How do prepaid cell phone cards work when you are away from home?
December 14, 2010 7:01 PM Subscribe
It's 2010 and I still don't understand how cell phones work. Can you avoid long distance charges by using prepaid cell phone cards? Simpleton details within.
I have a cell that I use infrequently by putting $10 on it whenever I need to. I'm with a company (Rogers, in Canada) in so far as I set the phone up with a phone number and then I put dollars on the phone through them, but I have no plan. We are going on vacation to another province and I'm wondering - can I buy prepaid phone cards down there for the phone and avoid long distance rates when calling people in that local area? If so, how does that work - what kind of cards do I use and is there anything else I need to know?
I will not be using the cell to phone our home province.
I have a cell that I use infrequently by putting $10 on it whenever I need to. I'm with a company (Rogers, in Canada) in so far as I set the phone up with a phone number and then I put dollars on the phone through them, but I have no plan. We are going on vacation to another province and I'm wondering - can I buy prepaid phone cards down there for the phone and avoid long distance rates when calling people in that local area? If so, how does that work - what kind of cards do I use and is there anything else I need to know?
I will not be using the cell to phone our home province.
Looking at the Rogers pay-as-you-go plans, it looks like the major charges you will have to be concerned with are weekday daytime rates, when rates are significantly higher when you call during the daytime on weekdays. You should be able to call any province in Canada for "free" or 1 cent/minute (depending on your plan) if you call between 6pm and 8am on a weekday, or the weekend. If you call between 8am and 6pm, you could be on the hook for 30 (or more) cents per minute.
You should be able to add value to your phone as you normally do, and call anyone within Canada, without having to do anything special.
As Netzapper stated, your phone number is tied to an area code. Regardless of where you are physically located you will be billed from that area code.
posted by baxter_ilion at 7:24 PM on December 14, 2010
You should be able to add value to your phone as you normally do, and call anyone within Canada, without having to do anything special.
As Netzapper stated, your phone number is tied to an area code. Regardless of where you are physically located you will be billed from that area code.
posted by baxter_ilion at 7:24 PM on December 14, 2010
Best answer: Don't worry about being behind the times. I've been in IT all my adult life and have avoided getting a cell until this year. I'd thought that the ensuing decades would have consolidated the technology and made it easier for consumers; silly me - the mobile world is more fragmented and I daresay less consumer-friendly (on the plan side) than computers and networking.
So to your point - I just researched this so the numbers are fresh in memory. On Rogers you have two kinds of prepaid - All Day and Evenings & Weekends.
With All Day you get charged .25/min. for the first five calls, then .15/min. for the rest; the nighttime rate (8pm-7am) is .15/min.
With Evenings & Weekends it's .39/min for all calls, and .01/min. on, naturally, evenings and weekends.
For either plan you have to add on .35/min. for Canadian (and I think US) long distance.
Netzapper is right about the buying cards in another province.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 7:24 PM on December 14, 2010
So to your point - I just researched this so the numbers are fresh in memory. On Rogers you have two kinds of prepaid - All Day and Evenings & Weekends.
With All Day you get charged .25/min. for the first five calls, then .15/min. for the rest; the nighttime rate (8pm-7am) is .15/min.
With Evenings & Weekends it's .39/min for all calls, and .01/min. on, naturally, evenings and weekends.
For either plan you have to add on .35/min. for Canadian (and I think US) long distance.
Netzapper is right about the buying cards in another province.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 7:24 PM on December 14, 2010
Response by poster: Hardcore Poser - wow. Thanks. I didn't even know how my not-a-plan plan worked. Is it possible to provide a link to the page where you found this info?
posted by kitcat at 7:35 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by kitcat at 7:35 PM on December 14, 2010
Response by poster: Ok, wait a second, folks. Then what the hell are prepaid cell phone cards for????????
posted by kitcat at 7:37 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by kitcat at 7:37 PM on December 14, 2010
As far as I can understand, there are two ways of getting money into a prepaid cell phone account. One is to do a bank transfer/credit card purchase for whatever amount you choose from the provider's website. Another is to buy prepaid cards at 7-11 or Best Buy or whatever. You get a receipt with a PIN or you scratch off the stuff on the card to reveal a PIN, which you then punch into your phone. This is for people who don't have bank accounts/credit cards, like kids, or who want to more explicitly control cell phone spending (like parents).
