New Laws to Make U.S. Phone Service Cheaper for Snowbirds

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Canadians will soon have more choices for staying connected while they’re travelling, thanks to long-awaited changes in cell phone regulations by the CRTC. Canada’s governing telecommunications body recently announced that come December, all newly purchased cell phones must be unlocked. Plus, the $50 unlocking fees for existing devices will be waived. These new regulations will give travellers much more freedom to choose roaming services other than those provided by their home carriers.

Travellers often choose roaming bundles provided by their home carrier, and although convenient, these plans are usually far from the best option for Snowbirds. With most roaming bundles offered by Canadian carriers, you’re stuck using the minutes and data from your regular plan or given a very small data bucket to use while you’re away, making it easy to incur expensive overage fees. If you’re not careful, you’ll be greeted by a sizeable bill when you return home. Otherwise, you can put your phone contract on “vacation disconnect” or “vacation hold” but you still have to pay a minimum charge for a line that you’re not even using.

Another option is getting a local U.S. SIM card. This may seem like the best choice for Canadian Snowbirds, but there are still some limitations with this option. When you first arrive in the U.S., you’ll need to spend time and money finding a local store, buying a SIM card, and setting up your service. Plus, trying to find a local store could prove difficult without a data connection!

There are also many possible hidden fees associated with using a local SIM card, including charges for SIM activation or network access and extra fees for making calls back to Canada. Travellers are often required to make yearly payments to maintain a minimum balance on their accounts and keep their SIM and phone number active. Plus, SIM and plan costs are charged in U.S. dollars, so what seemed to be a great offer might end up being way out of budget.

Now, Canadians are turning to a third option – a dedicated roaming service like Roam Mobility – and the new wireless rules are making it even easier to do so. Roam Mobility is a Canadian company that offers roaming plans available with a reusable SIM card. Since 2009, hundreds of thousands of Canadians have relied on Roam Mobility to provide an affordable alternative to expensive roaming plans from their carriers.

With Roam, travellers get all of the features they want, like prepaid plans, flexible plan scheduling, a local phone number, and calls back to Canada, for affordable rates up to 95% lower than other providers. Plus, they can keep their SIM and phone number for the next year, without any contracts or commitments. To avoid added hassle while abroad, travellers can also activate their SIMs and schedule plans in Canada before they leave.

Roam Mobility also offers plans designed specifically for Canadian Snowbirds, which include unlimited calling in the USA and back to Canada, unlimited global texting, unlimited data, and more – for some of the lowest prices in North America.

“I went online looking for [my home carrier’s] roaming rates and stumbled upon your website. I was nervous to try it but since it was Canadian I felt more at ease. Glad I did! Simply followed the instructions and setup my plan before I crossed the border. Voila!”  – Marguerite Smith, Canadian Snowbird

This Snowbird season, Roam Mobility is offering all Canadian Snowbirds an exclusive opportunity to try Roam on their next trip across the border. For a limited time, you qualify to receive a free USA Travel SIM Card ($9.95 value) with free shipping. To claim your free SIM online now, visit get.roammobility.com/zoomer.