I live in Australia and have a dual band phone (900/1800) - a Nokia 2610 on a GSM network.

I am studying in Canada for a semester and it is a requirement of my uni that I have either a landline or cell phone contact.

From my understanding, even with international roaming on my phone (really my SIM card), my phone wouldn't work in Canada or US because they are on 850/1900.

Is this correct? I'm confused to how roaming works - I understand it uses the international network (Rogers/Fido) to connect back to my Australian network. An explanation would be appreciated (googling confuses me more because it is often written for Europe/US conpatibility).

My plan, therefore, is to buy a prepaid phone in Canada (trying to get a quad band phone) with a Canadian SIM card that I can also put my Australian SIM card into.

Any recommedations for Canadian phone companies? For GSM, Rogers and Fido are my only options. I realise Rogers owns Fido. For coverage (I will be based in a large uni town in Southern Ontario with a lot of German heritage), which would be best? Would it be silly to go with Fido as they seem to have the nicer (and cheaper) prepaid phones? With the range on both their websites, is there more range in the shop or am I better buying online?

Also, has anyone triedTelestial

Thanks for your help.