pittysplace

HI if we take our current mobiles can we get a canadian chip or are we best selling them then buying new over there?? what is the situation with mobiles calls and texts. i believe they text far less over there! HA i'm a major texta queen , guess things will be changing!!!!! cheeers everyone!

MR79

Hi,

As long as your phones are gsm they should be fine to put a Canadian sim card in, be warned the phone packages and phones are a 100% rip off over there, you get charged to recieve calls and texts, the price plans are a rip off and pay as you go is not really worth it as you pay to recieve calls and texts, my advise shop around you will get good deals, i managed to get a good deal with fido for a sim card and used my own phone, good luck...

MR79

jericho

All UK mobile phone carriers use GSM.
In Canada, only Rogers/Fido use GSM. Your phone will work on Rogers/Fido, but wont work on any other network.

iaink

Phone plans might seem like a major rip off, but bare in mind that canada has half the population of the UK and covers a VASTLY LARGER AREA. Someone has to cover those addiional infrastructure costs, and thats the smaller number of users, so something has to give.

Major practical differences compared to UK is you pay for incoming calls and texts as well as outgoing, and texting is more expensive too, hence its relative unpopularity.

Brownstar

'

This depends on your network, I've got Solo (which is CDMA not GSM so won't work in Europe) and I don't pay for incoming calls or texts

Alan2005

Don't defend them - they are a rip off. The GSM network is an effective monopoly, and the rest behave like a cartel (pulling stuff like all *independently* announcing that they were going to charge for incoming sms on the same day).

To add to the thread - your UK mobile will only work here if it's tri-band (most phones bought in Europe are now-a-days).

iaink

Are you sure? All the solo literature Ive seen says you pay for incoming texts, and if incoming calls are free then they need to shoot their marketing people for hiding that detail away as I cant find anything to confirm that on the website. Some of the plans may include unlimited incoming LOCAL minutes, but then I expect thats just factored into a higher monthly cost for those particular plans anyway...

iaink

Im not defending them necessarily, just pointing out that its a totally different environment and market here, so there are reasons things are different, same goes for Air travel. Higher costs are simply a function of lower population density. If you are going to change countries, sometimes you just have to take the rough with the smooth.

I get by fine with my pay as I go plan...doesnt cost me $10 a month for the security of having a phone when I need one. I dont consider that a rip off, but then I'm not addicted to using it...

Brownstar

I pay $25/month for my plan and then an additional $5 for unlimited texts and web browsing, the only incoming calls and texts I pay for are international ones. As long as I use it locally its pretty cheap, using it in the US costs a fortune.

From the Solo website:

Standard Additional Rates:
Outgoing Text Messages 15¢/text
Incoming Text Messages Included

Alan2005

Me neither (i've got a company blackberry anyway - no idea how much it actually costs).

Paul5455

from the research i have done $30 a months seems to get you 300 mins calls and unlimited texts (both sent and recieved)
im paying £30 a month over here for the same plan!
doesnt sound like a rip off to moi!

MikeUK

You need to watch any 'wireless' data transfers as that is a huge rip off here, use blackberries, Iphones and the like with care inside Canada

But to be honest mobiles are a rip off the size of the country would be a good argument if it had reasonable coverage in rural areas but it doesn't

Kirstine

The phone services here are like 10 years ago in the UK plus as everyone said, you have to pay to receive as well as call out. We bought a Roger's Sim here which cost us $70, it's expensive though. The guy in Walmart recommended for us to go with Telus Pay as you go (as we don't wanna go contract) as it's a little cheaper but they don't work on a sim card, you have to buy the phone but when we priced it, it was around $70 for the phone and that included credit. Best bet would be go to Walmart, Costco or whatever and look at the plans and phones they carry.

agr

And some of the UK cost is heaped onto the poor soul calling your mobile from his landline.

I have a pay as you go phone here but I use it so little that the credit is building up - you have to use it within a specified time or add to it, otherwise it expires.

Perhaps texting here is expensive because of its unpopularity?

G77

Lack of texting has to be a good thing doesn't it? Stops kids having a phone permanently in their hands and using txt speak.....