Trip to Canada help

[Xanth269]

All,

going to Canada, do I need to tell VZW for a special plan to work there without getting whacked for high charges? have not been out of USA in years and need to make this family trip to keep it together, heading to The Falls.

Thanks,
Dave-

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

All,

going to Canada, do I need to tell VZW for a special plan to work there without getting whacked for high charges? have not been out of USA in years and need to make this family trip to keep it together, heading to The Falls.

Thanks,
Dave-

You will definitely want to contact them. I haven't been to Canada in years (since the "dumbphone" days), but I know I had to do the old *228 thing after crossing the border, and even then, minutes were at a premium. I believe that you can get setup for International calling, but data usage will definitely cost you if you just use it as is.

 

[doogald]

Interestingly, since the Canada side of the falls is so close to the US, if you're staying in the big hotels along the river you'll likely be connected to US towers much of the time. At least it was that way for me on my Droid 3 two years ago.

Go into settings / more / mobile networks and verify that "Global data roaming" is unchecked. That will prevent data over mobile on Canadian carriers, which would be the most expensive problem.

I can't remember what voice minute or messages will cost in Canada, but I do know that Verizon has a Canada/Mexico plan for $15 that gives you 1000 minutes. I am pretty sure that you can activate that feature at will, so pay for a month and then cancel, if you know you'll be making calls and sending and receiving messages that would exceed $15 a la carte (I just looked it up - $0.89 per minute voice, I think texting is based on your plan in Canada.) But, again - if you're close to town, the falls, and the river, you may find yourself connected to verizon towers on the US side.

Unfortunately, at the moment I'm traveling and can't access what I paid Verizon after our trip, but I don't think it was wildly extra. When I get home next week I'll pull out my old bill and see how much extra we paid. (The day that we left my daughter had a car accident so I was on the phone quite a bit as we were checking out and driving home to call the insurance company, call her, etc.)

 

[perkdog65]

All,

going to Canada, do I need to tell VZW for a special plan to work there without getting whacked for high charges? have not been out of USA in years and need to make this family trip to keep it together, heading to The Falls.

Thanks,
Dave-

Just make sure that you turn off "Global data roaming access" in you settings and use WiFi for all of your data updates. And If you are just going to the Falls it depends on how far you get away from there as to which country you will be using. I was there not long ago and as long as I was fairly close to the Falls I was using USA cell service. It's definitely worth a call to Verizon customer support to discuss other options. My trip was short (about a week) so I didn't change anything and incurred no extra charges. Also check out their web page under the support tab and global services, lots of good information there.

 

[Xanth269]

ok so global data is unchecked, but preferred network type is set to global. should it be on LTE / CDMA?

will be with walking distance of the falls and ferry street for all the kid friendly stuff. Hotel offers free wifi.

Just did a on line chat with VZW- was told it is 3.99 per line for a month of international coverage.