Going to Vancouver, BC < 1 week, need a data sim card

[TridenT]

How should I go about this? The alternative is that I pay $30 to AT&T but only get like 120MB. (Unlimited text though but calls are like $1/min; ridiculous)

I don't think I'm going to be using it a lot but I'd rather not have roaming incur, period. I'd rather unlock/jailbreak my iPhone 5S and then use some kind of 200MB+ prepaid data sim card. Assuming it's not too expensive. Honestly, I rather not pay much for this all but I do need SOME method to contact people while I'm not on wifi.

 

[Murloc]

in western Europe $40 is just the sim card with some credit so it's not worth it.

I'm sure you can find out the canada costs on google.

Honestly if you're there's only a week or so I'd just do without.

You need to contact people only in an emergency really. Anything else can wait for wifi which you can find multiple times a day for sure, or even always if they have municipal wifi. If there is one emergency, you'll spend a few dollars. Still way less than a sim card.

If you're there for work, the employer should pay for this.

You can disable data roaming in the settings usually.

Keeping in mind the trashcan, my suggestion is simply to be frugal and think very hard about how much you need it.

 

[mmntech]

My provider, Rogers/Fido, offers 300 Canada wide min, 400MB data, and unlimited world wide texts for $45, plus $10 for the SIM itself. That works out to be roughly $42 US for everything.

Bell Canada/Virgin Mobile is $50 CAD and gives you 500min and 500MB, plus unlimited world wide texts.

Telus/Koodo was so expensive, it's not even worth considering. It's like $80 for the same thing Bell is offering.

There's also Wind Mobile. I don't know if they offer prepaid plans exactly but they're no contract so you can cancel anytime. They're significantly cheaper than the rest since they're an indie provider. However, they're coverage sucks and you could get nailed with roaming fees outside urban areas.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

I just came back from Vancouver. Stayed for 3 days. Got a Koodo sim card at the local mall. $20 for the SIM (you get a $20 credit on your account) + $15 for the base plan + $30 for 1GB of Data (shared with one of my friends so it ended up being a good deal).

On the other hand, my other friend got the AT&T International roaming package. Texts worked fine for him, but Data wasn't very useful.

 

[Printer Bandit]

switch to T-mobile

 

[sdifox]

Look into 7-11 speak up pay as you go

 

[dullard]

Do you honestly NEED to contact people for a less than 1 week trip? Turn off your phone, or turn off roaming/data. Enjoy your trip instead of worrying about the phone. If you really need to make a phone call, pay the hotel the $1 fee, pay your phone company the $1/min, or go into just about any business and use their wifi. Just keep your call short.

 

[CA19100]

As other have said, if you don't absolutely need to use it, it might be worth doing what I do when I go to Vancouver: turn off the data roaming, leave the cellular available for emergencies, and use Skype (buy a few bucks in credits to call regular phones) or Facetime over Wi-Fi at hotels and businesses. Works pretty well for everything except Google directions, so I fire up my old Garmin GPS for those.

Just an option.

 

[Ichinisan]

I don't think there has been an unofficial iPhone unlock for a loooong time.

Just fill out the form to request that AT&T unlock it remotely. I've unlocked a dozen iPhones that way.

 

[jlee]

switch to T-mobile

This.

Do you honestly NEED to contact people for a less than 1 week trip? Turn off your phone, or turn off roaming/data. Enjoy your trip instead of worrying about the phone. If you really need to make a phone call, pay the hotel the $1 fee, pay your phone company the $1/min, or go into just about any business and use their wifi. Just keep your call short.

Or this.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If you're still travelling looking for a place to live, Vancouver is probably not the best place, cost of living is one of the highest in Canada. Just thought I'd mention in case. If it's a trip just to visit then I hear it is a pretty great place to visit so have fun. I've never been to BC myself, but would be a fun place to visit.

If you don't really think you'll need to make phone calls I'd just turn mobile radio off and use pay phones and/or hotel phone if you do need to make a phone call.

 

[ponyo]

I don't think there has been an unofficial iPhone unlock for a loooong time.

Just fill out the form to request that AT&T unlock it remotely. I've unlocked a dozen iPhones that way.

AT&T will only do it if the phone is out of contract. AT&T wouldn't unlock my wife's iPhone this summer because it was under contract so I had to use eBay pay service.

I faced similar dilemma as the OP couple weeks ago. But instead of Canada, I was traveling to Mexico. I chose to bite the bullet and added the one time AT&T $30 international data plan. I needed my number so swapping the AT&T simcard for prepaid wasn't an option. I ended up not really using it except for two short phone calls I received but it was worth it for the piece of mind.

 

[KMFJD]

Plenty of free WiFi in Vancouver....

 

[TridenT]

T-Mobile is an interesting option but we're on contract for all of our phones and the switch could be jarring. (Even though I'm sure we'd save like $40+/month)

I guess I won't be able to unlock my phone because I think it's still under contract too. Muddafucka.

Well, I guess I'll remove the sim from the phone (ain't takin' chances) and then use wifi whenever I can.

 

[Auric]

If absolutely necessary, even a no-contract T-Mobile plan for a month may be worth it -especially since cheap activated SIM with minutes are available on eBay, to which data can be added. Or $3 per month pre-paid with a temporary $10 per week data add-on, allowing future use at minimal maintenance cost.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2437694

 

[CZroe]

AT&T will only do it if the phone is out of contract. AT&T wouldn't unlock my wife's iPhone this summer because it was under contract so I had to use eBay pay service.

I faced similar dilemma as the OP couple weeks ago. But instead of Canada, I was traveling to Mexico. I chose to bite the bullet and added the one time AT&T $30 international data plan. I needed my number so swapping the AT&T simcard for prepaid wasn't an option. I ended up not really using it except for two short phone calls I received but it was worth it for the piece of mind.

Not necessarily. They will usually do it if you are more than half way through the contract and you tell them you are traveling abroad. They will do it for any military personnel no matter how much of the contract has been completed. Many others have reported that all they did was ask and AT&T said "yes."

Basically, they are afraid of the FCC coming in and mandating something like automatically unlocking at the end of the term so they loosened up on unlock requests a long time ago. "See? There's no problem! People get their unlocks. We are being unquestionably generous by even doing this for people under contract. No one is being harmed. Please leave us alone, FCC."

 

[TridenT]

You guys lied about free wifi. So very little free wifi in that town! On top of that, the worst storm in many years hit the town while I was there. Took down power lines and cable lines two blocks from where I was staying.

Data plan, guys. It's what I'll probably do next time.

The place I was staying also had the fucking worst wifi too.

 

[sdifox]

You guys lied about free wifi. So very little free wifi in that town! On top of that, the worst storm in many years hit the town while I was there. Took down power lines and cable lines two blocks from where I was staying.

Data plan, guys. It's what I'll probably do next time.

The place I was staying also had the fucking worst wifi too.

so you attracted that wind storm.