Hi All,
The kids want Mobile Phones for Christmas here in the UK but we are due to move to Canada next year.

If I get them Tri-Band phones, I guess the handsets themselves will work in Canada. But.......................

In Canada, do the network providers just sell Sim cards (so we can pop them into the phone bought in the UK) ?.

Thanks,
SS

Some do but the majority doesn't, for e.g.
Rogers do
Aliant (AT&T) doesn't

I'm not sure about the others but your best bet is to look up the providers website for the area you are going to.

Some searches to do are: Rogers, Fido, Telus, Aliant (maritimes) and others i can't think of now but i'm sure some west coast friends will let you know.

HTH

The mobile phone industry here is a bit different and less competitive than in Britain.

Generally, North America are on a different incompatible system with the UK called TDMA. Furthermore, in this system, you can't simply switch SIM cards. You're locked into the company you've chosen and their phones. The only concession the government regulators have made recently is to allow numbers to be portable, so that if you decide to change companies, you can take your phone number with you, but even that hasn't been fully enacted yet.

As the previous person has pointed out, the only exception to this is Rogers (also a big cable and multi-media company) who are fully committed to GSM and sell the kind of phones you'd see in Europe. I believe their GSM is still however on a different frequency which means you still need a tri-band phone for it to work or find a way to change the SIM card.

Being on GSM though means that Rogers has had to build GSM towers just for their own network and some people and consumer groups complain that Rogers' signal strength/service is not as good as its competitors. The advantage of course is that when visiting the UK or Europe you can just change SIM cards, while with a competitors' phone it becomes an attractive brick anywhere else.

You could try asking them about your personal case here:

https://www.shoprogers.com/contact/c...FF2M18ANDS17UC

The other cell phone companies are Bell and Telus - both are two of Canada's largest existing phone companies, Telus in the west, Bell in the east. Both offer similar service. Bell seem to have a better selection of phones, but Telus' signal seems to work almost anywhere and they have good customer service.

There's also Fido which used to be a feisty independent until it was swallowed by Rogers and newcomer Virgin which uses Bell's system and offers a no-frills pay and talk service only, a choice of just three phones but is largely aimed at budget-conscious students.

I personally am a low user, so I'm on pay and talk with Telus. I have a Virgin pay and talk phone (which I bought for 40 quid there) for visiting the UK and Europe. Virgin are one of the only UK companies where there's a very long (a year) expiry date on both your balance and keeping the same telephone number. However Virgin UK and Virgin Canada are not compatible at all.

Some links below for Bell, Telus, Rogers. Fido, Virgin and a discussion board on cell phones in Canada.

http://www.bell.ca/shop/en_CA_ON/PrsShpWls_Landing.page


http://www.telusmobility.com/about/careers_home.shtml


http://www.shoprogers.com/store/wireless/overview.asp


http://www.fido.ca/portal/home/homepage.jsp?lang=en


http://www.virginmobile.ca/web/start.do


http://www.canadiancontent.net/tech/mobile/

If texting your friends and family back in the UK is important to you, I think very few networks actually have the capability to send overseas texts (i.e. outside US/Canada). Rogers do, so I've gone with them. Their pricing and plans are a heck of a shock after UK rates, but for me and my usage, they were the best of a bad bunch.

Also, your friends can send you (the Rogers user) free texts via the web here - not a guaranteed service forever but I make regular use of it and it's been 100% reliable, to and from Rogers users in Canada and roaming in the UK.

This is a good site, even better if you will be in Southern Ontario.

http://www.arcx.com/sites/

Include in ya research, the cost of RECEIVING A CALL, as well as making one.
It`s like it was in the early days in the UK.
In Canada, no phone company wants to give that issue up at present, they are not under pressure to, they say it`s all about the cost of tower building etc. So in relation to British earned income/cost of making a cellphone call.
It`s damn expensive here in Canada, outside the cities, cellphones are not generally utilised.

Rogers and Fido utilize GSM (i.e. use SIM cards), so you could use your tribands if you were to sign up with one of these carriers. Otherwise, your phones from the UK won't work with other Canadian providers (and that includes Virgin Mobile, which does not utilize GSM in Canada or the US.)

Also, it's worth remembering that Canadian phone contracts often include phones with the contract at no or little charge, rendering your UK-purchased phones redundant. (In this case, the providers subsidize the purchase of the phone on the premise that your contract of two or three years will generate a fair bit of revenue over the long run.)

Another difference to note is that Canadian providers assign a local number to your phone, and assess long distance charges based upon your number's locale -- there is no 07-type prefix to distinguish a cellular number from a landline. But on the other hand, there is no premium charged to dial to a mobile number, which makes things more affordable for your callers.

On the whole, it's probably best just to wait until you arrive in Canada before choosing phones. If you don't choose a GSM carrier in Canada, be sure to keep your UK handsets so that you can have a telephone available for any future travels to Europe and elsewhere outside of North America where GSM operates on those frequencies.

The one thing you better do however is if you take your UK mobile, make sure you unlock it in UK. My son just recently went back to Ontario. Rogers wanted a $100 to unlock it, $50 to sign up and then another $25 for a pay as you go sim card.
A friend brought the phone back to UK and we unlocked it here for a tenner...
We do send texts back and forth as it cost a $1.00/min if I call him and I think he said .75 cents if he calls me.

Most kids in Canada or even adults do not have mobiles the system is expensive, they charged for everything up to changing your socks....

I came over from the UK to Toronto in Februray 2005.
I brought along with me my UNLOCKED Orange Nokia 6230.
It is a tri band phone.

I did my research whilst I was out here and decided to get the $25 plan with FIDO as they were giving Unlimited Incoming. I assume as new immigrant you will get more calls than you will make. So a unlimited plan makes more sense.

Anyways, as I had a phone from the UK anyway all I needed was a SIM card, which I got from the FIDO dealer for either 25 or 50 dollars (i dont remember) the BIGGEST bonus to just getting a SIM card is that you are not tied into a contract, typically in Ontario the cell phone companies want to tie you into a 2 year contract, so having no commitments to the networks helps. All i need to do is give the 30 days notice and disconnect.