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sim card/phone data plan for holiday

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  • 12-06-2019 1:31am
    #1
    aaabbbb
    Registered Users Posts: 1,674 ✭✭✭


    Wondering if anyone can reccomend a good prepay sim plan for a 2.5 week holiday in Canada?
    Will be travelling around between Ontario and Quebec and going to be using a good bit of Google maps etc for getting around, so I'm primarily looking for the best and most cost effective data plan available.

    I'm with Vodafone in Ireland and their red roaming deal is €2.99 per day which will be approx €50 total (which is a bit pricey imo for 2 weeks) for my stay. However, it only has 200mb of data a day so I am worried about running over.


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    #2
    DUBLIN_person
    Registered Users Posts: 246 ✭✭DUBLIN_person


    aaabbbb wrote: »
    Wondering if anyone can reccomend a good prepay sim plan for a 2.5 week holiday in Canada?
    Will be travelling around between Ontario and Quebec and going to be useing a good bit of Google maps etc for getting around, so I'm primarily looking for the best and most cost effective data plan available.

    I'm with Vodafone in Ireland and their red roaming deal is €2.99 per day which will be approx €50 total (which is a bit pricey imo for 2 weeks) for my stay. However, it only has 200mb of data a day so I am worried about running over

    Mobile plans are quite expensive in Canada anyway and data allowances are quite low. If you're going to be doing a bit of travelling, I'd probably stick to the bigger networks as some of the smaller ones can be unreliable coverage wise unless you're right in the middle of a city centre. I know Bell do a prepaid option in British Columbia for $50 CAD plus tax that includes 2GB as well as unlimited Canada mins and international text. I'd imagine they'd do something similar enough in Ontario

    Plans and prices do vary from Province to Province though, so you might find it's cheaper to get one in Quebec then Ontario or vice versa, generally you can use a plan from whatever Province all over Canada though.


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    #3
    aaabbbb
    Registered Users Posts: 1,674 ✭✭✭aaabbbb


    DUBLIN_person wrote:
    Mobile plans are quite expensive in Canada anyway and data allowances are quite low. If you're going to be doing a bit of travelling, I'd probably stick to the bigger networks as some of the smaller ones can be unreliable coverage wise unless you're right in the middle of a city centre. I know Bell do a prepaid option in British Columbia for $50 CAD plus tax that includes 2GB as well as unlimited Canada mins and international text. I'd imagine they'd do something similar enough in Ontario

    2gb is the amount of data I have used today day to day alone! I had heard they were bad but I didn't realise it was that poor. I seen mention of roaming charges on some sites between provinces or outside cities. Is this common?

    I was hoping for something closer to 10/15gb at least will this be impossible to find?


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    #4
    DUBLIN_person
    Registered Users Posts: 246 ✭✭DUBLIN_person


    aaabbbb wrote: »
    2gb is the amount of data I have used today day to day alone! I had heard they were bad but I didn't realise it was that poor. I seen mention of roaming charges on some sites between provinces or outside cities. Is this common?

    I was hoping for something closer to 10/15gb at least will this be impossible to find?

    I'd say you'd have a better chance in Quebec rather then Ontario as the Data packages seem a bit bigger there, but on prepay, I'd be doubtful.

    You shouldn't have roaming charges as long as you stick to a big operator, I think these only exist with some of the smaller ones who don't operate out of province. Some of these operators will look like attractive options but when you consider roaming fees/ a lot of these providers also only give you 3G speed data, which is nearly the equivalent of 2G speeds (AKA pretty much useless), they're not worth it, In Canada when it comes to Mobile Networks, in my experience it's most definitely a case of you get what you pay for, if you pay a bit of a premium you'll get a far better service, no point in paying for a service that doesn't work!


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    #5
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,295 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Work phone was Rogers whilst I was in Toronto (Ontario). Worked in Calgary (Alberta), and in Banff (just outside Calgary in Alberta, but far from any major city). No idea how much work paid.

    Tried a few different providers in Toronto. Some would only have coverage in the city itself, some would have limited coverage outside the city.

    But Rogers are two year deals. Anything PAYG is generally reseller stuff. Oh, and check what bands your device supports. Some devices from Ireland won't support the phone provider bands in Canada.

    Look at these prices; https://www.rogers.com/consumer/wireless/mobile-internet-plans?ipn=1


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    #6
    Charles Babbage
    Registered Users Posts: 5,454 ✭✭✭Charles Babbage


    aaabbbb wrote: »
    Wondering if anyone can reccomend a good prepay sim plan for a 2.5 week holiday in Canada?
    Will be travelling around between Ontario and Quebec and going to be using a good bit of Google maps etc for getting around, so I'm primarily looking for the best and most cost effective data plan available.

    I'm with Vodafone in Ireland and their red roaming deal is €2.99 per day which will be approx €50 total (which is a bit pricey imo for 2 weeks) for my stay. However, it only has 200mb of data a day so I am worried about running over.


    If you download the Google maps in advance, as everyone should do when travelling, then Google will use feck all. You'll generally have decent wifi in accommodation for heavy duty stuff in the day.


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    #7
    aaabbbb
    Registered Users Posts: 1,674 ✭✭✭aaabbbb


    Charles Babbage wrote:
    If you download the Google maps in advance, as everyone should do when travelling, then Google will use feck all. You'll generally have decent wifi in accommodation for heavy duty stuff in the day.

    Gonna be travelling on the road a fair bit so sadly there wont be any wifi a lot of time


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    #8
    jme2010
    Registered Users Posts: 974 ✭✭✭jme2010


    aaabbbb wrote: »
    Gonna be travelling on the road a fair bit so sadly there wont be any wifi a lot of time

    Bit drastic but what about a garmin GPS?

    No worries about data overages and can use it to explore for places to eat etc.

    If you don't have one already but never bought one, why not? Especially if you can use it at home

    EDIT: Also FECK!!! I forgot, a lot of GPS are USA and Noth America vs Europe Maps.....might have to buy extra maps?


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