Cross-border (northern one) communication

[allan5oh]

I have my bill right here. roaming in the states is 1.17/min. I think it's gone down since our loonie has strengthened. long distance is 41 cents per minute. So thats 1.60/minute.

My plan is only $25 a minute, and the cheapest north american plan is $75 a month. It takes a lot of minutes to make up that $50.

[tracer]

I'm from Canada and 90% of the time I go to the USA. I had the same cost problem because Canadian cell plans get expensive when you want to use the phone both in the USA and Canada. My provider is called ROGERS and I have to fork over Cnd$120 (appr. US110) a month if I want to use ... 400 minutes only. With this plan there's no roaming and long distance charges anywhere in Canada and USA. My last bill was ... $300 because I went over the 400 minutes.

I used to have a cell phone from Verizon Wireless (USA) and their US-Canada plans are much much much much cheaper: you can get around 800 minutes (no roaming, no long distance) that are usable anywhere in USA and Canada. The only drawback is you'll have a U.S. area code (I had 708). This plan costs US$80 plus taxes and fees ... which comes to 90-95 bucks a month.

So, now I cancelled the US part of my plan and I only use my phone south of the border if there's some kind of an emergency. I have a satellite terminal in my truck and how most drivers here communicate with their dispatchers. It also gives me free access to text-based e-mail...

If I were an American constantly travelling to Canada, I'd probably sign up for Verizon international plan. It's not cheap (80 bucks) but convenient since you don't have to worry about long distance and roaming charges. Another tip is to use payphones whenever you can if the number you're calling is a 800 number.

[Shebear]

This topic has got to be an eye-opener for Americans about The Great North called Canada. Yes, the cell phone costs are ridiculous, particularly if you're travelling back and forth to the USA. Also, the price of gasoline, even regular gasoline for 4-wheelers, usually hovers just about DOUBLE, when you factor in the litres/gallons/exchange rate.

The Canadian public just haven't got a clue. which is surprising because they ALL have American relatives or family members who work south of the border. It's a matter of DENIAL. Also, the government brainwashing in the media keeps telling Canadians that them Yankees are gun-toting homicidal maniacs and war-mongers. Canadians are "peace-keepers" supposedly.

At least that was the illusion, until the present Prime Minister Harper became buddies with "W". Now we've got flag-draped caskets coming back from the Middle East on a daily basis also.

[Cam]

Cam, I don't even know what a thousand bucks in bourbon looks like, but I'm imagining an entire room of Jim Beam.

By the way I should note that I fought that bill amount and won.

That would be a lot of booze, I guess...

[Cam]

I wonder how much people realize the quality of life for truckers in the US has improved over the past ten years. Terrible that Canadian drivers can't reap the benefits.

I drove for about 3 years until Jan 06, all of it into the US - have picked up, delivered or driven through 44 of the contigious 50 US states. The biggest problem was communication and the extortionate rates charged by Canadian cell phone companies. It did not make any sense for me use my Canadian cell phone in the US, no matter what plan they offered for North American roaming. The best solution I was able to come up with was to use a US cell phone (given by a relative who lives in the US). I paid US $39.95 per month then for a T-mobile plan which allowed me 1000 day time minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends, no long distance and no roaming no matter whether I was just across the border in Detroit or in Nogales, Arizona on the Mexican border. When my dispatch in Canada needed me, they dialled me on my US cell phone. When I needed to call them, I called them on the 1-800 number, so I only used air time on my US phone. I got one of the then new VOIP phones at home which for Thirty canadian dollars per month allowed unlimited calls all over Canada and the US. That coupled with unlimited calls at nights on my US cellphone, allowed my wife to call me any night after 9pm and speak for any length of time for "free". My cost was capped at a total of 45 US dollars (including tax) plus thirty five canadian dollars (including tax) per month.

But for US drivers coming into Canada, forget about getting US style deals. The cell phone companies here are extortionists. Had I driven in Canada alone, I would never have got the quality time speaking with my family that I did driving into the US.

What's a VOIP phone? Some kind of Canadian landline? Sounds like it could help solve a lot of problems. That and a US cell phone is a whole lot better than $2/minute.

And, it sounds like for me, if I started doing a lot of runs up there a Canadian cell phone wouldn't be the answer.

[Cam]

I have my bill right here. roaming in the states is 1.17/min. I think it's gone down since our loonie has strengthened. long distance is 41 cents per minute. So thats 1.60/minute.

My plan is only $25 a minute month, and the cheapest north american plan is $75 a month. It takes a lot of minutes to make up that $50.

What's a 'loonie'? $50 is nothing at $1.60/minute. I'd have to get up to get a calculator, and that ain't happening, but that's less than an hour on the phone. We can spend an hour talking about Esther stealing Frankie's food.

