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1:55 pm
SO or other suitable sim needed for British student with unlocked phone in remote bit of Quebec. Anyone help?
2:04 pm
October 14, 2008
Offline
Hello,
First off, is the unlocked phone a quadband phone? If so, it will work with SpeakOut. However, if it is a unlocked European GSM phone, and only has the 900/1800 bands, it will not work in North America.
Secondly, SpeakOut coverage (which uses the Rogers network) is very spotty around Quebec. Coverage is mostly limited to the southern part of the province, and is not available in the remote areas.
The best thing to do would be to check the Rogers coverage maps of area/town the student will be in to see if there is coverage at all.
Another thing to consider is that there is no 7-Eleven stores in Quebec at all, so you wouldn't be able to top-up that way. Unless you can find someone selling top-ups in this site.
4:57 pm
March 15, 2008
Offline
remote bit of Quebec
Where specifically?
As iamdrumming said, check Rogers' coverage chart to see if that area is included. If it is, another option is Petro-Canada Mobility. They're operated by the same people as SpeakOut and run on the same Rogers network, but there are 100s of Petro-Canada petrol stations in Quebec so that may be more convenient.
If not, then check Bell Canada or Virgin Canada. Bell Canada owns Virgin and is HQ'd in Quebec so their coverage may be better. Note however that they use CDMA so your GSM mobile won't work with them. Bell mobiles and airtime are available widely in Quebec.
8:31 pm
April 22, 2009
Offline
Where in Quebec will you be? In some areas of Canada, you might be better off getting a CDMA phone, because CDMA can offer better coverage in some areas of Canada than a GSM provider. If the area you are going to offers better GSM coverage, all you need is a phone that covers the 1900 mhz band, and you are likely good to go. A quad band is nicer, of course.
Another option might be Fido. For $20 a month, you get a decent bucket of minutes, and you can get a fido sim card on ebay for $10
7:08 pm
October 21, 2008
Offline
Check to see if Rogers has GSM coverage where you're going
http://your.rogers.com/store/w.....ter#Page_2
If Rogers doesn't have coverage there, then forget about GSM.
If Rogers does have coverage there, and you want an inexpensive prepaid plan, AND you want to go GSM then you can compare rates from PetroCanada Mobility, Rogers, and Fido. I would forget about Speakout because there are few, if any, 7-11 locations in Quebec, and you can only buy Speakout airtime at a 7-11.
If you plan on going GSM AND getting a new phone from Rogers or Fido, be warned that if you don't got prepaid, you'll be locked in a 3 year contract. Yup, us Canadians have let our cellphone companies get away with signing us up with a 3 year contract. One way around (hopefully) is to buy a SIM without a phone and see if you can go with a contract as well.
If there isn't GSM coverage there, you'll have to use a carrier that uses CDMA technology. Check out the coverage areas for Bell and Telus. If one of those ones offer coverage, then you can go with them, or companies that use their networks. My guess is that the coverage areas of both companies should be almost identical.
Companies that use the Bell network are: Bell, Solo, Virgin Mobile, President's Choice Mobility
Companies that use the Telus network are: Telus, Koodo
There are probably one or two other Quebec networks that offer service, but I can't think of any offhand.
Like Rogers and Fido, if you sign up for a monthly plan with Telus or Bell they will try and get you for a 3-year contract. All those companies have prepaid options as well.
If you're going to get a plan with a CDMA company, you might want to try Koodo. Sure, the phones suck, but their oddball 'Koodo Tab' may be different than what the other company's offer, but at least with that you know how much you'll be on the hook for if you leave Koodo after a few months. And you get get a cheap phone so you'll pay off your 'tab' sooner. If may be odd, but at least it is transparent so you'll always know what it'll cost you to leave.
