AT&T operates in Canada ?

[BearFBI]

I just got an email from AT&T a few days ago.

"We are writing to advise you that, effective September 1, 2020, AT&T Mobility Canada Co. will be combining its business with AT&T Global Services Canada Co., another wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc., that will continue the operations of AT&T Mobility Canada Co. going forward."

"As a result, you will notice some minor changes to the materials that you receive from us, which will be updated to show AT&T Global Services Canada Co. as your service provider.

These changes will not impact or change the connected car services that we provide to you.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact:"

"AT&T Global Services Canada Co.
Attn: Chief Counsel
55 Commerce Valley Drive West, Ste. 600
Thornhill, Ontario. Canada L3T 7V9

Thank you"

I do not have any AT&T account associated with my email but I do have a Onstar connected vehicle. I never knew that my vehicle uses AT&T here in Canada. I wonder what towers they use ?

[kav2001c]

@BearFBI 

Prior to 2017 (if memory serves) AT&T had the same network restrictions that say Freedom Mobile up here had

You needed to use majority of your service on your home network (in other words if you roamed too often they would cancel service)

Nowadays AT&T could care less

Buy a SIM in Buffalo / Niagara Falls

List Canadian address

And use away

Only issue is of course a non local number so some people up here might balk

But as I said high speed data is enticing, even if just for games / tablet

(Also as mentioned if purchase SIM at a Walmart there is an additional montly discount)

[sheytoon]

Just to be clear, AT&T has no native network in Canada and would be 100% roaming on an existing domestic operator.

[Korth]

https://www.corp.att.com/worldwide/att-you-Canada/

"With offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, AT&T provides local account management, design and operational support to both Canadian-headquartered organizations as well as Canadian branches of global customers. AT&T’s business customers in Canada include many Fortune 500 companies.

Clients can benefit from an industry-leading portfolio that includes mobility, the Internet of Things, network, network security, cloud, hosting, BVoIP*, unified communications and application services.

Supporting global enterprises across a wide-range of industries such as business services, hospitality, financial services, manufacturing and energy, AT&T’s offices in Canada should be the first point of contact for any business or organization looking to connect and mobilize its operations, assets and information."

It seems like AT&T Canada offers wireless services to business, enterprise, industry. But not to mobility consumers. They might be a limited MVNO - licensed to access Big Three network hardware for certain data services (automotive telemetry, IoT, and some BVoIP).

They might be able to sell mobile plans in Canada, but it seems likely these are nominally USA-based plans with good Canada-roaming rates. A way to worm a little foreign competition into Canada, like Singapore-based M1/CirclesLife and China-based CMLink. The day will come when foreign providers can offer in-Canada "roaming" rates which are lower-cost than Canada-based local providers - yay! - and AT&T seems to be well-positioned for this day.

[Anonymous]

 @BearFBI 

I DID point out the word "may". 🙂

They have a 3 month deal as well. Not as good as the year deal but a shorter commitment. They of course have shorter terms but they're obviously more money.

[BearFBI]

@darlicious Good point. I should start aggressively earning rewards. The 15$ I have now includes all my rewards. I am trying to keep a price below 20$ though. AT&T might not be a good option for me because its still a bit expensive. In the future I might upgrade to the 40$ plan.

I am still going to look into AT&T for other uses. I own a few apartments and my survalience system is running off a bell DSL line. I pay way to much monthly for it. I was considering a LTE router with a Data plan in it but all the data plans dont include enough data to allow for software updates etc. This is where AT&T can come in. I could go with one of their Unlimited plans. It will be cheaper than the bell line. 

@Anonymous People that use AT&T here say that they've never had 2G speeds. Some people on reddit are saying that the carrier you are roaming on will throttle you to 2G if you exceed their highest data plan amount they offer. I think the highest you can get in canada is 50GB. 

[darlicious]

@BearFBI 

I see how you are saying your $15 account would be free.....or $15 off a $50 plan. So really theres no difference in discount. I would say youre probably not making plans to go to the US or mexico in the next year! You must commit for an entire year.....? Youre stuck if you dont like the service.

If I had use for a larger data plan (the most i used on my promo $40/5gb plan ($30-rewards) was about 2.3gb. Since I do have a dual SIM phone that i currently use my $10 and $15 plans in.... I would just activate a cheap CCS sim on a $10/off 6 or 8 month promo (8 months happens once or twice a year) on the $50 plan. It will cost $40-$2 autopay-$1 referral reward on your $15 plan minus the bonus referral of $10 Will work out to approximately $35.33 per month for 8.5gb and US calling for 6 months minimum. Start looking at promos again around day 150......repeat.

