AmbroseLam

I will be visiting Vancouver and Seattle in July for 2 weeks with two other families. Could someone please suggest a service provider that we should go to when buying sim cards for our pocket wifi devices and mobile phones? Many thanks.

Elizabeth_S

Hi! Will you be spending most of your time in Canada? The roaming costs cross border can add up so if you could give a bit more information. Also - are you in/around Vancouver for most of the time or in smaller towns?

AmbroseLam

Elizabeth_S, my travel plan is Vancouver -> Banff -> Jasper -> Vancouver -> Seattle -> Vancouver -> Hong Kong

I will spend 2 days in Seattle.

Grateful for your advice please.

Elizabeth_S

There are 3 major wireless companies all with excellent coverage in the areas you'll be visiting (and they each have 2 brands)

You can buy SIM cards from all of them and then top up for voice, SMS and data. I've looked at the various websites and they make it difficult to compare prices (of course!) but the prices are all pretty similar so I think you can confidently go to the most convenient shop you find selling one of the following carriers:

- Telus
- Koodo (owned by Telus - runs on their network - might be slightly cheaper)

- Bell Canada
- Solo Mobile (owned by Bell - runs on their network - might be slightly cheaper)

- Rogers
- Fido (owned by Rogers - runs on their network - might be slightly cheaper)

Telus and Bell might have better coverage in Jasper.

There are a couple of other mobile carriers but they're having business problems and may not have the coverage you need.

The two days in Seattle might mean increased costs for voice and SMS (or maybe not - sometimes the plans include North America) but the biggest issue is the cost of data. It's very expensive to just roam for data when you travel to the US from Canada. The carriers all offer some form of roaming package (on a daily, weekly or monthly basis) so ask the salesperson about it. It's easy to activate - in fact as soon as you roam onto the US network the Canadian carrier will text you and give you the option to accept a package.

Hope this helps!

AmbroseLam

Dear Elizabeth_S,

Thank you very much for the detailed information which is very useful.

Ambrose

leuk2

as said previously- 3 major players in Canada market. Recently however windmobile, which is a subsidiary of one of the big three, has advertised a plan that covers b.c. and the U.S. I don't know any of the details. might be worth checking out their website. otherwise u.s. roaming fees are exorbitant.

Elizabeth_S

To clarify - Wind Mobile is not a subsidiary of the 3 carriers I listed above....it is an independent that is having funding problems. And while their current advertised deal is good their coverage in Banff and Jasper is not.

AmbroseLam

Thank you leuk2 and Elizabeth_S