Cell phones in Disney

[Lexiesmom]

I'm sure this has been asked, but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for.

There are 6 of us going to disney, and I would like to be able to use our cell phones to be able to text call each other, for those times that we get split up and need to meet up, or touch base.
2 of us have bell, I'm not sure yet what the other 2 have (but I think it might be rogers)

Does anyone know the best (ie cheapest, easiest) way to do this
I've heard a few different options.
1. Unlock our phone (I have NO idea how to do this!) and get a sim card in the states (can we buy that online ahead of time?)
2. buy a plan through our phone company (x 3 or 4 of us) How far in advance do we need to do that?
3. Buy a cheap phone/ with prepaid card card in the states (someone told me I could get this for $20 each - but I really can't believe that is possible?)

any help/links to good sites would be much appreciated!
thanks so much!

 

[iamadisneynut]

If you have iPhones you ca iMessage for free with the wifi you'll pick up in the parks. My DH and I both called our providers (I'm Bell and he's Rogers) yesterday and we leave today to put plans on our phones. For $40 he got unlimited texting a small amount of calling and a small amount of data. For $30 I got 1000 texts (unlimited incoming) and 100 mins of calling in North America. No data.

 

[lizabu]

You can add a US plan to your phone as late as at the airport as you board your flight...lol. With several people it's going to be expensive. I think it's around $30 per phone. If you put your phones on airplane mode you won't be roaming in the states which is expensive when your not on a plan and you could go off of the wifi in the parks and resorts. There are so many apps that work with instant messaging or texting. They didn't have wifi everywhere like they do now last time I went so I can't say how great the wifi is.

 

[iceprincesskcl]

I'm going to add on to the iphone comment!

If you have blackberry/iphone/android you can download the BBM app and use it on wifi as well! We use it when we go places for skating competitions to keep in touch with people who don't have canada wide texting! In fact just last week one someone was using it on an iPad running wifi!!!

 

[Lexiesmom]

If you have blackberry/iphone/android you can download the BBM app and use it on wifi as well! We use it when we go places for skating competitions to keep in touch with people who don't have canada wide texting! In fact just last week one someone was using it on an iPad running wifi!!!

is there wifi throughout the disney park?

If so, I think using BBM would be a great idea! I didn't even think of that!
I have a blackberry, the others have androids.

 

[iceprincesskcl]

is there wifi throughout the disney park? If so, I think using BBM would be a great idea! I didn't even think of that! I have a blackberry, the others have androids.

The wifi in the parks has gotten soooo much better over the last few years!!!!

We all use iMessage and BBM!!

 

[CanadianPaco]

Great info!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

you can also get an app called WhatsApp it allows you to send a text message to any number as long as the other person has it as well. I'm not sure if it's available for blackberry but it is for iPhone and Andriod and can be used with wifi.

 

[webworm]

I get a FREE SIM car from an AT&T Corporate Store (not authorized dealer since will pay $10) and use the $2.00/day**only on days use plan which includes unlimited calling within the US and unlimited texting to Canada and US.

 

[bankr63]

I'm really liking ROAM Mobility. They are MUCH cheaper than roaming, and just a little more expensive than getting a US SIM for a bunch more convenience. ROAM is a Canadian company that basically repackages T-Mobile services. For $3/day you get unlimited text and calling (including Canada calls). Add $1 more per day for a whopping 4GB of data per day.

They are a Canadian company, so you can have everything set before you go, just switch in their SIM when you hit the US and you are up and running. You do however need an unlocked GSM phone for this. Their rates comparison page is a hoot http://www.roammobility.com/compare

It's easy to keep the service active (just buy at least 1 day service per year), and it's much better than the drawer full of cheap throwaway US cell phones that I can't bear to throw away.

 

[BijouBabe]

I'm really liking ROAM Mobility. They are MUCH cheaper than roaming, and just a little more expensive than getting a US SIM for a bunch more convenience. ROAM is a Canadian company that basically repackages T-Mobile services. For $3/day you get unlimited text and calling (including Canada calls). Add $1 more per day for a whopping 4GB of data per day. They are a Canadian company, so you can have everything set before you go, just switch in their SIM when you hit the US and you are up and running. You do however need an unlocked GSM phone for this. Their rates comparison page is a hoot http://www.roammobility.com/compare It's easy to keep the service active (just buy at least 1 day service per year), and it's much better than the drawer full of cheap throwaway US cell phones that I can't bear to throw away.

