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6:30 pm
Hi guys,
I'm originally from US and will travel to canada for 3 weeks (go from vancouver to niagara falls). I'm looking at alternative prepaid plan in canada. I don't want to use my current US provider since they will charge me $0.49 / min roaming + long distance charge.
So I look at 7-Eleven SpeakOut and thinking to get the $100 airtime promootion with free phone. However, I believe the $0.20 / min only apply to local calls in your local area? how about if I bought the phone in Vancouver and then travel to Toronto? Will I still get charge $0.20? or will I get the long distance charge too? I will probably use the phone mostly to receive call from US. Do you think there's another plan that might suit me better? Thanks in advance for your help!
7:15 pm
You're right in getting a Canadian prepaid instead of using your US phone since the roaming charges will kill ya.
Whichever prepaid company you go with, the long distance will work as follows:
If you get a Vancouver number, and you are in Vancouver and call another Vancouver number = local
If you have a Vancouver number, and you are in Vancouver, and call a Toronto number = long distance for you
Vancouver number, you are in Vancouver, and someone calls you (doesn't matter where they are calling from) = local for you
Vancouver number, you are in Toronto, and you call a Vancouver number = long distance
Vancouver number, you are in Toronto, and you call a Toronto number = local
Vancouver number, you are in Toronto, and someone calls you (doesn't matter where they are calling from) = long distance for you (and the other person as well, if they are not calling from Vancouver)
Example: If you are in Toronto, and you have a Vancouver number, and your friend who is right beside you picks up a payphone and calls your Vancouver number, it will be a long distance call for your friend AND for you.
The good news is that 7-11 Speakout and PetroCanada mobility have some of the cheapest long distance rates available for prepaid cellphones (but they are still pricey compared to home phones). The long distance rate for Speakout is $.45/min ($.25 reg. phone rate + $.20 long distance), but the 'effective' rate when you purchase a $75 or $100 airtime card is $.36/min ($.20 reg. airtime + $.16 long distance). The difference in rates is the new wacky speakout math since they offer different rates when purchasing larger top-up cards.
PetroCan Mobility's long distance rates are less expensive at $.30/min ($.20 reg. phone rate + $.10 long distance). But PetroCan doesn't have that "Get $75 off a phone when you buy $100 airtime" deal that Speakout has, but at least you can buy a phone from PetroCan for only $50 and they buy whatever airtime you need.
After playing with the numbers my guess is that if you plan on using less than $40 of airtime (133 minutes = 6 minutes per day average on your trip) then PetroCan is the way to go. If you think you'll use more, then go with Speakout.
(BTW, the reason I used $40 as the cut-off point is because if you bought a $50 phone card from PetroCan with your phone the cost would be the same as the SpeakOut deal, but you'd get less minutes. If you only need to buy 2 x $20 phone cards from PetroCan if will cost less. Plus you may not even need to buy the second one)
7:20 pm
Plus, at the end of your trip you'll have a Speakout or PetroCan sim that you can sell on this website AND you'll have an unlocked (although cheap) GSM phone that you can use or sell.
8:57 pm
Big Ang: thanks a lot for the thorough explanation, that's exactly what I want to know esp. the case where I'm in in toronto using vancouver number and someone called me. I don't actualy care about the phone itself since I can bring my own unlocked phone but seems that I cannot just buy the sim card itself either from petrocan or 7-Eleven speakout?
Moreover, according to the petrocan website, you can only use petro-can mobile phone to use their sim card:
======================================
Do I need a Petro-Canada mobile phone to use this service or can I use a phone from another mobile carrier?
Yes, you must be using a Petro-Canada Mobility branded mobile phone. We do not support the use of other handsets.
======================================
Also, how about other carrier that charge $1/day and allow to get free unlimited incoming calls? or I think that doesn't apply when you travel outside the local area eh?
Also, I'm planning to forward my U.S. number to my GrandCentral account (that has U.S. local number) that will forward to my new prepaid cell in canada so I can receive calls too when someone call me at my U.S. number. Will that plan work though?
Once again, I really appreciate your help so far!
11:06 pm
You can use any unlocked GSM phone with your PetroCan or Speakout SIM (They are run by the same company, btw). The reason they do that is probably to make it easier on themselves in case there are any problems with a non-PetroCan phone.
Carriers that charge the $1/day for unlimited incoming calls are for local calls only. You are charge the long distance charges above that.
As far as Grandcentral is concerned, I haven't tried it. Make sure Grandcentral can forward calls to Canadian numbers, and not just US ones. Other than that, there is no reason it shouldn't work up here if it works in the US.
11:41 pm
I'm in Toronto and have 2 diffrent grand central numbers as well as a magicjack number forwarded to my cell where I have free incoming so you will have no problem forwarding to Canada other than the fact that you will have to pay for your incoming calls. Good luck and enjoy your trip.
1:51 pm
thanks everyone for helping me! I'm pretty confident that my grand central account should be able to forward my call
I think I should forget about the $1 / day charge since I will mostly travel outside my local area.
So, if I go to any petro-can station, can I just buy the sim card + probably $20 airtime refill card? I thought the sim card only comes when you bought the phone ($50 cheapest with $5 airtime credit)? and I think this also applies to 7-Eleven Speakout right?
5:33 pm
For both SpeakOut and PetroCan you will have to buy the phone and SIM together.
6:21 pm
thanks Big Ang. In that case I think I'm better of with SpeakOut. Because if I spend $50 on phone + $50 airtime credit on petro-can I only get 166.7 minutes (including the free $5 airtime credit) while with Speakout when I spend $100, I got free phone and 277.7 minutes. This is based on long distance charge of 0.30 for petro-can and 0.36 for SpeakOut (/w 25% bonus on $100 airtime).
In the long run though, I will most likely just travel to Vancouver since I live in Seattle and it's cheaper to top-off with petro-can since the rate only $0.20 compared to $0.25 for SpeakOut (I don't want to keep topping off $75 for my subsequent visit). But again 7-Eleven airtime expiry date is 1 year which is really helpful since I won't be in Canada that often.
Anyway, thanks for all your answers. This forum has been really helpful to based my decision 🙂
