AN*G-BNE

Hi all

We (2 families totalling 7) will be in Canada for 3 weeks very soon now. We're used to the wide availability of SIMs with data in Australia, Asia and Europe, for very reasonable rates.

Unfortunately, despite many hours of searching mobile operator sites, and forums, I cannot seem to find what we're looking for, in terms of prepaid smartphone SIMs, and so, I'm turning to this forum for help and advice.

We have a combination of phones, mainly Android devices, with a couple of jail-broken iPhones. All run GSM 900/1800/1900/2100 and 3G (HSPA) 850/900/2100, so compatibility with Rogers at least would appear to be not a problem. We want to run more than just web browsing, so that applications like Google Maps, and satski (a ski field tracker), and the native Gmail application will run. We're not interested in tethering, as the hotels all have WiFi access. The few possibilities I have found (Rogers Pay-As-You-Go, Speakoutwireless Prepaid) all seem to suggest that their prepaid internet is WAP browsing only - though I may be interpreting it wrong.

What would be ideal, would be a prepaid SIM with a reasonable amount of data, that we could buy on arrival and activate. Any recommendations on a product that might be suitable? Or do such things just don't exist in Canada?

Thanks

Jay71

I have the same issue when traveling to the States.
Others will likely come up with some good suggestions but here are some ideas to help you with your research (tho, I'm sure you've know much of this already)...

The big carriers are: TELUS, Bell, and Rogers.
They have value brands: Koodo, Solo, Virgin, Fido, Chatr.
New carriers are: Wind, Videotron, Mobilicity.

I don't think you can get prepaid data for apps (ie. vs just web browsing) or just get buy a data add-on for a prepaid voice plan. [just guessing]
Since you'll be here for 3 weeks, I'm wondering if you can get a post paid plan for 1 month? You'd likely be looking at around $45 to $50 (plus taxes) for a plan with a decent amount of data. [Kind of pricey but considering I paid $15/day for in room Internet access in Las Vegas...].

Where about are you going to be? Different parts of the country may have different options.

Jay71

Just talked to my buddy. Apparently TELUS offers their data add-on to pre-pay now (even tho parts of their website says it doesn't).

$20 for 250MB for 30 days.
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/p...essaging.shtml

Fido also has a weekly data pass
Data Week Pass $7 for 125 MB for a one week period
If you have a BlackBerry device, Data Passes can be used for on-device browsing only. If you have any other smartphone (i.e. iPhone) Data Passes can be used for email, IM, on-device browsing and application use.

http://www.fido.ca/web/content/inter..._email_options
[Website sucks. Make sure you scroll down to the data pass section]

I'll let you figure out if your phones have the right bands.

Taiwaned

OP has GSM phones.

With that been the case, only Rogers and those who use the Roger's network can be considered. (Fido and Peteo Canada Speakout)

The easiest thing to do is to go to a Roger's store and purchase the SIM (even though it is very overpriced) and set yourself up with a PREPAID plan. There are many types available.

There are ways to save some money in getting the SIM chips. If you go to craigslist you can purchase for 10-15 dollars a brand new never used chips and then add money.This will save you about $20-30 dollars per chip however it is a pain to do especially if you are planning to purchase more than one chip. (Rogers gave out free chips to people purchasing IPHONES but if you were already on the Roger's network, then you just swaped out the old chip and put in the new chip - thus the large list of people trying to sell new SIM cards on various bulletin boards) If you are tight for money, then this is the best way to go despite the pain to contact, meet and purchase SIMs.

As for the question about WAP. This is something I have to defer to others.

AN*G-BNE

Thanks for the tips!

With your information, I did more investigating, and yes, because of the frequencies available on most of our phones, the best option is to use Rogers (and those using Rogers).

It looks like we can pick up a prepaid SIM ($10) somehow, and get onto an appropriate voice plan for each of us (from about $20/month), and then do an add-on of $7 for a 7 day, 125MB smartphone data week pass each week. Not outrageous, but definitely expensive compared to Australian and Asian prepaid rates (e.g. in Australia for prepaids it's typically about $30 for a month, which includes about 5 hours of airtime minutes, plus 500MB of unfiltered data including tethering).

Any more advice or confirmation that my plan above will work gratefully received.

Thanks again.


We'll be only in BC, so hopefully Rogers has decent coverage there.

Taiwaned

Over the years, I have tried the Rogers network, Bell Network and Telus network. I found Telus to be better coverage in out of the place areas but Rogers was just better all around service.

Last month, when I went back to visit parents, I had to purchase a SIM off Craigslist and add the $20.00 plan. Total cost including chip was 35.00 however it took half a day. Saved $15.00 only plus 15% taxes. Was it worth it? Not really but I just couldn't get over the fact that I was only going to use the phone for not even two weeks so not spending that extra money was a principle thing. You have to really analyze your how much time you want to save vs how much money you will save. If time is of utmost importance, go to a Roger's store in any shopping mall.

Jay71

I'm open to be corrected here but...
OP mentioned they have iPhones. If they're 3G models or newer, I thought they would work on TELUS' new HSPA network.

I'm pulling the band specs for the iPhone 3G from Wikipedia.
"In addition to previous: Assisted GPS, Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)"
TELUS new network uses 850MHz and 1900MHz (based on this thread, post #8).

However, as originally mentioned, I initially didn't think TELUS did data (plans) on prepay. The following link says sim card phones on the PrePay network is subject to pay per use fees which are likely pretty pricey.
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/p...?eVar6=link#C1

But my buddy says he's pretty sure they do that $20 250MB data plan on Pay and Talk now as I mentioned in the previous post (and that they probably just haven't updated the Pay and Talk FAQ's website). This data add-on links from the Pay and Talk plans page.

