How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

A bit of a long shot here but wondering if someone may have experience, currently in the UK with a phone contract on vodafone, compared to the canadian deals available its ridiculously cheap (I got a top of the range phone on black friday 2018, 100gb data, unlimited phone calls, texts, worldwide roaming all in for £26 a month) - phone works free of charge in Canada as international roaming was on the plan, longest I've been over there using it was 18 days, but with the plan to move over there relatively soon was wondering about trying to keep it running in Canada as even with changing my phone usage habits its likely a sim free prepaid deal over there will run me double/triple that.

If I kept paying the bill from a UK bank account how long before the provider goes - "he's not on a holiday we are cutting him off" unsure if those on an IEC or the like may have experienced pushing this and how long it lasted??

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

I would expect the roaming has limitations in the small print such as no more than 30 days at a time, or a limited data amount. Check the small print and the actual contract wording or you could end up with a hefty bill.

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

Aye there is a limit of 25gb per month in my t and c's which is fine (given a 20gb data contract in Canada costs twice my current line rental) with a charge if I go over it - capped at £30 a month in charges. ​​​Either way £26 for 25gb full speed or £56 for 100gb full speed seems cheaper than the deals in Canada.

Can't see anything in there about maximum roaming period, ultimately I'm going to come over and try it as worst case is we get cut off a month in. Was just curious as to whether someone had tried it and got away with it for 2 months, 6 months, a year etc.

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

Roaming my be one of those things that disappears as a result of Brexit, it was only introduced as an EU initative, so may well go for the EU, and that could well mean other countries as well.

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

That is a great plan but can I ask a question...what could you or anyone possibly have the need for a 100 gb of data a month...wifi is available in lots of places and unless you're streaming netflix on the bus etc, that is a lot of data.

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

No one in Canada will wantvto call you on that number as tgey would incur long overseas call charges.

Also all Canaduan applucations for things (credit cards etc) ask for a cell number and a UK format number does not fit most systems which are formatted for a nunber format of nnn-nnn-nnnn. Its bad enough for me as I have chosen to retain my Ottawa based cell number here in London ON (cell numbers in Canada have the same prefix as landline numbers, so are soecific to an area).

Apologies for typos, damned tablet virtual keyboard!

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

on a side note i still have my old uk mobile from 2007..it was PAYG on O2 its still has 20 quid on it from then and it still works..who knew?

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

Yea, don't get me wrong I don't ever put my phone on wifi - I typically use circa 30gb a month but don't download music on spotify, just let it stream whenever I'm in the car, if I need to watch a youtube video or the like - I just do it. Realise a change in habits, using wifi downloading off offline maps etc could probably get me down to 10-15gb a month, but reality is its a huge comfort blanket of not needing to care about data usage when out and about.

Granted that wasn't something i had thought about, although could just get a pre pay sim as my phone is dual sim for if I'm job hunting etc (in the UK I might ring businesses etc, but typically I'm of the generation that just does everything via WhatsApp).

It's not a permanent solution, and obviously isn't that big of a deal just thought if I could get away with it for 3-6 months whilst I'm trying to sort a more permanent place to live, get settled with a job and whilst i still need directions to get to Walmart using my UK sim would be a bonus (actually a double bonus as my other half has exactly the same deal).

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

Whatever you do, I suggest that you do NOT use anything other than a local Canadian cell number on your Resume or any contact details you give to a prospective Canadian employer!

What would you think If you were a UK employer and someone who claims to live in the UK gave you an obviously foreign cell number as part of their contact details? I am afraid I would put it straight in the 'no' pile.

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

to answer the original question... by using a UK SIM in Canada, you are doing what is called 'permanent roaming'. There is not usually a specified time frame [although there might be buried in any of Canadian regulation, your end user terms & conditions, or the wholesale contract between your UK provider and whoever's network you are on in Canada]. The general rule of thumb is 90 days but it doesn't mean anyone will cut you off then. Especially if you switch amongst the Canadian networks on which you are roaming.

Oddly enough, the company that should care the most is your UK provider. Because they are, in effect, delivering a telecoms service [to you] in Canada without a Canadian license. Whether or not they have invested in the systems to figure that out and do something about it is a separate question.

On the other point in this thread, 'free' intra-EU roaming may be a victim of Brexit, but it does not look like it at the moment. As i expect you know, there is no such thing as free, it's tariff rebalancing. Oddly enough, those too ill or too poor to travel around Europe get to pay more for their mobile service than in the pre-'free' roaming days.

And, yes, I really must get out more. Damn COVID...

Re: How long before your UK mobile gets cut off
 

Roaming charges in Canada have nothing to do with the EU.