AT&T doesn't open shop because of foreign ownership rules.....

[BearFBI]

@darlicious Good point about the transition fees. 

PM's 15$ plan would be Free for me with all my rewards. I would only be paying 25$ USD. There are no extra fees from AT&T that I can see. I am looking at AT&T Prepaied. 

I dont know why AT&T dosen't just open shop here in Canada. They already have all the requirements to do so. I dont see the CRTC holding them back either as they already basically operate here with their Connected Car service.

[darlicious]

@BearFBI 

If you have the entire 8gb at full speed 4G and it rolls over then that's a nice perk but i fail to see the cost savings....at todays exchange rate $300 US=$405.15 cdn unless you have  US card with your bank there are the additional transaction fees of 2.5% adding $10.12=$415.27

$415.27÷12=$34.60 per month+$15 plan=$49.60 per month  public mobiles $50/8.5gb plan 

Is it worth it? Are there any additional fees on top of the US$25 per month?

[Anonymous]

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@BearFBI wrote:

Incase! I just contacted an AT&T Rep and they said that I can use this in Canada with a Canadian CC Even though my permanent residence is in Canada. There is no usage restrictions and i cant get booted off the network. They said the Canadian and Mexixo network is just the same as being in the US. I can order a SIM now and activate it and I will have AT&T here in Canada. 

Thats unbelievable. Im definitely recommending AT&T to my friends with a Dual SIM phone paired with PM's 15$ plan.

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That $25 plan:

Nice:

Rollover Data®

Unused high-speed data rolls over to next month.

Not so nice:

Use talk, text & data in Mexico and Canada.

Roaming data may be at 2G speed.

Although with the hedge word - may

[BearFBI]

Insane! I just contacted an AT&T Rep and they said that I can use this in Canada with a Canadian CC Even though my permanent residence is in Canada. There is no usage restrictions and i cant get booted off the network. They said the Canadian and Mexixo network is just the same as being in the US. I can order a SIM now and activate it and I will have AT&T here in Canada. 

Thats unbelievable. Im definitely recommending AT&T to my friends with a Dual SIM phone paired with PM's 15$ plan.

[Anonymous]

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@sherrilynn wrote:

I did not  know that AT&T operated in canada, but makes sense with on star. Its too bad they did not inform you when you bought the car, come to think of it I do not know which company my car uses for navigation. Thanks for the heads up going to have to look into that.

---

You might be confusing terms.

AT&T is a cell service provider. You can talk, text and connect to the internet. Navigation uses your GPS location to locate you on a map. The map can possibly be offline or more likely online with an internet connection. If you pay for the internet connection with that AT&T service then there you go.

My car uses an eSIM for its Onstar/AT&T service. No easy task to use a different provider.

[sherrilynn]

I did not  know that AT&T operated in canada, but makes sense with on star. Its too bad they did not inform you when you bought the car, come to think of it I do not know which company my car uses for navigation. Thanks for the heads up going to have to look into that.

[BearFBI]

Ah i see their plans now. The best one seems to be the 25$ plan. You have to pay 300$ upfront for the year. You get 8GB of 4G full speed CANADA/US/MEXICO Rollover Data. When coverting it to CAD it is 396.32. That is roughly 33$ a month CAD. 

Thats a pretty good deal if you ask me. I could downgrade to the PM 15$ plan and it would be free for me with my rewards. I would use that as my Canadian Number. Too bad my phone is not dual SIM. Oh well I might consider using AT&T in the future.

[BearFBI]

@kav2001c Really ? I've never known that. It might be worth getting a data plan from them. I always thought they would kick you off their network. Also dont you need a US address and a US CC to enroll in Autopay ? 

Posting the prices of other plans from different providers here won't harm anything. This is the Lounge. I like to use the lounge to compare other providers and complain about how high of a price we pay here in Canada. 

[kav2001c]

AT&T has been allowing the sale of prepaid plans in Canada for over a year now. Drawback is of course you get a US phone number but plans are dirt cheap compared to most carriers in market.

The Walmart AT&T plans are the best vs what you get in a retail store.

I wont post what costs are so as not to canabalize any Public plans but for many people they are a thing

[BearFBI]

@Anonymous Hmm its pretty interesting. Their prices are also interesting. Its really low. Too bad we can't somehow figure out the E-SIM number and use it in a phone.

[Anonymous]

The fact that AT&T are roaming partners with PM would suggest they run on Bellus.

I also have Onstar capability in my car. I did happen to know it was via AT&T. But my car uses esim so it would be no small task to switch it.