In the US, there are no long distance charges on most cell phone plans anymore. When I moved to Canada, I was rather bemused to find out the pricing is similar to that of US plans in like 1996.
posted by calistasm at 7:47 PM on December 14, 2010
In the US, there are no long distance charges on most cell phone plans anymore. When I moved to Canada, I was rather bemused to find out the pricing is similar to that of US plans in like 1996.
posted by calistasm at 7:47 PM on December 14, 2010
The numbers are from Rogers' info sheets. I found it frustrating compiling this info from six different websites, all of which seemed designed to impress without informing, so I just grabbed all the brochures in the mall kiosks.
And yeah, Canada's rates are terrible. It's amazing that there haven't been any sort of user boycotts. We get F'ed by Fido, Borked by Bell, Rogered by Rogers and, um, Deflowered(?) by Virgin yet noone raises a fuss. The same thing happens with book prices and we protest until Chapters (temporarily) lowers prices. People pay hundreds a year for phones, and ... nothing? Very strange how docile a marketplace we are.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 7:59 PM on December 14, 2010
And yeah, Canada's rates are terrible. It's amazing that there haven't been any sort of user boycotts. We get F'ed by Fido, Borked by Bell, Rogered by Rogers and, um, Deflowered(?) by Virgin yet noone raises a fuss. The same thing happens with book prices and we protest until Chapters (temporarily) lowers prices. People pay hundreds a year for phones, and ... nothing? Very strange how docile a marketplace we are.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 7:59 PM on December 14, 2010
Response by poster: Nicely put. You've summed up the reason why I'm not on a plan nicely. But it looks like even without a plan, they've still got you bent over.
posted by kitcat at 8:12 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by kitcat at 8:12 PM on December 14, 2010
Maybe this is showing how little I know about how cell phones work but:
1. If the province you're travelling to is on the Roger's network aren't the calls you make there to local numbers going to be treated as local by your phone?
2. Couldn't you get the phone unlocked and pop in a different SIM card for a pay as you go plan in that province?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 8:23 PM on December 14, 2010
1. If the province you're travelling to is on the Roger's network aren't the calls you make there to local numbers going to be treated as local by your phone?
2. Couldn't you get the phone unlocked and pop in a different SIM card for a pay as you go plan in that province?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 8:23 PM on December 14, 2010
any portmanteau..: From my rookie investigations, the answers are 1. No, and 2. Yes but SIM cards cost. If you can borrow one from a friend while there that would be optimal.
kitkat: The prepaid rates are bad, but don't matter as much to me. I have such low usage that a single $100 card (which is the only denomination that lasts for a year, at least for Rogers and Virgin) should last me almost that entire year.
The other 'gotcha' with prepaid plans is that, when you top up, your entire balance is now set to expire at the rate of your most recent top-up card. So, for example, if you bought a $40 card (which expires in 30 days) on Nov. 15, used $10 of it, then bought another $40 card today, you would now have $70 to use within the next 30 days. And if this keeps up, the balance you have to use before losing it grows and grows.
For people like me who only use it for grocery runs and emergencies, that soon winds up being way more minutes than I'd be able to use, so eventually I would wind up with a whack of minutes I paid for being lost. This already happened to my wife's account - almost $100 down the drain due to lack of use. Not something that people who need the cheapness of prepaid plans would see as a 'feature;' no wonder then that you have to fish it out of the salespeople to hear about this little moneymaker rule of theirs.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:00 PM on December 14, 2010
kitkat: The prepaid rates are bad, but don't matter as much to me. I have such low usage that a single $100 card (which is the only denomination that lasts for a year, at least for Rogers and Virgin) should last me almost that entire year.
