Hey all, traveling to Canada (Vancouver specifically) for 4 months for work and have an ATT&T iPhone. I have been browsing around the forums looking for some advice (and got a little of course), but figured I would cut straight to the chase....whats the best way to call, text, and get data to/from Canada/US using my iPhone?
As of right now I have enabled AT&T Canada ($3.99/month, .59 per minute, seems a little ridiculous), was told that incoming texts are free (I have unlimited texts), outgoing texts are .50, and am going to stick to wifi for data.
It just seems like there has to be a better way....am open to cracking and/or getting a Roger's/other providers SIM???? Am I correct in assuming that anyone that calls/texts me from the states will likely incur international charges?
That would be the trade-off. If you keep your AT&T SIM installed, then you would face international roaming charges (or purchase an international package) to place and receive calls and use data/messaging while in Canada. But people placing calls to you or texting you from the USA would still have a domestic calling/messaging experience.
On the other hand, if you hacked and installed a Canadian carrier's SIM while in Canada, then you'd have normal domestic phone service for incoming and outgoing calls within your local calling area, but anybody calling/texting you from the USA would be using their international long distance service.
Either way, calls that you place back home to the USA would incur either international long distance fees (with a Canadian carrier's SIM) or international roaming fees (with an AT&T SIM). Honestly, the international roaming fee of $0.59 per minute you've been quoted would probably be just about as cheap as the international long distance you'd incur to call home using a Canadian carrier's SIM card.
Beware that neither Rogers nor Fido have any sort of general-purpose data add-on for their prepaid service. Rogers does have a limited "unlimited surfing" package for prepaid, but it targets WAP browsers rather than general-purpose data; it specifically excludes any data use incurred using any non-Rogers-branded application. So if you went down the route of a prepaid Canadian SIM card, the only data service you could count on would be pay-per-use.
Apparently Roger's pay-per-use mobile browsing rate for prepaid users will be changing soon, from the current rate of $0.05 "per page viewed" (I don't know what that would mean in the context of a non-web-browser application) to $1 per 24-hour period during which mobile browsing is used.
I don't know if you'd be resident in Canada long enough to be eligible for a postpaid plan. If so, then it ought to be possible to purchase a SIM-only plan outright with no commitment beyond 30 days notice to terminate the agreement. In that case, some of their general-purpose data plans might be possible. However, you'd have to be careful not to accept any sort of "promotional" price plans (such as the
former 6GB for $30 plan) which may impose a minimum commitment period, typically 36 months, subject to ETF.
Any recommendations are welcome....