Coming from out of country mobile data solutions
This ones for the non-locals based on talk on another thread for tips/tricks/solutions to keep your phone happy on as little money as possible, especially for those of us just heading down from north of the border. This may not be fully encompassing and feedback is welcome.
Now, some of the most expensive way (aside from not getting any plan at all and becoming one of those news stories on how someone racked up a 2k wireless bill in one weekend) is generally most carriers travel plans. There is always a YMMV with these since you could be looking at 18 dollars a day with rogers to get text+data (no voice) on the pay by the day and its 100 for the talk/text/data travel plan.
If you do not travel to the US much, they may still be worth it. Someone like myself who likes the occasional cross-border trip and has family in the US...not so much.
There are generally 2 ways to use the US networks more natively and i'll advise from a Canadian point of view (sorry those of you overseas, but if you chime in, i'll update).
1) Purchase a cheap smartphone and get a pre-paid plan. Generally speaking, you're looking at a Cheap Android or a Nokia 52X (depending on carrier). Tmobile tends to be my carrier of choice for cheap pre-paid and offers the Nokia 521 for 120-150 depending on where you purchase it which is about as phones get off contract. There is also picking up off ebay/craigslist/kijiji/etc and sites dedicated to selling phones like Expansys. Once you're done for the weekend, you could potentially resell the phone to recoup some costs if you don't need to keep it. As noted under carriers, Roam Mobility in canada also has a cheap dual sim phone for 50 bucks that may also do the job.
Straight talk is one cheap provider, you can get an old Android for 40 bucks according to their website and as noted, you can get a local unlimited plan for 30 bucks. Straight talk is available through their website or at Walmart.
2) Unlock your current phone and get a prepaid plan while in the US+Sim card. Now, you can generally only unlock your phone via your carrier if its paid off, some will let you do it to allow for travel with enough complaining. Generally speaking I hear that unlock codes can run up to 50 dollars. There are places on the internet that will do it for cheaper, my phone was only 15 bucks. For carriers, translate as Rogers=AT&T, Bell/Telus=Verizon, Wind/publicmobile=T-Mobile and find a plan to fit (note: just because your phone is on one of these carriers in Canada, does not mean you're limited to the equivalent in the US). This may be where some tips and tricks from the locals in the US may help.
Tmobile offers 3 dollars/day Unlimited* talk/text/data and from experience, I had no problems with this last year. Paid 15, got a few days of use as well as my SIM thrown in.
AT&T prepaid looks like they only offer by the month, but the 40 dollar 500 minutes/text/200mb plan easily beats purchasing a weekend on rogers travel plans.
Verizon only looks to offer 2 plans for prepaid with 60/70 dollars offering unlimited talk and text and 2/4gb data. <--if someone wants to chime in with a cheaper pre-paid CDMA carrier, it'd be great.
Edit: I've also been made aware of http://www.roammobility.com/ for Canadians
new edit: Wind Mobile is introducing unlimited US roaming for customers at 15 dollars for the month. Can be added/taken off as needed
Anyone with info on some of the smaller carriers that operate in the US or reseller style carriers (like Virgin mobile in Canada is really just Bell) would be great, i'll update things.
Edit 1: removed 5c, 550 off contract (us pricing) isn't a great "cheap phone" option (easier to craigslist a 4s or something), added roam mobility to cheap carriers.
Edit 2: added straighttalk under option 1.
Edit 3: Wind news
Now, some of the most expensive way (aside from not getting any plan at all and becoming one of those news stories on how someone racked up a 2k wireless bill in one weekend) is generally most carriers travel plans. There is always a YMMV with these since you could be looking at 18 dollars a day with rogers to get text+data (no voice) on the pay by the day and its 100 for the talk/text/data travel plan.
If you do not travel to the US much, they may still be worth it. Someone like myself who likes the occasional cross-border trip and has family in the US...not so much.
There are generally 2 ways to use the US networks more natively and i'll advise from a Canadian point of view (sorry those of you overseas, but if you chime in, i'll update).
1) Purchase a cheap smartphone and get a pre-paid plan. Generally speaking, you're looking at a Cheap Android or a Nokia 52X (depending on carrier). Tmobile tends to be my carrier of choice for cheap pre-paid and offers the Nokia 521 for 120-150 depending on where you purchase it which is about as phones get off contract. There is also picking up off ebay/craigslist/kijiji/etc and sites dedicated to selling phones like Expansys. Once you're done for the weekend, you could potentially resell the phone to recoup some costs if you don't need to keep it. As noted under carriers, Roam Mobility in canada also has a cheap dual sim phone for 50 bucks that may also do the job.
Straight talk is one cheap provider, you can get an old Android for 40 bucks according to their website and as noted, you can get a local unlimited plan for 30 bucks. Straight talk is available through their website or at Walmart.
2) Unlock your current phone and get a prepaid plan while in the US+Sim card. Now, you can generally only unlock your phone via your carrier if its paid off, some will let you do it to allow for travel with enough complaining. Generally speaking I hear that unlock codes can run up to 50 dollars. There are places on the internet that will do it for cheaper, my phone was only 15 bucks. For carriers, translate as Rogers=AT&T, Bell/Telus=Verizon, Wind/publicmobile=T-Mobile and find a plan to fit (note: just because your phone is on one of these carriers in Canada, does not mean you're limited to the equivalent in the US). This may be where some tips and tricks from the locals in the US may help.
Tmobile offers 3 dollars/day Unlimited* talk/text/data and from experience, I had no problems with this last year. Paid 15, got a few days of use as well as my SIM thrown in.
AT&T prepaid looks like they only offer by the month, but the 40 dollar 500 minutes/text/200mb plan easily beats purchasing a weekend on rogers travel plans.
