Cell phone use in US

[calgarymom]

When we were on our cruise last Sept, we didn't use our cell phones as it would cost too much on the ship. Nor, did we use it in the U.S. as it would have cost $75 to get U.S. service. Just wondering what other Canadians did while in the U.S. Can you text without purchasing US cell service? Has anyone used walkie talkies? I am looking for ideas. I have never text on my phone before and think it is time consuming to be typing. The Walkie Talkies make sense while on a cruise, but not sure about while we are in Florida at D.W.

 

[sympatico]

We have a monthly cell phone plan through Bell Aliant here in Nova Scotia which doesn't include US minutes but when we go to Florida I can add to that a US plan that includes either 20 mins for $10. or 100 mins. for $40. I usually get the $10 one just so people can get ahold of me if they need to.
As for the two way radios, we took them when the whole family went in Nov. and they were great to have while in Disney. We have a Motorola set that has quite a long range. My son put in our own station so that we would be the only ones on it. They were handy to have so that we could all meet up when we wanted to.

 

[cottontail]

Anybody have any deals for use in the united states with a rogers cell?

Deb.

 

[NeverlandPixie]

I'm with Rogers. In March/April '07, it cost me 95 cents a minute for talk time (which we barely used) and 40 cents per text message (which we did use).

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

We have TelusMobility and for the past few trips have switched over to the $75 Talk North America plan for the length of time we are in Florida. Yes it is a little pricey but we find it works for us.

 

[jtdl]

When we were on our cruise last Sept, we didn't use our cell phones as it would cost too much on the ship. Nor, did we use it in the U.S. as it would have cost $75 to get U.S. service. Just wondering what other Canadians did while in the U.S. Can you text without purchasing US cell service? Has anyone used walkie talkies? I am looking for ideas. I have never text on my phone before and think it is time consuming to be typing. The Walkie Talkies make sense while on a cruise, but not sure about while we are in Florida at D.W.

We have Solo phones and in order for them to work in the US I had to apply a credit card to activate the roam feature. They told me that the US suppliers charge up to $3/minute so the cc is necessary to apply more funds if the balance goes below $5. We have free texting on our plans so that was still free. A friend who travelled with us had a Rogers phone and it was picked up by Telus once we crossed the border and his texts were also free.

There is also a sticky at the top of this board with lots of info.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Anybody have any deals for use in the united states with a rogers cell?

Deb.

Rogers offers the following "US Roaming Add-On Packages.."

$40
60 minutes

$60
120 minutes

$75
240 minutes

$120
480 minutes

$170
720 minutes

These 'add ons' to your current plan. I usually just add one of these packages for the month of my trip and then cancel it. Works great.

ALOT of great info on Cell Phones in the US is available in this sticky at the top of this forum...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1648835

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We have used our cell at Disney to see which was cheaper calling home. I don't remember the amounts but it was cheaper per minute to use the cell than to use POP century hotel room phone. We are with rogers.

 

[ABCanada]

Walkie talkies work at Disneyland but for us they do not work for Disneyworld.
Last trip we went with US cell phones and will continue to do this. It was much less expensive than using our Canadian cells.
See the sticky for more information on US cell phone costs.

 

[Shelebeen]

When we were in Hawaii at Christmas, we went to Walmart (in Hawaii) and for $30, bought a disposable cell phone. It came with 120 minutes. We have lots of our minutes left and will bring it to Florida with us in August.. we just have to phone the company and they will change the number to a local Orlando number..

 

[drag n' fly]

When we were on our cruise last Sept, we didn't use our cell phones as it would cost too much on the ship. Nor, did we use it in the U.S. as it would have cost $75 to get U.S. service. Just wondering what other Canadians did while in the U.S. Can you text without purchasing US cell service? Has anyone used walkie talkies? I am looking for ideas. I have never text on my phone before and think it is time consuming to be typing. The Walkie Talkies make sense while on a cruise, but not sure about while we are in Florida at D.W.

We are with Bell here in Calgary. We use the Connect Florida plan. It was 40 bucks for 200 minutes and that includes all fees.

 

[drag n' fly]

double post

 

[calgarymom]

Buying a US plan would work if we were just going to Orlando, but we will be on a cruise for 7 days as well and I think there will be additional charges on International waters. From what I heard that are super expensive (like $20/call). Therefore, I am thinking walkie talkies would work. Can anyone recommend a good walkie talkie?