Cell phone use at WDW

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We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.

Am I understanding this correctly?
You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back

Am I missing anything?

If you bought your phones from a carrier, make sure they are unlocked before you go. Otherwise, changing sims won't work.
 
We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.

Am I understanding this correctly?
You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back

Am I missing anything?

I wouldn't cancel. Most of us want to keep the same US phone number (especially travelling 2-3 times per year); the struggle with throwaways and most US plans is to keep the phone active so you can keep the same number. If you cancel the plan, you will lose your number, and probably deactivate the SIM card, so you would need to get a new one next trip. One of the best ROAM advantages is that you can keep your number alive as long as you pay for 1 day per year, and you don't need to actually be in the US to do it.

And yes, as Mortlives said, make sure your phone is unlocked before you try this.
 
We visit 2-3 times per year and are looking for options. We have never switched out Sims before. So far Puretalk sounds good especially with the discount code. We leave in 2 weeks.

Am I understanding this correctly?
You sign up for their monthly plan before your trip & switch the SIM card
Do you get to keep the same # or does it change?
When your return you cancel the plan and switch the sim back

Am I missing anything?

Like they said - first and foremost your phone has to be unlocked for ANY alternate carrier plan to work. You can pay for an online service (usually very cheap) or talk to your carrier (depending how long u have had your plan. We usually pay an online service about $10-20 (depending on phone type - my blackberry a few years back was $1) to unlock our phones.

2. With Puretalk and the like, u get a new phone number. If you cancel, u lose that phone number. I am OK with that since I only talk to my husband when we travel (when we split up etc). The cost savings are worth the hassle of losing the number to me. (Still miss my old tmobile plan which gave me rverything I wanted AND I didn't have to change the number AND was dirt cheap). Just consider what u need and go from there.

3. After u switch the SIM card it is likely u have to change your Apn number. It is usuallybsimple and your phone does it automatically (most phones do). I try and set aside sometime on my travel day after I get to the US to make sure my phone is working properly and test everything. (And call customer support if necessary).

4. Give yourself enough time for the sim to be mailed to u.they are usually quick.Not sure about how mailing to Canada works as I have a US address.

I am in Cali now and using Puretalk and it has been fabulous. $15 for 2Gdata, a bunch of phone minutes and texts. .very freeing and has been very very useful for adjusting travel plans on the fly.
 
Great thanks. Has anyone had this mailed to Canada? Noticed there is no Province option when checking out.
 


from Canada. I am using a rogers cellphone...(but its UNLOCKED)

now can I (when I) travel to disney....

take my same cellphone to disney, buy a sim card (to stick into my cellphone )and prepaid card from an americancompany (verizon, cingular, etc..) and used it that way ?

I thought it would be cheaper as the sim card never expires so, i can use it
in the states....
what do you think , would this work ?

We have net talk and it suits us well. Let me explain though .it's a VoIP home phone service..but I also have the app installed on my celphone. Our home phone is plugged into the little box that's connected to our computer. Super cheap.

When I travel and have wifi service I use the app on my cel. It freaks people out when I call from Disney and my home phone number shows up on their phone. This also means that when someone calls my home number it will ring wherever we are. You can use it with your cel data but that gets expensive in the U.S.

At the airport..connect to wifi..use the app to call the hotel shuttle. No long distance in Canada or the U.S.

For the $30 a year that net talk costs us.. You can't beat the ability to take your home phone with you ;)

Disney has free wifi in the parks..
 
I hate to argue but that's simply not true. Rogers is the only carrier that fully supports SIM cards in Canada I believe. Regardless.. Bell/Aliant/Whatever does not support them period.

The SIM or BRAIN of the phone is removed with the SIM card. There is nothing to identify the phone to the network as Canadian - or anything else - if the SIM card is removed. This is only true with Rogers.

I haven't seen pre-paid SIM's in the states but they probably exist. If you can find 'em.. there would be no roaming fees.

-

Further.. last time I went to Florida (8 weeks ago), I paid Rogers some amount.. I think it was 75$ for 240 minutes over one month or something like that. They have a U-S Travelling add-on. The minutes are prorated for however long you have the option on your bill.

One little catch. Last year I cancelled the plan the day I got home. And then some calls I had made when the plan was active, were actually reported to Rogers by the US Carriers on my bill AFTER I shut the plan off. I called Rogers and these were credited.

On my most recent trip.. I left it on my bill for 7 days after I got home and then cancelled. And everything was reported correctly.

And I reiterate, if you use one of these plans, there are NO roaming fees.

Good luck!

Knox
All our Bell phones have SIM cards..

They haven't used ESN numbers in years! It's been all SIM cards for Atleast 4 years.. Any phone you buy now according to the CRTC guideline must be unlocked or they have to unlock it for you.

