Using US Cell Phone in Canada

[arthur_vandelay]

My fellow Americans (always wanted to say that lol).

If you haven't noticed yet, a lot of the carriers are now including some degree of free or low-cost roaming in The Great White North. Thought I would start a thread with what is being offered. I know the most about the AT&T options, because that is my carrier. By no means is this meant to be complete, and would be great if others can help keep this up to date.

AT&T
* If you are on a Mobile Share Value plan you can call and request the "Canada Roaming Bonus" for free. This provides unlimited talk, text and 1GB of data. The Canada 1GB is an ADDITIONAL bucket of data (does not count against your US data bucket)
* This is a fairly new option (a couple months old) and you have to call and request this. If the front-line rep doesn't know, ask to be transferred to Retentions
* Mobile Share Value plans allow tethering, so you should be able to share your 1GB of Canada data with your iPad, laptop, etc
* I have used this once so far and, if I remember correctly, the carrier in Mtl was Rogers with rock solid coverage ( I did get a text from AT&T saying I had exceeded $100 in roaming charges, gulp, but that was erroneous)

T-Mobile Simple Choice
* Includes 4G LTE data (from your US bucket) and unlimited calling and texting when you’re in Mexico and Canada
* New customers get this plan automatically starting July 15, 2015. Most existing customers can migrate to the Simple Choice North America plan at no extra charge.

Verizon
* For a $2 daily fee you can add TravelPass and use your domestic talk, text and data allowances in Canada (and Mexico)

Sprint
* Call and request Sprint Open World be added to your account. It provides unlimited talk, text and 1Gb of data

AT&T Prepaid
* GoPhone includes Canada roaming for free with the 2GB plan and up
* Cricket includes Canada roaming with the 5GB plan and up

If you want to maximize the use of your data, be sure and install an ad-blocker.

 

[smuler]

Hi Arthur

Can you tell me how long that AT&T free Canada roaming bonus has been in effect ??

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[arthur_vandelay]

Hi Arthur

Can you tell me how long that AT&T free Canada roaming bonus has been in effect ??

Best Regards
Smuler

Why didn't I think of that, Lol. My understanding is it has been available for a couple months.

* This is a fairly new option (a couple months old)

You can read more about it here: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1879793-Canada-Roaming-Bonus

 

[EagerBeaver]

I have AT&T and they just doubled my data for free because they told me they liked me as a customer and how about I go back at them with this: "You take back double data next month and give me Canada Roaming Bonus for free". It's just a swap of freebies.

 

[arthur_vandelay]

EB, you don't even need to suggest they take back your 2x data. The Canada Roaming is free for the taking, you just have to ask. It's a response to the other carriers' Canada roaming plans mentioned above.

 

[smuler]

Arthur..whoever you are, you are a gem !! :clap2:

I just called AT&T, and they turned on the feature for me , as well as crediting back the last 6 months of charges that I incurred while I was in Canada
I told Jesus to let you in to heaven without the usual " interview " :rapture:

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[EagerBeaver]

I just got off the phone with an AT&T rep and he said there is no Canada Roaming Bonus plan, just a Mexico Roaming Bonus plan. I asked him to double check, he did, and he said there is no such plan.

 

[arthur_vandelay]

EB, like I said, the front line reps might not know about it and you might have to ask for the Retention dept. There's an 11 page thread about it here:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1879793-Canada-Roaming-Bonus

 

[arthur_vandelay]

Arthur..whoever you are, you are a gem !! :clap2:

I just called AT&T, and they turned on the feature for me , as well as crediting back the last 6 months of charges that I incurred while I was in Canada
I told Jesus to let you in to heaven without the usual " interview " :rapture:

Best Regards
Smuler

Wow, amaze-balls!

I'm not sure why you were paying AT&T's exorbitant roaming fees, but I will PM you the address for my 50% commission ound:

 

[EagerBeaver]

EB, like I said, the front line reps might not know about it and you might have to ask for the Retention dept. There's an 11 page thread about it here:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1879793-Canada-Roaming-Bonus

Yeah, I called back, they passed me to Retentions and I was told that they could upgrade me for free to Canada Roaming Bonus plan, but the system was down, so I was told to call back tomorrow morning. The two frontline reps knew nothing about the plan and denied its existence. So when I called back I told them to just pass me on to Retentions. I guess they don't want the frontline reps to know about it or give it away.

