We would like to find out more about which cell phones work best in USA for travelling. We have a Cdn one now which doesn't get much signal in USA and the cost is prohibitive. We are considering buying one once we get to USA and don't know which provider works best or if any work better than others. We want to be able to contact some people in USA and also be able to call our family back here. We don't want a monthly program that has a year contract as we will only use it when in USA so a month to month is better for us. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Linda & Dave Alexander
Shedden, Ontario
1989 Barth Royale - 33'

How about a calling card for use with cell phones. No obligation, pay as you go. You can buy the cards at 7-11, Walmart, etc. I would even consider a calling card for use at a phone booth too. My opinion is you won't find a carrier that provides good service everywhere no matter who the carrier is. For long distance important calls, I would rather use a pay phone than a unreliable, fuzzy cell connection.

We have a pay-as-you-go cell phone now and it works fine, but on long distance and especially in the USA, there are charges that use up exorbitant amounts really quickly. There are connection charges for local telephone companies, etc. etc. and we found that even with the calling cards, we used wild amounts to make a quick call home. Hence the search for a cell phone carrier that has some program that would do the trick for USA. Our local carrier - Bell Canada has a plan that covers Canada calls and roaming USA, but it is a contract for 12 months at $70 monthly for 200 minutes (approx guesstimate)....but we really don't want to sign up for 12 months - just for two or three months should do the trick.

Is the 40 a month a contract price so that we would have to sign up for a year at a time? I already have a 'Rogers AT&T" phone - think it is analog - but have another one that is newer and I think does digital and analog - will have to check this out. We have Costco here - will check them out too - right now we are researching so that when we head out we will know which plan to get and where to get it - don't want to go without something as we may be in some deserted areas and if we broke down we would want to be able to phone for assistance.

Linda,

I think where your going to run into problems is having a bonifide address in the US. Which I think you have to have to get a Verizon phone. When my daughter went to college she could not take here cell phone because the plan we had wouldn't work in her area. So we bought her a phone card at Sam's Club which is only 3.5 cents per minute and you can add minutes with a visa card on the phone. It has worked out extremely well.

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Short cuts always take longer

1985 28 foot Regal
Dave and Deb Bowers

I am not an advocate of Cingular but I did find that as I was working in the eastern US, PA to FL and living in MO that I never had any connectivity problems. That has also been the case west to the Rockies at Denver. I have no idea if there is a monthly option with Cingular but the coverage is better than my daughter has experienced with pindrop. I think it is a choice of what company you want to make you disapointed, perhaps the calling card is the best idea.

Verizon's "America's Choice Plans" require a TWO YEAR comittment.

Hey ccctimtation, do you have a Barth? I live in Collinsville and I'm always interested in local Barth owners. If you feel like it e-mail me at:
jorma@midwest.net
Sincerely,
Mike

We use the Sam's club phone card all the time. On the road and at home for all long distance. Sam's club is ATT, and does NOT expire. Costco phone card is MCI and DOES Expire! If you toss the Costco card in the drawer and forget about it until next winter, you could be in for a rude surprise. The cost per minute is about the same, with no connection fees, but that expiring problem is the gotcha.

We both have Cingular and have found better coverage all over US than we did with either
Verizon or AT&T although the latter two were a couple of years ago and things are supposedly improving all the time. We have also just switched to a Direcway/Datastorm satellite connection for the Internet from our Barth because our cell phone connections were both too slow and too expensive.

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Susie and Gary (SUGAR)
'95 Barth Regency 34'
'96 Explorer

Direcway/Datastorm satellite connection for the internet - this sounds great but since Canada is decades behind USA in everything, I would like some more info on this as I would like something for us - I have my laptop and can email my family during the trip - if I had access to something like this! Thanks
Linda
89 Barth Royale 33'