using our AT&T cellphones in the states?

[from Canada]

Hi all, last trip to Disney, we used our phones a few times (when really necessay), the cost was huge on our bill!! Does anyone know if there is a plan I can sign up for that would make this more affordable? My DH and I both habe Rogers AT&T, neither one is on a "pay as you go" plan.
Thanks,
Karen

 

[WCMouse]

Dear from Canada;
I am not sure if this is a solution, but one we have used since it tends to be fairly easy. We just ended up buying two "pay as you go" phones in the states. The ones we got were only about $50 each, included some airtime and had a one rate across the entire USA. We did not need to be an American or even a resident to activate the phone. We use these any time we go down across the border, be it Hawaii, California or WDW. If you always go to the same area, you can get that area's phone number and anyone in that area can call you without long distance charges. We, for example, spend many of our vacations in Hawaii, thus we set up our phones to have a Hawaii local number, this all was done from the comfort of our computer here in Vancouver.

It is just one idea and I guess it really depends on how much you use them.....

 

[Daisy-J&D]

I was going to ask the same thing. My phone won't work very far into the US so I need to find an inexpensive alternative.

WC Disney - Can you provide a link for information on the phone you have? I want one for the drive down "in case of an emergency". I doubt I'll be calling out or have any incoming calls, the phone will need to work for my I-75 trek.

Thanks!

J

 

[siobhan1997]

Last year we called AT & T to see what they could offer us, because we had one of the lower plans we could upgrade for one month to a plan that would allow us to make 200 minutes of long distance or local calls in North America. I believe the cost of this was $50.00 for the one month plus the usual charges we pay. If we decided to go with use as we needed it was going to cost us up to $1.85 per minute depending on where we were calling. We decided on the pay as you use the time because it was easier to use our calling card to call anyone back home. AT & T told us that if we decide to go with the extra $50.00 we could remove it the month after.
You can find this all out of their web site

 

[WCMouse]

Dear Daisy-J&D;

We bought ours from Target and it was part of the Virgin Mobile Group. The link is:
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/

We were pleased, and hope it works for you...

 

[TimNDansMom]

We have Rogers AT&T and have had no problem calling back to Ontario from Orlando. However be sure to check their website for a list of US coverage and excluded areas, depending on whether you have a GSM or TDMA phone. Normally a call costs .95 per minute plus .75 per minute long distance. As long as we keep any calls back to Ontario short, this has worked out okay for us. The same charges apply if Dh called from his cell phone to mine but I noticed that when he was in Miami and placed a call to a Fort Lauderdale business, the charge was just the .95 per minute.

 

[from Canada]

Great! Thanks for the info. Im going to "crunch" some numbers and see what would be the best deal for us.
Karen

 

[DSNY FN]

We use our Bell Mobility phone while we are there and it works just fine all the way down actually. I called home to talk to my mom after we arrived and the call cost me 23 bucks for 16 minutes then my call from Ohio to my dads place for about 10 minutes was about 14 dollars it all depends on the roaming charge you get hit with from your carrier.

 

[from Canada]

I know our phones will work, its just the price im trying to keep down.
Thanks for the help
Karen