Dubai Stu

My house in the US is close to the Canadian border. I own a jailbroken iPhone with ATT International Data. I also own a Verizon MiFi which drives my laptop, iPad, and my wife's stuff when we are travelling together. I probably spend three weeks a year in Canada on the installment plan (e.g. a day here, a week there, three hours, etc). My monthly MiFi consumption is roughly 2.3 gigs a month. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

When I was in Canada for more than a few days, I would call Verizon and add Canadian coverage. As the other post indicates, this is no longer an option.

I'm wondering what my best option is at this point in time. I'm willing to pop for a second prepaid MiFi, but want one I can easily reactivate as needed. Is Virgin Mobile (a Bell MVNO) the best deal out there?

tentseller

ViMo is the only deal in Canada.
I have Virgin MiFi on a pay as you use plan. There are enough hotspots out there for me as a Bell internet subscriber and I also have the grandfathered unlimited Data on my BB9800 with Bellmo. There are time when these are not an option. I top up $20 about every two months.

aly

^ if u r always in the same cities you may want to look at WIND mobile or MOBILICITY;

they both have plans as low as 30$/month; mobilicity also includes unlimited tethering including calls to USA, intl SMS..

if u need a larger zone then WIND; no tethering though; and then we go to the legacy providers...(too expensive; not flex; etc. etc.)

EDIT:

here is the link for MOBILICITY;

https://mobilicity.ca/plans/ for the plans
https://mobilicity.ca/Added-Bonus/ for the bonus
http://mobilicity.ca/support/Plans-S...Month-Payment/ for the multi month discount

Braindrain

Yeah, I've heard a lot of good things about the Mobilicity plans.

Dubai Stu

Wind isn't developed enough for me yet. I live just outside Southwest Ontario and there isn't much Wind coverage in my region. I don't even think London is covered yet. Toronto is covered which is part of my stomping grounds, but there is a wifi cloud for downtown Toronto which is pretty good deal. I'm watching Wind closely and may go them once things develop.

tentseller

For Toronto you should look a buying a Starbuck card. You don't need to spend any of the balance but the code on the card gives you 1 or 2 hours at their outlet. Some of the suburb outlets you can get a decent signal parked in front of them.

Many of the larger GTA regional malls are putting in WiFi in 2011

bocastephen

It doesn't look like Mobilcity has pre-paid plans - so not useful for temporary use.

Braindrain

For prepaid, you can look to SpeakOut wireless. $10/mo for unlimited data. However, I'm not sure if you can tether.

You also just can't buy a SIM card from SpeakOut. You need to purchase their hardware, take out their SIM card, and re-sell the hardware via CL. Not difficult as there are multiple promotions during the year and their hardware works perfectly with Rogers SIMs without unlocking. Just a bit of work.

Dubai Stu

US Starbuck cards work perfectly at Canadian Starbucks both to get the coffee and to log on to wifi.

tentseller

Great I hope the reverse is true too.
That's another hundreds of hotspots in GTA for you.

aly

they have month to month plans, hence no contract;

interesting to know, was not aware of this reciprocity..! thx!

PS: if u r not against signing a contract; ROGERS/FIDO both offer the 6GB plan via retentions; and u may be able to get it as a stand alone plan;

ideally a BB version of the plan so that u can use it on your BB and/or MIFI as needed..; maximum costing would be under 50$/month, 30 + GRFF + taxes..;