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Mine will not work in NW Ontario even after buying a Verizon "global", phone.

After a few hours of talking to Verizon global support, still no service.

Any ideas?

wabigoon;
Good evening to you sir, it's been too long since we've conversed and I trust you and yours have been fairing acceptably well in the interim.

Are other folks' cell service working there and if so which providers.

My good wife has a work phone through Bell and I've got Telus for my phone and one of our girls. Our eldest daughter just signed up with Koodo up here as well so that's three samples.

Anyway between my wife's and mine there are quite often discrepancies in service in outlying areas.

It used to be that the Telus was better in the bush or away from larger centers but nowadays we're finding its a flip of the coin as to which phone - if either - will have service.

Anyway sir, my best thoughts on the matter are to see which providers the locals use first.

All the best to you and yours sir and good luck with your phone troubles.

Dwayne

Glad to see your back Wabigoon,

I don't know what up with Verizon--I have a nephew who guides on the Mississippi in southern Minnesota--we text back and forth just about everyday--We live and Die by texting here cause it just works so much better than voice calls--as soon as he crosses the border he can no longer text me. Voice calls still work but are expensive.

My nieghbor here on the Lake is from Wisconsin and his phone works after he called his carrier but it took some time to straighten it out.

Hope all else is well with you and yours

Went to Alberta in 2013, 100 yds from the customs office inside the US my phone would work, 100 yds into Canada at the North Portal it would not. The phone did not work anywhere in Canada till we were back in the US about 100 yds at the N. Portal at Sask.

I live about 40 miles from the border on the US side but have only a tracfone which works just fine for me and is cheap!. However I have friends who have horror stories about the costs to their plan if they get too close to BC and the phone hooks up through a Canadian cell tower even though the call is dialed as US domestic. I haven't used mine actually in BC but do know they will hookup on the other side then back. Muddy

This solution requires spending more money so skip over it if that is not in the budget.

I'd get a Mobil Internet Hub from TbayTel. It is basically a 4G Canadian cell phone based wireless router. You can use it to have internet at your cabin, but on the back of it there is a port to plug in a regular phone. I did that and it gives me beautiful phone reception while at the cabin, just like a land line phone. You should be able to pick one up in Dryden. It won't work when you fire it up because it takes a couple days for it to register on their network. After that, you've got internet and reliable phone service at your cabin.

Click Here

Cell phone coverage is Russian Roulette. I bought a DeLorme InReach SE for direct satellite use in areas where cell phones do not work. Text only. Has been bombproof for the two years I've used it.

We have found that US Verizon cell phones work well in many areas where we have tried them in BC and SK, even in some surprisingly remote areas. Verizon has a no-roaming plan for use anywhere in N. America but there are restrictions for some Canadians subscribing to the plan.

Spending several years working both in Canada and the US for my job as a regional manager for a Canadian Company, based out of Ottawa....I traveled to Ontario to the home office, side trips on my time off over into Quebec, up to Quebec City....

Then also traveled all over BC and Alberta...both in major cities and driving on rural highways in between...

Never had ANY reception problems.. anywhere in Canada..

my carrier was US Cellular....Business Account...which seems to give me a lot of perks personal cell phone plans don't...

Company paid the bill... had nationwide plan for the US side of border... but they didn't ding me much for a lot of calls on the Canadian side either...

Some phones allow you to switch carriers, which can help reception out. I worked with a lot of guys from the US with Verizon and they didn't have issues. I think they had to go under their setup and change the carrier or something?

SS

My kid's dumb phone worked well in BC, with him insisting there'd be no additional charges. A very significant bill beat us home.

Be sure one's plan is inclusive before dialing. Also, as stated above, think twice when nearing the border.

Our home is right on the border. I can see more Canada out the kitchen window at the moment than I can US and I see a cell tower over there, line of sight. We have ATT cell phones and have them blocked from Canadian service providers. Otherwise, we will hit Rogers or other towers and get God-awful roaming charges while sitting in our own house. It adds up to a few hundred bucks a month, which ATT would take off our bill, but every month we had to either go to their store or call them, explain to about three people what was going on, and spend a half hour or forty-five minutes getting it straightened out. We finally just gave up and had our phones blocked.

The first time I went to Canada my cell phone didn't work at all. The next time I called AT&T in advance of the trip and they updated my service to include Canada roaming and everything was fine for a few more trips.

Then,when I went there in 2011 and when I turned on my cell phone it took a long time to get ready, and it doubled all of my numbers by displaying everything twice.

Did you put a Canadian SIM card in and if so which company?