Cell phone use at WDW

[Disneyhabs]

If anyone uses wind this is a great deal.

http://www.windmobile.com/usunlimited

http://mobilesyrup.com/2014/01/30/w...ng-add-on-gives-unlimited-data-talk-and-text/

 

[KingstonGirl77]

Hi Guys,

Hoping you can help. I have read through the thread and I am not sure if these exact questions have been answered so I apologize if I missed it.

My family and I will be driving down to Disney in a few weeks. We have 3 locked phones. There is no way we can get them unlocked so I was considering the ROAM mobility Liberty Hotspot (with a data only plan) then connect locked phones via WiFi. Data is more important than phone calls to us. We can always email or use a messaging app.

1) Does anyone have experience with the ROAM Liberty Hotspot? I am concerned about service availability while driving down.
2) Is the Liberty Hotspot only available online or can you buy it in stores?

Thanks!! 21 days to go...

EDIT:
Did more research and realized we could in fact unlock one of our phones. We have unlocked my husband's Iphone 5. Purchased and activated a ROAM SIM. Read tons of stuff online about making sure it is actually unlocked, that I know how to change the APN. I think I am now ready. This plan will be much better for our family and ultimately cheaper. Really hoping we get some data coverage along 81-77-26-95-4.

 

[Salinger]

@Maytai, thanks so much for your feedback!

@CanadianDISfan Don't roam on data from your Canadian carrier! Even the best of travel packages are still insanely expensive. There is just no cheap way to roam in the US and keep your Canadian carrier unless you're with Wind. If you already have a phone, you can just call your carrier to get it unlocked, no need to buy another phone. If your phone is over a year old and out of warranty, i wouldn't even go through the carrier. Check out reputable sellers on eBay and you'll likely get your unlock code for a fiver.

@ KingstonGirl77 not to be overly nosey, but may I ask why you say there is no way to unlock your phones? It is actually the law in Canada now that carriers MUST unlock phones if you request it unless you just signed a contract fewer than 90 days ago.

I've been searching around the web, and am hearing more and more good things about Roam's coverage in Orlando. Orlando is one of T-Mobile's "refarmed" cities, meaning for many of us, you will get good data speeds and many of the newer phones will work well on their network. I think that's the way I'm going to go for my upcoming trip. It is by far, the best all around deal for Canadians. You can do a little better if you buy and choose the right SIM and package once in the US from a US carrier, but I love the simplicity of already having the SIM card and package already squared away before I leave, as well as the VERY generous data allowance Roam gives now. Also, most of the US-based plans don't give you calling and texting back to Canada, only within the US.

Sorry, now I'm sounding like an ad for Roam. I will report back once I've tried them out and let everyone know how it went.

 

[KingstonGirl77]

@ KingstonGirl77 not to be overly nosey, but may I ask why you say there is no way to unlock your phones? It is actually the law in Canada now that carriers MUST unlock phones if you request it unless you just signed a contract fewer than 90 days ago.

Hey @Salinger, not nosey. I did edit my post after I learned different yesterday. It was a mix of ignorance and old info found on the web that led me to belive we couldn't unlock. We were able to unlock just yesterday at Rogers even though our phone is under contract for 2 more years. This is one of the reasons I thought I could not unlock (never trust everything I find on the web). We were charged $50 and they performed the unlock over the phone. I picked up my ROAM sim and purchased a plan. I think we are ready to go. We are driving down so I will report back with our experiences with coverage along the way.

 

[Maytai]

Again, not wanting to sound like I work for ROAM Mobility, another reason why I chose ROAM Mobility vs. a different USA carrier is because most of the USA carriers require you to keep a phone number valid by keeping it active once every 30 days. I had one for a couple of years was able to keep the same phone number but only because I was in the States at least once a month. When I didn't travel so much, it was a nuisance to pay for a service once per month just to keep the same number. ROAM Mobility allows you to keep your phone number by keeping it active once every year. So paying for a 1-day plan once a year to keep the same phone number is better than a 1-day plan once per month.

Just be sure to check that ROAM Mobility will work where you are going. But then again, the ROAM website has said that I would only get "good" reception in a town in North Dakota. When I got there, I had full bars of reception, which is better than I have ever gotten with my Telus plan. It exceeded my expectation!

