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Switching to Telus and back

Gor154
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I'll be in the US for a couple of weeks in December, and it would be cheaper for me to just get a Telus US-Canada plan for next month. Ideally I would want to keep my phone number through all this, and I was wondering if it would be feasible for me to switch back to public mobile at the end of the month and if I would need to order a new SIM card.

14 REPLIES 14


@srlawren wrote:

@dabr wrote:



@srlawren  Looked into a bit more, the SIMs seem to be reusable for upto a year.  RM allows a roaming plan to be scheduled upto 6 months in advance.  I do like that they offer really good value plans too, but does require an American number. 

 

Sounds quite affordable and practical IMO:)


@dabr cool 🙂 

 

The American number is annoying.  You can work around it to some extent with all the standard things we suggest to travellers.  (Forward calls to Fongo before leaving Canada; use Hangouts with pre-verified phone number for outbound calls if you don't want people to wonder who's calling them from a US number; leave your SIM in Canada with a friend or family member, in a spare Android phone plugged into a charger, running an app to forward your incoming SMS; move as many conversations as possible away from SMS to data-based services like WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Discord, Slack, etc.)


There always are a quite a few workarounds, but still annoying that we need to do that.  It would be nice (though unlikely!) for PM to upgrade their US roaming packages for a longer timeline at least, but I won't hold my breath for that to happen anytime soon:)

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@dabr wrote:



@srlawren  Looked into a bit more, the SIMs seem to be reusable for upto a year.  RM allows a roaming plan to be scheduled upto 6 months in advance.  I do like that they offer really good value plans too, but does require an American number. 

 

Sounds quite affordable and practical IMO:)


@dabr cool 🙂 

 

The American number is annoying.  You can work around it to some extent with all the standard things we suggest to travellers.  (Forward calls to Fongo before leaving Canada; use Hangouts with pre-verified phone number for outbound calls if you don't want people to wonder who's calling them from a US number; leave your SIM in Canada with a friend or family member, in a spare Android phone plugged into a charger, running an app to forward your incoming SMS; move as many conversations as possible away from SMS to data-based services like WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, Discord, Slack, etc.)


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@srlawren wrote:

@dabr wrote:


Thanks for the info @srlawren   It's good to know that they work well and those rates are definitely good.  Are you able to use the same RM SIM or have to purchase a new one for each trip down south?


@dabr I only ever had the one, but it has since expired.  I forget the window you get, but if unused for a certain period of time they do expire.


@srlawren  Looked into a bit more, the SIMs seem to be reusable for upto a year.  RM allows a roaming plan to be scheduled upto 6 months in advance.  I do like that they offer really good value plans too, but does require an American number. 

 

Sounds quite affordable and practical IMO:)

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@dabr wrote:


Thanks for the info @srlawren   It's good to know that they work well and those rates are definitely good.  Are you able to use the same RM SIM or have to purchase a new one for each trip down south?


@dabr I only ever had the one, but it has since expired.  I forget the window you get, but if unused for a certain period of time they do expire.


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@srlawren wrote:

@dabr wrote:

@srlawren wrote:


@Gor154 or maybe Roam Mobility?


@srlawren  Agree, although I haven't used RM, I've heard they can be quite inexpensive and would be worth considering for OP.


@dabr I used them before PM lauched the US Roaming add-ons, and a few times after.  Works well.  They have per-day plans that I think are $5 for unlimited talk and text and half a gig or so of data (per day, with rollover within the same trip).  They have some longer-term plans as well, but this is a pretty good fit for many.  They have just talk and just talk+text plans for a bit less as well.  Runs on T-Mobile network, I never had any trouble with it.  Downside is you end up with a US phone number while you're using that SIM, so similar to getting a local pre-paid SIM (like Mint as @THEnewfie suggested, and many others).  


Thanks for the info @srlawren   It's good to know that they work well and those rates are definitely good.  Are you able to use the same RM SIM or have to purchase a new one for each trip down south?

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@dabr wrote:

@srlawren wrote:


@Gor154 or maybe Roam Mobility?


@srlawren  Agree, although I haven't used RM, I've heard they can be quite inexpensive and would be worth considering for OP.


@dabr I used them before PM lauched the US Roaming add-ons, and a few times after.  Works well.  They have per-day plans that I think are $5 for unlimited talk and text and half a gig or so of data (per day, with rollover within the same trip).  They have some longer-term plans as well, but this is a pretty good fit for many.  They have just talk and just talk+text plans for a bit less as well.  Runs on T-Mobile network, I never had any trouble with it.  Downside is you end up with a US phone number while you're using that SIM, so similar to getting a local pre-paid SIM (like Mint as @THEnewfie suggested, and many others).  


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PAULRANG18
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Best to buy roaming plans in the US instead of closing your account and then deal with more activation charges to restore your service when you get back.

THEnewfie
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

If a buttload of data is needed (or more trips will occur in the not too distant future) there's a company called mint mobile that offers a pretty snazzy deal. 45$ ..but it's 3mths of service and 12gb of data each month. I'd gladly take unlimited talk n text + 12 gigs for 15 a month 👌👌👌👌👌 lol


@srlawren wrote:

@dabr wrote:

If you are only going for a couple of weeks, couldn't you make the US roaming add-ons work for you?  You could buy one of the US roaming add-ons for 10 days, and then on day 9 purchase a different US add-on to get you to the end of your trip.


@Gor154 or maybe Roam Mobility?


@srlawren  Agree, although I haven't used RM, I've heard they can be quite inexpensive and would be worth considering for OP.

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@dabr wrote:

If you are only going for a couple of weeks, couldn't you make the US roaming add-ons work for you?  You could buy one of the US roaming add-ons for 10 days, and then on day 9 purchase a different US add-on to get you to the end of your trip.


@Gor154 or maybe Roam Mobility?


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will13am
Oracle
Oracle

It would probably be cheapest to simply get a US plan for the month.  The cost of starting and stopping a service twice in a month cannot be cost effective by any measure. 

dabr
Mayor / Maire

@Gor154 wrote:

I'll be in the US for a couple of weeks in December, and it would be cheaper for me to just get a Telus US-Canada plan for next month. Ideally I would want to keep my phone number through all this, and I was wondering if it would be feasible for me to switch back to public mobile at the end of the month and if I would need to order a new SIM card.


As noted by @GR you would need to port out and then get a new sim and different email in order to port back in to PM. 

 

If you are only going for a couple of weeks, couldn't you make the US roaming add-ons work for you?  You could buy one of the US roaming add-ons for 10 days, and then on day 9 purchase a different US add-on to get you to the end of your trip.

 

 

 

 

GR
Mayor / Maire

@Gor154 yes if you port out it will close your public mobile account so you'll lose any available funds and rewards. Then you'll need to buy a new Sim and open a new account with a different email address 

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