[Drenis]

Hi all,

Taking a trip to Minneapolis next week and am thinking of taking my unlocked Q10 (SQN100-5) from MTS (manitoba) to throw a voice and data (95% data only, tethering) pay as you go plan on while down for the week. Looking for 5 days of service.

I'm a Rogers customer and while I'm fine with taking my personal Z30 down there, it will be used for WiFi only. I'd like to Tether the Q10 on a US carrier so I can use data on my Z30 anywhere rather than a hot spot.

I've taken a glance at the carrier options but didn't see many. Can I get some suggestions on what carrier I should buy a sim from while down south and who would be the best option for a max of 5 days use. I believe Rogers is $7/day for 50mb while in the US so something equivalent or cheaper would be great.

I apologize if this isn't the right section. Really didn't know where to post this as the forum for all US carriers is broken down into sections and there is no general forum for all carriers.

Thanks!

[Xenolock]

I think at&t does $60 a month for 2 gigs, with good coverage. Verizon probably has the most coverage but is usually more expensive. I'd check the websites for pricing.

From a Z30

[TGR1]

US carriers are terrible for this but take a look at the GoPhone section of AT&T. That might be the best option.

[robsteve]

We just spent two weeks in the USA and used Roam Mobility Sims in our three phones. Roam is a Canadian company that uses the t-mobile network for the coverage. There are coverage maps on the Roam mobility web site. The SIMS are about $20 and they ship pretty quickly from BC. The talk text and data can be bought by the day or the week. You will need to unlock your phone to use third party SIMS.

Keep in mind that T-Mobile's coverage in the Rural US would be similar to what you may get from the non-wireline carrier in your province. On a drive the whole lenght of the I95, the Roam Mobility coverage was really only good in the major cities and could be as bad as nonexistent or GPRS when in the poor coverage areas. We got EDGE a lot, but that is probably related to phone compatibility with the legacy T-Mobile frequencies. When in or near the larger cities we got 4G, which was HSPA+. Roam mobility doesn't currently have access to T-Mobile's LTE.

If you think you will be using lots of data, the Roam mobility would be a cheaper option than roaming. Roam also gives you free international texting.

http://www.roammobility.com/

Posted via CB10

[kbz1960]

We just spent two weeks in the USA and used Roam Mobility Sims in our three phones. Roam is a Canadian company that uses the t-mobile network for the coverage. There are coverage maps on the Roam mobility web site. The SIMS are about $20 and they ship pretty quickly from BC. The talk text and data can be bought by the day or the week. You will need to unlock your phone to use third party SIMS.

Keep in mind that T-Mobile's coverage in the Rural US would be similar to what you may get from the non-wireline carrier in your province. On a drive the whole lenght of the I95, the Roam Mobility coverage was really only good in the major cities and could be as bad as nonexistent or GPRS when in the poor coverage areas. We got EDGE a lot, but that is probably related to phone compatibility with the legacy T-Mobile frequencies. When in or near the larger cities we got 4G, which was HSPA+. Roam mobility doesn't currently have access to T-Mobile's LTE.

If you think you will be using lots of data, the Roam mobility would be a cheaper option than roaming. Roam also gives you free international texting.

Travel Free from USA Roaming Fees - Roam Mobility

Posted via CB10

Yes tmo doesn't have very good coverage unless you're in a large city and don't venture to the country where it instantly turns into a useless brick.

[robsteve]

Yes tmo doesn't have very good coverage unless you're in a large city and don't venture to the country where it instantly turns into a useless brick.

After my experience with their coverage, I am not surprised why T-Mobile's BlackBerry customer base is only 1% of their total customers. Good network coverage would be handy if you were in Business and had a Blackberry. Price is not always everything.

Posted via CB10

[kbz1960]

After my experience with their coverage, I am not surprised why T-Mobile's BlackBerry customer base is only 1% of their total customers. Good network coverage would be handy if you were in Business and had a Blackberry. Price is not always everything.

Posted via CB10

Yes. Any phone not just a bb.

