Can not help you with sim card question but I live in Canada and my daughter goes to school in the US. When I moved here the only plan I could find with US-Canada service with no roaming charges was a North American business plan with Bell Canada. My daughter got a Verizon plan that allows her to call and text to and from and within the US and Canada with no roaming and no international charges; none of the other providers we looked had a US-Canada plan.
If your blackberry is unlocked, it shouldnt' be a problem with a Canadian sim card. Any sim card regardless of country should work (assuming the bands used are compatible with your phone). It costs ~$5 to do a hard unlock (google around).
My blackberry works fine when I'm in the States and use pay as you go from t-mobile and also when I'm in Canada using Fido.
If you have a Canadian sim card (fido, rogers etc), you will have a new Canadian number based on your location.
Just don't lose your sim card and it's not that bad. You'll only use your American sim card when you're in the states and the Canadian one when you're in Canada.
Then they'll call your Canadian number and it'll go through fine. Your friend and your mother will get long distance charges so they may just hate you.
About the contacts thing - it depends on the phone. I think blackberry (or any other smart phone) saves the contact to the phone itself so it shouldn't be a problem. I have a pearl and bold and they both save to the phone.
About the best sim card - it depends on your habits. We have pretty much a monopoly here in Canada so the cost of plans is much higher than in the States. Data plans suck up here. Another company recently entered and there are rumors of another one coming into the market. So currently, the "best" deal is not really clearly defined. You'll have to check out each company's site...
so i have to tell all my contacts/friends that i have a new number? or if they call my 201 number and im using my 514 canadian number, will the call/text reach me?>
is koodoo or telus good for sim cards?
what if my candian contatcs wanna reach me during the summer when im in the states?
Um. You might need to set up call forwarding on your american number which will cost you money.
But please. Don't do that. Either you or your friends will be given a long-distance charge. Just tell your friends about your new Canadian number instead of footing the bill for 2 separate numbers...
hmmm i hate how annoying this process is but i really appreciate your help dark soulz.
im gonna be aggravated but i might end up getting 2 phones both with north american plans but i feel like that is so moronic....
so i think ill listen to you and get a Blackberry or Droid from Telus get a north american plan and when im in the Us from may-august still use that phone. ill just make my family get a north american plan. looks like my friends will have to extra love me when they pay all the fees for my many texts and calls.
Skype is an internet service for phone calls. My sister uses it to call us from us from the States (it costs ~$50 or so a year for unlimited North American calling I think). You just need to use a laptop w/ internet to talk.
Her iphone lets her use skype as she has unlimited data. The problem in Canada is that our data plans cost an arm and a leg...
