Cell phone use at WDW

[Ham Ham]

Does either Tracfone or Virgin Deliver to canada?

How much duty/taxes do you have to pay?

thanks

Don't think they ship outside of the us.
Click on the link provided to poke around and see what info you can find.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/rates/minute.do

The Virgin USA pay as you go phones only work in the US. I guessing the Tracphones are the same.

Good tip in a previous post about hitting a US store before you head down to FLA to pick up a phone. Activate it with an Orlando Zip code so your phone is a local one while at WDW.

 

[mjf]

Hi All,

Based on the recommendations in this forum, we decided to buy a couple of Virgin Aloha phones and have them shipped to our resort. We arrived in Orlando yesterday and they were there at SSR waiting for us (Yay!)

We took them back to the room and began trying to activate them. The on-line process appeared to be going well until I got to the point where I had to power on the phone and call Virgin to do the activation. I was assigned a 407 area code phone number, but the instructions on the web site didn't line up with the prompts I was seeing on the phone so I did my best and tried to pick what I thought was right. In the end though, both of the phones wouldn't activate correctly and the phone told me to call the Virgin 1-800 number.

When I spoke to a 'Live Advisor' they had no record of the phone number I had just been assigned on the web or the hard-coded serial number on the phone. They suggested I wait a few hours for the system synchronize or something like that.

This afternoon (after visiting Sea World), I tried again. I spend well over an hour on the phone with two different 'Live Advisors' who were very professional and tried their best but ultimately unable to help me out. The last one I spoke with said that I wasn't supposed to activate the phone the way I did (THE WAY THE INSTRUCTIONS TOLD ME) but instead said that the phone was already activated when I bought it... or something like that. they said they could bump my problem up to the 'Investigation Department' but that it would take 24-72 hours for them to get back to me. As I need the phones to work NOW, I told them that wouldn't do me any good.

I asked if I could return and/or replace the phones to the Virgin Mega Store and they said that I probably could. We just got back from Downtown Disney and the Virgin Mega Store wouldn't / couldn't help me. For starters, they didn't have any Aloha phones and even if they did, Virgin Mobile and Virgin Mega Stores are not really all that closely related.

So, I ended up stuffing the phones into a garbage can on the way out of Downtown Disney. I'm not really all that disappointed about blowing $20-ish on the phones... it's the over 2 hours I spent tying to activate them and on the phone with Virgin. I'd rather have been hanging out on the pool... or nearly anything else really.

Next time, I'll probably go with an AT&T phone again like I did last year. It would cost a little more, but at least it worked.

Oh, one other thing. The kid at the Virgin Mega Store said that they weren't selling the Aloha anymore, so maybe it won't be an option anyway.

 

[Fellowship9798]

As a counter-point to the post above, I bought an Aloha phone in October, activated it online, and everything worked out fine. I didn't have to call anyone or spend any time on the phone invesitgating anything.

Bear in mind that it does say it will take a few hours to get the phone setup in their system after you do the online activation. I had a day between when I did the activation and the first time I turned it on.

I guess sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't.

 

[katscradle]

I Think when we go I will just buy the cheapest pay as you go that we can find. 1 month today. I am so excited!!

 

[Disney24/7]

I left my cell at home and bought a $10 CiCi phone card at Petro Canada to take on our WDW trip last month. I believe the cost to call from the US to Canada was 8 cents/minute.

I was able to use it at both airports (Toronto/Orlando) and at the resort without incurring any charges to the room. Still had plenty of minutes left when we got home.

 

[beavdisfan]

hi
and yes that will work but you must buy a cingular/at&t card and service.
i have a rogers phone and have done it.

 

[Csaks]

If you have a Telus phone with the Mike option it will work in the States. It changes over to Nextel and using the Mike it is 20 cents a minute, billed by the second so last year it hardly cost anything to talk to my aunt who was on site at the same time as us. Never called home, always used the Mike, but then again most of the people I know have one.

 

[FigmentsFan]

Have switched to a US plan for the trip. Cheaper.

 

[nosbig]

my friend has bought the disposable type in the us for $20 or so. Works really well.

