North America Cell Phone Plans (Verizon, computer, Skype, AT&T)

[grad student]

I'm from Toronto, going to school in Buffalo...

Does anyone know of any cell phone plans that provide unlimited long distance to Canada? Or a plan that includes the roaming charges when I visit Canada?
Does anyone know of any alternative options?

Thanks for your help!

[Trevor92]

Verizon has a Nationwide + Canada plan. It's generally more expensive than other plans, 450 mins is $59.99/month. And it also caps your Night and Weekend and Mobile-to-Mobile minutes at 1000. This one sounds like your best bet to me. As a student from Canada, they may want a hefty deposit before activating your account so that may be something to prepare for.

AT&T also has international roaming capabilities, but I can't find anything on their website that says anything other than, 'please call us to discuss your options for international roaming.' So take that for what it's worth.

Alltel has a North American Freedom plan, but they don't natively cover Buffalo so you wouldn't be able to sign up with them.

As for alternative options, the only thing I can think of is one phone line through an American provider that you can use in the states and another phone line through a Canadian provider that you can use in Canada... If you don't spend a lot of time in Canada as a current Grad Student, I would think that Canadian providers have some sort of pre-pay based on the minutes you use.

[grad student]

Thanks for your reply!

What type of land line companies do you have Buffalo? I was thinking of getting a landline with unlimited long distance home AND then have a cell phone for local calls.

anyone know about companies/plans where you call a local number and then dial in the long distance number? (like a calling card without having to purchase cards over and over, more of a annual enrollment/fee)

does anyone use SKYPE?
If so, how well does it work? do you have a phone number or is it only outgoing calls? I would rather speak with a customer service rep than look through their website (which I didn't find much help anyways)

[in_newengland]

anyone know about companies/plans where you call a local number and then dial in the long distance number?

Try USA DATANET -- I've used them for years. They have a long distance number that you can connect to by dialing a phone number first. It's really cheap and the company is nice. I think they're located around Syracuse.

[leahmb]

I use skype all the time to talk to my boyfriend in Beligum. It works great if you have fast internet. On dial-up it is pretty lame. The awesome thing is for him to call a US landline or cell phone is only $.02/minute, so that is a great option too. The restricion is that one party needs to be near a computer to use it, but other than that it's fantastic!

[tillthen]

here is a site that should be great for and many others-- i use this service . ONESUITE.COM try it

[Patelz]

Originally Posted by tillthen

here is a site that should be great for and many others-- i use this service . ONESUITE.COM try it

We use Onesuite.com services too and we are loving it!

Just see how much you can save when roaming in Canada or another country -> http://www.onesuite.com/comparisons_roaming.asp

[fring]

Another vote for Onesuite. Great for long distance especially for overseas calls.

[paulakaye9]

Originally Posted by grad student

I'm from Toronto, going to school in Buffalo...

Does anyone know of any cell phone plans that provide unlimited long distance to Canada? Or a plan that includes the roaming charges when I visit Canada?
Does anyone know of any alternative options?

Thanks for your help!

Don't trust AT&T! I have been a loyal cell phone customer of AT&T for seven years. I had the US + Canada plan with 450 prime time minutes and 1000 weekend and evenings for $59.00 per month. Their frequent mailings promised a savings if I would bundle my home phone and cell phone service. When I called AT&T, I was told the same cell phone plan would be $39.99 per month plus $4.99 per month for Canada if I added by home phone. This quote was a savings of $15.00 per month on my cell phone (no savings on my land line), so I agreed. Once the first bill arrived I was shocked to see that I was paying $4.99 per month plus $.79 per minute for Canadian calls. When I called to ask for my original plan back (with a hold time of thirty minutes), I was told that my original plan was no longer available. I feel that they lied to me so I would drop the original plan.
Needless to say, I'm shopping for a new plan.

Lied to in Tennessee

[empress80]

Skype is the way to go Honey http://www.picturehoster.org/storage/461.jpg (broken link) Good Luck though!