Rogers and Telus are not a monopoly. They have the only significant GSM network in Canada (there is a tiny one in the Arctic), but there are CDMA competitors and the new spectrum up for auction will likely be GSM.

I think you meant Fido, not Telus. They are as far as GSM is concerned, which is all that visitors from overseas care about.

They are only contenders if you have to buy a new phone just for your NA visit. If you already have an unlocked quadband GSM phone then a Rogers, Fido, SpeakOut (or Petro-Canada Mobility) SIM plus airtime is all you need. And even if you have a 900/1800 GSM phone you're more likely to consider a GSM solution because you're more familiar/comfortable with it than CDMA.

However the auction ends in July. And they you have to wait for the winners to roll out their offerings. Hopefully one of them will be yak. Then we'll start to see some real price competiion, especially on foreign roaming.

But we're digressing ;)

From the SpeakOut Canada brochure (available as a PDF on their website somewhere):

"Your mobile number may be cancelled if your account has no activity for 120 consecutive days. Please contact Speak Out WirelessSM Customer Care to establish a new mobile number for your account. Mobile number cancellation does not affect your account balance and expiration. A service activation fee and new wireless phone number may be required to reactivate service."

Thank you. That, however, is the Canadian service. The US service, which is provided by AT&T rather than MVNO Ztar, may have different terms. (There are other differences between the two offerings.) Nevertheless, a useful caution for occasional users. I guess we'll have to wait for the resurrection of 7-11's website to find out for sure.

I bought 2 AT&T simcards on eBay, very cheap, but when I went to NYC (about 2 months after I received the cards here in Italy) both the cards were not working. The phone was just saying "no service" and there was no instruction at all about how to activate. Fortunately NYC is full of wifi hotsposts so I even didn't loose my time at an AT&T shop trying to make them work....

caveat emptor
 

My experience.... Ebay SIMs are often sold when they have very short life spans remaining. Without a refill the cards expire. I suspect the 2 months was too long and the cards had simply expired as you did not top up.

Ebay serves as a "dumping ground" or sales area of last resort for many outlets. "If we cannot sell them to our walk-in customers for the full price, we can at least sell them for a pittance on Ebay."

You often see outdated, obsolete, returned or refurbished models of various items being offered on Ebay.

My opinion.

Stan

Yeah, I guess your opinion is right, Stan. Or simply you needed to activate them at some AT&T shop, but I really had not the mood to spend time in a phone shop and I didn't try that time. Quite strange there was no instruction at all on the card, except how to refill, in English and Spanish.

AT&T cards need to be activated. Unlike Tmobile prepaid cards where you can find already activated prepaid cards on ebay, you will rarely find pre-activated AT&T cards. I am quite certain you bought unactivated cards and they need to be activated. Just like tmobile new cards, the AT&T cards can also be activated online, or on the phone without human intervention at all.

I have no idea how could I activate them on the phone, they didn't register to any network, there were no instructions and no sim-menu. Maybe online or at some shop.

On the phone as in another phone. For next time, Just call the 800 numbner listed on the card and it will ask for the sim #. Same thing online.

Online activation page:

https://gophoneactivations.wireless....electType=PAYG