US cell phones in Canada?

[Muffy]

DD15 is going to Toronto for a school trip. Her teacher seems to think that US cell phones may not work in Canada. Does anyone know if this is true? It will be such a nuisance if we can't keep in touch with our cell phones while she is away. Thank in advance for any info!

 

[damo]

We use our Canadian cell phones to phone home when we are in the US. I think it depends upon your service. Check with them.

 

[Holly]

I know Cingular works in Quebec and Toronto, not sure about any other providers.
Beware of large roaming charges, though.

 

[Beth76]

Call your company. They might be able to set it up temporarily to work. I have sprint and mine didn't work in Vancouver. I never called to ask about it though.

 

[Tink's Pixieduster]

I know Cingular works in Quebec and Toronto, not sure about any other providers.
Beware of large roaming charges, though.

What Holly said.

My son has Cingular and he went on a weekend trip to Toronto 3 years ago. He called home a few times and although we didn't talk very long during these calls, his cell phone bill was over $200! As we learned the hard way, once you cross the border all bets are off on free roaming and/or long distance. If your daughter takes a cell phone to Canada try to find out in advance what charges will apply.

 

[Servants of Evan]

As we learned the hard way, once you cross the border all bets are off on free roaming and/or long distance. If your daughter takes a cell phone to Canada try to find out in advance what charges will apply.

Oh yeah. My mother took an Alaskan cruise and somehow missed her flight in Vancouver. She whipped out her cell phone and called me to let me know she wouldn't be on the flight into town... That call had to be under three minutes and wound up costing almost $40!

 

[siouxsieQ]

I have Sprint. My brother borrowed my phone and took it to Montreal. It worked fine. I don't remember how much the charges were, but they were not as bad as I thought they would be.

 

[Nancy]

I have a Tracfone..it works fine from Toronto, but then again I live in Buffalo so we are only 90 minutes away. My SIL's phone did not work from there though, so I agree cal your service provider and see what coverage you have and what roaming charges will be.

 

[epcotfan]

If you do have Interational roaming on your phone, be prepared for $$$ expensive service. When I go to Orlando with tax, service charges and the per minute dialing rate it winds up costing me about $3-4 dollars a minute on my cell phone.

 

[ducklite]

I have Verizon and have called hom e from TO and it's only been a few dollars extra. A couple times I must have picked up US cell towers because I didn't ahve any extra charges.

I've gotten whacked hard calling from Winnipeg. And I've had small surchrges from London and Sarnia.

BTW--I can call from the US to TO and the surrounding area (New Market, Barrie, Missisauga, etc.) with no long distance charges.

Anne

 

[Disney Ella]

I don't know about Toronto, but ours (T-Mobile) worked fine in Montreal. We did have to use a special code to retrieve our messages.

 

[Muffy]

Thanks for all the replys! I knew you guys would have the answer! We have Cingular family plan. I'm going to give them a call. It sounds like it may be a good diea to switch to a international plan temporarily. I appreciate all the great info! Now I can pass it on to other mom's at DD's academy. Thanks again!


Muffy

 

[CathrynRose]

Have her buy - when she gets out there (or perhaps a kind Canadian board member could get for you, before she leaves...) one of those "rechargable - pay as you go phones" Theyre super cheap (at least here they are) right now...

And if it's only used for check-ins, and "hey whats going on" calls - just that initial purchase shoudl be enough.