> Hello
> How much are you spending per day or per trip on roam ?



For 14 days the Roam Mobility plan would cost about $79 ($10 for SIM card + $4.95 x 14). However, as noted above we keep the SIM card for future use.   The Ready SIM would be $50 ($45 for nationwide talk/text/date + $5 for 500 calling minutes to Canada).  I'm pretty clueless when it comes to cell phone plans, so I hope I'm adding this up correctly.


----------



## disneyred

Thx for your reply. Seems like many people are happy with roam. For your 4.95 per day. Is there a limit of what you can do one the phone   Do you use lots of data?


----------



## Aladora

disneyred said:


> Thx for your reply. Seems like many people are happy with roam. For your 4.95 per day. Is there a limit of what you can do one the phone   Do you use lots of data?



This is what you get. The plan is $4.95/day up to 14 days and $1.00/day after that. You pick the number of days and you are given the total amount of data up front to use as you need, so you are not limited to the 2G/day. So, for 14 days you would have 28G of data to use over those 14 days, you can use 1G on the first day, 5G on the second...etc. We turn off all unneeded apps and have never used all of our data. 

You can check out the plans here: Roam Mobility

*Talk+Text+Data*
*plans include:*
*UNLIMITED*

Nationwide Talk
Global Text
2G Data**
Global MMS
Long-Distance Calls to Canada
Hotspot tethering

500 MB 4G LTE Data*
Voicemail
Caller ID


----------



## xlxo

Hemlock said:


> I went to Staples today to buy a Roam Mobility SIM card and saw that they have Ready SIM cards.  14 days of unlimited nationwide talk+text+date was $45, you can also add 500 minutes of international calling for $5 (rates for calling Canada are .01/minute).  It seems would be cheaper than Roam mobility.  Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with Ready SIM?


Did some research online...

ReadySIM is actually from Roam Mobility.... you are dealing with the same Vancouver company!  ReadySIM came out in 2012.
https://www.roammobility.com/blog/announcing-ready-sim-new-prepaid-wireless-service/
Roam Mobility requires you to sign onto their website to activate and add funds to your plan.  ReadySIM is preloaded... no need to activate the SIM card as it's ready to go!  Ideal for those without credit cards.
ReadySIM cards expire much quicker unused compared to regular Roam Mobility SIM's.
comparing rates.... 14 days with ReadySIM is $35, Roam Mobility is $70.   HOWEVER.... Roam Mobility offers 14gb of data, ReadySIM is only 1gb for those 14 days!
http://www.readysim.com/shop.html
So for low data users... go with ReadySIM.  For those data hungry like me (Google Maps, messageing services, etc).... the regular Roam Mobility card is my choice!


----------



## bankr63

Aladora, that is not my read of how ROAM data works at all.  It is 500MB of 4G/LTE data a day, and unlimited 3G per day.  Once you hit your daily 4G limit, your phone throttles back to the slower speed.  Next day you start back at 4G again, and the cycle repeats.  Data is effectively unlimited, but the speed is limited after you max out on a daily basis.


----------



## xlxo

My vote goes to Aladora's description. Someone can contact Roam to confirm.


----------



## Aladora

bankr63 said:


> Aladora, that is not my read of how ROAM data works at all.  It is 500MB of 4G/LTE data a day, and unlimited 3G per day.  Once you hit your daily 4G limit, your phone throttles back to the slower speed.  Next day you start back at 4G again, and the cycle repeats.  Data is effectively unlimited, but the speed is limited after you max out on a daily basis.



Whoops, a bit of an oops on my part, sort of. You get 500MB of data at 4G speed per day and after that you get unlimited 2G. You get all of your daily data up front so if you get 14 days, you get 7 Gigs of 4G data to use over your 14 days. Roam has a funny way that they phrase it, they say that you get 15 gigs of monthly data, prorated for the number of days you buy...essentially you get 500MB/day but they like to mention the 15 gigs/month.

We give you 15GB of 4G LTE data per month, prorated daily depending on your plan length. There is no daily limit on data usage. Data speed is throttled to 2G after your 4G LTE data is used up **2G refers to slow data up to a maximum of 128Kbps and is intended for sending and receiving emails only.

