Is anyone familiar with using these for calls from Vancouver to the UK?

If so, I'd be grateful to know which card offers the best value.

In the past I've purchased Telus long-distance cards but do not know if these represent the best value for money.

Many thanks for your help.

P.S. I assume that pre-paid GSM SIMs can't be bought in Vancouver. Am I correct in thinking this?

There are all kinds of low cost international calling cards sold at convenience stores and specialty shops - the cards usually focus on deals for particular destinations. The major phone company, Telus, will have a reliable card but it will be relatively costly. SIM cards are the domain of Rogers/Fido. You can check out the Rogers web site and find out what is offered.

I think using Skype would be cheapest. Lots of coffee shops offering free wifi.

Officially, prepaid SIM's aren't sold by the majors. However, a quick scan of Craigslist will show a SIM with or without a balance can be easily bought.

Not 'entirely' true. If you bring an unlocked (charged) phone into a FIDO cell phone sales kiosk in the mall or wherever, usually the hungry sales clerk will happily sell you a pay as you go SIM.

However, they won't do it without the phone there, as too many people try to buy SIMs for locked phones and then bring the the SIMs back and complain when they don't work, so you need phone-in-hand.

As I said, not "officially".

Unfortunately, many of the calling cards sold at corner stores are less than reputable and just shy of the border between "gray area" and illegal scam. They hit you with all kinds of fees, misaccount the minutes or just plainly charge more than stated.

My recommendation: check www.loblawstores.ca to see if they have a supermarket close to whereever you are staying. Go there and buy a regular President's Choice long distance card. They come in $5 and higher denonminations and typically charge around 4 or 5 Cents per minute to most places in Canada, USA and western europe (land lines). Best thing: they have no payphone surcharges and free toll-free access - and they work from phones in the USA as well. Once you buy one, you can recharge by credit card.

The only drawback: the card expires 6 months after first use or last recharge.

That seems to be an indictment of a large collection of vendors. I have not had anything but straightforward situations with the cards I've used from smaller stores. The terms are usually spelled out quite clearly.

Well, YMMV. I speak from my personal experience - and especially when I was in Toronto a few years back, I had nothing but trouble with the "off-brand" corner-store type of calling cards.

Obviously, if you need "1.9 Cent per Minute" on the billboard to move the cards, you have to make your money elsewhere. And usually, the terms and conditions are in extremely fine print.

A few of the popular fee schemes:

- Maintenance fees. I have seen 79 Cents per week
- Minimum time per call, say 10 minutes
- Setup fee by call, anywhere between 5 Cents and 25 Cents
- Payphone surcharge, up to 89 Cents per call
- Toll-free access surcharge

And Toronto was the place where I bought the only card that did not work at all (dial-in number was disconnected).

So I would rather use a card from a reputable company that does not hit me with funny fees. I named one that works and is reasonably priced. You are welcome to do the same.

I'm back in the UK and would like to thank all those who responded to my original post.

I found the variety of cards available bewildering. For example, at the Seven Eleven store near my hotel on Davie, I found cards which were better for long calls (because of set up fees) as well as many which quoted, for example from 3 cents per minute to the UK with no further detail. Very confusing!

In the event, I stuck to text messaging. It appears that Rogers is the only operator which uses GSM and I was able to use my UK T-Mobile SIM on Rogers' network for 40 pence a message (around 70 cents). I received text messages at no cost.

Once again, many thanks for the advice.

P.S. Does the Super Valu chain sell the President's Choice/Loblaw card?

FWIW, PetroCanada resells Rogers SIMs under thie own name. Said to be a bit cheaper.

Should do. In B.C., that chain (as well as Extra Foods, Real Canadian Super Store and soon, T&T Supermarket) all fall under the Loblaw umbrella.

Yep, exactly what I was writing about. Because I don't have time to play these games, I stick to the President's Choice card. Even if it should be half a penny more per minute.

70 Cents a message is highway robbery, but there just is no reasonable roaming for anybody in the US or Canada. Even a Roger's SIM in the US has outrageous roaming fees.

Prepaid Cell: FIDO is GSM too, but nowadays this is just another Rogers brand. Depending on how long you stay and how much you call, you could buy a cheap "throw-away" pre-paid phone. Unfortunately, in Canada there are no offers comparable to Trac-Fone in the US.


Fortunately, somebody else knows more about Super Valu than I do and answered this already.

Has anyone any experience of using a Seven Eleven prepaid 'phone?

It's a GSM phone with a SIM in it that activates on the Rogers network. Coverage is the same as Rogers.

http://www.speakoutwireless.ca/

I got a SpeakOut (7-11) phone. If your usage is under ~100 min/month, it's a great program. Any credits (as low as $25) are good for 1 year and incoming texts are free.

I bought it on promo - $100 credit would net me a 50% reduction on the phone. There's an unofficial forum and it seems another promo will be starting Nov 16 (or so) - buy a $100 credit and get $75 off the phone.

I bought the phone just for the SIM card. The SIM can be used on any Rogers-locked phone. I then sold my unused SpeakOut phone (which coincidentally can use any Rogers SIM card, even though they're locked) for the price I bought it for. Thus, my SIM card was free.

I've got no complaints. Switching my phone number took a couple of days. Service calls are professional and prompt.

In case you do get it, you can request a "referral code" from the unofficial forum. That will net the both of you an additional $10 credit.

In addition, currrently $75 and $100 credits also net you a 20% bonus.