Berto

I'm heading up to Montreal this weekend over the holiday for a quick little trip. I would like to be able to utilize my HTC Thunderbolt that I have on Verizon while I am there for Google Maps, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, and occasionally looking things up. From what I can tell on the Verizon website the only option is to get an expensive/low data cap data roaming plan that just doesn't seem to be worth the money. I mean really, $30 for 50MB? You've got to be kidding me! So I'm curious if there are perhaps any unpublished or other workarounds to get data roaming while I am up there for the 4 days. My understanding is that there was a plan with Unlimited Canada roaming, but that has since disappeared.


As an alternative, what is the availability of free WiFi around the city like? I could go this route, which is normally what I do when I travel to farther away destinations, but its nice not having to hunt down a hotspot when you just want to check Google Maps or look something up real quick.

Dubai Stu

They used to have a 5gig plan for Canada. On my MiFi, I paid roughly $110 a month and could use my device in the US. Canada, and I think Mexico. The price was actually somewhat cheaper because you could flip it on and off as needed. Then one day, it was gone without notice.

What about an unlocked MiFi style device with a Canadian prepaid SIM. You can get the Zoom Router for apx. $150 and use it globally. XCom Global rents Canadian MiFis.

http://www.xcomglobal.com/coverage/canada.html

iPhoneTrip has a 1gig sim only plan for $7.95 a day.

dan.morgan

I blew through the 50MB in one day. Go with the $125 for 300MB option. It will save you quite a bit. They also have a$75 for 150MB plan.

Berto

Actually, I really should do this for international trips. Unfortunately it wont help me on this one, but it is a good suggestion and would help me out with a trip next month.

That's what I feared - what type of data activities were you doing? I've thought about the 150MB for $75, but you know I just dont feel like I can justify paying for that little internet at that high of a price.

Dubai Stu

When I visit Toronto, I've bought PAYG wifi from OneZone which is a wifi net covering all of Downtown Toronto. The coverage isn't like cellular, but it is pretty good. Does Montreal have something similar?

Berto

Figured that would give a follow up just in case someone down the road is in a similar situation...I went ahead n opted to get the 50MB plan for $30 just so that I would have data if I needed it. Through occasional Facebook/Twitter/Foursquare,Google Maps, Uploading a few pictures here, and using Yelp and other apps, I got by fine. I just avoided checking my email and browsing the full-on graphics intensive web. Free WiFi does appear to be fairly common: the Quays are one giant WiFi zone, and many places around town had free WiFi through the Īle Sans Fil network.

Essentially, it was pretty easy to feed my addiction to always at my side data access in Montreal.