 

[Canadave]

Just trying to understand how the disposable phone thing works...if I order 2 phones from VirginMobile and have them delivered to the resort, what do I have to do to activate them? Do I need a laptop? Some come with $10 or so of air time...can I get more time? When I'm done my holiday, do I just throw them away???
If this has already been discussed in the earlier 14 pages, I apologize.

 

[SaskDisNut]

Just trying to understand how the disposable phone thing works...if I order 2 phones from VirginMobile and have them delivered to the resort, what do I have to do to activate them? Do I need a laptop? Some come with $10 or so of air time...can I get more time? When I'm done my holiday, do I just throw them away???
If this has already been discussed in the earlier 14 pages, I apologize.

I can't speak for the VirginMobile phones but I'll tell you of my experience with the Tracfones I used on our trip in Dec. I bought 2 of them at a Walmart in Montana when we were down there in the summer. They were $10 each. I didn't activate them until the day before we left on our trip. I just went to their website and followed the instructions on the site and used the phone itself to get it registered. They both registered, each was assigned a phone number and had 20 minutes of airtime included. We only used the phones to call each other and they worked great. For what we used them for it was worth it. I wouldn't call the phones disposable as they can be reused again after they expire although you have to go through the registration process again and get another phone number. For calling home I used the PC Phone card that has been described on this thread. At $.04/minute, it is hard to beat.

In the future, I might just switch to our cell provider's new Unlimited Talk North America plan for $40/month.

 

[mithuri]

Hi;
[Sorry for the late reply, we were away during holidays].

This is what we did...

We ordered 2 phones over internet, paid by PayPal since they don't accept Canadian Credit Cards and had them addressed to our offsite hotel. The phones got to our hotel within 3-4 days. Since we didn't have internet connection, we simply called their 1-800 number and a very nice lady activated them for us. To buy additional minutes, you can either buy them from their website (and pay by PayPal) or buy 'Top-Up' minute cards from any store (eg Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven, even some dollar stores, while in States). The minutes last you 90 days. If you normally travel to Buffalo or any border city (like we do) and wish to keep the phone active after your vacation, you can simply top-up your phone every 90 days. Otherwise, simply let the minutes lapse and the phone becomes throw-away.

I hope this helps,

Mithuri

 

[Canadave]

thanks mithuri
Just a couple of more questions:
Do the phones come charged? Or better still, how do these phones run...rechargable cell phone batteries or AA's ??....if rechargable, do they come with a charger?
How did you call the 1800 # ...with the actual cell phone or did you use the resort phone? Not sure how, technically, the activation works. Sorry if I sound dense, but I don't have a 14 year old son to help me out!

 

[Jetstar]

Forget about using your Canadian cell phone. When we went, we picked up a $20.00 pay as you go cell phone when we crossed the boarder at Tops and activated it before we got on the plane to fly to Disney. It came with I think 100 or 200 min. We texted all the time and made calls when we wanted. By the end of our trip we had used most of the min. It is so much cheaper and it was a lot easer then you would think.

 

[beavdisfan]

1- rogers phones do work very well in wdw.
2 - you can buy an at&t sim and it will work on a pay as you go basis in a rogers phone.
3 -or go in to any 7-11 buy a virgin mobile pay-go phone for $20.00 and $10.00 talk time.
they work great are cheap to use and can be re-activated any time. i have had one for three years.
4 - or you can buck and up pay the charges to use the phone you already have. if you can afford disney a few calls should not matter.

 

[bluenosemickey]

For those of you flying and not near an american city, you can pick up $10 virgin phones in DTD at the Virgin store (where else?). The only issue may be availability. The first day we dropped in, they only had $60 phones. Since we needed 2 (to call each other) we came back another day when they got more of the cheaper $10 phones back in stock.

So our priority was to be able to call each other while in WDW. Not calling back to Canada. Although, we did do that too(.30/ min for international calling). The phone cards we bought at the store $30 each, were 400 mins each. Too much time really. But we are going back with the 90 day period and so will use up the rest of the time in March. Otherwise, I would have gotten cheaper cards.

