Canadian cell phones

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

Not sure if I should add roaming data to our cell phones or use WDW wifi? Any suggestions or advice?

 

[scrappinginontario]

For years I used Disney wifi as it was readily accessible. Earlier this year I found Airalo and purchased an eSim which worked well for the bits of time I did not have wifi.

In general though, Disney wifi worked very well to meet my needs.

 

[DiaryofaDisneyKid]

For years I used Disney wifi as it was readily accessible. Earlier this year I found Airalo and purchased an eSim which worked well for the bits of time I did not have wifi.

In general though, Disney wifi worked very well to meet my needs.

Thanks so much! I have never heard of Airalo I will look it up.

 

[EACarlson]

Thanks so much! I have never heard of Airalo I will look it up.

Note that eSims only work with certain phones. Recent Iphones, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy flagships.

 

[bankr63]

Check your plan as well. My Rogers plan includes full access in US (voice, text, data) for no additional cost. It seems like it is on all of the new plans in my area now, so you might just need to ask to switch. Actually, when I switched, I got US plus more overall data for considerably less $$. It is worth checking the rates regularly.

 

[mort1331]

Here in Fl right now...wife has had no issues with wifi,,,i did buy a sim card tmobile from amazon...has been great,,i needed to be able to call home thats the only reason i needed it...did not want to use roam from home and our plan did not have it included.

 

[youngdeb12]

We always planned to use Disney Wifi but it can be slow if you're trying to get boarding groups or use Genie+. I was able to get a really reasonably priced phone plan through Telus that gives me unlimited Canada and US roaming as well as 100GB of data for less than what I was paying before. Might be something to look into.

 

[Frank4202]

I've been looking but haven't found anything decent.

I'm with Virgin and they want $17/day which is a big nope.

 

[optstud]

I use Airalo esim as well.

 

[Tripscarcare]

Depends on the carrier you are with, last trip last year we were able to change our plan for one month. Which we paid another $40 ish between two phones ( Telus) and ran with a USA plan. Which saved us huge as prior to that we paid the $15 a day if we jumped the border for a day trip. There are some really good plans out there now between Rogers/ Telus that offer USA stuff in a regular plan, so there is never the worry of changing plans before trips etc. Still expensive but not much of a choice in Canada for phone carriers.

 

[Disneylover99]

Check your plan as well. My Rogers plan includes full access in US (voice, text, data) for no additional cost. It seems like it is on all of the new plans in my area now, so you might just need to ask to switch. Actually, when I switched, I got US plus more overall data for considerably less $$. It is worth checking the rates regularly.

Yep. We switched to this last week. Good deal.

 

[samsteele]

I've also found Disney wifi adequate. Not great but adequate. My carrier simplyconnect is folding in 6 months as hasn't been able to secure access to 5G. We are being directed to another Rogers discount carrier Red Wireless. Their website is bare bones so I'll need to call and get some info on plans. I don't have a contract so great time to look and shop around.

 

[bankr63]

I am sure that the reason the big carriers are dropping the free US service into their main plans is the proliferation of the eSIMs. They will always protect their market share and don't like you giving your bucks to another carrier.

I noted that Rogers latest deal to me dropped all of the various discounts I currently have and upped data considerably for what looked like an incredible price. But after crunching all the numbers the overall bill would have gone up about $2/line (we have 4 on the plan) so I didn't jump because we don't actually use all the data we have now. Even after our last 2 week trip south with a big jump in usage we didn't come close to using our bucket, so I don't really need more.

 

[ottawamom]

If your phone can't do an e-Sim, try Jethro mobile. It's the new replacement for Roam Mobility that closed up shop in 2020. I just returned from a week in Orlando. I used their Unlimited Talk, Text and 10G Data plan. I used my phone a lot to check wait times and redo my plans etc and only used 2G of the data. I had 5G service and great connections at Disney and Universal.

Set up was easy (just pop out my sim and pop in theirs, restart the phone and I was good to go). I had backup of my Koodo US data, talk package but didn't need to use it at all.

 

[Marek Zyskowski]

Where does one get one of these SIM cards or eSIMs? Are they available at the airport or online? I get off the plane and head strait to my resort usually.

 

[ottawamom]

I purchased my Jethro US phone plan card on Amazon and set everything up in advance of my trip. Or if you prefer you can go directly to the Jethro website and purchase directly from them. Jethro has also just introduced the e-Sim option on their website.

You need to turn off your phone and restart once in the US to have it work. I had to switch out my Canadian sim and put in the Jethro sim. Once I started the phone back up I was on the Jethro service. Easy and seamless.

 

[EACarlson]

Where does one get one of these SIM cards or eSIMs? Are they available at the airport or online? I get off the plane and head strait to my resort usually.

eSIMs are readily available from https://www.airalo.com/ Big on FlyerTalk for use all over the world.