[Cam]

I'm from Canada and 90% of the time I go to the USA. I had the same cost problem because Canadian cell plans get expensive when you want to use the phone both in the USA and Canada. My provider is called ROGERS my Tmobile uses ROGERS when I'm up there and I have to fork over Cnd$120 (appr. US110) USD down that much or the CND up that much? a month if I want to use ... 400 minutes only. With this plan there's no roaming and long distance charges anywhere in Canada and USA. My last bill was ... $300 because I went over the 400 minutes. That would work for the essential international calls. That $110 USD gets me 2000 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends and free Tmobile to Tmobile, however

I used to have a cell phone from Verizon Wireless (USA) and their US-Canada plans are much much much much cheaper: you can get around 800 minutes (no roaming, no long distance) that are usable anywhere in USA and Canada. The only drawback is you'll have a U.S. area code (I had 708). This plan costs US$80 plus taxes and fees ... which comes to 90-95 bucks a month.BINGO!!! If there is such a thing right now that's exactly what I need. When I went with Tmobile last summer I was wondering if anyone has something like that and didn't find it. I'm only in a one year contract so I'm going to investigate that.

So, now I cancelled the US part of my plan and I only use my phone south of the border if there's some kind of an emergency. Why, so you can have a $300 phone bill!? I have a satellite terminal in my truck and how most drivers here communicate with their dispatchers. It also gives me free access to text-based e-mail...

If I were an American constantly travelling to Canada, I'd probably sign up for Verizon international plan. It's not cheap (80 bucks) but convenient since you don't have to worry about long distance and roaming charges. Another tip is to use payphones whenever you can if the number you're calling is a 800 number. That Verizon is dirt cheap for anyone going North a lot. I just got my Fast card a couple months ago. I'm still looking for the good $tuff going north. I almost got into excellent runs back and forth, Laredo to Ontario. Agent treated me like a drill sergeant to include all night Red Bull driving and I just said, 'no thanks'

[Cam]

This topic has got to be an eye-opener for Americans about The Great North called Canada. Yes, the cell phone costs are ridiculous, particularly if you're travelling back and forth to the USA. Also, the price of gasoline, even regular gasoline for 4-wheelers, usually hovers just about DOUBLE, when you factor in the litres/gallons/exchange rate.

The Canadian public just haven't got a clue. which is surprising because they ALL have American relatives or family members who work south of the border. It's a matter of DENIAL. Also, the government brainwashing in the media keeps telling Canadians that them Yankees are gun-toting homicidal maniacs and war-mongers. Canadians are "peace-keepers" supposedly.

At least that was the illusion, until the present Prime Minister Harper became buddies with "W". Now we've got flag-draped caskets coming back from the Middle East on a daily basis also.

Now this is interesting.

I've sometimes wondered if Canada could become the Saudia Arabia of the future. Tiny population, huge land mass...so what kinds of mineral and oil deposits are underneath all that Northern Territories snow, anyway? Then there are the immigrants, you let only the best educated and wealthiest immigrate, is that right? Now, what's that going to do to the gene pool over the years, let alone the discipline and work ethic being handed down?

VOIP - Voice over Internet Protocol

In other words. Using your laptop with a mic to make a phone call.

[dev]

What's a VOIP phone? Some kind of Canadian landline? Sounds like it could help solve a lot of problems. That and a US cell phone is a whole lot better than $2/minute.

And, it sounds like for me, if I started doing a lot of runs up there a Canadian cell phone wouldn't be the answer.

A VOIP phone is a "Voice over Internet Protocol" phone. It is offered by among other companies, Vonage and Primus. It is available both in the US and Canada. It is a proper land line other than the fact that you plug in a box provided by Primus in my case into a high speed internet modem at one end and plug your normal phone jack into the other end. The only downside is that if your high speed internet connection is down, you have no phone. Also if your power supply is down, you have no phone. But is far cheaper than a traditional land line. I use it an additional phone line to supplement the traditional land line.

The basic problem in Canada for truckers using cell phones is that the US concept of no long distance and no roaming is not available. That makes is very expensive. In the US, the T-mobile plan that I had effectively had all local minutes. So my 1000 minutes could be used in Los Angeles or Miami. Depending on my how much running you plan on doing in Canada, the best thing to do is get a Canadian cell phone with a Canadian roaming plan. That will ensure that all that you have to do is track your minutes usage, no long distance. But it will offer far lower value for money than comparable US plans e.g. Rogers, a cell phone provider in Canada offers something called the "Canadian one Rate" plan. It has various slabs with about an effective 80-85 Canadian dollars giving you 500 minutes usable all over Canada . Included in those 500 minutes is that you can dial anywhere in Canada or the US. While is is better than normal plans, it is nowwhere near as good as anything available from Verizon, Sprint or T-mobile in the US.

[Cam]

What's a VOIP phone? Some kind of Canadian landline? Sounds like it could help solve a lot of problems. That and a US cell phone is a whole lot better than $2/minute.

