[ShaneGoodman]

Greetings,

I am a Telus Mobility customer in Canada with a BlackBerry Key2. Telus offers "Easy Roam" at $12 per day. Is there a less-expensive option? Either buying another SIM card, or even buying a phone that works in the U.S.?

Thanks,
Shane.

[Ph1llip]

Greetings,

I am a Telus Mobility customer in Canada with a BlackBerry Key2. Telus offers "Easy Roam" at $12 per day. Is there a less-expensive option? Either buying another SIM card, or even buying a phone that works in the U.S.?

Thanks,
Shane.

Shane, it depends on how long you'll be in the US. If longer than three days or so, yes is the answer.

1. You'll need to find out which US carrier has the best coverage for the area/s you're visiting. Do this by visiting their websites and looking at coverage maps.

2. Select a pre-paid cell phone plan. Most plans are around 30 bucks a month and include data and hotspot. For example, these are AT&T's plans.

3. Once you decide who to go with, buy a SIM card from them. You can do this in various ways depending on whether you want the card before you leave or don't mind getting it after you arrive. Search Amazon for a start. There are even vendors who will activate a line for you so you hit the ground running so to speak.

Be mindful of whether the carrier you select has those bands in the area you're visiting and also of their whitelisting/blacklisting policies. YMMV and it's best to visit a physical store and explain to them you're a tourist, and hopefully they'll provision the service with the right codes so that it's working.

I do the reverse when I go to Canada and buy a Koodoo or Bell Mobility sim card for the data because it's a lot cheaper, thankfully my Key2 is a dual-SIM phone so I instruct the Key2 to use the 2nd SIM for data.

[Chuck Finley69]

Greetings,

I am a Telus Mobility customer in Canada with a BlackBerry Key2. Telus offers "Easy Roam" at $12 per day. Is there a less-expensive option? Either buying another SIM card, or even buying a phone that works in the U.S.?

Thanks,
Shane.

Actually, I don't believe AT&T or VZW are carrier option for Key2 at this point, especially for prepaid option. Your only carrier option, especially prepaid, would be TMO and that would be limited coverage in many areas.

The prepaid SIM options aren't really options either since all operate via three carriers listed above.

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

And coverage maps are mostly useless.... T-Mobile shows they cover 90% of the county I live in, but in reality it's more like 30%. Granted that 30% is the main roadways, business and tourist corridors.

[Chuck Finley69]

Best solution for USA trip would be finding best of three (3) main carriers for visiting area network coverage.

Then, just purchase an inexpensive prepaid carrier locked device and plan for $150-250 USD all-in for 30 days of unlimited service.

[SteinwayTransitCorp]

I’ll go to Walmart buy a burner phone put how many minutes you want on the phone and just run with that

[Ph1llip]

I kinda agree with all the above but I hate setting new phones up (even if only temporarily) so I always aim for a pre-paid SIM, to use primarily for the cheap data, in my own phone which is already set up to my liking. I have my main AT&T line on one of the card slots as AT&T roaming in Canada (as well many other countries) is pretty seamless. I also have a Hushed line for cases where the AT&T coverage isn't adequate. Hushed uses data so no problems.

Shane, if you set up a Hushed line at $4.95 a month (cancellable anytime) and just buy a SIM for data, this could be another cheap option. Simply give out the Hushed no. before you leave to those who need to contact you or even leave an away message on your voicemail with the number in it. You can find Hushed in your app store.

[ShaneGoodman]

Thanks for the suggestions.

It looks like Telus is raising the prices for Easy Roam:
https://mobilesyrup.com/2023/03/05/t...ssible-strike/