If this iPhone solution actually works, you might want to consider TELUS since you're staying in BC. TELUS is the incumbent provider in BC and likely has better HSPA+ coverage from their new network than Rogers/Fido. In the larger urban centres, it's probably a wash. On the other hand, you can likely fall back to a larger Rogers GSM coverage area with any of your GSM phones but that likely won't help much with you data needs.

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/h...da3gmaps.shtml
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wi...909-_-coverage

Taiwaned

I read this to mean lots of phones involved of which a couple happen to be iphones but if there are lots of iphones involved than the new telus network is better coverage as jay71 mentioned especially if you are skiing on the mountains.

That been said, the swapable GSM SIMS on Rogers / Fido still is the cheapest way to go about this IMHO.

AN*G-BNE

Thanks Taiwaned and Jay71.

To clarify, we have 5 Android phones, 2 of which run GSM 900/1800/1900/2100 plus HSPA 850/2100, and 3 which run GSM 900/1800/1900/2100 plus HSPA 900/2100. The 2 iPhones that others in our group have are Australian frequency iPhones, so the HSPA only runs 900/2100.

So, it looks like TELUS will only work with the 2 Android phones with HSPA 850/2100 and not with the other Android phones or the Australian iPhones as they do not support either of the TELUS HSPA frequencies.

It also looks like with the exception of those two aforementioned Android phones, the best we can do with the other phones is Rogers GSM 1900. Not a real problem, as for what we want data for (maps, email, etc), the lower bandwidth of GSM/EDGE will be quite adequate.

Thanks very much for all your assistance. It looks like we will have to end up getting a stack of Rogers (or someone who resells the Rogers network) SIMs and getting the weekly data plan on them. It looks like Rogers sells their SIMs via their website for $9.99, so I'm hoping I can get them around that price from a Rogers store.

Jay71

I stand corrected. I didn't realize there was a specific iPhone model for Australia.
(BTW, I don't think you can use your Android phones on the TELUS network unless they have both bands because you wouldn't be able to tell which band the tower you're hitting is using.)

Enjoy your trip!

[Actually, one more side question... OP, are you involved in real estate per chance? Long story. If not, forget I mentioned it. ]

AN*G-BNE

Rogers definitely the go then. Will report back at the end of the trip on how it all went.

And, sorry no - nothing to do with real estate unless you count the buying and selling of my own homes over the last 20 odd years (completely liquidated to cash now whilst anticipating a market fall)

Dubai Stu

What about renting a Canadian MiFi from XCom global?

xcomglobal.com

It is $14.95 and you can maintain five simultaneous connections (if you hook the device to a Cradlepoint router you can go beyond that). Another option is to rent a SIM from iPhonetrip, but it in a jailbroken iPhone and use MiWi to share the connection with everyone else or PDANet on an Android phone. Be sure to bring backup batteries and car chargers.

Emma65

I got here little over two weeks ago and was told, in no uncertain terms, by telus, rogers, fido, kodoo, bell, etc (the latter by 3rd party sales points), that NO provider in Canada doprepaid data for iphone/smartphone. They would only do prepaid data for blackberrys or normal mobile phones that can brows the web.

So I wen't with Telus for a prepaid sim for voice only and it's working fine in my iphone.

Then I read here that Fido might actually do data for smartphones so asked them at one of their own sales points and they said yes. I have another two weeks on my telus plan and then I'll jump over to Fido. Unless my work permit clears and I'll go with a contract on ACN.

AN*G-BNE

I'm here now and this is what happened.

Once I'd settled in to the hotel, I took a walk down Davies St and found a Rogers outlet. No problems at all - bought 3 sims for $9.99 each and was out of there in 5 minutes. They offered to register and activate the sims in store, but since I wanted to get back to the hotel, I declined after confirming that it was possible to self activate online.

Entered all the details online, but had to try 3 different credit cards - my Australian Visa Signature and mastercard Platinum both failed, but the Amex worked fine. Then, at the end of the process, an error came up saying that it was not possible to activate the sim.

Went back to the store (only 3 minutes walk from hotel) and asked them. Turns out that they neglected to tell me one important thing - if you are bringing your own phone, you need to enter 111111111111119 as the.IMEI and not the real IMEI of your phone. Since I was back there, got them to activate and top up with some funds.

Back at the hotel, I put the sims in and found that all was working great. I had them on the MY5 plan, which gave unlimited calls and text to 5 nominated numbers. Tried accessing data through an application, and an sms arrived with a link to a page to purchase a data pack. Chose the $7 weekly 125MB pass and all was good.

Thanks for all the information.

mgchan

Sorry to piggy-back -- I will be traveling to Whistler for about a week in February and would love to be able to use my iPhone 4 (purchased in the US, but jailbroken and unlocked) for voice and data. It sounds like for sure Rogers and Fido will work, with Fido the only place I can find that explicitly states that the iPhone will work with the prepaid plan.

I have also heard that the iPhone should work on Telus as well, which might have better coverage in BC, but didn't find as many good options for plans as Fido (e.g. the day pass for data).

I'm traveling with my girlfriend who has the same phone. We would mostly be using it to perhaps call each other, call around town, and make calls back to the US. If the international calling is significantly more expensive we could probably use Skype over the data plan instead.

Anyone have a good idea of what might be the best bet? I'm thinking Fido might be easiest, since I can buy a couple microsims on eBay and activate them as soon as we get in? Or any obstacles I might not have considered?