Pratt

How does one go about using one's US cell phone in Canada?
Not only do I want to be able to call home, but call to Canadian campgrounds, hotels, etc.
Also, what about apps on the phone? e.g. Google Maps.

downtube42

Apps are fine as long as you have data.

Your phone's technology and cell carrier's policies will determine if it works and how much it will cost.

Dave Mayer

Technically no issues. Depends on your data plan as to how much it will cost. Make sure you work this out in advance to avoid a $2,000 data 'Roaming' charge when you get back.

Many Canadians do carry and use US plans (with free roaming) because Canadian phone plans are so expensive. Lack of competition in action.

Keep in mind that Canada is a vast country with hostile weather in which maybe 1% of the total landmass has cell service. You will be OK in urban centres, and the main highways, but do not assume that 10 miles out of town that there will be any cell coverage. For perhaps hundreds of miles.

I few years back a group of us had just finished a backcountry ski trip, and ran into a group of German tourists at the trailhead. Excited about romance and adventure of the wilderness, they asked me several questions about the trip, including about the potential "costs of a helicopter rescue". Not clear on the concept here... I had to gently explain that there was no "rescue". There was no cell service anywhere, the constant snowfall and cloud cover precluded any air search, and even if someone knew exactly where you had broken your leg, it involved extreme risk (avalanches and cold) trying to get to you. So it was up to you and your pals to patch you up and spend 3 days dragging you out to civilization.

Tourist in MSN

My local USA based phone plan does not include an international option, you do not get much for $10 a month phone plan.

My Canadian Maritimes trip in 2019, I planned to buy a local sim card for my phone but the stars did not align right so did not get one. For a couple days I rode with a gal I met at a hostel, she was from Germany. She had bought a local sim card for data only, we used her phone for accessing a couple websites for camground info, etc.

I have Google Voice on my phone, if I had a data only sim card, I could make phone calls on that by using Google Voice. But lacking that, if I had to make a phone call I could only use Google Voice using wifi. But nobody could call me because my phone would only ring if I was currently connected to internet on wifi, which was quite rare.

Since I never got a sim card, my phone became a wifi only device, I still managed to get all the weather forecasts and everything else I needed by using campground wifi, etc.

Because computer networks could figure out that my phone (Android) was from USA, I was unable to load the weather forecast app that I wanted to load from the Canadian govt. Not sure why they only want Canadians to have access to good weather forecasts, but that is a different topic.

Have a great trip.

downtube42

I have Google Fi for my cell service. Travel between US, Canada, Germany, France, and Scandinavia has been completely seamless and without any extra cost. Cross the border, the phone says "Welcome to Canada!". Aside from that, business as usual.

When I had Verizon, it was more or less the opposite. I never got the phone to work in France. Even wifi was blocked. For Canada IIRC I had to pay for an international plan, then pay per day.

indyfabz

Check your plan first. My iPhone with a Verizon plan through work includes Verizon of Canada. I had no idea until I was in NW Montana for a few days without service. Headed north towards the border then east. Phone started blowing up during a descent. Took a break to see what was up. Had a notification that I was connected to Verizon of Canada and was getting all the text messages that had been sent to me during the previous two days. Pretty funny considering I wasn’t in Canada.

djb

Where will you be traveling in Canada?
As noted by others, here in Canada cell service is a lot more EXPENSIVE than in the states, although things are changing slowly.

In the past, when traveling out of Canada, we have done the easy route and paid for out of country plans through our existing cell company, as they have agreements with providers in the states or France or whatever.

but get back with your intended trip plans, I may have a suggestion for Quebec, as that's all I can comment on.

Pratt

Quebec would be perfect. The "plan" is to ride from Burlington, VT to Montreal, spend a day or two, them train to Chambord and ride around Lac Ste Jeanne on Route des bleuets, then back to Montreal, and Burlington. A mix of camping and hostels, B&Bs, motels, bunk rooms, etc. has worked on other tours.
Sounds like even before I leave, I will get learn more about my cell service than I ever wanted to know.
Thanks to all for the input.

phughes

Skip Google Maps and download WikiCamps. It allows you to download the maps of the areas you will need, and you can use it with no cellular service, but location will still work.

For phone service, T-mobile has an international plan that allows you to use your phone in Mexico and Canada exactly as you do in the US. It also gives you data in countries all over the world. I've had good luck with it and travel internationally most of each month.

djb

cool. Can't recall if you'd brought this trip up before, I mix up who's who. I think you did though.

Perhaps the last persons suggestion is easiest, to use a known American service that does out of US stuff reliably.
My suggestions for the Quebec market could easily have hiccups for a foreigner to sign up, I actually have no idea but videotron, jazz, bell are the main names here. Jazz is a more budget offshoot of Videotron, good prices and packages, but you'll have to get into the details if they allow a yank to sign up.

MarcusT

One time while visiting Canada, I picked up a pay-as-you-go SIM from a PetroCanada gas station. They are more expensive than contract plans, but it was simple.
https://mobility.petro-canada.ca/special-offers.aspx
This does not seem to be a bad deal
But my experience with contract plans was very negative. They do not cancel the plan when requested and hound you for several years

staehpj1

Just remember that rules out phones for CDMA networks like Verizon or Sprint. They don't take sim cards. So you won't be able to use you regular phone and pop in a sim card if it is a CDMA phone. It would suck to get to the start of your trip and figure that out. You can pick up used or refurbished GSM phones fairly cheaply though. You could probably resell it when done with it and recoup your money or most of it is you wanted to bother with the hassle of reselling.

I think there are a few phones that support both GSM and CDMA networks, but just because a CDMA phone has a sim card doesn't mean it will work for GSM. Some CDMA phones use a sim to lock a it to their CDMA network.

