Help Picking A US Roaming Plan

[courtneyf]

Hello, I am heading into the US for 7days. During my stay I would like to be able to make calls back to my family in Canada and to possiable to call cabs etc in the US. I am having trouble figuring out which plan is best.

There is a US Talk Only plan for $8 for 10days. Is that $8 a day for 10days so it would actually be $80 or is it just $8 for the whole 10days? If I select this plan I assume I can use my phone to make calls to any US or Canada number as much as I want for the 10days with only an aditional $8 to my bill? What happens if I recieve a text to my phone from a Canadian number? Will I get extra charges for reciving the texts while I am in the US or will I only get charged if I text back? If I am in the US can I text a canadian number without having the text roaming on my phone?

I am trying to figure out if I should go with just the talk only or the talk and text plan. I assume the 10days start from the moment I add it onto my account? Also is there anything special that I need to do to my phone or to my account before I head into the US? I keep data turned off on my phone; I assume that isn't going to cause an issue.

Also I had signed up for the pre-authorized payments. Do I need to have a credit on my account to do an add-on or will it just bill me at the end of the month?

Thanks for the help 🙂

[JC29]

First of all, if you have pre-authorized payments, you will still have to have credits in the account to BUY AND PAY for your add-on.

That being said, The $8 US TALK ONLY is good for 10 days already.  So that is $8 in total for the whole 10 days.  You actually said that you might call back to Canada from the US and I don't know if that is actually covered in that add-on.  You might need to check that.

What I am sure of is that if you are in a plan and you have the UNLIMITED INTERNATIONAL TEXT, you can text back to Canada from the US at no additional cost as I have actually done that

[Luddite]

@courtneyf I will just chip in here and provide an alternative I think will be more useful. But first, you need to be aware that PM NEVER charges you for services AFTER they are used. As others have said, you must purchase a service before using it and, if limited, it will just stop when depleted. 

Now, as you want both text and data, I think the $20 data only plan combined with a Textnow account will be more useful. Their service provides free callimg/texting to Canada & USA while on cellular data or wifi. Take a Canadian number, and forward your PM number to it. The only aggravation will be replying to a text because you will have to switch to the Textnow number. 

This idea has the advantage of enough data so you can use maps, etc, when away from wifi.

[toripaitan]

If you don't get a Talk & Text package, you will not be able to send SMS replies, but you will receive fine I believe. Looks like the Talk & Text bundle is your way to go, unless you decide to go with a travelling SIM . 

When you step into the USA, make sure to enable roaming if your mobile settings has that option. 

The cost will be $8 + tax, can't forget about the tax!

[NDesai]

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@ChuckYeah wrote:

All add-ons are for 10 days, not per day. You should buy them the day before you leave. They day you buy it is considered day1 regardless of what time you buy it.

@ChuckYeah wrote:

@courtneyf 

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Why not use Edit to edit your own post instead of replying again?

[tehowennathe]

$8 will last you 10 days. It's not like other carriers who charge $8 per day. It's cheaper then parent company Telus.

[NDesai]

@courtneyf  Add-ons are one time manual charge and it will last for 10 days unless it's a data add-on with data limit. To purchase this, you will have to add the cost first to your account and then go to add-ons list to add it to your account. When you are US, you will receive text for free, but you will not able to reply to it unless you have a text add-on. 

This guide will show you how to purchase it: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/HOWTO-Purchasing-Add-ons/m-p/198974

[ChuckYeah]

All add-ons are for 10 days, not per day. You should buy them the day before you leave. They day you buy it is considered day1 regardless of what time you buy it.

@ChuckYeah wrote:

@courtneyf 

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[ChuckYeah]

@courtneyf