International sim with USA number

[petkow]

Some interesting stats vaguely related to this drift:

Only 27% of US citizens have a passport. Of these a record 320,000 got them in the first 7 days of 2007 due to a new rule that was enforced on Jan 23rd requiring a passport for travel between the US and Canada.

On the flip side I wonder how many Europeans don't have a passport/national ID card?

[MATHA531]

Originally Posted by petkow

Some interesting stats vaguely related to this drift:

Only 27% of US citizens have a passport. Of these a record 320,000 got them in the first 7 days of 2007 due to a new rule that was enforced on Jan 23rd requiring a passport for travel between the US and Canada.

On the flip side I wonder how many Europeans don't have a passport/national ID card?

Well petkow...you certainly do understand the big difference...in Europe you travel 20 or 30 km and you are in a different country and while the Schengen agreement has cut down on some of the paperwork at frontiers, they still sometimes do ask for identity cards or passports. The relative magnitudes of the border areas are completely different....a much smaller percentage of Americans live within 160 km. of the Canadian or Mexican borders then Canadians to the US border...in the United States if you live in say Atlanta, you are nowhere near an international border where a passport would be necessary. Not many Americans spend their summer breaks in Canada whereas many Canadians, many Canadians, think nothing of buying up property in Florida or Arizona and spending their winters there and although they never technically needed passports, after 9/11 American paranoia increased to such a degree that more and more border crossings especially of Canadians into the United States began checking more closely and it was easier to have a passport although as noted it was not required.

[petkow]

Too true Matha 531. It is a big difference.

Originally Posted by MATHA531

many Canadians, think nothing of buying up property in Florida or Arizona and spending their winters there

I think they call them "Snowbirds"!

By the way, (in an effort to vaguely get back onto topic)... what are agreements like between the networks in the US and Canada? I know many of the US networks allow your 'free minutes'/airtime to be used for calling Canada, but I do not know if it is the same vice versa. Do any of these offer any deals on using your airtime for incoming when you are across the border? Maybe there is a 'snowbird special' tarrif!

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by petkow

By the way, (in an effort to vaguely get back onto topic)... what are agreements like between the networks in the US and Canada? I know many of the US networks allow your 'free minutes'/airtime to be used for calling Canada, but I do not know if it is the same vice versa. Do any of these offer any deals on using your airtime for incoming when you are across the border? Maybe there is a 'snowbird special' tarrif!

Most plans suck when it comes to roaming in the other country. That's why I have a couple of prepaid US phones. Lots of Americans who come here regularly have Canadian prepaid service too.

I found a little tiny regional provider in Montana (Sagebrush) that includes Canadian roaming at no charge in some of its higher-end plans, which was interesting.

[Przemolog]

Originally Posted by MATHA531

Well petkow...you certainly do understand the big difference...in Europe you travel 20 or 30 km and you are in a different country and while the Schengen agreement has cut down on some of the paperwork at frontiers, they still sometimes do ask for identity cards or passports. The relative magnitudes of the border areas are completely different....a much smaller percentage of Americans live within 160 km. of the Canadian or Mexican borders then Canadians to the US border...

Yes, but it's not only about number of people that live near borders, but also about their fancy shapes, as I have already said. Because of this fact, the fastest/cheapest/easiest routes for domestic trips in Europe involve crossing the territory of another country (e.g. Wien-Salzburg-Innsbruck via Germany). Using those transit routes forces travelling people who want to be in touch to use roaming sick rates or to restrict using their mobile phones to receiving SMS only. OTOH, the US has really "uncomplicated" borders. Even though Alaska is "detached" from mainland USA and the province of Ontario is a Canadia "wedge" how many Americans travel via land routes to Alaska or e.g. from Maine to Minnesota via Canada? Even if there were tens of thousands a day, then what they really needed, would be "US-Canadian" SIMs, not "global" ones....