From the Roam website:

*No-limit Data.* We give you all your data up front so you can use it whenever you want.

US roaming Plans


----------



## Starwind

bankr63 said:


> Aladora, that is not my read of how ROAM data works at all.  It is 500MB of 4G/LTE data a day, and unlimited 3G per day.  Once you hit your daily 4G limit, your phone throttles back to the slower speed.  Next day you start back at 4G again, and the cycle repeats.  Data is effectively unlimited, but the speed is limited after you max out on a daily basis.



This is only partially correct.

With Roam on a daily talk+text+data plan, a person gets 500 MB of 4G/LTE speed data times the number of days they purchase.  So, 14 days = 500 MB * 14 = about 7 GB.*  They load your data upfront, so on day one you will have that 7 GB of data at 4G/LTE speeds available.  Once you have used up that 7 GB (whether you do it on day 1 or day 13), the rest of the data you use during your purchased days will be restricted to 2G speeds.  2G speed data is unlimited.


*note that sometimes they have a special on, as they did for my recent trip to the US, where they double your data or otherwise give you bonus data; these calculations are on the normal data allocation

SW


----------



## cate2

Somebody has probably already suggested this but when we're in Disney we just use their free wi fi to keep in touch. The phone vibrates when an email drops in just like a text and google talk (or face time if you have an iphone) allows you to directly connect - we've done this for the last three years in a row and seldom have an issue with it.


----------



## DizzyDis

I saw a post from about 1.5 years ago about Wind, but nothing since. Has anyone used Wind roaming while at WDW and do you have any comments on coverage? We are planning on adding the roaming while we are there, but DH and I have slightly different phones and live near the edge of our coverage area near home so sometimes his shows away and sometimes mine does. So, wondering if WDW is right in the middle of a good zone or still near the edge and if we should be making wi-fi plans instead of paying for roaming.

Thanks for any thoughts!


----------



## TML2012

Has anyone recently used Rogers in the park?  I had some major issues back in 2014.  I could not receive or make calls as all.


----------



## MegaSilver

DizzyDis said:


> Has anyone used Wind roaming while at WDW and do you have any comments on coverage?



I added the Wind US Roaming package for $15. Wind partners with AT&T and T-Mobile, so you bounce back and forth depending on what carrier has the strongest signal. 

I only made two calls during my stay. One was on the bus between parks, and the other was on the basement floor of Sunshine Seasons cafe in Epcot. No problems on the bus, but many dropped calls in the basement of the restaurant. But, as a Wind customer, I'm used to bad service inside thick walls. 

We stayed in CBR and never was without service. I connected to the WiFi, and never had a problem being out of range for Wifi if I needed it


----------



## DizzyDis

MegaSilver said:


> I added the Wind US Roaming package for $15. Wind partners with AT&T and T-Mobile, so you bounce back and forth depending on what carrier has the strongest signal.
> 
> I only made two calls during my stay. One was on the bus between parks, and the other was on the basement floor of Sunshine Seasons cafe in Epcot. No problems on the bus, but many dropped calls in the basement of the restaurant. But, as a Wind customer, I'm used to bad service inside thick walls.
> 
> We stayed in CBR and never was without service. I connected to the WiFi, and never had a problem being out of range for Wifi if I needed it



Great, thank you! I am debating whether we would add the $15, or just pay the 5 cents/text and 15 cents/minute for calls since we don't think we would really need to use it that much. The way I am reading it, we wouldn't need to pay for the package to get that, it would just be the regular "away" rates that we get in the outskirts of town here.

Thanks for the tips about the basement, good to know that we may run into some dead zones and dropped calls depending on where we go. And yes, I hear you on the thick walls, my cell does not like Costco


----------



## xlxo

MegaSilver said:


> I added the Wind US Roaming package for $15. Wind partners with AT&T and T-Mobile, so you bounce back and forth depending on what carrier has the strongest signal.


I agree... being able to toggle between carriers is a great option for Wind.  It's strange that Wind customers will get better coverage in the USA than Canada.

