Travel SIM for LTX?

[hgpot]

I'm in the US and my fairly cheap cell plan does not include anything international. Data in Canada would be $0.06 per MB. Not super great, so I was wondering if there are any known-good Canada-supported SIM cards I could buy for 1 month of a decent chunk of data? Maybe ~5GB? I imagine I'll be on the hotel or convention center Wi-Fi mostly, and my maps/podcasts/YouTube subscriptions are typically downloaded anyway, but just in case. Currently using OnePlus 9 Pro 5G. Can anyone vouch for this option from SimOptions?

 

Could probably forgo calls and texts, or at least use my international roaming rates for that (SMS 2FA is really the only thing I'd expect, if any). 

[AnomalyDesign]

We use the Airalo app to get an esim when we're in Vancouver, and have had good coverage (apart from one day during that Rogers outage last year, but can't blame them for that). I think I even saw they sponsored an LTT video recently. 

[afattouh98]

15 hours ago, AnomalyDesign said:

We use the Airalo app to get an esim when we're in Vancouver, and have had good coverage (apart from one day during that Rogers outage last year, but can't blame them for that). I think I even saw they sponsored an LTT video recently. 

Which LTT video?

[ShakataGaNai]

NYTimes has a good article about eSIMs with some names mentioned. A few big players are Airalo, Holafly and eSIMdb for meta search. If you don't trust eSIMs, you can go on Amazon and buy a Canadian SIM well in advance and have it ready to go. Some are are US/CA/MX roaming capable.

[AnomalyDesign]

On 5/30/2023 at 10:18 AM, afattouh98 said:

Which LTT video?

The one I remember is the short circuit for the LYRIQ on May 21

[hgpot]

On 5/29/2023 at 7:06 PM, AnomalyDesign said:

We use the Airalo app to get an esim when we're in Vancouver, and have had good coverage (apart from one day during that Rogers outage last year, but can't blame them for that). I think I even saw they sponsored an LTT video recently. 

I was excited for a specific recommendation, but I got the app and it tells me that my device does not support eSIM - evidently the only OnePlus device supported is OnePlus 11, I have the 9 Pro. So it looks like I am going to grab a physical SIM. I have my old OnePlus 6 laying around, I think I will pop the Canadian SIM in there and tether, so I don't have to mess with my main one. The first time dual-sim would have been a bonus for me!

[dizmo]

You can get one with Koodo. $40 for 8.5GB.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

28 minutes ago, dizmo said:

$40 for 8.5GB.

Welcome to Canadian data plans, Americans.

[dizmo]

22 minutes ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Welcome to Canadian data plans, Americans.

I'd rather pay a little more for data than a lot more for healthcare tho

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

I'd rather pay a little more for data than a lot more for healthcare tho

 

[CWALD]

I think Tello supports Canada and Mexico call/text but verify before buying as I have had mine for a while now. starts at $5/mo, unlimited is $29/mo. If your just worried about maps and don't plan on using cell data for much else then some apps support downloading local maps for offline use, it wont have up to date traffic patterns and things like google but it will get you from A to B. I like "andOSM" as well as "Free Earth"

[AnomalyDesign]

3 hours ago, CWALD said:

I think Tello supports Canada and Mexico call/text but verify before buying as I have had mine for a while now. starts at $5/mo, unlimited is $29/mo. If your just worried about maps and don't plan on using cell data for much else then some apps support downloading local maps for offline use, it wont have up to date traffic patterns and things like google but it will get you from A to B. I like "andOSM" as well as "Free Earth"

Sadly Tello does not have service in Canada. Per their website: 

"Canada & Mexico
Tello does not have a network in Canada or Mexico and so we do not offer full service in either of those 2 countries and there is no roaming available.
However, you can still use Tello to make & receive calls & texts from both Canada & Mexico (and any other country) by enabling the "Wi-Fi Calling & Text" feature on your device as described above."

 

And offline maps are a good idea to save data use, and supported even in Google Maps. You go into settings, and can define specific areas that you want to download maps for.

[PocketNerd]

On 6/3/2023 at 6:11 PM, dizmo said:

You can get one with Koodo. $40 for 8.5GB.

I’d probably stick with Chatr if you’re visiting from outside the Country (rogers… I know). No chance of having a credit check done and easy to cancel so long as you don’t use autopay.

 

 The cool part about either option is that you don’t have to find a BestBuy or Telus/Rogers location. London Drugs also has SIM cards for either

[dizmo]

5 hours ago, PocketNerd said:

I’d probably stick with Chatr if you’re visiting from outside the Country (rogers… I know). No chance of having a credit check done and easy to cancel so long as you don’t use autopay.

 

 The cool part about either option is that you don’t have to find a BestBuy or Telus/Rogers location. London Drugs also has SIM cards for either

Koodo Prepaid doesn't require a credit check either. It also isn't auto pay. 

[dalekphalm]

On 6/3/2023 at 9:11 PM, dizmo said:

You can get one with Koodo. $40 for 8.5GB.

Is that one of their prepaid plans? Here in Ontario, they're offering 20GB for $39 right now but it's a post-paid plan.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

On 6/8/2023 at 9:49 AM, dalekphalm said:

Is that one of their prepaid plans? Here in Ontario, they're offering 20GB for $39 right now but it's a post-paid plan.

My spouse is deployed to Latvia with the CAF right now, 10 Euro a month for unlimited data.  ...And truly unlimited not that 'We reduce it to 128kbps after 10GB' or anything like that.

 

We're getting hosed in this country.