 

[Tunaking]

Wow awesome thanks for the info. Great timing as I am heading up there next month.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Arthur,

This morning I officially had the AT&T Retentions Department add Canada Roaming Bonus Plan to my Mobile Value Sharing Plan, as a totally free add on. The relevant features:

- 1G data for usage in Canada- unlimited calls and unlimited texting
- check usage of Data by dialing *DATA#

Arthur thank you- you are my hero!!!!!!!!

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

you might have to ask for the Retention dept. [/url]

Love that dept. I had issues with Bell and had a talk with them, got what I wanted plus a little extra for the previous poor service.

 

[IamNY]

Sprint
* Call and request Sprint Open World be added to your account. It provides unlimited talk, text and 1Gb of data

Great thread AV, just to add a little more info regarding Sprint:

The Open World option is a great option if you are going to be doing a lot of calling. You get "unlimited" calling and texting, but if you are going to use over 1 gig of data they will automatically charge you $30 a gig after the 1st gig is used. So it's only really unlimited for the calling and texting, not for the data. The interesting thing about this plan is that since the cell phone towers aren't owned by Sprint there is no way for them to give you a heads up that your about to pay an additional $30 fee. This alone would make me nervous every time I checked my email or used an app. The upside to the data is that it is at 3g speeds.

The Sprint Global Roaming option gives you unlimited data (at 2g speeds) and texting but you pay .20 cents per minute for calls. For me this plan works best because I'm utilizing a Line2 app for any calls that I make and it's done via wifi or using my data. The slower 2g speed is something that I can live with knowing I won't be hit with an undetermined usage fee when I get home.

Hope this is useful.

Walooo

 

[Bred Sob]

Gentlemen, why won't you take a look at Google's Project Fi? It has some shortcomings, sure, (at the moment it only works on two handset models), but at least it lets you forget about roaming once and for all. And not only in Canada but everywhere.

 

[chromedomedrinkslinger]

Thanks for sharing AV! I called AT&T and got the front line folks. They tried walking me through adding via the standard "My account and services" then I asked for the special roaming plan then was passed to retentions. Added the plan and was also offered a free microcell because my area is "problematic". Apparently my area was flagged as poor service, bonus! Thanks again and I hope the bonus roaming plan will help lead to some fruitful hobbying while i'm there.

 

[AnotherDude]

I just switched to Verizon from AT&T because I moved to the Burbs from the City, where AT&T had good data coverage. Verizon said I can pay an extra US$25 and use my full voice and data services in Canada as if I were in the US. But for Hobbying, I'm getting a local prepaid mobile phone in Montreal.

 

[EagerBeaver]

But for Hobbying, I'm getting a local prepaid mobile phone in Montreal.

It will be a minimum $20 to do so with Rogers, plus cost of phone, unless you unlock an old iPhone. So the economics might not be there. The last trip to Montreal, due to assorted dramas that developed with agencies/friends, I refilled the prepaid phone twice, so I paid $60 total for 3 fills. That Verizon deal of $25 would have been better, and even better is the AT&T deal of something for nothing- absolutely nothing.

 

[IamNY]

I just switched to Verizon from AT&T because I moved to the Burbs from the City, where AT&T had good data coverage. Verizon said I can pay an extra US$25 and use my full voice and data services in Canada as if I were in the US. But for Hobbying, I'm getting a local prepaid mobile phone in Montreal.

Instead of a local prepaid phone you may want to check out the Line2 app. For $9.95 a month you get unlimited texting and calling all of which runs off of wifi or data (which you should have international coverage from your current carrier). That's what I've used in Montreal since the international data plan became available and haven't had any issues. One phone, 2 lines, and you can change your Line2 number anytime you want.

 

[EagerBeaver]

This is an update on the results of using my AT&T Canada Roaming Bonus plan in Canada. Which is free.

I was in Montreal 3 days, and my total data usage was 142 of the 1,024 MB data allotted per monthly billing cycle on the plan. There was no attempt on my part to conserve data as I got updates throughout the trip on my data usage and I could see I was nowhere near exhausting my allotted data. It's very clear from my typical usage I will NEVER have an overage on this plan. It's not gonna happen.

I had consistent excellent 5 bar roaming service through Rogers. Very very nice !!!!! Again thanks to Arthur Vandelay for this important tip.