Roaming and data

[star72232]

I'm travelling to Europe in May and the roaming fees for Europe are $12/day! I'm not sure if I'll pick up a SIM there or just use wifi. Decisions, decisions...

 

[bankr63]

Darn, when did international RLH go up to $12? Last time I looked it was $10. Leaving for Mexico next Friday; there's another vacation cost that just went up. National revised some of their charges on our car rental too (rate stayed the same, but insurances, taxes, and extra driver all went up). With my luck our dollar is probably going to crash next week as well.

@FigmentSpark all the Fido guy is saying is don't drop RLH from your account - and that is good advice. Even if you just need it for an emergency call, turning the roaming back on, or taking out of airplane mode, will only cost you the one day charge. We do this sometimes at Disney if we are going to split-up. Turn on a second phone so one party can call or text the other (we still find wi-fi in the parks to be unreliable). Only costs $7 for that one day. And yes, taking out the SIM card is probably the most effective way of ensuring no roaming BUT you need to keep track of that little teeny card. If your phone has a tight fitting case you can slip it behind the case and then pop it back in when back to Canada or you need an emergency use.

Note that the main difference between turning roaming off (generally in network settings) and using airplane mode is that airplane mode on many (most?) phones also turns off wi-fi (it turns off all the radio transmitters); you then have to turn wi-fi back on manually. Just turning off roaming or removing the SIM doesn't affect the wi-fi at all.

 

[Disney Addicted]

My daughter is going to California in just over a week. She'll be using the Fido Roam at $7/day and paying for it herself. I just need to show her where to put roam on and keep it on the entire time. Fido agent said turning airplane mode on and off will not turn on or off the cell roam feature, so that's good. Same with if she uses the hotel wi-fi. I'll take a screenshot of the setting page where she turns cell roam on so she can look at it and double-check it's on a few times during the trip. She'll forget how to access it so having it in her photos is great.

By the way, if anyone uses the Data Plus (those five 1 hour free data sessions Fido gives) - those will NOT work outside of Canada. The Fido agent I'm speaking with just told me.

 

[Sue M]

Ironic that long distance charges have gone down in 30 years, but now we're paying exorbitant amounts for roaming we may or may not use. Fido is $6 a day. Over 10 days, that's $60 and I might send a couple of emails or check a map, maybe text 10 seconds to say we've arrived. It would be much cheaper to just call. Now add in two kids with phones and DH, that's $60 x 4 = $240.

You may want to check again I’m on Fido and Roaming went up to $7 a day for $15 days. Ugh

Edit- sorry! I didn’t read entire thread, I see you found out about the price hike.

 

[FigmentSpark]

You may want to check again I’m on Fido and Roaming went up to $7 a day for $15 days. Ugh

Edit- sorry! I didn’t read entire thread, I see you found out about the price hike.

lol, yeah. But I don't mind commiserating about it.

 

[BLAZEY]

Also be aware that if you are with a carrier that has daily roaming fees, you will be charged as soon as you register with a US cell tower. You don't need to send or receive anything.

Frustrating as I often seem to hit a US tower when driving the Thousand Islands Parkway on the Canadian side. Have to call Rogers to get them to reverse the charges as we are not roaming.

Yep had to do this when we visited DD's BFF that moved to Gananoque, ON from Victoria BC.

 

[Disney_Alli]

We much prefer getting a US SIM card, overall it's so much cheaper and we never have to worry about connecting.

 

[TinkFan74]

I have a Roam Mobility SIM card that I use when I am going to the USA. It is only $4.95 per day for unlimited talk, text, and data, and I have never had a problem. I find it essential to have data if you might be driving in the USA so that you can access google maps.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I have a Roam Mobility SIM card that I use when I am going to the USA. It is only $4.95 per day for unlimited talk, text, and data, and I have never had a problem. I find it essential to have data if you might be driving in the USA so that you can access google maps.

Is that 4.95 USD? That would be almost 7 Cad anyway.

Where did you get it and can you use it on multiple trips or does it expire? Do you have to activate or de-activate it?

 

[TinkFan74]

Is that 4.95 USD? That would be almost 7 Cad anyway.

Where did you get it and can you use it on multiple trips or does it expire? Do you have to activate or de-activate it?

It is $4.95 Canadian. You order the SIM card online, then you order the days that you need service on the same site. You can use the SIM card for multiple trips.

 

[FigmentSpark]

It is $4.95 Canadian. You order the SIM card online, then you order the days that you need service on the same site. You can use the SIM card for multiple trips.

Awesome. Too late for me. We leave in a couple of days.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Awesome. Too late for me. We leave in a couple of days.

You can buy the cards at Petro Can , Staples and a few other stores! Super easy to set up your account as well, not too late unless you're already paid something to someone else.

Where to Buy Roam SIM Card

 

[FigmentSpark]

Interesting. Do you keep your phone number or does it give you a new number?

 

[TinkFan74]

Interesting. Do you keep your phone number or does it give you a new number?

You are given an American number with the SIM card.

 

[Starwind]

Interesting. Do you keep your phone number or does it give you a new number?

Roam Mobility gives you a US number and you can keep it betwwen uses. However, you have to reactivate and use it every so often. Last I checked it is every six months.

We used to use it but kept having connection issues while in the US, plus in some parts of the US there is just no coverage at all, so we stopped using them and went with Roam Like Home with our Rogers phone. The cost difference was not worth the hassles for us.

SW

 

[AngelDisney]

We just used Roam Mobility SIM Card for the first time last January on a cruise from Miami. We used it for 2 days in Miami then again in Key West (a port of call). I didn’t pre-purchase for Key West and didn’t know one day means 24 hours from the time we paid. When purchasing, we didn’t know if we wanted 3 days of use, we needed to put down from December 31 to January 3. Instead we put down January 2, thinking 3 days means December 31, January 1 and January 2. So we lost connection shortly after we boarded the ship and didn’t get to pre-purchase for Key West. Once we got off the ship in Key West and connected to wifi of some hotel. We quickly bought a day of use for Key West. Anyways, I have an unlocked iPhone and tether to DD via personal hotspot. We didn’t have any issue with the connection, except when the hotspot was not in use for a while, the connection dropped. I used SIM card in South Korea and Hong Kong as well. Only the Hong Kong Tourist SIM Card didn’t have this problem. Otherwise, we have no issue using data accces via the SIM card.

 

[mikehn]

T-mobile has a 'Tourist Sim Kit' , a short term plan for tourists visiting the US. $30 USD, 21 days, 1000 mins, unlimited texting, unlimited data

 

[Micharlotte]

T-mobile has a 'Tourist Sim Kit' , a short term plan for tourists visiting the US. $30 USD, 21 days, 1000 mins, unlimited texting, unlimited data

Can you use this if you're not with T-mobile? I really just need data and maybe a few minutes for phone calls home. This seems like the best deal i've seen anywhere.

 

[mikehn]

https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-26344

 

[Sue M]

T-mobile has a 'Tourist Sim Kit' , a short term plan for tourists visiting the US. $30 USD, 21 days, 1000 mins, unlimited texting, unlimited data

That’s a good deal! Have you used it for Florida? How was the coverage?