While travelling in the USA, using your cell phone can be costly. Rogers roaming airtime rates are $1.45/min, and text message rates are $0.70/text. Even if you buy a travel pack, you’re still going to be paying about $1/min on Rogers.
I unlocked my Blackberry Bold through Horizon Wireless. You can get your GSM phone unlocked for about $8-10. This will allow you to use any GSM sim card when travelling.
I had done a bit of research regarding US pre-paid SIM cards. You can get one from AT&T or T-mobile, but the rates will be quite expensive. The one I ended up going with was O2 wireless, which you can buy the sim card at Bestbuy for $10, which gives you a $7 airtime credit.
The rates are as follows: $0.14/minute and you can roam anywhere in AT&T coverage with no change in rate. Long distance is free to over 50 countries. Text messages are $0.05 to send or receive to anyone in the US or Canada. All in all, getting the prepaid SIM will save you a lot of money if you are planning on just making a few calls or a few text messages. The only downside is that you can’t use your Canadian phone number, and there are no data services with O2 wireless. But, if you’re phone has WiFi access, you can still access the internet through that.
So I ended up going with the BlackBerry Bold. I figured the email aspect was more important than the browsing aspect for me. I’ve barely had a chance to use it so far, but it seems pretty good right out of the box! I’ve added a couple of applications, the Google Mobile app, the Facebook app, and AIM.Â
I got the Bold for $99CDN ($649.99 without a contract, $200 regularly with a 3 year contract) at Wireless Wave in Kingsway on a 3 year contract. I got the $17.50 EPP voice plan, the $30 blackberry value pack (500MB data, voicemail, caller id, who called, 10000 text messages, 10000 mms messages) + $6.95 SAF + $0.75 911 fee. I’m pretty happy with the plan. If anyone is looking for a good cell phone package/deal, check out Wireless Wave in Kingsway, specifically Charley, the manager, who was particularly helpful with all of this stuff!
My cell phone contract is expiring with Bell in December, and I’m trying to decide whether to get a Blackberry or an iPhone, and, if I get a Blackberry, which provider I should go with. The iPhone looks pretty cool with all of its features, but I really like the keyboard of the Blackberry.Â
Anyone have any thoughts on which phone I should choose, and who has the best rate plan for the phone?Â
Looking forward to all of your comments….
