roaming in canada

[buhnanas]

i askwed this on the canada board but no reply...i have the cingular nationwide plan in DC...will i be roaming in toronto?

[ComicalMoodyDan]

Yes, I believe it will be roaming while you are in Canada.

[roamer1]

Yes...and at over $1/min, and analog only. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

-SC

[cryogenic]

Wonder what the roaming rates in Canada for Cingular GSM are... any cheaper than TDMA?

[roamer1]

49c/min + 20 or 25c/min LD for incoming and non-local outgoing

-SC

[cryogenic]

wow.. TDMA users really get the "assume the position" treatment when roaming in Canada... ALthough from what I've heard a FIDO prepaid SIM might still be cheaper due to Fido charging a network access fee of like $6 CAD? I'm not sure what Fido's prepaid rates are, but the nice thing is it keeps you from running up $50 in roaming charges without thinking about it, as you can only use as much as you pay for in advance, so it's easier to budget your roaming fees... It also keeps you from saying "well, I'm not paying for it now, I can just save some extra money and pay for it when my bill comes", use your phone a ton, then realize that you just got nailed with $100 in roaming charges you can't pay for on time. I'll go with the prepaid route if/when I ever go to Canada. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[parthery]

If you use your phone a ton in Canada then you may want to look at AT&T..there is an add-on to Digital One Rate for $20 a month but then your one rate includes the entire US plus entire Canada.

[roamer1]

cryogenic -- Fidomatic prepaid is cheaper for nearly everyone except customers of Nextel (assuming they don't go over plan minutes) and people on AT&T DOR and VZW SRN with the Canada options. (They just increased rates, but it still comes out to around US 30c/min.) The only main charges are for the SIM itself ($50 CAD, includes $25 CAD of airtime -- this is the way it was back in May anyway) and for an unlocked GSM phone if you don't have one. The only downside, of course, is that you get a Canadian number, but LD to Canada is cheap anyway (my 1+ carrier, ECG, charges around 7c/min; 101-6868 charges 8c/min; Big Zoo charges 4.5c/min or so), and if you have people that refuse to pay LD you can get a toll-free number from Kall8 for $2/mo and pay 9c/min LD to Canada yourself. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

parthery -- VZW offers the same deal for people on SRN plans for $10/mo.

-SC

[roamer1]

Also...I have a post about Canada with much more detail over in the Central forum

-SC

[ZaphodB]

Originally posted by: cryogenic
Wonder what the roaming rates in Canada for Cingular GSM are... any cheaper than TDMA?

The rates charged by Cingular are 84c a minute which includes Long Distance, 69c if there is no long distance involved. The problem is not Cingular, the problem is Fido.

Fido charge you the monthly access fee to their network (CAD$6.95), plus their own fees. It worked out to nearly USD$2.40 a minute all told for me. I was NOT a happy camper. If you roam on Rogers AT&T GSM from an AT&T phone it will be much cheaper.

[roamer1]

I'm confused -- were you using Fidomatic prepaid or were you using a Cingular SIM to roam on Fido/Microcell?

If Cingular is passing along the Canadian SAF (which doesn't apply to roamers!) and other fees, something's badly broken down somewhere... (I have roamed in Canada with Powertel/VS/T-Mo, Nextel, and VZW and have never been charged anything other than the expected airtime and LD charges.)

I just checked Fido's site again and consistent with my experiences with Fidomatic, they build the SAF and other fees into their prepaid rates.

-SC