Travel to Canada... options?

fury · 07-01-2009, 06:43 AM

I'm about to take a week long trip to Canada, and the drive itself is gonna take 2 days each way. Wondering what might be the best option for me as far as data/phone usage (or non-usage). Since there in all likelihood will not be cell service within 2 hours of my final destination, that means the expected window of opportunity of using the iPhone on the cell network inside Canadian borders is probably no more than about 48 hours.

Is my best option to just turn off the cell radio, or is an international data plan cheap enough to be useful for those 48 hours?

carrera.owner · 07-01-2009, 08:50 AM

I cannot speak for your Canada trip, but when I was conducting a 6-wk experiment off the coast of Chile, the international data plans from AT&T were ridiculously expensive. So my solution was to use the hotel's wireless network and Skype iPhone app. Worked well enough to make calls. If you do decide to take this route, be sure to turn off cell service (to avoid incurring costs): I did this by putting the iPhone in airport mode and manually turning on WiFi.

HTH

fury · 07-01-2009, 09:14 AM

Called AT&T now that they're open, and my options other than shutting the cell radio off are $25 for 20 mb of data or $60 for 50 mb of data. Overages are $5 for a megabyte. I am not familiar anymore with how much data my iPhone uses, but 20 megs seems skinny even for only a couple days of effective use. Not sure if it's worth all $25, but maybe I'll talk to the convoy about it when we're getting ready to leave and see if we might want to use it...

They also have a $5 option for making calls cheaper to/from Canada. Maybe I'll pass, and just wing it.

styfle · 07-06-2009, 10:21 PM

I'm going to Canada as well but I thnk the easiest is to just put the sim in a dumbphone.

danipoak · 07-09-2009, 09:49 AM

I've been to Canada a couple of times now since I got my iPhone and all I ever do is just turn data roaming off, that way I can still have access to the phone if I need it. Calling is a bit pricey though but I like having it if there is an emergency. I've never racked up any international data charges though.

dotcom · 08-02-2009, 06:37 PM

i drive a truck over the road and go to canada all the time. my solution is to put the iphone in airplane mode and buy a international calling card at any of the truck stops you will find up there. that way i can call home for pennies a minute. canada still believes in pay phones so it is not hard to find a phone and you could check your voice mail easily. i normally will purchase a 10.00 card in canada which comes to about 8.00 after the exchange rate. though about getting a pre paid cell up there but its just too easy to use the calling card and pay phones to justify the extra cost

hope this helps and good luck on your trip