Frugal TV/Internet access @ home and on the road 4 Canadians

[Mike]

Merry Christmas everyone,
I know this has been discussed in the "Wi Fi does it work" thread, which I have just finished reading again.
There didn't seem to be any consensus among forum members (maybe that's a hint?) as to which combination
was the overall best option for access on the road. This lead(led?) me to repost a topic/thread on the subject.

In a perfect world, it would be nice to have a completely mobile system to access TV and the Internet from
home, and from the RV out on the road. However, it doesn't seem that any one wireless company has a good,
low price solution to this dilemma. I'd like to be able to watch something equivalent to satellite TV and have
access to the web, whether I'm sitting in my living room, or an RV park somewhere. It seems my basic
problem might be that I'm a Canadian (no wisecracks, please). We only have a few major (3-4?) wireless/cable providers,
and only 2 (legal) satellite providers. So, the question is, what to do? What I need is access to both mediums
in a totally portable package, that isn't going to require a second mortgage. I could use it in my house and in my RV.
Have any Canucks found a way to access, or subscribed to an American wireless/satellite service provider?
Is it reasonably priced, temporary, or only for the rich? I wouldn't rule out getting access to a US
satellite service provider in Canada, if I could. I don't know if that's legal, but if it is(in a mobile RV?) , it might work.
Has anyone found a way around the huge cost of cell/internet/TV roaming in the States?
Bell want over $2/min for cell phones to roam in the States, and $.60/msg for texting. It's ridiculously priced.
There must be a better (less expensive) way?
To our American forum members. Is there a plan that Canadians can access to reduce our roaming charges?
ATT, Verizon, Sprint, TNT, Dish Network, Direct TV? Do they allow Canadians to set up accounts with them using
our addresses (in Canada, or should they? our money is as good as yours, although worth less per US$,
but maybe we wouldn't care and pay for it, exchange included?).

I hate to ask, but can we try this thread topic again?
I'd like to revisit the portable TV/Internet issue. North American coverage, lowest price.

Thanks,
MIke.

[julievojo]

We have a Verizon broadband card that allows us internet access just about anywhere in the country with a few exceptions. We don't normally watch much television when we're traveling. However, on the rare occasion that we're stuck inside because of bad weather, then we go to http://surfthechannel.com From there you can pick just about any TV show and many movies and watch them via internet. It's much cheaper than Satellite for your RV and you can pick and choose what show and episode that you want to watch.

I'm sorry, I don't know anything about how a verizon card or other broadband purchased in Canada would work in the US. Your best bet would be to check with the different cell/internet providers and see what they might have that would work across the border.

[renrut]

I saw Rogers has a new Internet plan available. They have a USB card that allows you to access Internet from anywhere Rogers wireless network is. Problem with that is, Canadian wireless, no matter what carrier you choose, has very limited coverage when you get away from built up areas. Once you get north of Sault St Marie, there isn't much. When you get to the Prairies, if you're not along the Trans Canada Highway or any other major highways, the coverage isn't the best.

I haven't been able to find pricing on it since the Roger's website has little to be desired when it comes to being user friendly. Here is a link they emailed me on it:

http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wi...-_-rocketstick

If you travel to the US, I don't know how it would work. With wireless, you get roaming fees. I don't know if the Internet would work. You might want to just give Rogers a call and see what this plan is.

There is always satellite but I don't think would want to see how much it costs. I live out in the country and there's no DSL available for Internet. I looked at satellite and quickly stopped looking. The monthly rates are quite high and the hardware is very expensive. At least wireless Internet was available from an antenna on my tower.

[Mike]

I've seen the Rogers "stick". Bell has a couple of remote/rural internet USB plug and play devices as well. The prices range from $22.95+taxes to $50+taxes per month for either company's version. I'm waiting for them to reply to my questions about roaming charges and will post up what they tell me. I suspect these "sticks" are similar to Julie's Verizon card. I've visited the Verizon website and see something that looks like a mobile broadband/TV package, but I'm not sure about pricing and whether Verizon is close enough to the Niagara region of Ontario, for these 2 things to work, as the combo might be what I'm looking for. Even with the exchange rates, if the price is less than say C$90-100/month, and I could use it at home or in the RV, it sounds very interesting. I guess the question would be "Hi, I'm in Ontario, Canada, near the NY state border. Will your stuff work for me, and can I get it here without a US address?" My monthly cable bill, including low speed internet (not dialup, but not the fastest they have to offer) is C$85/month. And, obviously, it's not portable. So, I'd consider paying a little more to get the flexibility and freedom of complete portability.

btw, I appreciate both of you (renrut/Julie) taking the time, thanks.
Mike.

