Disposable Cell Phones

[CatherineH]

We are headed to Disney for a week and are travelling with four teenagers. We are from Canada so would have to pay dearly if they/we all use our cell phones to communicate during the trip (roaming charges). Has anyone ever heard of disposable cell phones that you can purchase while in Florida that give you a local number just for your stay? If so, do you know the approximate cost and where you would get them?

Or does anyone have any other suggestions - when the kids were younger this wasn't so much of an issue - this is our first trip allowing them to roam freely and we want to not only keep tabs on them, but avoid frustrating waits when trying to coordinate group activities.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[DbleTheFun]

There's a thread on this in the Candian Trip Planning forum... it's the sticky at the top... there are some great pointers and ideas on the subject! Many Canadians pick up these prepaid cell phones from Target or Walmart to use down in WDW.

 

[Cathy66]

Lasy year bought a net 10 phone in Florida. We set it up with I think 60 minutes for about 30 dollars you get 30 free minutes when you buy the phone. We only bought one because the kids stayed together and we used my husbands phone from home. The calls were all short and just to locate one another. We have kept the phone so that we can recarge it next time we go. I think we bought it at wallmart.

I hope that helps.

Cathy

 

[SamiL]

I don't live in Central Florida, so I don't know for sure, but I think you should be able to buy prepaid cell phones at Walmart once you arrive in Orlando. Net10 phones usually come with 300 min. when they are activated and you can buy one for around $30. Tracfone is another brand I've used and their website shows they also have phones that work in Orlando.

If you know someone in the U.S. who could forward your order to you I guess you could get them ahead of time and activate them a few days before you leave. Otherwise I guess you will have to wait until you are in Orlando, as neither company ships to Canada.

I've had it take a day or so to complete activation, but I was transfering an existing number, so that is probably the reason. Both companies have websites. So you can google them for more info. Hope this helps!

 

[Dean]

We've looked at this extensively for other reasons. There are several ways to go and I don't know about any Canadian limitations so forgive me if there are roadblocks. You can certainly buy several prepaid phones with any one of a number of companies including AT&T GO, Net 10, Virgin Mobile, Boost, TracFone, T-Mobile. I'd try to do something you can set up prior to your visit. You should be able to buy phones as low as $15-20 each, maybe less in some cases. GO phone is the one I have the most familiarity with and you should be able to get SIM cards easily for free or off ebay for about $1 each if you don't need to buy phones. You could then sign up online easily with the SIM card or number in hand.

IF you have old GSM phones you can likely get your company to unlock them, or figure out how to get them unlocked, and simply sign up for the accounts you need. You could also look on ebay for options.

I purchased 2 unlocked GSM phones for travel (our normal ones aren't GSM) and I simply buy SIM cards at our destination. Did that last month in MX and will do the same in Aruba.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Did you check with your carrier to see if you can add US to your plan for the time you are here? We have Verizon in the states, and daughter spends time in Calgary, Quebec and Ottawa, and I just switch her plan to cover Canada for the summer. Much cheaper than buying phones etc. Another option is if you have blackberrys, you should be able to BBM for free, even without the plan, you can BBM (blackberry's version of texting), and there is no additional charge.

 

[CatherineH]

Thanks everyone for all of your help. I've checked into buying prepaid or adding option to our existing Bell plan and it turns out it's about the same cost so we'll probably just get roaming plans.

Take care all!