Good to hear! I was planning on using them when I go as I would like to be able to use different apps and just have communication back home as this is mine and my son's first out of country trip without any family. We have a couple 23 year olds going with us too and I'm sure they will feel better knowing their family can get a hold of them.

 

[suziespice]

we just got back on saturday and we had a lot of problems with our phones down there, we both have iphones with bell and we both bought data plans to go down.. when we got home on saturday my husband got a tonne of texts from me that hadn't gone through while we were there.. imessage rarely worked, the phones were sending them as texts.. also kept getting data roaming messages from bell telling me I was spending a small fortune in roaming fees that I had to keep calling them about (they had screwed up my data plan)

 

[Sprockie]

I'm really liking ROAM Mobility. They are MUCH cheaper than roaming, and just a little more expensive than getting a US SIM for a bunch more convenience. ROAM is a Canadian company that basically repackages T-Mobile services. For $3/day you get unlimited text and calling (including Canada calls). Add $1 more per day for a whopping 4GB of data per day.

They are a Canadian company, so you can have everything set before you go, just switch in their SIM when you hit the US and you are up and running. You do however need an unlocked GSM phone for this. Their rates comparison page is a hoot http://www.roammobility.com/compare

It's easy to keep the service active (just buy at least 1 day service per year), and it's much better than the drawer full of cheap throwaway US cell phones that I can't bear to throw away.

I'll second that thumbs up for Roam. We just got a sim card ($20), switched it out before we left for the airport and just across the border, voila - service. Hubby was in Texas for 5 days and it worked great. I love that you can use it to call back to Canada. It's simple to use, and you only buy how many days you need. It worked very well.

 

[amie416]

I'm looking at getting Ready SIM (http://www.readysim.com) for my next two trips to FL... Has anyone tried them before?

 

[njpyro]

you can also get an app called WhatsApp it allows you to send a text message to any number as long as the other person has it as well. I'm not sure if it's available for blackberry but it is for iPhone and Andriod and can be used with wifi.

I second that! My husband and I use whatsapp to keep in touch while he's traveling for work. He's currently in Amsterdam and can text me for free all day. A few months ago, I was getting his texts from Turkey! Unfortunately he never considers the time difference

 

[MM_Bound]

I'm looking at getting Ready SIM (http://www.readysim.com) for my next two trips to FL... Has anyone tried them before?

I have not used them but from the looks of the coverage maps I would say they are reselling t-mobile and basically offer the same service as Roam Mobility. Roam mobility may be a bit more expensive (about 25c a day on a 7 day plan) Roam offers more data 2GB vs 500MB and no free calls back to canada.

 

[warrenite]

The only cell phones we have available are company phones that are locked. So using "roam" is not an option. Can anyone recommend a way to purchase cheap pay as go phones?

 

[bankr63]

I'm looking at getting Ready SIM (http://www.readysim.com) for my next two trips to FL... Has anyone tried them before?

I have not used them but from the looks of the coverage maps I would say they are reselling t-mobile and basically offer the same service as Roam Mobility. Roam mobility may be a bit more expensive (about 25c a day on a 7 day plan) Roam offers more data 2GB vs 500MB and no free calls back to canada.

Ready SIM is also US based, so you will pay interchange on all your transactions, and free shipping is only within US. I also think that not being able to call back to Canada easily would be a detractor for me.

 

[katt789]

Before the days of myself having an iPhone we simply said "if someone gets lost, we'll meet up at this point at this point, this point at dinner, or this point at this point" kind of thing, it didn't really bother us.

Once the iPhone came into play, I've found that you can either keep in touch via Facebook or iMessage thanks to the wifi! I do find that the Facebook messaging is A LOT more reliable than the messaging, as they only go through if you are both attached to the wireless at that time, I've had them not work before, but Facebook is the best. My Mom doesn't have a phone, so she used her tablet to keep in touch via Facebook and it worked out fine!