We used Roam mobility on 2 phones at POP back in 2012 and it was not very good at all.
We are going again this year and was wondering if it has improved?
The Rogers information on the ROAM site is old. Rogers Roam Like Home plan is $5/day to extend all your Canadian bundle into the US. Just back from 12 days. My son was using my ROAM Sim in his Nexus 5. I am now on Rogers RLH on my Samsung Galaxy SIII. DW is part of the that plan as well on a Samsung Galaxy Core LTE. I will have to wait a bit for the final Rogers bill to see if there were any hidden surprises. Will post back with a real world comparison when I get the bill. One thing to consider though is that you are still paying for your Canadian plan while it is dormant up here in Canada - that should be factored into the cost comparison as well.
As far as service goes, Rogers appeared to be better - they roam primarily on ATT which does have better connections in many locations. I did catch my phone on T-Mobile a couple of times as well. ROAM is only on T-Mobile, and DS did have a couple of service issues, but nothing that couldn't be solved by moving a couple of hundred yards. It was interesting that he could never get a signal INSIDE Disney attractions, where my ATT was solid; outside in the fresh air, he was fine. Guess Disney must have a deal with ATT?
I'm Rogers Wireless customer with a Share Everything plan, so I'm going to try out the Roam Like Home option on this upcoming trip. Provided it works as advertised, that will work fine for me and be a better deal than a US number plan .. which is what I've always done in the past. 10$ setup fee + $3/day AT&T Wireless .. data, calls, texts..
The Rogers information on the ROAM site is old. Rogers Roam Like Home plan is $5/day to extend all your Canadian bundle into the US. Just back from 12 days. My son was using my ROAM Sim in his Nexus 5. I am now on Rogers RLH on my Samsung Galaxy SIII. DW is part of the that plan as well on a Samsung Galaxy Core LTE. I will have to wait a bit for the final Rogers bill to see if there were any hidden surprises. Will post back with a real world comparison when I get the bill. One thing to consider though is that you are still paying for your Canadian plan while it is dormant up here in Canada - that should be factored into the cost comparison as well.
As far as service goes, Rogers appeared to be better - they roam primarily on ATT which does have better connections in many locations. I did catch my phone on T-Mobile a couple of times as well. ROAM is only on T-Mobile, and DS did have a couple of service issues, but nothing that couldn't be solved by moving a couple of hundred yards. It was interesting that he could never get a signal INSIDE Disney attractions, where my ATT was solid; outside in the fresh air, he was fine. Guess Disney must have a deal with ATT?
Just to add some data points. I live right by the border and travel to the US every 2-3 weeks. I also vacation there frequently - probably every 2-3 months. I was looking for a phone plan with a little bit of calling, texting and some data (preferably more since I like to surf).
I used to have T-Mobile PAYGO and it was an awesome plan for me. 10 cents a call, 5 cents a text, and a 1-day unlimited data plan I could add on as needed for $2. Only a $10/yr minimum topup. Sadly, that setup is gone and I can only use that SIM for talk and text. I am going to see if any of my friends want to buy it off me since I really want data.
Roam Mobility looked like a good plan and simple to use. However, I would have to schedule each day and plan ahead for use. Plus, the $2 a day ($4 for faster internet) access would add up fast. Most of the time, I don't browse heavily and access 2-10 webpages just to quickly look stuff up (so using perhaps 10-20MB a day). For longer trips (1-2x a yr), I like more data so I can surf to my heart's content. I ended up feeling that Roam's $2/day would end up costing me more in the long run since most of the time, I only need tiny bits of data. I didn't like that I would have to pay $2/day if I just needed to send a few texts or I just need to request an Uber ride (last trip with no data I had to hunt down nearby Starbucks for wifi to use Uber).
I went through every phone plan I could find with my use in mind. I ended up settling on Truphone.
Truphone works on both AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T has much better coverage than Tmobile (which is what Roam uses). I like the extra coverage as I did experience some dead zones with T mobile, even in some large cities. 9 cents a call, 9 cents a text, and 9 cents a MB. 27 cents/min or 9 cents/text to Canadian numbers (We make very rare, short calls back home). No refills required and money never expires. For such limited, occasional use, this is awesome news since I am not tied to spending a a minimum every year. Cost of calls, texts, and data is a little higher but the flexibility will likely make it a wash.
When I travel for 1-2 weeks and really want serious data, I plan to sign up for a prepaid 1 month plan and then cancel it (losing the number) after the trip. For my July 2015, 2 week trip to California, I plan on Pure Talk (also runs on AT&T - worried about the more limited coverage of Tmobile in that area). They have a $5/month plan for 80 mins talk & text with a $20 1G data add-on. Best of all, they offer a free SIM so I can toss the SIM afterwards with no worries. I probably won't upload too many photos but I should be able to surf fairly freely without stressing.
I'll report back if it all works out.
Just got back from parents only trip and I'm a big proponent of Roam. We had very spotty Wifi in our room at OKW (which is not the norm) but with Roam we had almost full bars of LTE the entire time. And Roam works great in all the parks, which is not something you can say for Disney's WiFi. For $3.95/day its better than anything Telus could offer me.
Just to add some data points. I live right by the border and travel to the US every 2-3 weeks. I also vacation there frequently - probably every 2-3 months. I was looking for a phone plan with a little bit of calling, texting and some data (preferably more since I like to surf).
When I travel for 1-2 weeks and really want serious data, I plan to sign up for a prepaid 1 month plan and then cancel it (losing the number) after the trip. For my July 2015, 2 week trip to California, I plan on Pure Talk (also runs on AT&T - worried about the more limited coverage of Tmobile in that area). They have a $5/month plan for 80 mins talk & text with a $20 1G data add-on. Best of all, they offer a free SIM so I can toss the SIM afterwards with no worries. I probably won't upload too many photos but I should be able to surf fairly freely without stressing.
I'll report back if it all works out.
I would love to hear your experiences with PureTalk .. and anyone else that has use this in the states...
I have not used ROAM .. but at $4/day for 15days of vacation ...I was hoping for something cheaper , if available...
I just ordered my Pure Talk SIM for my July trip to California. I found a promo code for 20% off (TEACH20) which brought my $25 plan down to $14.92. I debated upgrading to one of the bigger plans but that would have been $30 and really more than I need for a 12 day trip. I figure 1G will give me about 44 hours of surfing so I should be fine. I did have to agree that they can charge my CC monthly. I set myself a reminder to cancel before a month is up. I'll report more when I return. For now, $25 was the cheapest I could find and with the promo code, $15 is CRAZY cheap for my particular set of needs. (What I have learned when researching cellphones is that there is no 1 "best" plan. All depends on your circumstances and needs). Rogers Roam Like Home would cost me $60 or Roam Mobility would be $48 in comparison (and both use TMobile, which does not have as good coverage as AT&T, which is what Pure Talk uses).