Forum Discussion
DATA in Alberta Canada?
We're going to Alberta this fall - Waterton Lakes, Banff, Jasper. We have the Magenta MAX 55+ plan which provides 40gb/mo of hotspot data on our phones.
Is there ANYTHING we need to do to have our current phones work for calls, text and DATA in these locations?
All you need to do is have roaming turned on in your devices settings for each device roaming in Canada. As a precaution, you can give Customer Care a call at 611 or reach out to them via Facebook or Twitter by sending them a DM to confirm your account is set to allow them to roam internationally. Just be mindful that data and hotspot allowances while traveling to Canada are significantly less than what your plan normally has in the US. I have personally been to Calgary and Banff. Very beautiful places to visit.
All you need to do is have roaming turned on in your devices settings for each device roaming in Canada. As a precaution, you can give Customer Care a call at 611 or reach out to them via Facebook or Twitter by sending them a DM to confirm your account is set to allow them to roam internationally. Just be mindful that data and hotspot allowances while traveling to Canada are significantly less than what your plan normally has in the US. I have personally been to Calgary and Banff. Very beautiful places to visit.
Thanks for the reply.
I talked to T-Mobile this evening. Our phones will only have 5GB/month of hotspot data once we're in Canada. But, they SHOULD work, just not have much data.
T-Mobile has a couple data add-ons - 10-Day, 5GB, $35. And 30-day, 15GB, $50.
I figure with 2 phones and the ability to buy a few $50 data passes we should be reasonably good as long as I don’t have to do any fer-real work…
Everything I need for image storage, management and processing will be local in the RV, so I shouldn’t have to shove huge backups to the cloud, which will help keep the data load down...
You should not have to buy a Data Pass but if you do, you can wait until it becomes evident and then buy the pass via the T-Mobile app on your phone.
I think I've found at least three alternatives to the T-Mobile data passes that are a lot more cost effective. I'll have to do some more research, but hopefully at least one of them will prove to be real. If so, it should be between 75 and 100 GB for about the same price T-Mobile is charging for 15 GB.
You should be fine. I've been up through that area in the past, and have friends that have been to Jasper. I've only hit Banff Springs, Lake Louise and down to Idaho.
The only big issue is … how long are you going to be up there ? Don't hit the 2 month limit, or T-Mobile may cancel you.
We’ll be in Canada around 5 weeks, so we shouldn’t get cancelled!
I found a couple sources for supposedly Canadian eSIMs (Phonebox for example) for data at fairly reasonable prices - 45GB for $65, but they have such poor reviews - more than 30% being 1 star, that I’m reluctant to trust them.
GracieAllen wrote:
We’ll be in Canada around 5 weeks, so we shouldn’t get cancelled!
I found a couple sources for supposedly Canadian eSIMs (Phonebox for example) for data at fairly reasonable prices - 45GB for $65, but they have such poor reviews - more than 30% being 1 star, that I’m reluctant to trust them.
Your best option for service in Alberta is with Bell/Telus/Koodo. Telus/Koodo bring your own device policies are not very friendly though.
Looking at Telus, they don't seem interested in monthly prepaid plans with much data using my own phone… $55 for 10GB was the best I found. Bell MIGHT be marginally better 50GB for $50 and 75GB for $60. I'll have to call them and see where the "gotchas" are…
I found a couple “here’s how to get the best data” articles and they both pushed Phonebox, so I may have to call them and see if someone actually answers the phone...