[Hallibagger]

Mike,

I bought a cheap Pay-as-you-go Tracfone from WalMart and I buy a year's subscription for about $99, which includes several hundred minutes of use time.

Tracfone can be used for International calls. You can buy minutes almost anywhere, food stores, WalMart etc.

There are no roaming charges. We uses ours from Florida to New York State.

When I have access to HiSpeed Internet I can use Skypephone for my calls anywhere in the World, for less than 2c/min.

[Hallibagger]

Mike,
I sent the guy with the Bell system a message asking for what charges he gets hit with - I'll let you know what he says.

I saw your post on the other thread about the Tracfones at W/M. Sounds like a good deal. Did you need an address? Just wondering what the prices are like for air time/min, ld charges/min, and texting sent/received?

No postal address is necessary for a Tracfone 'Pay-as-you-go' phone. I think mine cost $18 but you used to be able to get the folding type phones for $24.

Airtime charges - I have not checked lately, but I think they run about .20/minute. You can buy an annual card and get some 450 minutes with it for around $100. There are all kinds of deals on the larger purchases. Go to the Tracfone web site at www.tracfone.com and see what they are offering.

As far as I know TracFone is only Pay as you go phone that can be used for International calls.

Deryck B.

[Mike]

Deryck,
Thanks for following up on the Bell internet stick. I really am curious what it costs in the real world, after you buy the hardware. I've already sent my questions to Bell about the product, but either I'm not clear enough about what I want to know, or they're being evasive. My standard question is almost always "so what does it cost, per month, all in (taxes and fees), if I use it this much, and will it work in the States, and are there roaming fees?" and I can't be any clearer than that. So far, I've not gotten anything over and above the same info that I've already found at their websites (Bell, Rogers, Verizon, Star Choice, etc.) which is always vague or incomplete, otherwise I wouldn't be asking for more specifics at "contact us". Surely, you'd think someone, besides another actual user, must know the answer? I asked Rogers about their Rocket stick as well, and am waiting for answers to the same follow up questions, "ok, so what does it cost, ....." see above. I actually asked a guy at a BellWorld store, and he didn't know that there's a "Lite" version of their stick that says it's 512MBps for around $22.95 in a bundle (website info) He said they were $50/month, after you buy one of the plug in hardware devices. If your friend is using his in the States, and there aren't any additional charges I'd be surprised, but if not, I'll probably get one depending on whether it's cheaper/month than my home cable ISP right now. If it is, the cable internet at home will be dropped asap, in lieu of the mobile internet option. My home tv will go up a bit, but it may still be cheaper overall.
Thanks for the link to the phone site. I'll have a look. It does sound like it's cheaper than using your Canuck phone and paying for roaming.

Thanks for your help,
Mike.

[renrut]

From what I understand about the Rogers stick is, it's just a cellphone data plan. So, if you're out of your local area, you would get roaming fees. Doesn't sound like much of a service. One would think the "Stick" is portable for just that reason.

Here is what their site says:

A $6.95 monthly System Access Fee (non-government fee), a monthly 50¢ 911 Emergency Access Fee (non-government fee) and a one-time $35 Activation Fee apply in addition to the monthly service fee. Local airtime over the allotted monthly minutes in the plan, long distance and roaming charges, any additional service options selected and applicable taxes are extra and are also billed monthly.

U.S. roaming is $0.006 per KB and international roaming is $0.03 per KB when you subscribe to a Data plan. If you subscribe to a Flex rate data plan, the U. S. roaming is $3 per MB and international roaming is $0.03 per KB". If you subscribe to unlimited on-device browsing rate, both the U. S. roaming and international roaming is $0.03 per KB.

Rates can be found at the next link.

http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wi...one_card_plans

Here is the Rogers roaming rates. Just got to the 1. Check Rogers coverage and rates and click on the red triangle to expand the option. Use the drop-down menu to select the country you want to check the roaming rates on.

http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wi...tional_roaming

[Mike]

Hey renrut,
Interesting. It doesn't quite match up with the answer I just got from Rogers. I'm going to assume the Bell roaming charges for their mobile internet devices are probably very similar, but as usual, they missed the point of the question, or just ignored it, and the answer was useless. However, this is what Rogers sent me quoted in red........

"Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, we appreciate your use of
online customer service.

In your recent email, you have inquired if the Rogers Mobile Rocket
Stick will operate in the US.

