Data Sim for Canada

Lbekula on 05/09/2018 - 23:26

Hi all!

Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on which sim card to get to use in Canada… I am off to do a self-drive through the canadian rockies in October and looking at some mobile data to get me through the trip.

I've seen the canadian pre-paid sim prices are absurd so looking at one of the US carriers as I am stopping over in LA for 10 hours prior to flying into Vancouver.

Any recommendations would be great :) have read that the AT&T roaming data may be capped at 2G speeds and that leaves me a little unsure of what to do!

Travel Canada Mobile Broadband Plan North America Prepaid Mobile Plan SIM Card

Comments

  • retiredfeline on 05/09/2018 - 23:32
    +1

    There was a previous forum question a year or two ago on this, search the site. Basically what you found out, that Canadian SIM prices are absurd and to use some other SIM like from the US.

  • [Deactivated] on 06/09/2018 - 03:30

    You can buy the AT&T sim in Australia and activate when you are in LA for your layover.

    AT&T roaming is not capped.

  • ethan961 on 06/09/2018 - 04:35

    AT&T roaming works and is at full speed until you hit the data cap, but the major caveat is they only roam onto the Rogers network and there are areas of BC that have no Rogers coverage. Normally a Rogers customer would seamlessly roam onto the Bell or Telus network in that case, but with the AT&T roaming you don't get that, so I would not recommend it if you need it outside of cities and larger towns in BC.

    I'm currently there on vacation, mostly in an area without Rogers coverage and it is a bit of a pain but I don't know exactly how common that is as Rogers' coverage indicator shows the entire extended network inclusive of domestic roaming, not just their own coverage.

    I'd recommend something on the Telus network if you want more reliable coverage, and something like Public Mobile would be worth a look IMO, being prepaid, Telus, and "decently" priced. They have cheaper plans if you just need "3G speeds" (defined as up to 3Mbps on the 4G network) or a bit more for the full 4G speeds.

    If you were sticking to civilization then AT&T is better value for sure, but I'd personally be going for something like Public Mobile and living with the 3G speeds or higher cost if I needed full speeds next time.

  • walvisch on 06/09/2018 - 07:19

    T-mobile USA have a pre paid 4G plan, that you have to activate in the US, but then can also use in USA, Canada and Mexico. It has a fair use clause (saying that u can't just use it in Canada, but we have never had problems with this (done this twice)) Cost for 30 days unlimited calls and text and 5 GB of data was about USD$75, you can renew it online.

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