BC Canada Phone/Data Plans Help

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

To my friends up north in BC.

I just walked away from my ATT store not in a good mood. Their plan for using my cell phone and hot spot in Canada is highway robbery.

So what can I do? Can I go to Sidney and get a Canadian plan? Get my smartphone unlocked (I have to pay it off first) and get a Canadian sim card?

We wanted something reasonable to have voice, text and internet access for writing on ASD's Facebook page. I do understand that will be many areas without service.

What say you?

 

[Larry M]

We use ATT prepaid phone plans, ie, no contract. For $60/month you get 5GB high-speed data in the U.S., MX and CA; thereafter unlimited data usage at reduced speeds up to 128Kbps. Unused high-speed data carries over for one 30-day renewal period. get unlimited txt, phone.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone-plans.html

 

[tpbrady]

A lot of the marinas have ok WiFi, so for our transit, I was happy with just voice and text. Once you get north of Vancouver Island, cellular coverage is not that good and in some cases limited to voice and text.

 

[GFC]

Larry, I looked at that plan just now and one of the requirements is that 50% of the talk and text must be in the US. When I questioned them (in their online chat) about it, if the phone goes over the 50% of use in Canada the phone just stops working.

 

[djones44]

To my friends up north in BC.

I just walked away from my ATT store not in a good mood. Their plan for using my cell phone and hot spot in Canada is highway robbery.

So what can I do? Can I go to Sidney and get a Canadian plan? Get my smartphone unlocked (I have to pay it off first) and get a Canadian sim card?

We wanted something reasonable to have voice, text and internet access for writing on ASD's Facebook page. I do understand that will be many areas without service.

What say you?

Shaw is probably your key in port, Telus at sea for range. Authorize any cellphone you own on any plan with Shaw (or have a friend with Shaw authorize your laptop...) and you will have WiFi bandwidth and big GB's in most East Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast towns. Then just do voice when you're moving.

 

[Northern Spy]

Larry, cell is expensive in Canada. Check out the Koodo Mobile pay as you go plan. See if it meets your needs.

 

[Larry M]

We don't do much voice or text, primarily data. The ATT 50% wasn't for data from what we have seen.

Spy: You're right CA cell is expensive. The last time we spent several continual months in CA, we did a pre paid phone with a international phone card for voice. Still a rip off IMHO.

 

[Larry M]

ASD: How much time are you going to spend in CA on your way north? They say 50% in the US on the prepaid but how is that calculated. For the transit, you might be OK.

 

[Moonfish]

We have Verizon and when we went to the Broughtons we added their Int'l Calling Plan for Mexico and Canada. It wasn't much (maybe $30/mo), but it only gave us 250 minutes, 250 texts, and 250 MBs of data - per month! We were working, so we easily used up the monthly allotment. As tpbrady mentioned, we relied as much as possible on marina wifi for email and text. And we relied a lot on our Report Halo WiFi extender to get those weak marina signals. And as most of those remote marinas have satellite systems that are very expensive for data, they all ask that we not post pictures or stream videos on their wifi...

For your purposes of posting while in Canada, I think you're on the right track. I have heard of people buying a pre-paid Canadian phone or SIM card. Please let us know what you find out, as we may follow suit next summer!

 

[SteveD]

T-Mobile or Project Fi!

Go with T-Mobile. Data is free everywhere in the civilized world. It is supposed to be throttled while roaming, but in practice data is not very fast when outside of urban areas anyway. Project Fi, which I really like, uses T-Mobile, Sprint or Wifi seamlessly in the US and roams nicely everywhere else in the world. It is 20 bucks a month and then 10 bucks per Gig for data. Foreign is the same price as U.S. Only downside is that it only works with newer Nexus Phones. T-Mobile will work on any GSM phone.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Our plan this trip up north, based on a lot of help from friends.
Buy a Telus air card once you enter Canadian waters. This would be for your wifi hotspot use.
Rates as of last year are
When you use...You pay...
Up to 100MB$10/month3
Up to 500MB$30/month3
Up to 2GB$45/month3
Up to 6GB$70/month3
Up to 10GB$85/month3
After 10GB+ 5¢/MB4

For voice, buy a cheep unlocked phone (eBay maybe) and buy a Telus SIM card for the unlocked phone. Don't have the rates, but am told the are real reasonable, or a pay as u go phone from a Canadian provider.
Hope that helps.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Forgot to add, you might want to make sure you have a amped Antenna and router for the boat. If you are within a mile or two and have unobstructed line of sight to a marina, use there wifi, if not use your air card.
We are told that sitting in a lot of coves, you will most likely not have cell coverage farther north.

 

[Retriever]

Verizon now has "Travel Pass."

TravelPass Countries & International Fees | Verizon Wireless

$2 per day to use your normal talk/text/data in Canada or Mexico. No charge on days you don't use your phone. This is what I'll be using this summer. Way easier than getting a local SIM card and forwarding calls.

 

[Larry M]

Go with T-Mobile...

We're getting ready to head to the Bahamas and I asked Jeff of Active Captain about T-Mobile since I knew he was testing it there. It sounds like what is advertised vs real life are not the same. Maybe it works better in CA. Here's part of his response:

"I'll be writing more about it in a newsletter. Basically, it was a total bust - it was very, very poor and unusable for access, signal strength, and tethering. "

 

[sunchaser]

Verizon now has "Travel Pass."

TravelPass Countries & International Fees | Verizon Wireless

$2 per day to use your normal talk/text/data in Canada or Mexico. No charge on days you don't use your phone. This is what I'll be using this summer. Way easier than getting a local SIM card and forwarding calls.

