I’m from usa looking to relocate to canada.
I use virgin mobile here in the usa. My phone is a basic smartphone its an LG optimus v. I paid around 120 for it brand new a while ago and now the price had dropped down a lot due to new phones etc. I’m on the month to month play for 35/month plus tax which comes to less than 40.
I only get it because i want unlimited internet on the phone and i have 2gb of 3g internet and anytime i go over that, it goes to 2g but that never happens b/c its hard to use that much data. I have 300 anytime minutes as i dont call my phone much. Have unlimited text as well. i could pay for unlimted everything for 55/month plus tax but i rarely even go over 200 minutes so that is not necessary for me.
I’m looking for a month to month cell phone plan and dont want to spend a lot for it. Basically just want a smartphone where it has internet and thats it. I dont mind if its just 100 minutes b/c i won’t be calling much on the phone.
I checked the website on virgin mobile canada and the price seems to be lot more than the usa. Well its same price but its like very limited such as 35/month would only get 500mb of data as oppose to unlimited in the us?
Does anyone know how much a phone would cost that is a basic introductory smartphone like my optimus v from android?
Could i buy a phone like this for $100 and be on a month to month plan for $50-$60? I’m very confused at the canada cell phone carriers.
Also when i come to canada, obviously i will cancel my virgin mobile plan in the usa. But can i use the same android phone i have in canada and thus not have to buy another phone?
… its an LG optimus V and thus use that phone there for a canadian plan or i would have to buy a new phone no matter what?
Which city are you coming to in Canada? I can only speak about Toronto but if your phone will work on their network then all of the major operators will allow you to buy a SIM for their network and have a month to month plan if you want to continue using your old phone.
Canadian operators are generally higher priced than operators in the US, but both Wind and Mobilicity will give you unlimited talk, text and data for $40 before tax and if you are willing to comprimise on some features you could probably get a plan which would be $40 including tax. I don’t know much about Public Mobile it appears to offer a $29/month unlimited talk text and data it sounds a little too good to be true but if it’s legit I would totally go for it.
The big 4 Ontario cellphone operators, Rogers, Fido, Bell and Telus all offer pretty crappy plans for quite high monthly charges the new smaller operators Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile offer way better monthly charges but they generally only offer up to 3G mobile data so they don’t support the iPhone or other 4G phones. Also they generally have pretty bad coverage outside of major cities. Wind, Mobilitity and Public Mobile are all trying to sell themselves and it is pretty likely that they will be bought buy one of the big four so the good deals won’t last much longer. Canada is an awsome country but it sucks for cellphone users. Don’t even think about roaming on a Canadian cellphone plan, if you are travelling outside Canada just buy a pay as you go SIM for the country you are visiting, the roaming charges for Canadian cellphone plans are crazy high and they mostly won’t warn you even when you put thousands of dollars on your bill.
Note that Fido is actually a brand of Rogers (much as Koodo is part of Telus, and Virgin [Canada] and Solo are part of Bell).
im looking to come to montreal. I assume that is similar to toronto b/c its one of the 3 big cities?
Does that mean my LG optimus V that im using virgin mobile usa with… that phone i wont be able to use in canada with a canadian plan the virgin mobile canada?
I’m not 100% sure that I’m parsing your question correctly, are you asking if you can use your LG Optimus V with a Virgin Canada plan?
The answer is almost certainly. Virgin Mobile is owned by Bell Canada so their network has all of the bells and whistles like 4G so whatever your phone needs it can provide. Your phone may currently be locked to your current network, but given that you are on a month to month plan it is relatively unlikely. If it is then in theory your provider should unlock it for free, if it doesn’t then they could do it for a charge, or if not there are many phone unlocking services. I think the usual cost is about $20-$30. You could email or call Virgin Mobile and see if they support your specific phone.
There is no need to stick with Virgin Mobile just because you have a Virgin plan in the US, if your phone is unlocked you have the ability to choose whichever operator you wish. I don’t believe that Virgin Mobile in Canada and Virgin in the US have any relationship so you won’t get any benefit from choosing them.