US MVNO's

[Anonymous]

So I was killing time investigating the little outfits providing service in the states.

And boy...I found a couple that sell through eBay and their own sites. One at $2.50 average 30 day term for a 360 day prepay. Another at $3.

The latter is more appealing as they offer free international calling to many countries. Wifi calling. A 60 day unpaid pause (my wording for when you don't pay for 90 days). And roaming. The add-ons are rather short. Like our 10 day add-ons but less. They have overages too.

But for an account and US number and a certain amount of pay as you go and low usage while in the states...sounds good to me.

The first one was Red Pocket Mobile. The second was Ultra Mobile.

[Korth]

I've become complacent.

Years ago, I sat down and learned about every cellular provider and every cellular option in Canada. Compared all their prices. Chose Public Mobile. Now I pay less than I did then. I've gotten soft, passive, comfortable.

But I expect that at some point in coming years, Public Mobile will change what I pay and what I get. If/When that happens, I'll do my research all over again, but this time the best deal in town might actually be from out of town.

Canadians do have a lot of options - if they subscribe to foreign providers and get in-Canada "roaming". Some of these options are already compelling, and (unlike the Big Three) they get a little cheaper and a little better every year.

[Anonymous]

 @HALIMACS : Yeah I was keeping my focus <= $10. There were some others in the $5 area. Unlimited everything. They're just selling data. It is absolutely astounding what is on offer here. But here we are.

I wasn't really looking at year pre-pays per se.

I eliminated quite a few from the wikipedia MVNO list for whatever reasons. What network? What business focus? ie. I've fallen and I can't get up services.

I whittled it down to just a handful. $2.50, $3, $3.33, $5, $6.66 etc. I was of course only interested in low usage as seems to me my reality. And wanting to keep the cost outlay minimal. It came down to the two I noted. And really, when traveling or on vacation you don't really need a lot of telecom. VoIP apps are entirely useful too.

My other shortlisted ones were: Hello Mobile, Seawolf Wireless, Tello Mobile, it was also triggered by TextNow's SIM service in the states, Ting Mobile, yes Tracfone up until the texting, and finally Ultra Mobile.

[Anonymous]

 @CountyDownIeUk : I tripped over one of the terms of service with TracFone saying something about not international texting. I'm like what? Next.

These were my notes:

$6.66 30 days (90 days), add-ons carry over, 1.44¢ call Canada, wifi calling, no non-US texting?, ILD access number, mms uses data

Most of these others do consume data for mms so whatever. Using an access number for international? Rather use the good ol' 011 or +.

[CountyDownIeUk]

@Anonymous  And everyone else. 

I used to to do a lot of holidaying in USA and a lot of cross border shopping.  In those days we had Telus prepaid plans that didn’t offer USA service. 

So i bought into Tracfone from Walmart for $100 US a year. It was kind of expensive for an emergency phone for sure as it was rarely used while we were there. They had a lot of options then and they have made changes since. They would give you 10 800 numbers to associate with a Canadian number. It worked good. Now they offer BYOD and have made changes that one would have to review to see if would meet your needs. 

Then when I moved our land line to voip I thought I could use the Zoiper app with my voip service with a Wi-Fi hotspot while in USA ...... https://karmamobility.com ..... But it would only be good for outbound calling. 

Check them out. 

[darlicious]

@Anonymous 

Nice....this is just what @kb_mv needs for his little foray down south.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[HALIMACS]

I suppose @esjliv 

Except @Anonymous was referencing 360 day prepaid plans i think. 

Seems more for those taking up more permanent occupancy in the US (or routinely traveling...)

[esjliv]

@Anonymous  -👍

Have this info. at the ready when roaming issues start rolling in.

[HALIMACS]

Thanks for reminding all of us how much we overpay for mobile services,  @Anonymous   🙂