<p>I haven't received a decision yet, but I am seriously considering McGill (if accepted). I am also purchasing a phone + plan (my circumstances require me to purchase one very soon), and I was wondering that IF accepted and IF I enrolled, what carriers or plans work in the US and in Canada (Quebec)? Because I have to purchase a plan soon, I'd like to keep my options open (meaning that if rejected or if I am accepted but choose not to attend, I won't be stuck with a lousy plan for 2 years). My parents live in the US, and I would need to call them from time to time, and I would probably need to call Quebec numbers as well (that's the dilemma). </p>
<p>I've looked into Cingular and Verizon, and it seems like the GSM network is more universal, but it has its downsides, too (cannot connect to non-GSM towers if stranded in a remote area, etc if I am reading this correctly). </p>
<p>Can anyone with first-hand experience suggest anything? What do current US students do?</p>
<p>Some people with free incoming calls just ask their friends to call them, other people use phonecards. Using a US cell phone in Canada is usually fairly expensive, too expensive to do it very often. You might consider purchasing a cheap plan from a Canadian Telco like Rogers or someone else.</p>
<p>My daughter has a Fido plan, that comes to 41$ Cdn per month (with taxes).
It is not for long-talkers, with limited minutes per month, but all incoming calls, including from the US are free. At home we have an unlimited to Canada Verizon plan, so she calls us for a second or two and we call her back. It seems to work very well. In Canada, you can choose the last four digits of the cell number, so we have the same at home and on my d.'s cell- makes it easier. If you use a phone card, the international MCI cards available at COSTCO are very reasonable.</p>
<p>I would have to agree with redknight, just ask your friends to call you or use phone cards (these also, in my experience, tend to be more readily available and accepted in Montreal than here in the US). </p>
<p>If you want to buy a plan, get one of the prepaid ones so you don't end up paying for minutes you don't ever use. I personally prefer Bell, but there are also many other providers to choose from, many of which are admittedly cheaper.</p>
<p>i use the Verizon north america plan. its 60 a month (american). i have tons of minutes and its not long distance for me to call anywhere in teh US, Canada or Mexico.
the only thing thats long distance is for montrealers to call me. but most people dont care, or if they do, they call, and i call them right back.</p>
<p>the benefit to this plan is that canadian cellphones suck. and their long distance plans suck. so it would be super expensive for me to call home if i had a canadian plan.
most americans i know here either have the plan i have or got a canadian cellphone (either fido or rogers)</p>
<p>Check you cell phone plan carefully. While most US phones have no problem getting service in Canada, the costs can be frighteningly expensive with both roaming and per-minute charges even for text messages. We ended up getting a Fido phone for my son. Their charges for calls placed in the US when he was home for the summers were fairly low, as were calls from Canada to the US. Most of his calls and messages were within Montreal to friends, so the long distance Verizon plan wasn't really too useful.</p>
<p>One tip for parents -- AT&T offers a $6 flat rate plan for unlimited calls to Canada, but you have to ask about it.</p>