Verizon only looks to offer 2 plans for prepaid with 60/70 dollars offering unlimited talk and text and 2/4gb data. <--if someone wants to chime in with a cheaper pre-paid CDMA carrier, it'd be great.
Edit: I've also been made aware of http://www.roammobility.com/ for Canadians
new edit: Wind Mobile is introducing unlimited US roaming for customers at 15 dollars for the month. Can be added/taken off as needed
Anyone with info on some of the smaller carriers that operate in the US or reseller style carriers (like Virgin mobile in Canada is really just Bell) would be great, i'll update things.
Edit 1: removed 5c, 550 off contract (us pricing) isn't a great "cheap phone" option (easier to craigslist a 4s or something), added roam mobility to cheap carriers.
Edit 2: added straighttalk under option 1.
Edit 3: Wind news
Posting on the phorum again like its 1999
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T-Mobile stores are now requiring you purchase the SIM (or they did when I went to the US 3 weeks ago), and the price is now $10. You must have a PREPAID T-Mobile SIM, not a "REGULAR" T-Mobile SIM. The SIM autoexpires and is literally garbage (T-Mobile will REFUSE reactivation) after 60 days of $0 balance. That makes the T-Mobile option $25 for most ($3 a day x 5 + 10) or $20 for those who can live with very slow data (In fact, at the BCEC, data didn't work at all for me, so it's basically no data).
For T-Mobile, if you want better coverage and full speed data, you will need an AWS compatible phone. For Canadians, that means a phone that works with WIND.
I'm presently trying to figure out the AT&T deal as they seem to offer $0 a day pre-paid service where you pay for every use (text, call, data). Data appears to be 99 cents a day if you use it. Question is how easy it would be for a Canadian to get themselves an AT&T SIM, what the cost of that SIM is, and what the minimum top-up is (T-Mobile is $10 minimum, at least online).
If you have WIND and have had the phone in a contract for longer than 6 months or have used prepaid on it for more than 6 months, you may have it unlocked for $20. That's generally a really bad deal, so check online/eBay.
Last thing--OLD blackberries (as in non BB10 blackberries--BB10 blackberries will work A-OK with plain-jane data) MUST have a proper BB service plan (ie: BIS/BES) for data to work. Since this is an additional cost to the carrier, they pass that on to you, and because there's some setup effort involved, they often refuse to sell that service to users with short/prepaid "contracts".
Ready SIM is a good deal if you don't want to put all this effort in and have an unlocked phone. Be aware it's a worse deal than just going to a T-Mobile store in the US and buying a SIM + 5 days of service, since Ready SIM offers limited internet, plus you will get to pay all those lovely local taxes, which are typically far less in the US (and in the US you would only pay taxes on the $10 the SIM costs, not on the fillup). However, it might be worth the restriction and the slight additional cost to avoid all the hassle. T-Mobile stores are NOT conveniently located near the BCEC, and you want a REAL T-Mobile store, not a Walmart that sells T-Mobile phones.
Thanks!
Once you have a SIM card ($20-$25 depending on where you buy it), you can keep your US number active as long as you use it once a year (you can also just top up once a year with the lowest price plan if you're not going to be traveling - which I think is $2.95). It's convenient to have a static US number, instead of having to give everyone a new number each time.
http://mobilesyrup.com/2014/01/30/wind-mobile-launching-15month-unlimited-u-s-roaming-add-on-gives-unlimited-data-talk-and-text/
One other thing I see, Roam will turn off data service to BB10 phones. Beats me why, I know that BIS/BES aren't an issue unless you are *not* using a BB10 phone, so the only way they can do this is to turn it off. Very odd. Anyways, if you have a BlackBerry (as some Canadians do) avoid them.
I think having your phone unlocked and getting a SIM card for the states is a great move should you travel on a semi regular basis, and that plan from T-Mobile is nothing short of fantastic. The only downside is that switching SIM cards means you limiting yourself to communicating within one country only and will face long distance charges if you need to reach the other side of the border for some reason.
Our solution to keep in touch with both Canada and the US is to get the unlimited texting package for both countries. I don't feel cut off from home and I can also reach any one of my friends. We may not have data but I have yet to find myself in a situation when I desperately needed to get on the internet while on the show floor, and communication via text worked fairly well for us while we where there.
The down side is that it is pricey, to a point it's tempting to just get another SIM card, but then you come back to the first problem. I guess in the end you have to pick what is most important to you.
If you had the unlocked AWS compatible phone already, its almost cheaper in some situations to get a Wind Sim for a month than some of the big 3 addons (which would be good for those who travel regularly and want to be able to still contact home).
I picked up a Karma hotspot last year, worked really well at PAX Prime and Blizzcon, as well as some other roadtrips. The device comes with 1 gig of data and through the data sharing, I've never had to buy more. I highly recommend as the data you buy/acquire never expires, so even if you only go to PAX whatever you don't use will be there next year.
https://yourkarma.com/invite/wtnbef my code will get us both extra data.
http://www.roammobility.com/support/Using-Roam-Mobility-with-a-Blackberry.html
So, as I suspected, they goofed in their original wording and Roam will work A-OK with your new BlackBerry!
http://www.telgo.ca/products/sim
$15 for the SIM, $15 for 3 days, and 20% off if you like them on Facebook (ugh... but I do live cheap). That's $30 vs $31.80 for ROAM.
And if you refer someone and they also register and make a purchase, you both get a free day of talk/text/data. So if people are signing up for Roam, you could coordinate for joint freebies!
Also - for some reason, purchasing multiple 1 day plans is a little cheaper than purchasing 3-day or 7-day plans. /shrug