What the ? …….Cellphones (data, texting, calls [both local and back to Canada] while in Florida for 20 days) …esp RE Bell cell!

[WalkingintheFog]

Travelling with sis to Orlando, doing some off-site things as well as staying at The Fort.

We are on a Bell Cell family plan, but the only mention it makes of USA is .60min Canada to USA.

Unfortunately, in today’s climate, one has to have use of their Internet, especially at Disney and I’m thinking shared Wi-Fi down there. It’s just gonna be pretty slow. I know there used to be a plan that we could do for a few weeks in Florida that was not $10-13 a day.
Any intel?.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Travelling with sis to Orlando, doing some off-site things as well as staying at The Fort.

We are on a Bell Cell family plan, but the only mention it makes of USA is .60min Canada to USA.

Unfortunately, in today’s climate, one has to have use of their Internet, especially at Disney and I’m thinking shared Wi-Fi down there. It’s just gonna be pretty slow. I know there used to be a plan that we could do for a few weeks in Florida that was not $10-13 a day.
Any intel?.

One thing i can say is that it must be a long time since you've traveled. That option hasn't been available for many years, hubby used to get that and even though it was pricey it was better than the current $12 fido will charge me and the $15 he'll pay to bell (he has a business plan so I guess they figure he can afford more?) We hate this added expense of crossing the border!

There are several threads here with suggestions and plans that involve getting e- Sim cards, just scroll down a bit.

 

[migel]

Since I refuse to pay Roger's Roam Like Home fees after they doubled them, I get by with Disney WIFI at the parks, including Disney Springs. It's not perfect, occasionally you have to reconnect, but it works well enough.

 

[ottawamom]

Jethro mobile. You purchase their sim and package on Amazon or Best Buy. They have various offering so see which one suits you best. My son just purchased a 30 day package. He used it while in the states then we borrowed it for our trip last week (still within the 30 day mark).

We have used Jethro for Disneyland and most recently Maine. If you can get good cell and data in Maine you'll have no issues in Florida.

 

[kuhltiffany]

We just went in August and the Wi-Fi was great everywhere, even on the buses! I had bought an e-sim from Airalo but barely used it, I think only during the ride to/from Disney.

In case we needed a phone, the cheapest option I found was to add a US travel plan to my son’s Public Mobile account.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

One thing i can say is that it must be a long time since you've traveled. That option hasn't been available for many years, hubby used to get that and even though it was pricey it was better than the current $12 fido will charge me and the $15 he'll pay to bell (he has a business plan so I guess they figure he can afford more?) We hate this added expense of crossing the border!

There are several threads here with suggestions and plans that involve getting e- Sim cards, just scroll down a bit.

Yup… spent the last 6-7 years travelling my own province and Canada!

 

[Starwind]

Bell's current travel add-on: https://www.bell.ca/mobility/features/travel.tab

We don't use public wi-fi for security reasons, so eat the charge for my sister's phone during US trips.

For my phone (which is with Rogers) we did the math and it is in the US enough each year that it was worthwhile to get a monthly plan that includes Canada and US calling and data. Although that did not work well during pandemic travel restrictions, overall it has paid off (if you remove the US calling you can't add it back for a year, so we did not remove it during border restrictions).

I should add that years and years ago we used Roam-whatever-it-was called SIM cards on US trips, and while it had its benefits, there were many downsides: connection issues, and the hassle of having a different number.

Really, we find it much easier to have our normal number and to be seamlessly roaming with mainline partner networks where we get good and reliable coverage. No carrying extra SIMs, no switching SIMs, no reconfiguring the phone, etc. For us, all those things are worth the extra cost of using our provider's roam-like-home (or whatever its name is) roaming add-on.

 

[ottawamom]

I must add using Jethro was seamless and easy. Yes I had to switch the sim card and we got a new phone # but it was so easy that I (a techno phobic grandma) could manage it all on my own. No worries about running up a bill on my regular service etc. (all prepaid)

 

[mort1331]

we use AT&T that we get from Amazon. Unlimited data and calls both USA and CAN. I just tell family to text me and I will call them back, so they dont get dinged for US calling. There are different lengths of days,,,never had an issue.

 

[deedubb]

There are a bunch of options:

If you just need data, get an esim from Airalo. Their plans are cheap and work well.

If you need to be able to call someone:
1) purchase a US sim card from Amazon.
2) get the TextNow app which allows free texting and calling. There are ads which is why it is free. You can choose any area code (Canada or US) and it will give you a bunch of phone numbers you can choose from. Just be aware that if you don't call or text using the app at lease once every few days, you will lose the number. If you want to lock in the number, it is really cheap to do so. I think it cost me about $8 USD to lock in the number for a year. You still have ads, but you won't lose the number. If you want to get rid of the ads, it is a monthly fee. The ads are not too intrusive. Our last trip, I used TextNow for texting and purchased Airalo for data, which also allowed me to make phone calls using TextNow even if I didn't have wi-fi. I chose a US phone number so that I could receive texts from Disney as they will not text to a Canadian #, but if you want the phone number to stay in touch with friends/family from Canada, you can choose a Canada phone #.
3) switch to a cell provider that offers cheap US/Canada plans. Freedom mobile has one for around $50 or $55/month. Telus also has one for $50/month. You just have to sign up as member at snowbirdadvisor.ca (free membership) to get access to the Telus deal.

 

[MoreTravels]

Yes. The Freedom Mobile plan is an option. You actually don't need to sign up with anyone... You can visit any Freedom Mobile kiosk at your local mall and get a SIM. You can roam with that plan for about $50 per month. https://shop.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/plans

There is a better option FREE FREE FREE... You read this right, it's from T-Mobile and other US carriers. They give you a 90-day plan to test their network for free, unlimited data and local phone number for 3 months! See this thread for detail:

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/t-mobile-free-t-mobile-90-day-unlimited-data-trial-2526310/

I have set it up in my last US trip. You need a phone with eSIM. You need a different email address for each "trial account" as it is one per family. So you need a US address for each "family". The address cannot be used in the past so just go to a real estate website and find a random address with ZIP code to use. You should not use a public building such as library or train station address as they have in the database it is a commercial address and it will likely be rejected.

 

[MoreTravels]

This link has the FAQ and detailed instructions on how to get free data and some voice services in USA. You need to be somewhat techy with how to set up phones and even VPN's. But if you are successful, then you save a few hundred dollars on roaming charges for a family (two phones from parents and another one or two from teenage children).

https://forums.redflagdeals.com/usa...ys-15-days-30-days-90-days-2587839/#p37008586

 

[Mikey15]

If anyone reading this is with Telus or amenable to switch, they usually have good rate plan “sales” around the end of November - Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Once we got a Canada-US plan from Telus we haven’t looked back. We’re near the border and in the US often enough that it would make sense anyway, but at the sale rate it wasn’t really more than a plan without US calling / texting / data included. Minor drawback is because you don’t have a US number certain US businesses can’t or won’t text you, including Disney to let you know a table is ready. But it’s 99% of the time no problem at all.

 

[Sue M]

I’m with Fido. When in Orlando aside from travel day where I want to get flight notifications I mostly leave my phone in airplane mode and use the resort and park wifi.

 

[CanucksRock]

I used Airalo prior to this month, they are excellent if you just need Data and your phone supports eSIM …I did not have to use for this trip because I’m with Public Mobile and for only an extra $10/mth I was able to switch to a plan that includes Can & USA. (So, I pay $50 a month..actually less due to rewards and get Canada/US wide calling, data, messaging)