 

[DISNEY180]

I was looking at the ROAM website and it looks like we can buy the SIM card in Canada at various places like Best Buy and Future Shop. Is it only the SIM card we can get or can we sign up for the plan at the same time?

Cheers

 

[MikeyNS]

I was looking at the ROAM website and it looks like we can them in Canada at various places like Besty Buy and Future Shop Is it only the SIM card we can get or can we sign up for the plan at the same time?

Cheers

You just buy the SIM card, then create an account on ROAM's website, put in the number on the SIM card and pick your plan and activation date. Easy peasy.

Actually there is no reason why you can't get your ROAM account set up now and put the SIM info in later.

 

[Computermama]

Has anyone had any experience with Koodo's Roaming add on? Wondering specifically if I'll get dinged with charges over and above the $35 that the addon costs. It looks ideal, but I'm hesitant to take it directly at face value.

 

[mithuri]

Hi Computermama;

I don't have an answer specifically to Koodo, but lately, we have been using Roam Mobility - Basically, you buy their sim card for $20 (sometimes they have free promo) - It fits into any spare Android phone - and the daily plan is $2 for talk and text and $3 for talk, text and data - Talk and text is unlimited within US and back to Canada - Data has a limit of 200 MB/day. Basically, for 7 days of unlimited talk and text, you'll pay $21, not having to worry about roaming charges.

Hope this helps,

Thanks,

 

[Computermama]

Hi Computermama;

I don't have an answer specifically to Koodo, but lately, we have been using Roam Mobility - Basically, you buy their sim card for $20 (sometimes they have free promo) - It fits into any spare Android phone - and the daily plan is $2 for talk and text and $3 for talk, text and data - Talk and text is unlimited within US and back to Canada - Data has a limit of 200 MB/day. Basically, for 7 days of unlimited talk and text, you'll pay $21, not having to worry about roaming charges.

Hope this helps,

Thanks,

I have seen people talking about Roam, but I'd rather keep my own phone number, and if I can use this it will end up cheaper since it's $35/month and we're planning to be gone for 2 weeks. I don't need a tonne of time or text, but enough to text or call my husband or my mother if we get separated on the way down and back. If the Koodo thing doesn't work out, I'll consider it, but I was hoping for someone to have some experience with the add on.

 

[KeroKero]

Glad I finally clicked on this thread. I didn't know a thing about ROAM.

I usually (I'm with Telus) add on the $65 US combo add on to my phone and I've never had issues. With that I get unlimited texting (which is basically what I want), 300 talk minutes (which is way more than enough, when most of the time I'm texting) and 300 MB of data (not great, but I just use wi-fi in the better wi-fi areas I come across)

 

[Computermama]

Glad I finally clicked on this thread. I didn't know a thing about ROAM.

I usually (I'm with Telus) add on the $65 US combo add on to my phone and I've never had issues. With that I get unlimited texting (which is basically what I want), 300 talk minutes (which is way more than enough, when most of the time I'm texting) and 300 MB of data (not great, but I just use wi-fi in the better wi-fi areas I come across)

Thanks! Since Koodo is a subsidiary of Telus, the Koodo US combo probably works the same. Since my phone is also my buisness phone I'm much happier to keep my number while I'm gone.

 

[MaMudduck]

I'm not sure if this is a good option for anyone, but Wind Mobile (windmobile.ca) has a new customer promo for $39 per month unlimited cdn minutes,data, roam & unlimited U.S. Roam, data!!!!!!!

I know WIND isn't everywhere in Canada yet, but they are the only ones offering US roam/data in a regular price packages. I pay more than that now with Rogers and I'm going to make the switch. Promo ends May 30th.

https://www.windmobile.ca/phone-plan-39

It so worth it to me, even if I only go once a year (I'm in the US more than that usually) I'll still come out better.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[VDrolet]

I wanna make sure I understand how Roam works.

1. I get my phone unlocked;
2. I order a Roam SIM card;
3. I login to the Roam website and chose a dataplan when I'm ready to use it.

Correct?

 

[cslittle999]

I wanna make sure I understand how Roam works.

1. I get my phone unlocked;
2. I order a Roam SIM card;
3. I login to the Roam website and chose a dataplan when I'm ready to use it.

