One of the cell companies in the US used to include Canada as part of their packages for nationwide roaming. No additional roaming charges, no long-distance charges etc.

Anyone have a clue who this was? Verizon?

(yes I have been checking out various websites but can't seem to find this)

Verizon Wireless has a plan called North America's Choice plan that includes Canada and Mexico. The plans start at $59.99 US. Here is a link

http://mobileoptions.vzw.com/interna...ing_plans.html

Verizon has a CDMA based mobile service, but I cannot remember who they puggback off of in Canada.

Hmmm - Sprint used to have an option to add Canada to your coverage area for something like $5/month - I used it all the time when I was working up there, instead of paying 50 cents a minute. But I just searched their site, and tried adding features to my account, and it not longer appears to be an option.

That was a huge scam. I got suckered into taking this plan and was billed roaming charges while in Canada - hundreds every month. Every month I called customer service (painful as that was) to get the charges reversed. Month after month they could not correct it.

Finally in frustration, I escalated the case to my State regulators who opened an investigation and called Sprint to the mat to explain what they were doing. Within 24 hours, a senior manager called me back, apologized for the problems, fed me some line about the Canada Roaming Plan was not really for roaming in Canada , and credited back all the months of $5 I paid and then gave me a big account credit if I promised to get the State of Florida off their backs.

Needless to say, the 'Canada Roaming' option soon disappeared from their menu of optional services.

As for the OP's inquiry, other than Verizon, Sprint currently offers nothing and TMobile and Cingular just offer discount plans with a reduced roaming charge in exchange for a monthly fee.

Cingular has a Canada option.

Are you going to be travelling in the US or moving there for some time? I usually just add a North American calling feature to my Canadian cell plan when I am in the US for any length of time. For example, Telus has several Talk North American plans which start at $75/month + 250 minutes. That plan allows me to call anywhere in Canada or the US.

I guess there might also be options with prepaid cell phone cards...????

Cingular and TMobile don't seem too bad, though, in terms of fees, unless I am missing something??

The discounted rates you see are for calling from the US to Canada - not for making/receiving calls while present in Canada. The roaming charges are not much of a savings. Cingular is charging 0.59/min while roaming and TMobile is charging 0.49/min - neither are good bargains.

You *could* get a GSM phone from Cingular or Tmobile and just get a pre-paid SIM card in Canada and snap it in your phone for use up there - or if your use will be frequent, see if you can get your own account with Rogers or Fido (GSM carriers) and swap SIM cards as you travel.

Ah, I see what you mean. I was assuming most of the calls would be made to Canada from the US.

If you're making alot of calls on your cell from the US to other countries, check out a third-party carrier like Gorilla Mobile - a much cheaper option than using your cell carrier.

It was AT&T Wireless GSM accounts, and was called the North America Package (an add-on, not the North America Plan). If you are still on a Cingular Blue Plan (like I am) you can add it for 9.99/mo.

There was some confusion this past Feb, as Blue accounts were being migrated to Cingular's billing system, that the package disappeared. But it was re-entered into the system (from what I read at the Cingular forum).

Operation: When the feature is added to one of the eligible rate plans the Home Service Area will be expanded beyond the 50 United States to include Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. When calling from the expanded Home Service Area (including Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) airtime will be deducted from the included in plan minutes.

Link

Thank you for the suggestions.

I live in Canada, travel to the US but not weekly by any means. I have a GSM phone on Fido now, but their rates are going through the roof for US calling. Next week I am back in the U.S. and wanted to pick up a SIM card for calling in/to the U.S.

Right now no plans to move there, but one never knows.

If I could get a card that would allow calls from Canada to the US or Canada to Canada as part of the package I would grab that - doesn't matter to me if the number is Texas or Toronto. My mobile phone is for my convenience, no-one elses.

I have been looking for the same thing, but for a Blackberry. Verizon has North America's choice, which meets your needs (but no data plan), Sprint just annouced a North America Data Roaming deal, but the Sprint people did not seem to know about it.

BCD

Verizon Wireless used to allow calls to Canada from the US for free, but you would pay roaming if you were calling from Canada. Calls to Canada were free on the regular plans, but that feature has been taken away.

Unlocking your GSM phone to use local SIMs might be a good deal for you, depending on how much you want to use in Canada.

fuzz

I've been faced with a similar problem: I ended up on a weekly trip to Nebraska for work, and found that my Canadian Rogers phone didn't roam here. So, I bought a Cingular 8125 PDA with data access. I now have phone service and unlimited data on a US plan. The unlimited data come in real handy for accessing email on the road, IM'ing with friends, and surfing the web.

As for Canada, when I'm back home I just pop in my Rogers SIM and use my local Vancouver phone. I have a voice-only plan as I don't really need email, msn and web surfing when at home. By the way, the Cingular 8125 can be easily unlocked with readily available downloads from the internet.

Total cost:
$35 USD montly for voice and data (+ Canada calling plan at 19 cents/min)
$25 CDN monthly for voice

I am on an AT&T plan, signed my two-year torture document (contract) just before Cingular reared its ugly head. I know exactly what the plaintiffs in the AT&T/Cingular lawsuit are saying, dropped calls aplenty with the merger.

I have a regular Motorola phone that has a web browser, I have a data plan with this.

I also have the unlimited Canada plan. I pay a flat $20 and get Canada with no additional charge; it just goes against my minutes total.

Does anyone know if I can upgrade to a BlackBerry with similar features with an AT&T contract, or do I have to move to the dark side?