I am not an expert on any of this, but I think that is the gist of it. The bottom line should be to check before counting on a sim working on your phone.

djb

In 2018 i had a weird problem in France where my fairly new smart phone wouldn't work with a large French providers sim card (company name of Orange) because of a technical reason, frequency or something, that my phone didn't operate with but waa obviously used in France.

I'm sure U.S. and Canada don't have this issue, but I guess just make enquiries about possible technical snafus that the regular person would never dream of.

My phone worked fine in Mexico with a Mexican SIM card, but only after a smart store employee went through the settings and changed something.

Tourist in MSN

I am not sure the status of this issue is, but it is common for USA customers to buy a heavily subsidized phone from a company with a two or more year cell phone plan. And that phone is locked to that company. Getting a phone unlocked to work with other sim cards can be a problem.

I can't elaborate more, I am only repeating what I have heard. I intentionally have only bought unlocked phones that I can use any sim card in. Thus, I am ignorant of the procedures to unlock a phone.

Tourist in MSN

That is exactly the kind of sim card I planned to buy for my Maritimes trip, but I never found something like that for sale. That said, it was low on my priority list, I did not spend any time searching for one.

RayHenry

As a Canadian, this gave me a good chuckle. The reality is that cell phone coverage is much closer to 30% than it is to 1%. And you really need to "get off the beaten path" to be out of range. Some areas it's not even the distance from a cell tower that's the issue, it's the landscape.

As others have pointed, out, check with your carrier. I know most of my American friends and family have plans that allow them to use their phones up here with no additional charges.

If you want to see if you will have coverage when you are planning on visiting, check out this map.

gauvins

Coverage in Canada is actually quite good. More than 99% of the population has access and close to 90% of roads are covered as well. See here for some official numbers.

Now, for the American traveller, there is this network compatibility question (CDMA vs GSM). CDMA is still quite prevalent in the USA, whereas Canada dropped support 6 years ago. If your phone works in Europe (or if your carrier offers an international roaming plan), it probably means that it is GSM and should work in Canada. If your phone is locked, you're stuck with your carrier roaming plan (usually reasonable for voice, but be very careful with data). If it is unlocked, there are perhaps no-contract pre-paid options that'll suit you (see here for example) but my experience is that unlike many countries where you can get a SIM at the airport that'll work without fuss, few options are available here -- prepaid is often tied to a contract.

Pratt

Thanks all for the good advice. It sounds like the adventure will start long before I get on the bike.
The phone is Apple, the service is Verizon.
The Verizon web site was silent on the subject of SIM cards, they suggested a variety of plans for international use.

Tourist in MSN

If you do not have a sim card in your phone, you pretty much are limited to whatever international plan they offer. And even if you can put a different sim card in it, if you got the phone from Verizon, it likely is locked to them.

I bought my Android phone, unlocked for $105 (USD) five years ago. Thus my previous response on my intent to buy a local sim card in Canada, as I can just put another carrier sim card in it and it will work if I have setup an account with them.

djb

Tourist, re locked vs unlocked. Here in Canada, right before I went back to Mexico there was a law passed that disallowed phone carriers to charge a fee for unlocking a phone, and I duly got mine unlocked at no cost, then used a mexican cell company sim with no issues (other than having a few hiccups solved by smart mexican store employees)

the issue in France was not this issue, but some specific technical thing. The French store employees even went out of their way to call tech support of my canadian phone company to sort it out, but it was a clear issue of my phone not working with a specific French cell service thing--of which I cant recall the name of the thing, frequency or band or something. My phone/computer nerd friend knew right away what it wass when I told him of this when I returned, so in cell phone world, it was something not unheard of. I suspect other specific cell phones would have been ok, prob my model only worked in the "North American market" specifics.

I guess, for anyone, just maybe get well versed in cell phonelandia tech talk and read up on all the sub menus and crap that you might have to deal with when putting in a new sim card.....or maybe not and its easy peasy, presto and working, who knows?

mev

A note about the US and not Canada.

In the US, I have a Motorola Android phone with a sim card on the Verizon CDMA network. It uses this sim card: https://shop.net10wireless.com/shop/...-sim-tri-punch

Tourist in MSN

I am not really sure what the story is, I have heard that N America phones will not work on some European frequencies, but I have also heard that there is no problem. I think you need to research the frequency incompatibility issues to figure it out.
https://www.worldtimezone.com/4g.html

My Iceland trip, I bought a cheap 3G Android phone to take along, that phone had Asia and Europe frequencies, not N American frequencies. But, my flight was delayed (thanks to Delta) and I was unable to buy a sim card on a national holiday, decided to skip it, never bought the sim card. But, the phone worked as a wifi device, thus did not have a problem. My Canada trip, well that was a N America trip so should not be a problem with a N America phone. But on that trip, also only used it as wifi, I did not spend the extra time to locate a sim card.

But the OP is in N America and going to N America, so should not be a problem.

djb

ya, all my blah blah isn't really relevant......

gauvins

Looks like it'll be 5$/day, easy peasy with good coverage

staehpj1

I should have probably said it rules out standard CDMA phones used by Verizon and just grabbing a sim at the border. People using sims with verizon I guess are usually, but not always exceptions (some sims apparently just lock in the phome to CDMA). Lots of nuances to the whole issue. Again, not an expert so just regurgitating what I have read.

It looks to me as if Verizon users can probably most conveniently just pay the $5 per day and use their Verizon phones and international service for a shortish trip. The longer the trip the less sense that probably makes. If you figure a 10 week trip that would be $350 and a cheap (maybe used or refurbished) phone and a prepaid card starts to look good.

Again the bottom line is probably to figure it all out before you go.