<p>My son will be leaving for Mcgill this month and we have not yet settled on a cell phone service. Here in the us, we have a Verizon account.</p>
<p>I am interested in hearing what students from the States do/use when they go to Canada for school.</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing. I am in the same situation. Staying with verizon does not seem feasible. But I was reading through some old threads on this forum and found out a few things.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>It is best to get a canadian phone plan. (so that friends do not have to pay international rates to call)</p></li>
<li><p>All canadian phone plans are terrible.</p></li>
<li><p>For around $50 a month, you can get a decent plan with free night and weekend minutes, and I think 150 anytime minutes and 50 text messages.</p></li>
<li><p>It is best not to be on a contract, because during the summer, you can simply cancel your phone service, and not pay the price per month for four months until back in Montreal.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is what I have learned. But which provider to go with? I still do not have a clue.</p>
<p>I can’t give any first hand knowledge as cell phones were an expensive novelty when I was at McGill: late 90’s. I am amazed that the standard wireless contract in Canada is three years, compared to two years in the US! Canada has more consumer friendly laws than the US so this seems counter to that. When visiting Montreal, my AT&T phone works well most everywhere I go, AT&T runs off Rogers towers in Canada. However I made short calls there to minimize roaming so I don’t know about any “dropped call” issues. Bell uses CDMA technology, same as Verizon while Rogers uses GSM, same as AT&T and T Mobile.</p>
<p>This is a website that lists the various Canadian cell providers and can be used for a quick comparison:
[Tbooth</a> | Rogers, Bell, Fido, Solo Mobile, Virgin Mobile](<a href=“http://www.tbooth.ca/]Tbooth”>http://www.tbooth.ca/)
This is a blog that I came across, It is a year old but has some interesting insights:
[Montreal</a> move in two weeks and so disconnected | Ask MetaFilter](<a href=“http://ask.metafilter.com/125140/Montreal-move-in-two-weeks-and-so-disconnected]Montreal”>Montreal move in two weeks and so disconnected - moving internet cableinternet | Ask MetaFilter)
And another:
<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/forum/montreal/726950-montreal-cell-phone-providers.html[/url]”>http://www.city-data.com/forum/montreal/726950-montreal-cell-phone-providers.html</a></p>
<p>Trivia: Bell Canada is named for Alexander Graham Bell’s father, Melville Bell, to whom he transferred the Canadian rights to his telephone patent.</p>
<p>im getting a rogers iphone most likely</p>
<p>and ive come to same conclusions are pureyearn</p>
<p>What I’m planning on doing is getting a local plan in Montreal for people there to call me.</p>
<p>I also have an internet number located in the US with Skype, as well as unlimited US/Canada calling for $2.99/month. That way, I can call to the US from my computer. I can also receive any calls from the US on my Canadian cell phone as I can forward my Skype calls to my cell phone (they would call my internet number, which would be local to Americans).</p>
<p>You could do this, or, if you get an iPhone (or even an ipod touch) you can get the skype app and then have people call you skype to skype for free, or call the local number like you said and then to your skype number. This is what I plan to do, assuming it will work without any flaws.</p>
<p>The iphone would obviously be on a Canadian plan. I plan to either use Bell or Rogers.</p>
<p>does anyone know if koodo service is good?</p>
<p>does anyone know of any plans where I could text to the US on?</p>
<p>Verizon has a good reasonable cost plan that includes Canada roaming in your minutes for a few dollars a month more. You can’t have unlimited texting but the limits are very generous.
Local Canadian cell phone service is very expensive compared to the US. This will allow you to keep the same number. Texting to Canadian phones is the same as US. Check it out.</p>
<p>Actually, now that I have lived in Montreal for a week, I have found that Telus has a really good plan. I am paying around 70 dollars a month for 200 minutes a month (and I have nights after 6PM and weekends for free), 1GB of data per month, and unlimited texting to anywhere in North America. It is the best thing I have seen so far. Although, for some reason, everyone seems to be flocking to Rogers.</p>
<p>Fido has an AMAZING international texting plan with awesome rates. $40/mos (w. tax) for a lot of minutes/feature and international unlimited texting.</p>
<p>I had the exact problem last year. My family also lived in the states and we used verizon at home.</p>
<p>I would recommend Koodo actually. For $25 you get unlimited international text and image message, also 100 minutes with free on weekends and after 7. They have a booth at the Eaton Center 2nd floor.</p>
<p>^ 2 of my friends switched from koodo to fido in the first two weeks. Their texts weren’t instant on koodo internationally. Like, someone abroad would receive their texts 20-30 min after it was sent. So be careful.</p>
<p>What ended up working for everyone? I don’t know if anyone will check this, but I figured reviving this thread would be good to figure out what to do about my cell phone plan.</p>
<p>Telus has a nice student plan. Plenty of texting, plenty of calling (free after 6 for students), and plenty of data. Caller ID is not included, and I pay about $8 more a month for it. Everything is about $60 a month. Not bad</p>
<p>Did anyone evaluate the Verizon Nationwide Plus Canada and AT&T Nation with Canada calling plans with Canada? On paper they look decent except…it’s not clear on whether data is pay per use or not.</p>
<p>Puryearn</p>
<p>For the Telus student plan you mention…I think I saw it on their website…how many texts are included and does that include texts to the US?</p>
<p>I am leaving montreal soon and have 2 years left on my contract. If anyone is looking for a great telus student contract with texting to the US and the phone included please message me.</p>
<p>I had an AT&T contract phone and when I moved to Canada for high school. I thought of roaming charges, which would be higher than normal call rates. So I unlocked my phone and got a Rogers pay as you go plan SIM in Canada and swapped it into my phone and started using it. During holidays when I come to states, I use my AT&T SIM. Well unlocking can be done through online unlocking sites, by getting permission from our carrier. I did my unlock through [url=<a href=“http://www.classicunlocking.com/]ClassicUnlocking.com[/url”>http://www.classicunlocking.com/]ClassicUnlocking.com[/url</a>] .</p>
<p>@Fosterthiele</p>
<pre><code> People here are not asking for cell phone plans so they can text in class, they are asking for cell phone plans so they can keep in touch with their loved ones back in the U.S. Obviously you read this forum very wrong, or else you wouldn’t be posting such unnecessary things.
Additionally it is not your responsibility nor the professors responsibility to make sure students are paying attention in an University Class. Students who attend a University have already begun paying for their own education, and time wasted in class is essentially throwing money down the drain and they need to understand that. I don’t understand or see the need to belittle others or ones choices especially once we’ve arrived at a college level.
I will add however, it is the responsibility of a professor to make sure that a student does not serve as a distraction to others thus hampering their learning experience, though if a student quietly texts in class I don’t see how it serves as a distraction to anyone except for the student texting.
</code></pre>