Some Rogers phones are locked only to Rogers /Fido network. Again they have to unlock them for you..your provider can't refuse . If you buy a phone outright just say on the Apple Store ..they come unlocked
 


I wouldn't cancel. Most of us want to keep the same US phone number (especially travelling 2-3 times per year); the struggle with throwaways and most US plans is to keep the phone active so you can keep the same number. If you cancel the plan, you will lose your number, and probably deactivate the SIM card, so you would need to get a new one next trip. One of the best ROAM advantages is that you can keep your number alive as long as you pay for 1 day per year, and you don't need to actually be in the US to do it.

And yes, as Mortlives said, make sure your phone is unlocked before you try this.

Definitely something to consider when choosing a plan. For my "regular" travel SIM with a number I don't plan to change, I went with Truphone. It uses BOTH AT&T and Tmobile networks (very rare) so I feel good that I have coverage most places I go (since some spots are not covered by Tmobile and vice versa). While it is slightly more expensive for what you use - 9 cents a minute, 9 cents a text, 9 cents a MB, it makes up for it by being one of the very few plans with NO MINIMUM TOPUPS :) Calling Canada is not that expensive either.

I use wifi most of the time so I only really need it a handful of times each trip - requesting an Uber car, texting my DH when we are separated, a call to make a restaurant reservation, a quick call to check on a travel provider, etc. When I was in Universal, I was in a restaurant that told me a 45 min wait for a table. The wifi in the place was terrible. I turned on my cellular data and 2 minutes later, I made a reservation for a time 5 mins in the future on Open Table. I got seated very quickly. I use maybe $1-2 each trip. My $15 truphone credit could possibly last me a couple of years. Any other plan requires at least $10-$100 in minimum top-ups a year or $2-$5 per day of access. Relying on just wifi annoys me. We tried that in Washington and while we managed, had a lot of extra walking to the nearest Starbucks to get wifi to request an Uber car.


Great thanks. Has anyone had this mailed to Canada? Noticed there is no Province option when checking out.

That's the only issue - not sure if Puretalk (or any of these US SIMs) actually mail to Canada. We use a US friend's address. Might be worth calling to ask.
 
All our Bell phones have SIM cards..

They haven't used ESN numbers in years! It's been all SIM cards for Atleast 4 years.. Any phone you buy now according to the CRTC guideline must be unlocked or they have to unlock it for you.

Some Rogers phones are locked only to Rogers /Fido network. Again they have to unlock them for you..your provider can't refuse . If you buy a phone outright just say on the Apple Store ..they come unlocked

Yes, it is nice that this Cell Phone Freedom Act (C-343) has passed. Note that you have to request the unlock, and the provider is allowed to charge a fee to unlock your phone. Seems to be about $50 for most providers - you can do it cheaper yourself.

Know your new cell phone rights at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/info_sht/t15.htm
 
My recent trip to Hawaii I used Ready SIM. Bit more expensive - $35 for 14 days (Unlimited Talk/Text + 1GB data) minus a 10% discount - but worked quite nicely and zero issues apart from zero reception on most of the Road to Hana (which I suspect is par for the course). I'm on Virgin and considered adding their US data plan, but at $50 for 1GB... no thanks. 1GB was plenty, even taking into account the fact that I was doing the vacation thing of constantly posting pics to social media. And I went with Ready SIM as they didn't lock me into a plan that I had to cancel later. I've been known to forget to do these things, even with a reminder set.

With that said, if (read: when) I go to WDW again I may go with Truphone. Since there's free wifi in the parks the pay-as-you-go pricing becomes very attractive.

I should note that I did buy the SIM cards at the end of last year, so the exchange rate was not as terrible as it is now. Looked at our CC bill after Hawaii and Yikes!

As far as phones go, I do recommend buying them outright without a plan. The initial spend is higher, but the advantages are that your phone will come unlocked, and you can continue to use your existing plan, which as mentioned previously, is usually cheaper than the new plans (probably has something to do with older plans configured for 3G and newer ones for 4G/LTE). I did this when moving from an iPhone 4 to a 6 (the 4 effectively became an iPod touch for the kids) and have no regrets.

The exception to this is if you are with one of the Big 3 and can haggle/threaten to cancel your way to a great deal.
 
My recent trip to Hawaii I used Ready SIM. Bit more expensive - $35 for 14 days (Unlimited Talk/Text + 1GB data) minus a 10% discount - but worked quite nicely and zero issues apart from zero reception on most of the Road to Hana (which I suspect is par for the course). I'm on Virgin and considered adding their US data plan, but at $50 for 1GB... no thanks. 1GB was plenty, even taking into account the fact that I was doing the vacation thing of constantly posting pics to social media. And I went with Ready SIM as they didn't lock me into a plan that I had to cancel later. I've been known to forget to do these things, even with a reminder set.

With that said, if (read: when) I go to WDW again I may go with Truphone. Since there's free wifi in the parks the pay-as-you-go pricing becomes very attractive.