[DenverRalphy]

I'd probably recommend looking into Boost Mobile. They only do monthly, but their monthly rates would be cheaper than a week of daily charges. And unless you plan to travel well outside the Twin Cities area, the coverage should be more than adequate.


Sent from my T100TA using Tapatalk

[robsteve]

The other benefit of Roam Mobility is you can setup the account prior to leaving and set a start date and time for the service. In my case, when we hit the US border, I changed the SIMs at the border. The Rogers SIMS were put in our old BBOS phones and these phones were set to data off when roaming. We were able to receive calls and texts on our Rogers account and if it was important, call/text back with the Roam mobility phone. My Rogers bill just arrived and there was not any US roaming on it.

[Troy Tiscareno]

I'd probably recommend looking into Boost Mobile.

The OPs phone is GSM - Boost and Virgin are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) of Sprint, a CDMA carrier. Thus, that wouldn't work.

The OP has to use a service that uses either the T-Mobile or AT&T networks, which are GSM-based.

One option is T-Mobile's $30/month plan, which gives 100 voice minutes, unlimited text, and "unlimited" data (the first 5GB at "high speed" [LTE or HSPA+] and anything beyond that on EDGE, but no data cap). SIMs can be ordered online.

[nomloj]

One option is T-Mobile's $30/month plan, which gives 100 voice minutes, unlimited text, and "unlimited" data (the first 5GB at "high speed" [LTE or HSPA+] and anything beyond that on EDGE, but no data cap). SIMs can be ordered online.

Yep, that's the plan I have. It was either that or $30 for unlimited calls/text and 100MB data. I choose the unlimited data instead.

[LoganSix]

US carriers are terrible for this but take a look at the GoPhone section of AT&T. That might be the best option.

Except for the Visual Voice Mail password keeps popping up when you turn on data.
I was told that Visual Voice Mail doesn't work for BlackBerry phones.

[DenverRalphy]

The OPs phone is GSM - Boost and Virgin are mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) of Sprint, a CDMA carrier. Thus, that wouldn't work.

The OP has to use a service that uses either the T-Mobile or AT&T networks, which are GSM-based.

One option is T-Mobile's $30/month plan, which gives 100 voice minutes, unlimited text, and "unlimited" data (the first 5GB at "high speed" [LTE or HSPA+] and anything beyond that on EDGE, but no data cap). SIMs can be ordered online.

Whoops. For some reason I was under the impression Boost was a GSM carrier. My bad.

[Drenis]

One option is T-Mobile's $30/month plan, which gives 100 voice minutes, unlimited text, and "unlimited" data (the first 5GB at "high speed" [LTE or HSPA+] and anything beyond that on EDGE, but no data cap). SIMs can be ordered online.

Didn't find this plan on their website. And can I not stop into a store and buy a sim card and activate it on the spot?

Might have to call these guys.

Here's another question, can I mobile hotspot the phone and use my Z30 for map GPS? Has anyone tried something like this? This is what I'm after ultimately.

[Troy Tiscareno]

Didn't find this plan on their website. And can I not stop into a store and buy a sim card and activate it on the spot?

Prepaid Cell Phone Plans, No Credit Check | Monthly 4G | T-Mobile

Just below the pink "$3/day" is a section that talks about the $30/month plan. They intentionally don't call a lot of attention to it. Also, you'll need to order a SIM from T-Mo and then activate your phone ONLINE (ONLY), since you aren't buying a phone from Walmart (this is technically a "WalMart Plan", but you can get it if you activate online.

Here's another question, can I mobile hotspot the phone and use my Z30 for map GPS? Has anyone tried something like this? This is what I'm after ultimately.

As long as you can activate the hotspot on your phone currently, you'll be able to on T-Mo. I have no issues with this on my Nexus 4.

[Ment]

As long as you can activate the hotspot on your phone currently, you'll be able to on T-Mo. I have no issues with this on my Nexus 4.

It definitely depends on the phone, the Nex5 won't let you on Tmob. Googs probably got some carrier feedback and changed it.

[Drenis]

Well activating online wont help as I leave on Monday. So looks like I'll have to do a travel pack with Rogers. Should have researched this sooner.

Thanks for all the replies.