 

[Kurby]

how many local minutes did you get on that 10 phone? and can you reactivate it next year?

do the minutes click off when you use the 800 number for the calling card?

i'm still wondering if we should get a phone down there or just add text messaging to our bell phone and use the calling card from the hotel to call canada and the UK

 

[Ginzu]

Hi folks,

I've been researching some options for my options down in Orlando coming up in February. Both my wife and I are on Rogers Wireless today and we don't plan on any heavy use while we're down there.

I'm worried about getting dinged heavily for roaming fees so I've decided to look at some prepaid SIM card options.

The main choices seem to be T-Mobile or AT&T Wireless - both have prepaid SIM cards you can buy when you get down there - or another option is buying the SIM card off of EBay before you leave (you could save some money using this option).

What I did find is that there is a MNVO called O2 Wireless (or Oxygen Wireless, depending on what you find) that runs on the AT&T network. Essentially, it's just like what Petro-Canada Mobile and 7-11 Speakout wireless is like there - it's a 3rd party company offering service on an incumbent network (in the Petro-Canada/7-11 instance, they both run on the Rogers/Fido network).

Anyways, back to O2 Wireless - there are two options to buy an O2 Wireless SIM card. First, you can go to Best Buy and just buy the SIM card there - it includes 50 minutes. For $10, I think that's the easiest option. More details here are on the Best Buy website (.com, not .ca)

Option 2 would be to buy one off of Ebay - I went this route since it looked like some of the Best Buy stores near Windsor Hills did not carry the SIM card - price is about the same with shipping. Search the EBay site for "Oxygen Wireless" and it should come up.

So, the next question is the phone. If you have an *unlocked* GSM phone, all you need to do is take out your Rogers SIM, pop in your O2 SIM and off you go. When you come back, put your Rogers SIM back in and you're back to your original setup. If your phone is not unlocked - there are plenty of unlocked phones floating around on EBay or unlocking websites that will unlock your phone for you.

Hope this helps - I'll provide feedback on how the O2 service went.

 

[disneyred]

Hi folks,

I've been researching some options for my options down in Orlando coming up in February. Both my wife and I are on Rogers Wireless today and we don't plan on any heavy use while we're down there.

I'm worried about getting dinged heavily for roaming fees so I've decided to look at some prepaid SIM card options.

The main choices seem to be T-Mobile or AT&T Wireless - both have prepaid SIM cards you can buy when you get down there - or another option is buying the SIM card off of EBay before you leave (you could save some money using this option).

What I did find is that there is a MNVO called O2 Wireless (or Oxygen Wireless, depending on what you find) that runs on the AT&T network. Essentially, it's just like what Petro-Canada Mobile and 7-11 Speakout wireless is like there - it's a 3rd party company offering service on an incumbent network (in the Petro-Canada/7-11 instance, they both run on the Rogers/Fido network).

Anyways, back to O2 Wireless - there are two options to buy an O2 Wireless SIM card. First, you can go to Best Buy and just buy the SIM card there - it includes 50 minutes. For $10, I think that's the easiest option. More details here are on the Best Buy website (.com, not .ca)

Option 2 would be to buy one off of Ebay - I went this route since it looked like some of the Best Buy stores near Windsor Hills did not carry the SIM card - price is about the same with shipping. Search the EBay site for "Oxygen Wireless" and it should come up.

So, the next question is the phone. If you have an *unlocked* GSM phone, all you need to do is take out your Rogers SIM, pop in your O2 SIM and off you go. When you come back, put your Rogers SIM back in and you're back to your original setup. If your phone is not unlocked - there are plenty of unlocked phones floating around on EBay or unlocking websites that will unlock your phone for you.

Hope this helps - I'll provide feedback on how the O2 service went.

I will be waiting to hear this works out for you ?? you mention going to best buy to pick up the SIM card for 02 ..?? is there one close to disney ??

 

[momdad4kids]

Has anyone used the connect Florida plan through Bell? $20 a month,2 month minimum with 100 free mins per month,total $40 per phone ,additional minutes are charged out at $0.39.I know its cheaper perhaps to go with disposable phones but due to home/work commitments I want to be available while away