The other 'gotcha' with prepaid plans is that, when you top up, your entire balance is now set to expire at the rate of your most recent top-up card. So, for example, if you bought a $40 card (which expires in 30 days) on Nov. 15, used $10 of it, then bought another $40 card today, you would now have $70 to use within the next 30 days. And if this keeps up, the balance you have to use before losing it grows and grows.
For people like me who only use it for grocery runs and emergencies, that soon winds up being way more minutes than I'd be able to use, so eventually I would wind up with a whack of minutes I paid for being lost. This already happened to my wife's account - almost $100 down the drain due to lack of use. Not something that people who need the cheapness of prepaid plans would see as a 'feature;' no wonder then that you have to fish it out of the salespeople to hear about this little moneymaker rule of theirs.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:00 PM on December 14, 2010
BTW, here's a comparison page that shows the per-minute rates (and other details) of the major carriers with prepaid here in Canada.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:05 PM on December 14, 2010
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:05 PM on December 14, 2010
Best answer: Just a small correction, the All Day Rogers' PAYG plan is 25 cents a minute for the first five minutes used that day, not for the first five calls of the day.
Here's a link to their pay as you go plan information: http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/plans Select the Pay by the Minute option
Also note, if you buy a $100 card it will last an entire year, unlike the smaller denominations which only last 30 days. Consider this option for if you're stuck in Hardcore Poser's situation of having a lot of money left on the phone but only paying to renew it to carry the minutes forward - sure you'll now have a big balance but it'll last the entire year. Details like these are what make and break pay as you go plans (and your wallet).
Why yes, I just set up a Rogers PAYG phone a week ago :)
And double yes, Canada's mobile industry has been locked in for years now. Heck it STILL costs close to a hundred bucks a month to own and operate an iPhone and it's been years since they were released! Thankfully there are some new competitors coming into the marketplace nowadays including Mobilicity, Wind Mobile, and others. I have no clue whether Rogers cares to retain their pay as you go customers or not but since they've been losing money hand over foot these past quarters I'm inclined to believe that if you call up and ask for some kind of compensation/credit/say you're thinking of leaving for a new company, you might get something in return.
posted by Meagan at 5:54 AM on December 15, 2010
Here's a link to their pay as you go plan information: http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/plans Select the Pay by the Minute option
Also note, if you buy a $100 card it will last an entire year, unlike the smaller denominations which only last 30 days. Consider this option for if you're stuck in Hardcore Poser's situation of having a lot of money left on the phone but only paying to renew it to carry the minutes forward - sure you'll now have a big balance but it'll last the entire year. Details like these are what make and break pay as you go plans (and your wallet).
Why yes, I just set up a Rogers PAYG phone a week ago :)
And double yes, Canada's mobile industry has been locked in for years now. Heck it STILL costs close to a hundred bucks a month to own and operate an iPhone and it's been years since they were released! Thankfully there are some new competitors coming into the marketplace nowadays including Mobilicity, Wind Mobile, and others. I have no clue whether Rogers cares to retain their pay as you go customers or not but since they've been losing money hand over foot these past quarters I'm inclined to believe that if you call up and ask for some kind of compensation/credit/say you're thinking of leaving for a new company, you might get something in return.
posted by Meagan at 5:54 AM on December 15, 2010
I really don't understand how people get confused by this. The phone has an area code, that is where the billing is generated from.
Heck it STILL costs close to a hundred bucks a month to own and operate an iPhone and it's been years since they were released!
That is how much they cost. It's about that in the US too.
posted by gjc at 6:30 AM on December 15, 2010
Heck it STILL costs close to a hundred bucks a month to own and operate an iPhone and it's been years since they were released!
That is how much they cost. It's about that in the US too.
posted by gjc at 6:30 AM on December 15, 2010
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can I buy prepaid phone cards down there for the phone and avoid long distance rates when calling people in that local area?
No.
All calls are going to be billed as coming from your phone number. If your not-a-plan differentiates between local and long distance calls, then all of those calls are going to be long distance. There also may be roaming fees involved.
posted by Netzapper at 7:15 PM on December 14, 2010