OT: Canadian coverage?

I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
(Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
- My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
- Canadian friends
- My sons back in UK

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@thesedial.pipex.com> wrote:
: I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
: occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
: (Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
: things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
: there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
: - My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
: - Canadian friends
: - My sons back in UK

Firstly the 3210 won't work there - the GSM radio frequencies used in the US
and Canada are different to Europe and you would need a tri-band phone at
least (this cover the two bands used in Europe and the most common one in
Canada/US). Most recent phones do this.

With the correct phone coverage is very good in most towns (Banff,
Lake Louise, Jasper etc.) but you will lose signal for some times when
moving between them.

The prices are high and a pre-paid calling card for payphones will work
out cheaper for longer and non-emergency calls.

See www.orange.co.uk/abroad

"Brian Mc" <bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:h2i20j$cqh$1@south.jnrs.ja.net...
> Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@thesedial.pipex.com> wrote:
> : I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
> : occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
> : (Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
> : things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
> : there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
> : - My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
> : - Canadian friends
> : - My sons back in UK
>
> Firstly the 3210 won't work there - the GSM radio frequencies used in the
> US
> and Canada are different to Europe and you would need a tri-band phone at
> least (this cover the two bands used in Europe and the most common one in
> Canada/US). Most recent phones do this.
>
> With the correct phone coverage is very good in most towns (Banff,
> Lake Louise, Jasper etc.) but you will lose signal for some times when
> moving between them.
>
>
Maybe simpler to buy a tri or quad band GSM phone with PAYG sim
out there, and then afterwards be able to use it back here with a UK Sim

Steve Terry

In article <ukqo451fag3e86k6td2c5ftirthed12e6h@4ax.com>,
terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com says...
> I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
> occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
> (Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
> things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
> there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
> - My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
> - Canadian friends
> - My sons back in UK

No to all of them.

www.orange.co.uk/abroad would be a good site to visit for more
information in your scenario.
--
Regards
Jon

"Jon" <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.24b7031094e98f219896e3@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <ukqo451fag3e86k6td2c5ftirthed12e6h@4ax.com>,
> terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com says...
>> I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
>> occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
>> (Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
>> things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
>> there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
>> - My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
>> - Canadian friends
>> - My sons back in UK
>
> No to all of them.
> www.orange.co.uk/abroad would be a good site to visit for more
> information in your scenario.
> Regards
> Jon
>
>
With Orange roaming rates it'd be a good place to avoid

Steve Terry

On 2009-07-02, Mark <mark_news@ymail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:12:17 +0100, Terry Pinnell
><terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>>I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
>>occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
>>(Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
>>things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
>>there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
>>- My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
>>- Canadian friends
>>- My sons back in UK
>
> This may help:
>
> http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html
>
> Basically only Rogers has a GSM network* and operates on 850/1900 MHz
> so you would do well to take a quad-band phone. Check the Rogers site
> for 2G coverage.
>
> In Vancouver last year we had great coverage on a Moto Razr V3 on the
> Rogers network.

The other GSM network there, Microcell/Fido, got bought by Rogers a few
years back, and in about 2005 they were merging the two networks
together and turning Fido into a virtual network on Rogers.

--
-- Michael "Soruk" McConnell Eridani Star System
MailStripper - http://www.MailStripper.eu/ - SMTP spam filter
Second Number - http://secondnumber.matrixnetwork.co.uk/
International Calls - http://calls.matrixnetwork.co.uk/

Jon <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote:
: > there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
: > - My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
: > - Canadian friends
: > - My sons back in UK

: No to all of them.

Do you just mean on the basis of the phone? With the correct handset all
would work on Orange PAYG.

"Brian Mc" <bkm@somewhere.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:h2kkum$4ci$1@south.jnrs.ja.net...
> Jon <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote:
> : > there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
> : > - My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
> : > - Canadian friends
> : > - My sons back in UK
>
> : No to all of them.
>
> Do you just mean on the basis of the phone? With the correct handset all
> would work on Orange PAYG.
>
>
Mainly the basis of both your phones, also UK PAYG Sims as they have
limited network roaming selection aren't ideal for roaming anyway.
and PAYG roaming is more expensive than contract roaming
from the same UK network, especially on the US continent

Either buy tri or quadband GSM phones and sims there
and bring the phones back with you for further use here with UK Sims

Or buy unlocked quad (tri will be too limited) phones here
and GSM PAYG sims for them there

Steve Terry

Soruk <soruk@bitbucket.eridani.co.uk> wrote:

>On 2009-07-02, Mark <mark_news@ymail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:12:17 +0100, Terry Pinnell
>><terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:
>>
>>>I have a Nokia 3210 and I'm using Orange pay-as-you-go for my
>>>occasional calls. My wife and I are going on holiday in Canada
>>>(Rockies area, starting in Calgary). I'm woefully ignorant on these
>>>things so could someone please let me know the status of coverage
>>>there please? Will I be able to use my phone to call
>>>- My wife (who has O2 PAYG); she won't necessarily be on same walks
>>>- Canadian friends
>>>- My sons back in UK
>>
>> This may help:
>>
>> http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html
>>
>> Basically only Rogers has a GSM network* and operates on 850/1900 MHz
>> so you would do well to take a quad-band phone. Check the Rogers site
>> for 2G coverage.
>>
>> In Vancouver last year we had great coverage on a Moto Razr V3 on the
>> Rogers network.
>
>The other GSM network there, Microcell/Fido, got bought by Rogers a few
>years back, and in about 2005 they were merging the two networks
>together and turning Fido into a virtual network on Rogers.

Thanks all, appreciate the replies.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK