Cell phone options for the drive from Canada to BRC?

[Tragopogon]

I'm no luddite but I've never owned a cell phone and don't see a point in getting one for my regular day to day life.

I will however be driving an old van 12,000km for Burning Man and getting a phone for emergencies seems like a good idea. It might also be useful to call friends when we're passing through their town as pay phones are harder and harder to find these days.

Can anyone recommend a cheap phone plan that will work for both the Canadian and American parts of the trip?

Should I be looking into something that is "pay as you go" or am I better off getting a plan that covers roaming?

[mudpuppy000]

When I was in vancouver/whistler, my phone would work on the tellus and rogers networks, so I'm pretty sure they'd work in the US. The roaming charges are outrageous though, so you might be better off getting a prepaid phone when you get into the US.

[dragonpilot]

2nd vote...prepaid phone.

[phil]

You can rent a satellite phone by the day, week, or month, depending on how long you'll need it. Louise and I don't get one for Burning Man, but we do for camping in Death Valley.

Prices are intentionally confusing. Some include free delivery, free return, or not. But the rental fee varies, so compute the whole cost to see whether it's cheaper to rent and pay for delivery or rent and have free delivery.

Satellite phones work where there's no cell phone connection at all. Check here for vendors' Web sites:
http://delicious.com/philip/satphone

On air time varies, too - about a buck a minute the last I checked, but it's cheaper to rent a satphone for a week than to buy a cell phone and a two year contract.

[mudpuppy000]

You can rent a satellite phone by the day, week, or month, depending on how long you'll need it. Louise and I don't get one for Burning Man, but we do for camping in Death Valley.

That's a good idea... I was amazed at how isolated it was out there. I was camping solo at racetrack playa and would have been seriously screwed if I had a breakdown out there.

[Lassen Forge]

Satphones are great, but 'spensive.

I have a 4 frequency Motorola Pebl U6 phone (works everywhere but Japan) and a variety (depending on the country I'm in or want to look like I'm calling from) of sim cards. It wasn't the cheapest option, but it's now my normal "backup" cell, and works almost anywhere (save, black rock city)... plus I love the phone (which is no longer sold in the states, darnit)...

As to plans - PM me, I'll tell you who I have. I will say here that I do like them and they have great coverage. But prepaid is the way to go for something like this.

bbs

[cablemonkey]

You can get pay-as-you-go phones almost everywhere (7-11, etc.) for around $30.

You really don't want to pay roaming charges on a Canadian plan.

Another option is to get an unlocked phone and then put a US SIM in it when you cross the line.

[C187]

tellus is going to make your bum raw if you even think about making a call in the states. VWZ will do the same the other way around.

If you need the phone for both countries, then find yourself a phone that takes SIM cards. You can pick up a card for Canada, and another one while in the states. The only downside is a lot of areas in the states don't use this tech. The cards you can find will be in a gas station in the ghetto. (The cards will be advertised like international calling cards most of the time.)

Otherwise, wait till you cross into the states, and pick up a pre-paid at most gas stations, grocery stores, hypermarkets, or radioshack. Tracfone has been around since the 90s, runs CDMA, so you'll have good coverage till the west coast (although you wont get calls at the gate like GSM phones, e.g. AT&T).

Your last option would be to buy a VoIP phone that works off of wi-fi, that's probability skype enabled. So you can dump $10 into a skype account and have a number. The downside is you'll need an open hot spot to use it. If you own a newish PSP you can skip buying the device and use the PSP. You will need an headset attachment.

[geekster]

I rent a sat phone some years so I can keep in touch with my kids while I am out there. They aren't cheap but the prices have been coming down and they aren't too high a price for piece of mind.