Canada/US mobile phones

Me and a couple of the lads over here in the Maritimes are looking in to different phone options as the Bell 10-4 service is apparently ending soon. Now I believe some on here out west are on with Rogers and have that $5 a day add on for unlimited US roaming up to a maximum of $45 or is it $50 per month? Rogers are telling us that its completely unlimited so that if both drivers were in the US calling each other, or both in Canada, or one in Canada and the other the US etc then there will be no unexpected additional charges on top of the monthly bill plus the $5 per day. Is this correct?

Koodo are also claiming to have something very similar in price with regards calling to, from and within the US.

That seems expensive Jordan, we pay $3.50 a month for 1,000 minutes in Canada per month, that’s on 4 phones, we don’t pay for data in Canada though, some guys I know have separate Verizon phones for when they are in the US.

Having a seperate phone for the US won’t suit what we want it for. Its mainly to talk to each other when down the road and one of us may often be in Canada while the other is in the US etc and Verizon won’t do contract phones now to anyone who doesn’t have a US social security number. Not sure what their pay as you go options are like.

We want something thats good to talk Canada to Canada, Canada to the US, US to US and US to Canada. Since arriving here in 2009 we’ve all had the 10-4 push to talk thing on our Bell phones that has being $15 per month for totally unlimited use anywhere in North America and as such we talk to each other for several hours a day. 1000 minutes in a 30 day month is only 33 minutes per day, that wouldn’t even come close to whats required.
As I say in my original post, Rogers are claiming that their service with the $5 per day add-on would be totally unlimited and would work to, from and between every scenario that two truck drivers may find themselves in when talking on the phone but I don’t trust them to be telling the truth to be honest so want to get info from people who have those phones as to whether its true or not and if there are hidden roaming charges for certain situations.

Rogers is completely unlimited. My daughter is the manager of our local Rogers store and she says that tons of drivers are switching over from Verizon.

hi robinhood its steve iv had the rogers usa deal for a while its only unlimited for u 2 call other people if they call you you will be charged good ol n.america :smiley:

stevejones:
hi robinhood its steve iv had the rogers usa deal for a while its only unlimited for u 2 call other people if they call you you will be charged good ol n.america :smiley:

Thats the sort of thing I’m on about. The Rogers representative in town says its all completely unlimited and if you have your US roaming add-on activated, which you will if you’re in the US then that covers you to receive as well as make calls. You’re saying this isn’t the case then? Do you get charged if another Canadian phone calls you, or just if its a US number calling you?

hi m8 sorry for confusion spoke with the doris its right u can call anyone and recieve as well m8 been on it couple mths had no probs gd luck

stevejones:
hi m8 sorry for confusion spoke with the doris its right u can call anyone and recieve as well m8 been on it couple mths had no probs gd luck

Ok thanks for the info mate, and to NMM as well. Much appreciated.

I’ve got the Koodo. On top of the Canadian package i pay $45 for unlimited talk & text in the US for 30 days. I’ve got an at&t prepaid wifi hotspot for internet in the US as you get more data for less money.

Some guys at our company have got the Rogers deal and the roaming fees are capped at $50 a month. In the end there is not much price difference and all calls are included if you get the right package.

I know next to nothing about modern phones as I’ve always had prehistoric type things for one reason or another. I’m leaning towards the Rogers share everything package with the $5 per day roaming thing as it says you can use your data in the US with it and I’ll get either a 2 or 4GB plan. Now I know some/all of these new smart phones can act as a hotspot so does that mean I can use my phone in Canada or the US to connect my laptop to the internet, doing away with the need for a dongle etc or does Rogers only allow the data to be used on the phone and charge extra for data used when connecting a laptop to the phone (tethering is it?).

Currently I have a crappy Bell phone with 10-4 push to talk which works unlimited all across North America and I have a separate usb dongle for mobile internet on the laptop thats just for Canada. If the Rogers set up allows for the phone to be used as a hotspot and I can connect my laptop to it, both in Canada and even in the USA then it would be a fantastic package for what I want it for.

Yes you can set your phone up as a hot spot on Rogers for no extra charge. You can also tether it, which requires a usb lead from phone to laptop.

I’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S5 and the screen is big enough for normal messing about on Facebook etc. I use the tapatalk app for this and some other forums that I’m on and it shrinks it down and reformats it all so the pages fit on the phone.

I can’t remember the last time I used my laptop for Internet stuff, I only use it now for writing and uploading photos I take on my camera, although this phone has a 12mp camera too and I can load pictures straight on to the Internet from it, so I hardly use my big fancy DSLR camera.

Thanks NMM. Sounds ideal.

I use my mobile hot spot most nights, there is no extra charge from Verizon for having it but it really ■■■■■ up the data when in use.

What part of “Canadian” phone did you not understand Pat?

The coverage in the States for Riga ain’t to to bad they use AT&T most if the time. No complaints here