Juldie

We are going to be based a week in Canmore. My husband is going to have to call home for business during the week we are there. It might mean he will be on the phone for half hour or so when he calls so I am very concerned how to keep the cost to a minimum. If a calling card is the way to go, which one is the best and where do we get it?

It looks like our Verizon wireless is going to be too expensive even if we can get service.

toedtoes

The cell phone will get very expensive very quickly.

I had two calling cards on my last trip, but I couldn't get either one to work... If you get one, call in to the company and verify that there is a Canadian number to call through. My next trip, I'm just going to buy a card when I arrive - at least that way I'll know it will have a Canadian access number.

LJ

You can get a calling card at any Walmart, drug or convenience store or gas station when you arrive. Ask the clerk for one that can call the US and then READ the details for yourself before you put your $10 down: some have restrictions on where you can call (don't trust the clerk to know this) and some have expiry dates).

Juldie

I called the timeshare resort we are staying at and they told me they sell the Alberta Centennial phone card. Has anyone used this particular card?

swilshire

Which timeshare will you be at and which week? We'll be at (from memory here, so name may be off a bit) Elkhorn at the Lodges about the last week of June.

I'm very late in getting all our details planned so I'm online today trying to wrap up some loose ends. We leave a week from today for Vancouver for a week at Pacific Shores.

Sheila

global_guy

I wouldn't worry at all about the card you use. Take a deep breath, relax, and when you arrive in Alberta, do as LJ said and go to a local convenience store and buy a card. It is generally my experience that the people selling them will have an OK idea about the cards and they should always be able to provide a ratesheet. In your case, you will probably just want to be sure that the card has "no connection fee" meaning that you don't pay a set amount each time you make a call. That means the per minute rate will be SLIGHTLY higher but you don't pay say, 50 cents just to leave a message. The cards will expire but typically the expiry applies to unused time after say, a month or two.
Since you are calling to the US you ought to get by with one 5 dollar card. A five dollar card will get me about 7 hours of calling in North America, and about the same to most countries in Western Europe.
Don't get too worked up about which specific one.