Have you verified in BC by actual usage this is how it really works? Verizon has presented us with "marvelous" plans only to ALWAYS back slide on us in BC eventually altering plans to where we pay egregious roaming charges.

Bait and switch.

 

[SR400DB]

Have you verified in BC by actual usage this is how it really works? Verizon has presented us with "marvelous" plans only to ALWAYS back slide on us in BC eventually altering plans to where we pay egregious roaming charges.

Bait and switch.

I have used the travel pass with Verizon three times now on three separate trips. Works great, $2 per day and no issues at all.

 

[nwboater]

I have the ATT plan that includes Canada voice calls for $5 extra per month. I have a separate Telus data plan for $10/month connected to a hot spot. Works well.

 

[porman]

Great information. We were just going to look at telephone plans for Canada for our very first cruise to the Broughtons this summer. Since we are already with Verizon, TravelPass looks like the way to go.

 

[Moonfish]

Verizon now has "Travel Pass."

TravelPass Countries & International Fees | Verizon Wireless

$2 per day to use your normal talk/text/data in Canada or Mexico. No charge on days you don't use your phone. This is what I'll be using this summer. Way easier than getting a local SIM card and forwarding calls.

Thanks, Sam! This is great. We'll definitely use it. Wish they would have had this available last year...

 

[kthoennes]

Verizon now has "Travel Pass."

TravelPass Countries & International Fees | Verizon Wireless

$2 per day to use your normal talk/text/data in Canada or Mexico. No charge on days you don't use your phone. This is what I'll be using this summer. Way easier than getting a local SIM card and forwarding calls.

Yep, that's a great feature. We spent 4 days around Vancouver a couple weeks ago and the plan came in very handy. The option just popped up as a text message from Verizon and we opted in. Other posters are right though, coverage can be spotty and our phones would often do odd things. We spent most of the time around White Rock. As I understand it, the $2 a day gives you access in Canada to your plan features as if you were still home, same data limits, etc. $16 for both phones, four days, not bad.

 

[Rebel112r]

Signed up for Bell a couple of seasons ago, wasn't so great coverage wise, have used ATT with their intl plan, also coverage and cost was an issue. Last year we had both ATT and Tmobile, liked Tmobile better. No additional fees, except call from Canada 20 cents a minute, nothing for data or texts. Coverage hit and miss, but that depends on where you are, not so much as the carrier. We never got above Cape Caution last year, so cant say what you will find further north, I would assume very little.

 

[nmuir]

As many have mentioned coverage is a question, and might be the trump card in determining the best way to go. Many of the smaller carriers have great sounding plans but only service urban areas. Georgia Strait and Gulf Islands are all pretty good from the big players. There is a lot of variability of coverage between the urban and remote areas.

Once you get into remote spots there can be no coverage from anyone! In the west coast Telus and Bell share cell towers so coverage is similar. I have used both Telus and Bell and could not see a big difference between them - maybe Telus better but that also might be my imagination. I also used Rogers for years and think their coverage lead back in the day has disappeared. YMMV

Also as other have mentioned marinas often have WiFi, but even with WiFi the remote spots might be connected via satellite so you can't drive much on it.

Thinking about the spots you are frequenting and whose networks plans are roaming on might make the difference.

Good luck. And the silver lining in some places is not having any coverage at all to join in that meeting or do emails - instead having to sit on the back deck with a coffee. Darn.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Wow great info! Thanks we will check thing out and keep you posted. We do have a Wilson cell phone booster, so that will help. Understand that will be many areas with no service which in that case the family can look at my Spot page....

 

[Moonfish]

Wow great info! Thanks we will check thing out and keep you posted. We do have a Wilson cell phone booster, so that will help. Understand that will be many areas with no service which in that case the family can look at my Spot page....

What are your experiences with the Wilson cell booster?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

What are your experiences with the Wilson cell booster?

Well here at my dock on the Columbia River we have a poor signal. So long as my smart phone is clipped into the cradle, there is a difference. I also have a blue tooth headset, so I can almost walk the entire boat and I am able to talk on the phone. This works very well from the bridge with the cradle downstairs in the salon.

I will say it was a little spendy at $600. It will be interesting to see how it works.

 

[SteveD]

B.C. cell coverage maps

This is a good resource for managing your expectations:

Cellular/Mobile Equipment Maps

T-Mobile tends to roam to Rogers, Verizon to Telus although your mileage may vary.

 

[Northern Spy]

This is a good resource for managing your expectations:



Cellular/Mobile Equipment Maps



T-Mobile tends to roam to Rogers, Verizon to Telus although your mileage may vary.

Not very helpful. The maps I looked at in BC were 10 -12 years old...

 

[SteveD]

Not bad

Not very helpful. The maps I looked at in BC were 10 -12 years old...

I don't think the towers have moved much . See this:


Canadian Cellular Towers Map

 

[Northern Spy]

Maybe, but I bet they built a few since then...

Like this one.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

We use ATT prepaid phone plans, ie, no contract. For $60/month you get 5GB high-speed data in the U.S., MX and CA; thereafter unlimited data usage at reduced speeds up to 128Kbps. Unused high-speed data carries over for one 30-day renewal period. get unlimited txt, phone.

https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/gophone-plans.html

I was thinking of this until I read this:

Mexico and Canada: Includes unlimited calling and texting within and between U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Also includes use of the high-speed data allotment from your plan in Mexico or Canada. Both the number of texts and number of voice minutes used, made, or received while in Mexico and Canada cannot exceed 50% of the total number of texts or voice minutes in a month for any consecutive three-month period, or service may be terminated.