Thanks, Aly, for the info about Toktumi, that definitely seems like a viable alternative to Verizon. We are very interested in discontinuing our Bell service, for many reasons.
Dubai Stu, thank you for letting me know that it works well in Montreal. I haven't looked at Wind Canada yet, but that is next. And I was interested to hear your comment about the US number worrying Canadians. Canadian cell plans (along with many other things!) are so much more expensive than US plans.
When my husband and I use US numbers to make reservations in Toronto, we have no problems, maybe because many of their customers are from US. Or maybe because they are guessing the cell phone prefix is Canadian - it is close to the kids' Toronto cell prefix.
Several of my daughter's UT classmates use Verizon in Toronto, probably with Nationwide plus Canada, without undue difficulty in communicating with Canadian students. They are from the northeastern US, where they may be more familiar with the options. Here in California, few families have students in Canada, and there is generally less travel to Canada.
However, I do know that many of her friends (Canadian or American) have specific requirements - some she must only text, others, only call - with her Bell phone.