North America cell phone usage

[Mr. Imperial]

Hopefully the title isn't too misleading. This isn't about a study of how/how much North Americans use their cell phones .

I imagine someone out there has dealt with this. I've done a bit of research myself, but I'm interested in knowing if anyone has first-hand experience.

So, currently I live in upstate NY, and as some of you know, I'm beginning further studies in Toronto next month. Until my wife gets a job, I'm going to be commuting. Here's what I'm looking for: cell phone service that won't break the bank. I'll be in Canada probably three days a week, and will be calling and texting both US and Canadian numbers (but mostly US numbers, from what I know at this point). Verizon has a North America plan that looks decent (though they don't have any good free phones at the moment ). We are currently on AT&T, and are ready to get rid of them. We would need minimum talk minutes, and possibly the most basic smartphone plan depending on what phones we end up with.

Limiting myself to computer-to-computer Skype is an option, for sure, and may be the route we go, getting a pre-paid Canadian phone for emergencies. But I'm just wondering if anyone has anything to say about all this.

Thanks!

 

[RichGem]

skype also offers computer-to-phone plans (here to canada at least) for as low as 2cents a minute. Also can buy monthly unlimited with a plan upgrade or pay as you go in $10 increments. As you know skype comp-to-comp is free.

Also, you can do SMS texting through a gmail account.

 

[dmm26]

I would just get a pay as you go phone for here in Canada and whatever phone/ plan you like in the states. Might make things easier that way.

 

[Space]

if you find anything good post it here. my friend is engaged to a girl in toronto and travels up there all the time. his american service doesn't work up there, which is completely absurd because we use the same country code.

 

[_JP_]

AT&T for my iPhone worked just fine in Canada. But the web usage was crazy. ON the bridge right between the U.S. and Canadian border check points I got a text message telling me that Internet (data) usage would cost me almost $16/meg. Needless to say I turned off data usage and made sure to do that when I had a wifi signal.

 

[jstutman]

Android based phone with google voice and sipdroid. You will not need "minutes" just data and yes wifi counts

 

[C Reed]

I have a few canadian friends who are in NYC allot they use either black berry or Iphones on At&t and upgrade have North American plans so they can call/ text us numbers. I all ways end up paying to call them back, but have never seen an extra charge for texting them from my phone (at&t iphone) I also never got charged extra for texting friends with Swedish or UK numbers when they where in town

I think At&t might just give you international texting...

 

[jstutman]

Verizon has the Droid, the Droid X, the Droid 2. I promise you Verizon has some of the best smartphones

What I do see however is there rates are insane

Verizon wants .69 per minutes when your in Canada
.002 per KB $20.48/MB

In US calling to Canada is just as bad
.49 per minute to a canada number from the US
.20 per text to a canada number from the US

Best bet with those prices (and there cheaper than ATT)
would be to get a Rogers pre-paid
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/plans

 

[Mr. Imperial]

Thanks for the replies, folks!

As you can see by reading everyone else's replies, options are all over the board. One thing I want is a free and good phone with whatever I go with, or the ability to just keep my current phone (which isn't amazing, but is fine). That's also what I don't like about going Canada-wise; plans are great, but the phones aren't so much. Verizon has a lot of great phone options, but not the best rates.

Any other input's obviously welcome. Next weekend I'll haul my lazy butt over to a Verizon store to talk to a human to see how much flexibility I would have with a North American plan. I guess I'm not really considering AT&T anymore simply because the only phone worth having is the iPhone, and it's nowhere close to being free.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'd get a second pay-as-you-go phone for Canada. When I went up there in June, I powered off my phone because the rates are insane.

 

[proxymoron]

Depending on the availability of free wifi, get an iPod Touch with the mic headset and install Skype on that. When I used to travel a lot, I'd just buy local prepaid SIM cards--most don't expire if you top them up regularly. Use in conjunction with VoIP phone cards.

 

[Go West Young Man]

I've not yet found a really affordable way to call between Canada and the US other than Skype.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Wait, what?


http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com...-calls-from-inside-gmail/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Internet-based phone service is nothing new. Skype, which lets Americans talk to each other for free and charges a couple of pennies per minute for long distance, began seven years ago. But Wednesday, Google has begun rolling out Internet phone service built into the interface of its Gmail service.

Google promotes it as a fallback feature for Gmail’s video chat system, in case the other party isn’t sitting in front of a computer waiting to have a video chat with you. But it’s not just for your video chat partners, if you even have any. It’s for anytime a phone call is the best way to communicate with someone else. Some people who would never accept a video chat request might take a phone call instead.

Here’s how it works: A new button on Gmail’s interface, Call Phones, launches a small window with a telephone-style keypad. There’s also a box into which you can type people’s names, to see if their phone number is in your Gmail address book. To use the phone feature, you first need to install a plug-in for your browser from Google. It works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google’s own Chrome browser and Apple’s Safari on Macs.

Google will use your computer’s built-in microphone and speakers, or a USB headset, to pick up your voice and to play the other party’s voice. (The headset works better than a computer’s built-in mic, which makes a call sound like its coming from a speakerphone.)

Once you’ve installed the plug-in and configured your computer to use the right audio gear, making the calls is as easy as dialing an old Princess phone. I’m glad Google didn’t clutter the keypad with all sorts of extra buttons and distractions.

The person you’re calling will see on their phone the caller ID 760-705-8888, which Google uses for all outbound calls unless you’re also using its Google Voice service and have a Google Voice number.

Google Voice gives you a Google-assigned number so Google can handle your incoming calls and voicemail. That may be an additional complexity you don’t want. You also need to sign up with Google Voice if you want to receive calls within Gmail. You’l need to give out your Google Voice number to friends and colleagues if you want them to call you through Gmail.

Like Skype, Google’s prices are hard to beat. Calls within the United States and Canada are free. Calls to other countries average around two cents a minute. Google has posted its rates for each country. (77 cents a minute for calls to North Korea.)

Sure, you could reach for your cellphone instead of dialing your browser. But my extensive use of Skype and smartphones has shown that most of the time an Internet phone call has better voice quality. People don’t ask me to repeat myself. There are sometimes annoying delays of up to four seconds between the time someone says something at one end and the time it pops out at the other end. These delays come from the Internet itself, which will make them hard for even Google to fix. And every now and then, Internet calls get dropped just like a cellphone.

What’s in it for you? If you already use Skype and Gmail, you can move to having only one Web page and one address book that combines e-mail, IM-style chat, and phone. It would be even more useful if Google would add a button in Gmail that appears alongside every message: “Call Joe Smith now.” After all, it should be easy for Google, which already scans the text of your inbound messages to deliver better-targeted ads, to fish Joe’s phone number out of his e-mail signature.