And, it sounds like for me, if I started doing a lot of runs up there a Canadian cell phone wouldn't be the answer.

A VOIP phone is a "Voice over Internet Protocol" phone. It is offered by among other companies, Vonage and Primus. It is available both in the US and Canada. It is a proper land line other than the fact that you plug in a box provided by Primus in my case into a high speed internet modem at one end and plug your normal phone jack into the other end. The only downside is that if your high speed internet connection is down, you have no phone. Also if your power supply is down, you have no phone. But is far cheaper than a traditional land line. I use it an additional phone line to supplement the traditional land line.

The basic problem in Canada for truckers using cell phones is that the US concept of no long distance and no roaming is not available. That makes is very expensive. In the US, the T-mobile plan that I had effectively had all local minutes. So my 1000 minutes could be used in Los Angeles or Miami. Depending on my how much running you plan on doing in Canada, the best thing to do is get a Canadian cell phone with a Canadian roaming plan. That will ensure that all that you have to do is track your minutes usage, no long distance. But it will offer far lower value for money than comparable US plans e.g. Rogers, a cell phone provider in Canada offers something called the "Canadian one Rate" plan. It has various slabs with about an effective 80-85 Canadian dollars giving you 500 minutes usable all over Canada . Included in those 500 minutes is that you can dial anywhere in Canada or the US. While is is better than normal plans, it is nowwhere near as good as anything available from Verizon, Sprint or T-mobile in the US.

I don't understand.

[GMAN]

Skype will allow you to call anywhere in the world for free as long as the calls are to another computer. There is a small charge for calling land lines from your computer.

[mapleleaf_1]

Cam a "Loonie" is what we Canadians call the $1.00 coin cause the coin has a picture of a Loon on it. The $2.00 coin is called a Twoonie. They came out with these coins to replace the $2.00 and $1.00 paper bills some years ago. They're a pain in the butt. My opinion of course.

I don't understand.

Shut.....Up......www.zipit.com

[dev]

I don't understand.

I am sorry. What I should have stated is that it is not widespread i.e. competition is not as great as in the US e.g. in the US when I drove, my T-Mobile plan for USD 45 per month gave me 1000 day time minutes plus nights and weekends free. In Canada you pay much more e.g. with Rogers communication, for 800 minutes per month (usable all over Canada) you pay 100 canadian dollars plus fixed charges of about 13 dollars and depending on which province you get your phone from, a tax of say14% on the 113 dollars, about a total of 130 Canadian dollars, which at the current exchange rate is almost 125 US dollars per month. And the Canadian plans do not give you nights and weekends free. The minutes you see is what you get. So in effect, cellphones are about 3.00-3.5 times more expensive in Canada plus if you factor in no free nights and weekends and how much you talk during those "free times", it could be as much as 5 times more expensive or more. When I drove, and was in the US, which was about 4 nights a week, my family called me every night and spoke on an average for half an hour. Now add that in minutes per month and the Canadian plan would be 5 to 6 times more expensive.

[Cam]

Cam a "Loonie" is what we Canadians call the $1.00 coin cause the coin has a picture of a Loon on it. The $2.00 coin is called a Twoonie. They came out with these coins to replace the $2.00 and $1.00 paper bills some years ago. They're a pain in the butt. My opinion of course.

LOL Got it. I thought it was something like British English. I had a list of words they use that we don't like: a tin; your bird; the tube; a bloke, a row; a bugger; a lorry; 'football'; a jumper...

[Cam]

I don't understand.

I am sorry. What I should have stated is that it is not widespread i.e. competition is not as great as in the US e.g. in the US when I drove, my T-Mobile plan for USD 45 per month gave me 1000 day time minutes plus nights and weekends free. In Canada you pay much more e.g. with Rogers communication, for 800 minutes per month (usable all over Canada) you pay 100 canadian dollars plus fixed charges of about 13 dollars and depending on which province you get your phone from, a tax of say14% on the 113 dollars, about a total of 130 Canadian dollars, which at the current exchange rate is almost 125 US dollars per month. And the Canadian plans do not give you nights and weekends free. The minutes you see is what you get. So in effect, cellphones are about 3.00-3.5 times more expensive in Canada plus if you factor in no free nights and weekends and how much you talk during those "free times", it could be as much as 5 times more expensive or more. When I drove, and was in the US, which was about 4 nights a week, my family called me every night and spoke on an average for half an hour. Now add that in minutes per month and the Canadian plan would be 5 to 6 times more expensive.

Even though Canadian intranational cellphone calls cost more, talking to your family a half hour every night across the border would be pretty expensive whichever country you are calling from.

Skype sounds like it could be an answer for families. Park the truck at the Flying J or whereever you can get adequate bandwidth and catch up on the day's news virtually free.

[Cam]

I don't understand.

Shut.....Up......www.zipit.com

It's a dating service...!? :? Don't make me pull out my Pee Wee Herman master debating tactics on you.