[dalekphalm]

18 minutes ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

My spouse is deployed to Latvia with the CAF right now, 10 Euro a month for unlimited data.  ...And truly unlimited not that 'We reduce it to 128kbps after 10GB' or anything like that.

 

We're getting hosed in this country.

No doubt about that. Though to be fair, prices HAVE come down a lot in the last 5 years. Especially in Ontario.

[Leychee]

On 6/4/2023 at 3:11 AM, dizmo said:

You can get one with Koodo. $40 for 8.5GB.

Are those normal prices in Canada? That just sounds excessively overpriced. 

I'm used to having unlimited 5G, calls, and texts for just 16€ a month.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

13 minutes ago, Leyf said:

Are those normal prices in Canada? That just sounds excessively overpriced. 

I'm used to having unlimited 5G, calls, and texts for just 16€ a month.

In Canada, if you're paying CAD$50/mo for standard talk and data, you're winning.  And it's a lot worse if you're the sort that exclusively uses mobile and needs a lot more than 10GB per month.

[dalekphalm]

15 hours ago, Leyf said:

Are those normal prices in Canada? That just sounds excessively overpriced. 

I'm used to having unlimited 5G, calls, and texts for just 16€ a month.

Historically that would be considered a "good" plan.

 

I was paying $50/mo for around 5GB of data for a good long while until the plans started to get better recently.

 

My current plan, which is a promo deal, is $39/mo for 20GB of data (limited to LTE/4G).

[dizmo]

On 6/8/2023 at 6:49 AM, dalekphalm said:

Is that one of their prepaid plans? Here in Ontario, they're offering 20GB for $39 right now but it's a post-paid plan.

It's a plan without a contract; buy the SIM and you're good to go. Pay As You Go, not their...monthly prepaid, which is slightly different.

On 6/12/2023 at 10:33 AM, CerealExperimentsLain said:

My spouse is deployed to Latvia with the CAF right now, 10 Euro a month for unlimited data.  ...And truly unlimited not that 'We reduce it to 128kbps after 10GB' or anything like that.

 

We're getting hosed in this country.

I mean, if these companies were servicing an area a little less than twice the size of an island in BC, I'm sure they'd have lower prices too

On 6/12/2023 at 6:01 PM, Leychee said:

Are those normal prices in Canada? That just sounds excessively overpriced. 

I'm used to having unlimited 5G, calls, and texts for just 16€ a month.

Yup. It's high, but you also have to realize they have far more infrastructure to maintain.

On 6/12/2023 at 6:15 PM, CerealExperimentsLain said:

In Canada, if you're paying CAD$50/mo for standard talk and data, you're winning.  And it's a lot worse if you're the sort that exclusively uses mobile and needs a lot more than 10GB per month.

Kind of. There's tons of really affordable high data use plans now.

On 6/13/2023 at 9:37 AM, dalekphalm said:

Historically that would be considered a "good" plan.

 

I was paying $50/mo for around 5GB of data for a good long while until the plans started to get better recently.

 

My current plan, which is a promo deal, is $39/mo for 20GB of data (limited to LTE/4G).

I have a similar plan, but it's...$45 I think. However now I see I can get 100GB plans for $60 through work. Definitely moving in the right direction, though I'd love to see more 20GB plans for $20/month or something similar; many simply don't need huge amounts of data.

[matthijsboog]

On 6/19/2023 at 4:33 AM, dizmo said:

Yup. It's high, but you also have to realize they have far more infrastructure to maintain.

Yes, but there are also a lot more potential customers to pay for that infrastructure. Still less per square kilometer of coverage, but not over 4 times less.

 

For reference:

Canada has 3.8 citizens per square kilometer(wikipedia 2020), with about 20% coverage (Rogers) so that's like 19 potential customers per square kilometer of coverage.

Latvia is at 29.1 (also wikipedia 2020), around 85% coverage which come out to about 35 potential customers per square kilometer of coverage. (Both assuming that everybody lives in a place with coverage)

 

And yes, potential customers != actual customers, especially because I didn't take the amount of competitors into account and assumed full coverage in terms of where people actually live, but the difference isn't even 2x. So I feel like the prices are still outrageous.

 

Having said that, I'm looking for a 1-month prepaid sim as well, preferably with a physical sim card. In 2019 I had Koodo, because that seemed to relatively be the best deal.

Are there any other not yet mentioned option I should look at? My trip will start in Calgary, so there should be a store for whatever 

[minibeas]

Pay for a month of AT&T https://www.att.com/buy/wireless/prepaid/devices

On 7/2/2023 at 2:41 PM, matthijsboog said:

Yes, but there are also a lot more potential customers to pay for that infrastructure. Still less per square kilometer of coverage, but not over 4 times less.

 

For reference:

Canada has 3.8 citizens per square kilometer(wikipedia 2020), with about 20% coverage (Rogers) so that's like 19 potential customers per square kilometer of coverage.

Latvia is at 29.1 (also wikipedia 2020), around 85% coverage which come out to about 35 potential customers per square kilometer of coverage. (Both assuming that everybody lives in a place with coverage)

 

And yes, potential customers != actual customers, especially because I didn't take the amount of competitors into account and assumed full coverage in terms of where people actually live, but the difference isn't even 2x. So I feel like the prices are still outrageous.

 

Having said that, I'm looking for a 1-month prepaid sim as well, preferably with a physical sim card. In 2019 I had Koodo, because that seemed to relatively be the best deal.

Are there any other not yet mentioned option I should look at? My trip will start in Calgary, so there should be a store for whatever 

 

[matthijsboog]

That does not seem to be an option for me, as I'm not from the US

[Lioncat55]

For anyone that does have esim, I've had these guys work well for me.

 

esim.ifreemogos.com