Roam Mobility - alternative to T-Mobile for Canadian travels to the US services, standard, network

pkphilip

I've discussed before that if you travel frequently to the US, you can get your own US number with T-Mobile prepaid service. All you need is to buy the SIM card, and deposit $100, the account then stays alive for 1 year. Any sub-sequence refill will keep the account active for 1 year as well.

http://www.roammobility.com

Vancouver based Roam Mobility also offers similar services, by using the T-Mobile network at slightly higher cost. The standard 1-day voice, text, 100MB data is only $4. It is more convenient for those who doesn't want to deposit $100 initially. The number is good for 1 year and all you need is to buy a 1-day plan $3 before the year expires.

T-Mobile Pros:
- $2/day for unlimited 2G Data (3G works for me), text, voice in US
- $3/day for 200MB 4G, unlimited text, voice
- $10 to top up to keep account active for 1 year (after $100 deposit to become "GOLD" status)
- SIM Card is $1 at T-Mobile store
- Service can be changed on the phone browser (once connected T-Mobile) or web
- No charges for days if no services are used

T-Mobile Cons:
- $100 initial deposit or else account expires
- Calling Canada becomes LD calls @ $0.49/min
- Alternatively, use a prepaid phone card for LD.

Roam Mobility Pros:
- Buy the days and services you need
- Account expires in 1 year after last purchase
- Plans include voice and text to/from Canada and US

Roam Mobile Cons:
- SIM card is $20
- $4/day for 100MB data, unlimited voice and text
- $3/day for unlimited voice and text
- Purchased service cannot carry-over

Happy traveling!

Philip

fibbi

Thanks for sharing!

satil

我用咗roam差不多一年,
如果早知落去玩一兩個星期, 就早在網上安排好幾號幾點至幾號幾點, 一落機, 開電話就用得.
如果突然想落美國, 就即時叫佢15分鐘後提供服務, 一過關就用到.
以voice & text, 只需$3. 任打任講任text, 全北美, 十分抵用.

eeq20

想問下, 有冇人用過香港既雙卡機,可唔可以用e.g.fido 同 roam ??

Prelude

T-Mobile is more convenience if you got down often enough, so the $100 cons is not relevant.  Setup google voice while you are in US to call back Canada for free, or use the free dell voice.  So there is no cons.


I got a sim and shared it between friends, and we already used up $70 after 4 months.
You don't need to prepare anything, just go across the border and put in the card.
4g is quite fast when available in urban area, 2g is good enough for google map gps.

4boybun

想問下, 有冇人用過香港既雙卡機,可唔可以用e.g.fido 同 roam ??
eeq20 發表於 2013-4-16 14:56

    我的香港雙卡機，用唔到bell

pkphilip

Bell and Telus are only running 3G service on 850Mhz and 2100Mhz for now, AWS comes later. It is not usable if your phone is not panta-band, then you get no service. They do not even have 2G system to fall back on. You can do a search of network on the phone and you should only see Rogers or CAN720.

Telgo.ca also offer voice/text service as well on AT&T for Canadian.

I may setup Google Voice tonight so I can use with my T-Mobile.

Philip

fibbi

I'm going to US for 5 days but the phone is just for emergency use. I go to US less often these days so I don't want to deposit $100...but Roam mobility SIM card costs $20 that's a bit too much...and I have two phones too...
Looks like T-mobile is better deal but I can't get the t-mobile SIM here quick enough before I go.
Hopefully airport may sell T-mobile sim?