Help: Calling all cell phone fiends

[dirtybryan]

Long complicated cell phone post below, help would be much appreciated.

So I'm going to school in BC, but home is in New York. I want a cell phone at school since I'm a person who is typically on the run. However I'm trying to figure something out so I don't get screwed using a US based phone in CA or vice versa based on roaming. Its sort of catch22 since due to scheduling I'll most likely be in NY and BC just about equally and a plan in either would be wasted trying to avoid roaming in the other. Also catch22 because BC friends wouldn't want to pay to call long distance to a NY phone or NY friends to a BC phone.

I did have a clever idea to combat the later problem, and that is to use this internet service called skype (voIP service that is mostly free). I'd get a phone in BC, buy a skype phone number (just under 40 bucks) based in NY to forward calls to the BC number and the forwarding would cost me only 2.5cents a minute. This way Canada friends can call the real number and NY friends can call the number that would forward them to the BC number, none of which would have to pay the long distance. I also plan on using skype to make calls to the states for cheap.

However, this doesn't fix the fact that if I'm in the US with a BC based phone or Canada with a US based phone, that I won't get screwed roaming. There is only one plan that I can find thus far which is Verizon's North American plan with is 60 bucks a month and more then I really want to spend, minutes aren't bad though. I'd like to keep it under 40.

I was also thinking that prepaid in both and scrap the skype idea, but at about 65 cents a minute with any carrier, its cost prohibitive for the amount of use I expect.

I'm sure some of you have figured something out with the amount you all travel.

[pointedem]

do the math
100 roam minutes@ .65/ min= 65.00

just buy the NA plan..
then you dont have to dick around with that internet shit, and not have to be tracking your minutes all the time.

[RShea]

If there are no comments on this forum from CA/US travellers, I'd jump over to http://www.howardforums.com/ for a search. They have info by carrier and plenty of cell phone fiends hanging out there.

[dirtybryan]

do the math
100 roam minutes@ .65/ min= 65.00

just buy the NA plan..
then you dont have to dick around with that internet shit, and not have to be tracking your minutes all the time.

Does put that it into perspective a little, but I still have to pull the net BS, just because the NA plan only cures the roaming issue. The NA plan would be out of NY and would make any incoming call from CA friends long distance, making people reluctant to call me (then again, you could argue thats a good thing...).

[cj001f]

Buy 2 phones and have 2 plans. Or, buy 1 phone that will handle a dual programmed SIM and buy a ghetto chinese sim copying kit.

[P_McPoser]

making people reluctant to call me.

In a similar situation, this had no affect on me. Most people with cell phones have free long distance these days anyways. But like I said, no one ever said "Hey, we were gonna call you to go to this kickin' party, but we couldn't afford the long distance call!"

[Snow Dog]

In a similar situation, this had no affect on me. Most people with cell phones have free long distance these days anyways. But like I said, no one ever said "Hey, we were gonna call you to go to this kickin' party, but we couldn't afford the long distance call!"

Not in Canada. Long distance will cost you 30 - 50 cents a minute and the special (cheap) access numbers (like 10-10-220) don't work with cell phones. It actually cuts boths ways -- the super cheap long distance doesn't work if the destination is a cell phone.

Pay & Talk is 25 cents a minute with Telus Mobility and with some carriers the unused minutes roll over each month.

With your skype solution, if you're in NY and someone calls your NY number you pay for the NY to BC long distance plus the BC back to NY long distance. Ouch.

I'd say you're stuck with 2 cell phones. You can call forward your BC phone when you're in NY and visa versa. Or you can change your extended greeting to say "hey, I'm in NY, call this number". Or you can use text messaging which might not cost anything for long distance.

[RShea]

Buy 2 phones and have 2 plans. Or, buy 1 phone that will handle a dual programmed SIM and buy a ghetto chinese sim copying kit.

GSM phones are more popular in the Europe and Asia market. In N. America, the only 2 major carriers in the US that use GSM are T-Mobile and Cingular Wireless. Verizon and Sprint are both CDMA and do not use the programable cards you are discussing. So if the OP wants to go Verizon, then this will not help him. First issue is the coverage at the 2 locations. The NY should be easy all the major carriers are in NYC but some may have some holes in some sections or not have a signal in a specific building. The Canada decision could be a little harder to determine coverage based on the maps out there for the various carriers.