I should note that I did buy the SIM cards at the end of last year, so the exchange rate was not as terrible as it is now. Looked at our CC bill after Hawaii and Yikes!

As far as phones go, I do recommend buying them outright without a plan. The initial spend is higher, but the advantages are that your phone will come unlocked, and you can continue to use your existing plan, which as mentioned previously, is usually cheaper than the new plans (probably has something to do with older plans configured for 3G and newer ones for 4G/LTE). I did this when moving from an iPhone 4 to a 6 (the 4 effectively became an iPod touch for the kids) and have no regrets.

The exception to this is if you are with one of the Big 3 and can haggle/threaten to cancel your way to a great deal.

Ready SIM sounds like it offered a very attractive plan. Nice not having to worry about cancelling later (we just had to cancel our Puretalk). And you're right - 1 GB ended up being a lot. I had purposely made sure I got at least 2GB because I had planned to surf online a lot and use social media during our trip and knew we only had access to free wifi in our hotels at night. With Puretalk, I only used 0.5 GB in 2 weeks and had loads left. On top of that, they calculated my minutes by the second so even after calling Otto (Disneyland wait times number) about 10-15 times a day for 5 days, I still had a bunch of minutes left over from my 80 minute allotment.
 
Reporting back :) I ordered a Truphone SIM and it arrived quickly. I activated it when I was in the US but had some trouble - it just wouldn't work as they said it would. I called and talked to a super friendly rep in the Phillipines with perfect English. She tried a couple of things quickly and then said that there were problems with the activation which she promised would be fixed within an hour. She offered to call/email me the moment it was fixed. I was leaving the US at that time and told her I was worried because I wouldn't be able to test the data properly since I would be in Canada ($4.50/MB - ouch!. She immediately offered me a $15 credit (my activation fee) to make up for the trouble (and to pay for my data testing in Canada). Wow.

As promised, it worked when I got home and I tested it in Canada, paying $4.50/MB. The credit showed up immediately. I was very impressed now.

Best of all, logging in online displays my detailed bill easily letting me see exactly what I used and when. It promises to show up within an hour (In practice, it showed up almost immediately). Great for monitoring use.

I was at Universal Studios last weekend and it worked flawlessly. With wifi everywhere I knew I wouldn't use data much but still wanted it available. This is what I used:

- 1 call (3mins) to Universal dining to make a dining reservation (did not want to fuss with making it online at that time).

- 1 call to my DH when we split up (9 cents)

- 1.5 MB to make an Open Table reservation when The Kitchen (at Hard Rock Hotel) said no tables were available for a walkup. I tried doing it with their wifi first but it was horrible there. Irritated, I just switched on my data plan and made the reservation super quickly.

That's it - everything else was fine with wifi. I spent about 58 cents all weekend.

I just got off the phone with Truphone and I had to come back here to comment - I was so pleased.

I managed to brick my iPhone a couple of days ago. I am planning to use an unlocked Blackberry for an upcoming weekend trip to Kentucky. I called and thankfully, there is no charge for them to mail me a replacement SIM (I was fully expecting to pay something). The kicker is, I have no time to pick it up from my US friend's place (where I send all my US mail). I asked, and amazingly, they will mail it to me here in Canada for free!

I had a couple of different questions so I talked to 2 reps today - both based in the Phillipines. Both spoke excellent English and were very friendly and helpful. I have now interacted with 3 different reps and all have been fabulous. So unexpected considering the reputations of all cellphone companies these days.
 
First of all...Roam mobility would work well they use the t mobile network and you can get the sim card easily. That said if I want to make calls at Disney I just use the magic jack app on my phone when connected to disney wifi. If I want to send a text I just text people who have iPhones and then it goes through iMessage also via wifi. There are also many other apps that you can send free texts with over wifi to non-iphones as well such as text plus
 
We used Telaway in August. It was awesome! We were there for 24 days and had unlimited calls, texts and data for the whole trip. We paid about $60 each and they mail the SIM cards to you in Canada. Super easy!
 
Even with the $1 daily increase.... there is still significant savings compared to Canadian providers and convenience to getting a pre-paid card when in the USA.

BTW... the increase came with bonus 500mb daily data!

https://www.roammobility.com/plans
 
Does anyone have other non sim card swapping options? Are there any companies that offer a 1 month option that maybe comes with a phone... preferably a phone that can install the Disney Experience app :)
 
Without a sim card swap.... I think you options would be...
  • airplane mode where your app will not work.
  • public wifi. Hope you are using a VPN.
  • paying roaming charges or getting US plan with your local carrier with limited data
  • get a second phone, some get phones with dual sim's
For 30 days.... it would justify me to be on Roam Mobility.
For a 30 day stay with Roam...
  • $10 for a sim/$15 for two SIM's. Sometimes there are promo's.
  • $85 for 30 day talk+text+data plan.... you get 15gb of data!
 
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