Travelling North America | 7-Eleven Rates and Plans | Consumer forum

gjozon said:

My hubby and I are starting the next stage of our lives as full time RVers in our motorhome. We will be living 6 mths in Canada and 6 in the US. Is it possible to get reasonable, dependable cell phone service and rates for both - with one provider and phone? We would like to be able to have our kids and friends contact us wherever we are and visa versa without breaking the bank.

Thanks to any and all who reply.

Jane

Hello Jane,

Generally when Canadian phones roam in the USA, you will pay high roaming fees. I would suggest getting 1 phone for Canada, and getting another phone (or sim card only if you have an unlocked phone) for the USA.

When in Canada, I recommend Speak Out Wireless. The coverage is generally good around Canada. They are lacking around the prairies though, and out east, in Newfoundland. Generally, I think they have better coverage than Bell across Canada.

For the USA, I would recommend a prepaid solution, such as Tracfone, or Net10. With Tracfone, any call you make across the USA costs the same, as long as it's a phone that deducts 1 unit/minute. Some older phones deduct 2 units/minute.

Tracfone does not own it's own towers. It is an MVNO, just like Speak Out. Tracfone also has many roaming agreements with cell providers. Say if your Tracfone was a phone that uses the Verizon network, and you entered an area that uses the AllTel wireless network, the phone would switch to AllTel. I have found Tracfone's coverage to be excellent in the USA.

Verizon has the least dropped calls. Maybe they have a plan that suits you.

Consumer Reports agrees. The problem with Verizon, however, is that they don't use GSM. That means you'd have to have two phones, two chargers, etc. The advantage of T-Mob and AT&T is that because they're GSM you need only one unlocked phone plus the two SIMs.