Correct?

If you're in a rush you can find Roam SIM cards at most Staples stores. That's where I got mine.

You can setup the plan ahead of time. You get to choose the day and time when it starts.

You can install the Roam SIM while in Canada but you won't have data or cell service until you're in the US.

If you have an iPhone make sure you bring the SIM tray removal tool. I forgot mine on one business trip one time and it took me awhile to find a needle the right size to get the tray out.

After you reboot the phone with the new SIM installed you will need to fill in the APN value to have data work. The Roam Mobility site has details on how to do this on a number of different phones and OS's.

If you're an iPhone/iMessage user then be sure to have people connect with you via your Apple ID. iMessage get's confused with multiple phone numbers. In particular you likely won't receive iMessages sent to your Canadian cell number. I changed my phone to start iMessage conversations with my Apple ID instead of my phone number.

My only other tip is to record your Roam number somewhere convenient. I can never remember mine and you end up share it more often than you might think.

 

[bankr63]

My only other tip is to record your Roam number somewhere convenient. I can never remember mine and you end up share it more often than you might think.

I just add mine to my contact card in the phone app itself (Android). My contacts stay with me for either sim, so I always have it along.

BTW - ROAM has now updated to the 4G LTE network, and is including Premium SMS messaging (used by a few secure apps). Their data plans now include unlimited 2G data. If you are on a 4G plan, you will throttle back to 2G once you use up your 4G allocation (which is still more than most users reasonably use).

 

[cslittle999]

I just add mine to my contact card in the phone app itself (Android). My contacts stay with me for either sim, so I always have it along.

BTW - ROAM has now updated to the 4G LTE network, and is including Premium SMS messaging (used by a few secure apps). Their data plans now include unlimited 2G data. If you are on a 4G plan, you will throttle back to 2G once you use up your 4G allocation (which is still more than most users reasonably use).

Adding it to the contact makes sense. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that. Likely because I think of the contacts as permanent and the Roam number is only live occasionally. I'm an Evernote user and I added it to the top of my note for the trip since I'm typically in there looking up reservation numbers.

For iPhone users the 4G LTE update is a mixed blessing. I was in Orlando last week on business with my newly updated SIM. Unfortunately I couldn't enable LTE on my iPhone because Roam isn't a partner carrier with Apple and I have a carrier settings file installed. From doing some research it would appear to need to fully wipe your phone and set it up as new to remove the carrier settings file. Not exactly Roam's problem but also something they don't mention on their website beyond a note that if you can't enable LTE you should talk to Apple. I'm sent Roam an email asking if I've totally missed something.

I ended up on 3G all week but single strength was good. I was only in Epcot and Downtown Disney for part of a day though.

 

[VDrolet]

If you're in a rush you can find Roam SIM cards at most Staples stores. That's where I got mine. You can setup the plan ahead of time. You get to choose the day and time when it starts. You can install the Roam SIM while in Canada but you won't have data or cell service until you're in the US. If you have an iPhone make sure you bring the SIM tray removal tool. I forgot mine on one business trip one time and it took me awhile to find a needle the right size to get the tray out. After you reboot the phone with the new SIM installed you will need to fill in the APN value to have data work. The Roam Mobility site has details on how to do this on a number of different phones and OS's. If you're an iPhone/iMessage user then be sure to have people connect with you via your Apple ID. iMessage get's confused with multiple phone numbers. In particular you likely won't receive iMessages sent to your Canadian cell number. I changed my phone to start iMessage conversations with my Apple ID instead of my phone number. My only other tip is to record your Roam number somewhere convenient. I can never remember mine and you end up share it more often than you might think.

Fantastic, thank you so much! Didn't know you could get them at Staples, pretty convenient.

 

[Laughingsher]

When visiting in December, I did all my corresponding through Wifi (Facebook Messenger, emailing). Phone in Airplaine mode - no chance for roaming costs. Used the cellphone/texting sparingly - as a few calls had to be made to arrange rentals. But my extra costs for all usage was only $21 - through Rogers.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Anyone have any info on BLACKBERRY use??? We're with ROGERS and will need to be able to both call and text. Hubby has own business so will on occasion need to check in