The 3G mobile internet stick will operate while in the US. Data usage
will be charged at a roaming rate as you will not be using the Rogers
Wireless Network.

Data Roaming is charged at 3 cents per KB. You may also add our $10 US
data roaming option which will charge your Data at a reduced rate of $1
per MB.

We are pleased to have been able to address your inquiry. For additional
information please visit our website at http://www.rogers.com.
You are a valued customer and we thank you for your business. (I haven't done business with them in over 2 years. )

For future email correspondence with respect to this e-mail, please
quote reference number 40573624.


Regards,
Steven T.
Rogers Online Customer Service
http://www.rogers.com"

So, in a nutshell, US roaming, with Canadian phones or mobile internet access doesn't sound terribly inexpensive.
Now I'm thinking, if I can get a cheap cell phone plan in the US from Walmart, prepaid, maybe there's an internet access
plan down there that might also be less expensive than roaming. Maybe it's be cheaper to buy the mobile internet hardware and see what they have for plans down there, too?

[Mike]

As an after thought, I may look into using US internet access in Canada if there aren't too many additional hurdles to get over. It's always possible their roaming charges/packages/bundles might be cheaper to use up here. I'm sure I've heard at least one American who spends a lot of time in Canada (he's a BNN personality, Kevin O'Leary. also appears on the CBC entrepreneurial
finance show "Dragon's Den") say that it's cheaper for him to use his US based wireless devices up here (aka roaming) than get a Canadian based service.
May be worth a punt?

Mike.

[Hallibagger]

Mike,
Sorry for the delay, I just caught up with the guy who has the Bell Internet system down here in Florida. He has received his first bill and he is trying to get out of his contract, or suspend it, or something, as the roaming charges are killing him! He has tried to call them but they are only there for certain hours of the day and all he gets is the run around! He is now switching to the park WiFi system.

So you were right - forget the Canadian systems!

It looks like snow up there again - time to get out of town!

Have a Happy New Year.

Deryck B.

[Mike]

Hey Deryck,
Had a feeling he might have had a problem with the roaming charges. My sister just got a huge bill from Bell for her usage since she got one of their mobile internet devices last month. She's in an area where mobile is her only option (and I guess they know it?).It seems that even in Canada, there is a limit on usage per Kb/MB/month of data transferred, just like cell phones, so I'm going to see if there's a good alternative once we get to the US for both modes of access.
As far as getting down south anytime soon, we've run into a cat sitter problem, so no idea when we'll launch.

Thanks for the update anyway,
ttyl,
Mike.

[Hallibagger]

Mike,

Give the cat a break, take it to Florida with you!

[Mike]

Deryck,
Just saw your post pop up. I would bring them both, but they just don't travel well, and my wife doesn't want the headaches. We took them on a couple of short trips last summer and it wasn't very relaxing, so we have to get a sitter. Some folks with pets on here have suggested a few fairly creative things. I think they just need time to acclimatize on the road, but we don't want to go on a long haul and find out it isn't going to work out far from home. Oddly, the sitter issue may be resolved shortly, but still no ETA for our next southern travels. Probably/hopefully soon, but we may just bite the bullet and sit out a bit more snowy weather up here for a while. I'd like to spend a few days in Dunedin end of February. Spring training is a nice way to spend a week or two. We've also been told Grand Canyon isn't very busy in March so we'd like to get back there sometime around then. So , we're thinking of a longer combined trip to cover both.

Anyway, that's it for now, enjoy the weather for us,
Sucks to be me,
Mike.

[Hallibagger]

Hi Mike,
Back to the guy who has the Bell Wireless Internet:

I saw his roaming charges bill from Bell - it was $655! Plus he had to pay about $88 for his monthly charges!

He called Bell and asked them to suspend his service until he got back in the Spring and they refused!

He then called them back and asked them to cancel the contract and they agreed after they the receive the $400 cancellation charge.

Bell really took advantage of this guy, he explained what he wanted to do and they sold him the program - no mention of roaming charges. The guy is 87, Bell really took advantage of this guy. Does Canada had a Senior Abuse commission?

Stay away from Bell!