My only negative comment about Wind in the USA experience is the mobile hotspot.  With the mobile hotspot... I need to LOGIN and Accept an agreement.  The login page would not work with my blackberries.  That Wind SIM and hotspot became a huge doorstop.  It's a big reason I switched to Roam Mobility.  This was a problem back in 2013.  Not sure if this has changed.


----------



## Sunshine25

Roam - does anyone know if I forward my Canadian# to my US Roam #, will the call come through?


----------



## xlxo

I recommend discussing with your carrier..... who will pay for the long distance charges to a US number?


----------



## bankr63

Sunshine25 said:


> Roam - does anyone know if I forward my Canadian# to my US Roam #, will the call come through?


Sure, we did this all the time.

The trick is to forward the phone before crossing the border and moving out of local territory.  We'd pull over a couple miles from the border, or do it at the airport before boarding.  Once you have forwarded, shut down the phone and swap in the ROAM SIM Card.  Calls will forward to the new number.  Note that you will be charged for the forwarded call on your Canadian carrier bill at whatever your rate is for US (or other international) calls.

ETA - to xlxo's point, YMMV.  Our carrier is Rogers and it was not an issue.  It should work with other carriers as well.


----------



## minnie56

We have Roam like home with Rigers and it's been awesome! Have used all over the world ..


----------



## Veronique

cate2 said:


> Somebody has probably already suggested this but when we're in Disney we just use their free wi fi to keep in touch. The phone vibrates when an email drops in just like a text and google talk (or face time if you have an iphone) allows you to directly connect - we've done this for the last three years in a row and seldom have an issue with it.




Yes this works perfectly. Please don't pay anything extra when there is free wi-fi pretty much everywhere! At the worst you'll have to walk around to get a perfect  signal, but that's it!


----------



## GabBeFit

If you are with Rogers cant you pay for the roam like home? Its $5 a day. Ive done it twice at Disney now and have not have an issue. And also the wifi is pretty good in the parks, so I didnt even use that much data!


----------



## mullysisters

We use Messenger now, after many $$$$ bills. Yes, it's not audio but it's fast, free and uploading pictures in real time is great.


----------



## epcotfan

I'm a big fan of Roam Mobility. I bought an unlocked dual sim phone (Blu Vivo XL - amazing phone for about $200 on amazon) so I can keep my Roam Mobility sim and Telus sim in there all the time. I don't have to keep handling the sims when I travel. I just switch my call/text/data preferences to whatever carrier I'm using. The only adjustment you might have to make is changing the data settings for Roam Mobility. Though I rarely used the data at Disney since I was on their wifi all the time.


----------



## vincent00

I bought a text+data package through Roam Mobility before the last trip. While it was great for peace of mind, I can't think of any time that I wanted/needed my phone while outside the range of Disney WiFi hotspots.

Next time, I'll probably skip the Roam package altogether and just spend a couple bucks on Skype credit for emergency calls. WiFi is pretty much ubiquitous everywhere on-property.


----------



## Eswift

nosnobunny2006 said:


> I don't believe Rogers charges roaming fees anymore.
> 
> Beth


If you are still active please delete this or amend this. EVERY CANADIAN CARRIER CHARGES ROAMING IN AMERICA BY DEFAULT. I know you are trying to help but you could cost someone 1000s of dollars.

I also know this is an old post but it's the top of am active thread.


----------



## minnie56

IF you have Roam like Home with Rogers, they don't! 
$5 a day ..and you treat your phone just like at home.


----------



## minnie56

I also believe, Bell now offer this ...late out of the gate.


----------



## Eswift

Yes, if you have roam like home or something similar, they only charge that. However that's not what the person stated and it's at the very top of this thread. If you take her at her word, and she repeats it after being told she's wrong, you could pay a bunch of money. It's not a big deal and the correct information is here but that information should be removed, not because it's wrong (lots of wrong stuff on the internet and even this site) but because it could be financially costly for someone. Not very dis like.


----------



## minnie56

Gotcha ..I didn't read back


----------



## WebmasterDoc

Since this thread was started over 9 years ago, there is liable to be some non-current information.

Perhaps it would be best to start a new thread with 2016 information.

This one is now closed simply because some of the posts no longer have current information.


----------

