Do US pre-paid GSM sim cards normally work in Canada?

5/7/2019 8:29:54 PM

Yes they do, as I’ve been using T-Mobile’s “Simply Prepaid” plan for more than a year while living in Canada. As a matter of fact, T-Mobile’s prepaid plans are the cheapest way you can get a lot of data with free roaming in both Canada and the US. As a bonus, you get to use both Bell and Telus mobile networks while roaming so you’ll often have better signal than anyone using a local Canadian SIM card.

9/27/2011 10:54:54 PM

From some research, it looks like my two main options are T-Mobile and AT&T GoPhone.

Looking first at T-Mobile PrePaid, it looks like Canadian Roaming is expensive but possible. I’ve found a handy post on their forums from one of their employees from a month or so ago which confirms:

calls will have a roaming fee of $0.49 a minute if calling a Canadian number, and an additional $0.20 per minute if calling a U.S. number. Also, incoming texts will deduct from whatever package you currently have at no additional charge whereas outgoing will cost $0.35 a message, and plus an additional $0.20 if you do not have a text package, or go over your text package. One more thing, web is $10 per MB when roaming in Canada

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Moving on then to AT&T GoPhone, they have all the info in a handy GoPhone International Roaming page. Short answer is that AT&T GoPhone automatically works roaming in Canada and Mexico, without needing to opt in. Calls in Canada (made or received) are apparently $0.39/minute, texts are $0.25/$0.20 to send/receive, and data is an eye-watering $20/mb.

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Alternately, if I go for one sim card in each country, then Rogers currently offer $1/day + $10/100mb or $20/month inc 100mb. Looks therefore like as I’ll be doing half my time in each country, I’ll be better off just buying a simcard in each. However, for much shorter trips or short trips with no data needs, roaming is possible and might be better for people in that situation.

9/1/2011 11:03:23 PM

Yes, they work. I had a T-Mobile (US) phone, went to Canada and used it without problems. But you should be aware of:

  • Do you have an unlocked phone? It need to be unlocked to use another company GSM sim card. You can buy a cheap phone for almost the price of a sim card if necessary.
  • It may be more expensive for you to use them outside US. You may want to buy one sim card in US and another in Canada.

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About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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