[Mike]

Hi Deryck,
As soon as you said "roaming charges" I got worried for him. It's almost criminal the way the Canadian wireless providers can charge what they do. They do have a monopoly pretty much, don't they? That's why I started this thread. To see if there's a better way to get cellphone and internet access outside of the Bell/Telus/Rogers network areas. I still think the best route is to use domestic service providers when in the US (as you do with your Tracphone), and I'm still thinking about the possibility of using a US based ISP as my main/only provider up here. I did a bit of browsing at the US websites of AT&T and Verizon to see whether there might be a chance that I could access their system from my home in Niagara Region. I might be close enough to the NY State border. The issue is getting over to NY and asking about it, and then seeing if they'll let me subscribe to their cell/internet service. Or maybe one of them has a combination cell/internet service on a smartphone like the Blackberry/IPhone, available on a prepaid basis. Do any of our US forumites know whether it's possible to buy wireless internet/cell phone access down there prepaid?
At any rate, my sister is still off the air, after her mega-bill, and that was just for system access. I guess the basic data transfer allowance per month is pretty low before you start incurring very expensive overages. Maybe your friend can ask Bell if there's a way to retrofit his roaming charges to a monthly roaming plan and then recalculate his bill? They might, to help him out and potentially keep him as a customer. Maybe we should post a general warning on this site and others about the dangers and high cost of roaming in the US, with your Canadian hardware and plans?
As for our departure date from the frozen north, we've pretty much resigned ourselves to waiting until end of February. Probably starting in FLA and then moving around the southern States when we tire of spring training baseball. But then, you never know, do you?

Anyway, take care,
Mike.

[Hallibagger]

Hi Mike, I think you just might be OK being that close to the border that you could have a US based telephone or wireless internet service. You would however require a US address for billings etc. That should not be a problem, I am sure you have friends who would oblige.

Right now I am on the campground wireless internet system and I use the computer to make a lot of my phone calls using the Skype VOIP program. Practically anywhere in the World, computer to landline phone, for about 2c/min. Computer to computer is free. The latest versions of Skype are very good! You do of course require a highspeed connection to use VOIP and I am pretty sure that all DSL phoneline services would require an annual contract, but thus far I have been able to get wireless, high speed, service by the day, or in my case by the three month period. The local library has free high speed wireless but they will not allow the use of VOIP. There are other free wireless (WiFi) high speed connections, Panera Bread offers the service, some MacDonalds etc.

I have not tried it, but most hotels etc. offer high speed internet and you might be able to get the signal in their car park. I do know that it is possible to get the library signal in their car park. In some States free high speed internet is offered in all the roadside stopping places. Flying J offer high speed internet at their locations, I have a feeling that you have to subscribe. WiFi spots are becoming much more common.

I agree Rogers is probably be as bad as Bell regarding roaming charges and everyone considering using either service should forget it, as it is ruinous!

The next week up there should have you reviewing your departure date!

Have fun!

[Mike]

I'm going to check out US service the next time we're down there. It can't hurt to ask what coverage there is near the Canada/US border, and my money is as good as anyone's (although it is currently trading around 81.45 cents US). Still I'll check it out and see what's up.
It does seem that there are more free wifi hotspots cropping up down there. Davydd recently posted up a clipping about BP Gas stations adding free wireless internet at 9,000 of their places. I've heard of Panera Bread and local libraries as other options. I added some other clippings to his thread, and it sounds like BP wifi might really be free, not free with a loyalty card or an AT&T dsl service account, or some such other hidden charges like at Starbucks or some McDonalds.
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1122
So, things seem to be improving. We did find a very few hotels had free wifi if you were near enough, but it was hard to identify where each access point was, and after a while it just became a pain to search for it.
I've looked at Skype, my cousin keeps bugging me to get it as he has it out in SoCal, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe I'll have another look.
It's currently 0.7C here and it's been snowing for hours. Supposed to stop when the deep freeze starts in a few hours.
Is that what you meant by reviewing my departure date???

I know, it sucks to be me,
Mike.

[Hallibagger]

Yes, Mike, today's temperatures are what I thought might cause you to re-evaluate your departure date!

I see that at Noon up there the temps have got up to 0F, that is only 32 degrees of frost! It's cold down here too - it is only 60F

It will soon be February and you will be on your way!

[Mike]

OK Deryck, enough rubbing it in,
I'm at -13C in Niagara, so yes, it's cold, but not as bad as it was supposed to be. Supposed to go down to -15C overnight, then slowly warm up to around -6C on Sunday. I think north of Lake Ontario they got it a bit worse, and Julie and Ennajean in MN and WI respectively are freezing their butts off. See link "Don't come here" on Places and Routes, or click this....
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1128
Only 60F down there??? I hope you kept your receipt?
I'd be packing up and heading to Texas for some real warmth. Brownsville is 69F right now. Another place I'd rather be.
WooooooHooooo!!!!!!!!!!

Take care,
Mike.