Canada: US person to Canada for a Plan (Monthly vs Pre paid) Fido?or others? Costly!

[eieio]

oh, btw, on top of everything else, there's the additional issue of when being in Jasper, granted, that's only 2 days out of the entire trip, it's on Fido's "extended network" which means another 30 cents PLUS the regular 30 cents for regular day time minutes, PLUS 30 cents for domestic long distance since i'm not in my "original area code" which would have been vancouver! that's a whopping 90 cents per minute!!

am i missing something or is the canadian cell phone system quite unusual?!? feeling pretty weird about this thing already...yikes!

[PhotoJim]

Fido prepaid doesn't consider the "extended network" to be anything different than the normal network. This is only an issue for postpaid service, and only if you don't pay the $5/month fee for the extended network.

[eieio]

i see! that's good news.

what about bringing Rogers into the consideration equation? so far, i've only considered Fido. it seems to me that there's no reason to not think about Rogers as well.

now that Mr. PhotoJim has told me that the extended network is not an issue, i have to think about what to do with these 3 area codes!! i can't really justify buying 3 sim cards, of course, but would it make sense to buy 2 sims? one for vancouver and one for the calgary/banff/lake louise area code? then, the only 2 days that i'd be left without "local calling rates" would be the 2 nights in Jasper. of course, the cost/benefit of the additional cost of the 2nd sim card has to be considered.

again, most of my calls would seem likely to be initiated by me: calling my USA landline to check my answering machine, calling my tmobile USA voicemail (since that has a "all call forward unconditionally" set the day i leave the USA for Vancouver), and calling friends back. all of these calls would be either through a local access number or an 866 number for OneSuite.com's calling card service. so it seems that i'll need lots and lots of "local minutes".

i don't know how to get away from getting a vancouver area code, and then making calls from the calgary area code and not incur a 30 cent per minute surcharge due to it being "canadian long distance" outside of my "local vancouver area code".

this is so darn complicated!

[eieio]

PS: it's almost as though it would be smarter to just use my tmobile USA phone plan and just roam internationally in canada. the price is roughly 69 cents per minute. when you add the 30 cents plus the 30 cents 'outside of local area code' (say if i got a vancouver area code and making calls in calgary for 6 days), that would be 60 cents per minute PLUS my onesuite.com's international rates of 3.5 cents for calls from canada to the US!

that's 63.5 cents per minute!!

whew.

[VladS]

The extra $0.30 long distance charge only applies to long distance calls. If you use the Onesuite toll free (or local to your phisical location) access number you only have to pay for airtime.

Your better option is 7-11 mobile. For $100 you get a basic phone (Nokia 1102) and a SIM prefilled with $105. Airtime rate is $0.20/minute.

[eieio]

VladS: thx for your advice. my follow up questions are:

1. Fido: why did they tell me that if i had a vancouver area code, if i'm in calgary, every 866 call is considered a "local call" and a local call in calgary means incurring canadian long distance since i'm no longer in vancouver? was the representative mistaken? please consider the fact that the majority of my calls will be initiated by me from canada to the US using my onesuite.com 866 access number. only in vancouver, i can use onesuite.com's vancouver local access number (they do not have local area code access numbers in calgary).

2. Fido: may i call to change my area code from vancouver to calgary when i go there? vancouver 4 days, calgary 4 days, jasper 2 days. charges for that? i cannot find it at all on their website. their reps are really not that helpful. i find their answers to be inconsistent.

3. Rogers: why not consider Rogers pay as you go plan? is rogers reception any better? their $1 per day has unlimited evenings starting at 6pm rather than the usual 8pm.

4. Rogers: they seem NOT to charge for changing area codes!!! am i mistaken? i read and re-read their info online, confusing. it is $10 to change your number online but seemingly free if you change your area code. website is so confusing.

5. 7 11: i'm confused why you mentioned that their $100 option is that great. i already have a quad band HTC phone that i'll be bringing to use. wouldn't that save me money by not going the 7 11 route and getting a new phone, however cheap that phone is? though $100 airtime is only $0.20 which is like 500 mins, that's quite a bit. what about canadian long distance when i move from vancouver to calgary? how does 7 11 handle that? they seem not to have much customer service/support at all!! concerned. they also don't have an unlimited evening option, which Rogers does have.

6. Sound /reception quality of Fido vs Rogers vs 7 11?? are they essentially the same? or is one better than another?


thanks in advance! looking forward to hearing your answers sir/madam.

[Motel75]

Originally Posted by VladS

Your better option is 7-11 mobile. For $100 you get a basic phone (Nokia 1102) and a SIM prefilled with $105. Airtime rate is $0.20/minute.

Slightly OT, perhaps, but 7-11 does offer 365-day expiration, with the caveat that they cut off your service if you don't use it for 120 days (and it doesn't offer roaming anywhere else to allow users outside Canada to keep it active).

Vlad, or anyone: Is there a workaround here, such as checking one's voice mail, that would keep 7-11 Mobile active during long stays outside Canada?

Petro-Canada is another theoretical option, but you can't just recharge it every 180 days using a foreign credit card (AFAIK) you need to enter the code available only at Petro-Canada service stations into the phone itself.

[GadgetKen]

Originally Posted by Motel75

Slightly OT, perhaps, but 7-11 does offer 365-day expiration, with the caveat that they cut off your service if you don't use it for 120 days (and it doesn't offer roaming anywhere else to allow users outside Canada to keep it active).

Vlad, or anyone: Is there a workaround here, such as checking one's voice mail, that would keep 7-11 Mobile active during long stays outside Canada?

Petro-Canada is another theoretical option, but you can't just recharge it every 180 days using a foreign credit card (AFAIK) you need to enter the code available only at Petro-Canada service stations into the phone itself.

7-eleven and PetroCanada wireless resellers are actually run by the same ZTar outfit(same customer service center):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleve...k_Out_Wireless

7-eleven Canada official brochure:

http://www.7-eleven.com/products/doc...ochure_can.pdf

According to this unofficial blog, no US roaming yet with 7-Eleven Canada (although there is a US version that runs on Cingular/AT&T-GSMor Sprint-CDMA). :

http://www.speakoutwireless.ca/#number15a

This might change though, because the underlying Rogers/Fido prepaid network now allows US roaming(my prepaid Fido card works in the US).

In answer to the question on something to keep the 120 day useage going from outside of Canada(other than possibly roaming in the US in the future), it could be possible to leave a voicemail message for the cellphone, and then retrieve it from a landline (either the access number for voicemail or dialing your own cellphone without the sim chip in it and pressing #). Assuming a voicemail message even if the sim isn't live on a network would keep the 7-eleven sim chip alive.

[eieio]

btw, any noticeable difference in reception between Fido and Rogers? all i know is that they are basically the same company now but i really don't know if one has better sound quality/reception in more areas, or are they basically the same?

thx!

[PhotoJim]

1. If you have a Vancouver number, and you *receive* a call in Calgary, you pay toll. You will only pay long distance on outgoing calls if you call a long distance number (relative to Calgary). Calling Calgary, or toll-free numbers, will be local since you are in Calgary at the time.

2. You can change numbers. I'm sure there is a charge. I don't know what the charge is.

3. Rogers and Fido use the same network, so reception is identical.

4. I don't know.

5. I don't know.

6. There is only one GSM network in Canada, and it is Rogers' network. Any provider using GSM in Canada is using that network. All the other networks are CDMA, although only Rogers' covers every province. (The CDMA providers roam on each other to provide full national coverage.)