Canada data recommendations
 

I'm going to be traveling to Canada, and was interested in mainly data while roaming around the Vancouver area and up to Banff on my GSM tablet. I'm traveling from the US, and have no US provider I could use to roam in Canada (I'm on Sprint and they can provide a roaming sim card, but it's pretty exorbitant).

Any recommendations on the best provider I could go with to get a sim?

abroadband seems pretty good, but I'm not going to be able to fly to Austria to pickup the sim.

I wish Tru worked, but they don't support Canada as a Tru country and are very expensive as a result.

Anyone I'm overlooking?

Buy a Virgin Mobile Canada prepaid iPad SIM. They have a full size SIM version for Android tablets. Note their data sticks are on CDMA, their iPad prepaid is on HSPA and uses the Bell Mobility 3G network.

Is this the plan you're talking about?

Tablet Data on the Go - Virgin Mobile Canada

Seems like it's actually post-paid, so would I run into difficulties buying this without a Canadian credit card?

I chatted with a guy at the Virgin Mobile Store in Windsor. He said the plan isn't prepaid, but month to month. I am not sure if this will create a problem for you or not. Rogers gave me a contract based on my US credit history, I'm not sure what Virgin will do. If that doesn't work, check out this Roger's offering:

iPad Prepaid Sim Cards USA, UK, Caribbean, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Thailand, UK..

Thanks, this seems like a pretty attractive offering. So $10 for the sim and then $15 for 250MB of data.

I don't suppose you happen to know if a non-iPad tablet would be eligible for the $15 iPad plan, or would I need to get the $20 Flex Rate Data Plan for Tablets? Also, do you think this is something I could just walk into a Rogers store and buy?

The Rogers iPad plan does not work on non-iPad devices. Well, it might work on some other tablets (I"ve not tried) but it doesn't work for tethering on phones and it doesn't work on data sticks.

If the plan will still work for you, you can buy a SIM at any Rogers shop or if you'd like, I've got a pre-activated SIM (that's never been used) that I'd be happy to send to you by mail for $10 US so you can have it when you arrive, if you have time.

Jim

Thanks for the generous offer, but it's unlikely to make it to me in time I think, as I'm leaving in only a few days. I do think I'll drop by a Rogers store and see if I can't get on that iPad plan though.

They have the same plan foe the Galaxy Tab so possibly.

Telus just started offering prepaid data plans in Canada. But they can't be used on blackberries, or non 3G GSM devices.

The three new options are:

$10/month: 100MB
$25/month: 500MB
$30/month: 1GB

That sounds pretty attractive, cheaper than Rogers. However, is this the plan you're talking about:
Messaging and Data | Prepaid | Plans | TELUS Mobility

Seems like that's 4G-only, which I don't think would work on my Android Galaxy Tab. If so, then the next cheapest plan would be $20 for 250MB of data, which is more expensive than Rogers' iPad $15 plan.

How does the coverage of Rogers compare with Telus in the Vancouver to Banff region?

"4G" is really 3G+ so any GSM device that supports UMTS on the appropriate frequencies will work (850 & 1900 MHz).

As for coverage, Telus has some advantages particularly in the very mountainous areas between Kamloops and Calgary but Rogers is not bad. Almost all of Rogers' coverage in that area is now 3G, and there is 2G fallback as well (the odd site is 2G only but not many until you get to Saskatchewan, where I am [waves hello] which is pretty far east of where you're planning to be). Select your province | TELUS Mobility and Redirect to the right page have coverage maps you can check.

Telus also has their tablet flex data plans that start at $20 for 500mb and go up to $35 for 5GB based on your usage but it only works for tablets.

Telus' advantage vs Rogers is that their network coverage is all 3G. There will be no 2G fallback.... But depending on your travel destination, would determine their coverage

So it sounds like Telus has the coverage advantage in the sense that everywhere it covers is 3G, whereas they both have about the same coverage area?

From the specs list of my Galaxy Tab:
Network: HSDPA 900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 7.2–capable; EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

Sounds like it would work okay on Telus right? Since they're cheaper with the same coverage area and better speeds, maybe I'll go with them.

Rogers is 3G nearly everywhere you plan to be so I think the two carriers are nearly interchangeable.

In Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada, Rogers still has tons of 2G without 3G overlaying it. In Alberta and BC, almost all of the coverage is dual 2G and 3G with Rogers.

Check the coverage maps to see how it will be where you are; this is the best way to know.

Note that it isn't necessarily all good to not have 2G underneath the 3G. In areas of weak coverage, 2G can be more reliable than 3G.

Came back from my trip, figured I'd leave my experiences in case anyone happens across this thread in a similar situation.

Rogers refuses to activate their $15 iPad data plan on a non-iPad.

Telus's $10 100MB data plan is an add-on only to an existing data plan, and cannot be used on its own. I ended up having to buy a post-paid Telus $20 for 500MB tablet data plan. The transaction would only go through using an Amex.

However, Telus's coverage along the routes I drove was absolutely abysmal. I started in Vancouver, and drove across highway 1 to Calgary through Banff, and then back along the southern highway 3. The majority of time there was no data coverage, including in all of the parks.