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

[eieio]

To the good, smart folks here:

thank you all for being so incredible knowledgeable and helpful!

may i ask if this following course of action would make the most sense for someone who's vast majority of calls will be from the pay as you go cell to a onesuite.com 866 or local access number in order to call the USA?

Upon arrival in Vancouver, purchase from "Rogers Plus" store a Rogers SIM card ($25 with self activation, or add $15 for store assisted activation) and $40 of INITIAL TOP UP. the current "bonus" is a doubling of the initial top up value UP TO $40. Therefore, i will pay out of pocket $65 for $80 worth of calls.

$80 less 12 days at $1 per day leaves $68. $68 divided by $0.30/min = 226 Mins = roughly 3 Hours and 45 Mins of calls at 30 cents per min. (unlimited calls evenings and weekends, i'll have only 1 weekend in my 12 days there so effectively, my 3 Hours of calls will be apportioned over 12-2 = 10 days, that's only 22 mins per day). My fear is that as my itinerary is Vancouver 604/Calgary 403/Kananaskis 403/Lake Louise 403/Jasper780/Banff 403, it will get rather complicated.

changing area codes imply changing cell numbers. not changing area codes imply great cost when others call, right? though i do not expect to make many Canada to Canada calls as i do not know many people in Canada.

thanks!

[snaimon]

Unless you plan on making lots and lots of calls on the cell phone, I would not invest in the top up right away. You can always add more time/money if needed.

You don't indicate if you are staying in hotels or with friends for the nights you are there. The onesuite card will work just fine from any phone in Canada. A hotel might charge for 800 access so you would use the cell. Or will you be camping and without access to a landline phone?

TRUE, it would be a pain, but you could ask your family or friends, the ones you wish to call back home, to call YOU in the hotel or where you are staying. Just give them a quick call and let them know your room #. I find 30 cents per minute a bit steep for calling the US on top of what onesuite will demand. If they used you onesuite # & pin to reach you in the hotel, that would be more economical.

When we were in Germany, our son called us a few times and that was at a lower rate than if we had called him. Wife insisted we call back home, however.

Bon voyage.

Stan