Best option for travelling to Canada?

misconduct · 13-02-2007, 05:42

As people have previously mentioned, Fido was bought out by Rogers so they have essentially the same network. If you don't go into seriously rural Canada or off the major highways, you should have full access to all services.

I'm not sure if Rogers has changed their rates but Fido has made changes to their packages so that you can have free incoming calls for $1 a day, a flat rate of 15 cents per minute for all calls, or a cheaper rate for evening calls but expensive during peak hours. Just choose what seems best for you. Quite honestly, if you're planning on calling home, don't go with the cheap evening rate because it makes no sense with the time difference.

As for long distance phone cards, try to go with phone cards offered by the major phone companies. ie. go with Bell, Telus or AT&T. You can buy discount phone cards everywhere (convenience stores, lotto kiosks, etc) but the quality of the phone line can be absolutely rotten with the discount phone cards plus there are often hidden fees, like a $1.99 charge for the first minute. Bell stores should sell the cards and the stores are in every major shopping centre.

One thing to watch for with the long distance cards is that they sometimes charge more for a call to an overseas mobile phone vs an overseas land line. My best friend lives in London and I call her regularly. If I call her mobile with a Telus long distance card, it can cost anywhere from 33 to 50 cents a minute (different rates depending if I'm using a $5, $10, or $20 card). However if I call her land line, it's only 8 cents a minute. The one consistent thing about just using Fido to dial internationally is that it's a flat rate regardless of land or mobile phone number. However, Fido used to prohibit international calling on their pay as you go plans and they still might do it.

GadgetKen · 13-02-2007, 20:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by misconduct

However, Fido used to prohibit international calling on their pay as you go plans and they still might do it.

According to the Fido website, they now allow international long distance on their prepaid plans. There is a prepaid international long distance calculator on the long distance portion of the Fido website. Calls to USA are 30 cents a minutes (I can confirm this from personal use) and calls to the UK are 35 cents a minute...plus the airtime cost. A quality prepaid long distance calling card would be considerably less than this, but if only a small volume of calls, it may be worth it for the convenience of direct dial long distance.

	(#1)
misconduct (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 5 Join Date: 13 Feb 2007 Country:	13-02-2007, 05:42 As people have previously mentioned, Fido was bought out by Rogers so they have essentially the same network. If you don't go into seriously rural Canada or off the major highways, you should have full access to all services. I'm not sure if Rogers has changed their rates but Fido has made changes to their packages so that you can have free incoming calls for $1 a day, a flat rate of 15 cents per minute for all calls, or a cheaper rate for evening calls but expensive during peak hours. Just choose what seems best for you. Quite honestly, if you're planning on calling home, don't go with the cheap evening rate because it makes no sense with the time difference. As for long distance phone cards, try to go with phone cards offered by the major phone companies. ie. go with Bell, Telus or AT&T. You can buy discount phone cards everywhere (convenience stores, lotto kiosks, etc) but the quality of the phone line can be absolutely rotten with the discount phone cards plus there are often hidden fees, like a $1.99 charge for the first minute. Bell stores should sell the cards and the stores are in every major shopping centre. One thing to watch for with the long distance cards is that they sometimes charge more for a call to an overseas mobile phone vs an overseas land line. My best friend lives in London and I call her regularly. If I call her mobile with a Telus long distance card, it can cost anywhere from 33 to 50 cents a minute (different rates depending if I'm using a $5, $10, or $20 card). However if I call her land line, it's only 8 cents a minute. The one consistent thing about just using Fido to dial internationally is that it's a flat rate regardless of land or mobile phone number. However, Fido used to prohibit international calling on their pay as you go plans and they still might do it.