MarylandNed

I live in the US. My daughter is going to be attending the University of Toronto in September. Using her US phone in Canada isn't economically viable - it would cost US$150 a month on top of the US charges. I have a spare unlocked iPhone 6s that she could use while in Canada and am wondering what the best option would be for a mobile phone plan for her while at uni. Thanks in advance.

Vulcanoid

If she doesn't have Canadian credit she may struggle to get a contract (I had to bootstrap my way into one by using a bank virtual visa as though it were a credit card because they couldn't set up the payments to come out of my account the way they would now I have a history).

Depending how much she plans on using it, she may find that a prepaid monthly plan is better - eg Koodo, $15/month prepaid for the line, then purchase individual boosters for talk time, data, which last until she's drained them, then she buys more.

scrubbedexpat091

We have Fido $65/month unlimited calls within Canada and texting worldwide and 10gb data.

We have used freedom in the past as well,coverage isn't as good though as the big guys (Telus/Koodoo, Bell/Virgin, Rogers/Fido.)

Without credit she may need to pay a deposit to secure service.

Siouxie

Freedom - they have an add-on (included in some plans) for international texts / picture texts / 5c a minute calls. They offer a bring your own phone option as well as huge data plans at reasonable prices. I've been with them for 3 years and haven't had any issue connecting, anywhere - they use the big guys networks for a lot of 'out of the way' places. They have LTE in the GTA now too, super fast. https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/n...erage/coverage
https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/p...ice-to-freedom

Allie73

I use Koodo prepay. No contract and I pay $15/month. That includes unlimited texting. Then I buy booster packs for data and minutes. 1G of data is $30. 500 talk minutes is $25. Minutes and data don't expire so they cna carry over for as long as it takes to use them up. I'm not a big data user so 1G lasts me a long time. And it takes months for me to use up 500 minutes. My kid recently got a phone and I got this plan for him too.

Madnellie

When I first moved over as a student I went with a Virgin mobile prepaid plan - no credit check needed. I'm in the Niagara region and found no issues with the coverage and you get get add ons for international texting etc.

https://www.virginmobile.ca/en/plans...repaid/monthly

misplacedheidi

Do this. The Koodo prepay has now been updated to include 250MB of data too. It is $15 per month but you reduce that by 10% if you use auto top up.
You buy a booster for data and talk time - these do NOT expire ever (unlike plan minutes).

Wifi is prevalent in Canada - Tim Hortons have it, and university employees and students can access Eduroam wifi across all campuses. On trains etc,

I use wifi through work and barely use my data - I don't stream movies though!

Best plan ever

Note to Koodo users - you won't be switched onto the data plan - you have to change your plan tothis new one. Your boosters will not disappear - they are carried over!!

Danny B

Koodo Mobile are the best for a non contract pay as you go plan.

https://www.koodomobile.com/ then click on bring your own phone plans under shop.

MarylandNed

Thanks for the responses. I'm thinking about having my daughter use her own phone (unlocked iPhone) with a Koodo Prepaid plan. Does anyone know if she can simply swap SIM cards? That is, use the same phone in Canada (with a Koodo SIM card) and the US (with her existing Verizon SIM card).