Verizon in Canada

Verizon customers travelling to Canada can extend their coverage to include calls within Canada and from Canada to the U.S. by changing their calling plan to the North America's Choice Plan.? Details HERE

It is the option I have chosen for coverage in Canada, which , as it turns out is less expensive than buying cell phone service in Canada.

Steve,

Thanks for starting this topic. We have been getting conflicting information each time that we talk to Verizon customer care or stores.

If I remember correctly, you noted at some time that you have the Verizon North Americas Choice plan. If that's correct, my questions are, do you pay roaming charges anywhere and if so how what is the cost per minute and do you pay any long distance charges?

We now have the Verizon National one rate and when we were in Canada a couple of years ago we added Canada coverage for $10 per month and had no roaming charges, just as when we are in the States.

We have been talking to Verizon for a couple of days and the Canada package is no longer available to add to our one rate plan. They give us two options.

#1 We could change to the North Americas Choice plan and they tell us that no matter where we are in Canada we will be roaming and be charged 69? per minute for roaming.

#2 We could add the International Traveler package to our one rate plan for $10 per month and we would pay 35? per minute for roaming.

We will enter New Brunswick June 2nd and will go South into New York from Montreal about September 15th, so we need to understand exactly what we are getting involved in.

Very frustrating!

Tim & Jan

I cannot imagine the info you are getting conflicts with the posted information on their website where the North America's choice plan is clearly described.  There is no roaming and you get 450 minutes fo $59 along with 1000 minutes nights and weekends.  In calling does not apply in Canada though.

If you use more than the plan minutes, you are charges 35 cents a minute, I believe.

If you have problems with a customer service rep there, ask to speak to a supervisor.

I learned some Verizon stores are corporate owned and others are franchises.  The franchises are usually not very helpful or knowledgeable, but if you can get to a corporate store, they may be able to help you on the spot.

Your final solution is to select the plan online and make your changes on the Verizon website.

I had no problem, but I did have to speak to a supervisor.  It's in effect now and it's the second time this year I awitched to the North America Choice Plan.

Steve said:

I cannot imagine the info you are getting conflicts with the posted information on their website where the North America's choice plan is clearly described.  There is no roaming and you get 450 minutes fo $59 along with 1000 minutes nights and weekends.  In calling does not apply in Canada though.

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Steve,

We talked to Customer Care the last three evenings. First to just add Canada to our present plan, which they said we couldn't do any more and they said to get the North America Choice plan. As we knew nothing about the plan, we asked what day of the month would best to change plans without getting involved with pro-rating. They said 5/10, yesterday, would be when to do it.

We called again the next evening hopeing that talking with another rep, we might be able to just add Canada as we originally wanted to do. We got the same story and said we would think about it.

The next day, yesterday, we went to a Verizon store and the best we could do was get a brochure for the North America plan. They didn't know enough about it and couldn't answer questions regarding roaming. Last night we called Customer Care with the intention of switching to the North America Choice plan. That's when Jan asked for clarification of roaming and long distance and the two options that I have mentioned were discussed. I refused to let Jan change our plan. The brochure for the North America plan, regarding roaming says under domestic roaming "No roaming charges or domestic long distance charges in the United States" and under international roaming "69?/minute. Pass-through of serving carrier's tolls, surcharges and taxes may apply".

In another section of the brochure it says "In Canada and Mexico, you may be able to place or receive calls in areas outside of the North America's Choice Home Airtime Rate and coverage area. In those instances, usage may be charged at 69?/minute". When we asked about this quote, Jan was told that we would have to pay roaming for all of out Canada calls. Didn't sound right!

The web site that you have included in the original topic gives a clear description of how Verizon explains the working of roaming and long distance using the North America plan, thanks for that.

We are going to call Verizon tonight to again switch to the North America plan. Hopefully there won't be any pro-rating because we will be one day into our new billing period.

Will let you know when this is all over.

Tim & Jan

If you car/truck has ONSTAR where you  prepay fo the minuites than no surcharges can apply. I use that in Canada since it is a more powerful transmitter.


Nelson

Thanks for the tip on Onstar, Nelson.  Does that mean you can use Onstar for routine call phone calls?  I thought, based on the commercials, it was a service for emergencies, but I never had any first hand experience with it.

Steve,

Success! We made our fourth call to Customer Care last night and got a rep that seemed to know all about the North America's Choice plan. We have now switched to that plan.

Thanks for your help.

Tim & Jan

Tim & Jan said:

Success! We made our fourth call to Customer Care last night and got a rep that seemed to know all about the North America's Choice plan. We have now switched to that plan.

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Glad it worked for you Tim.  Today, that plan finally showed up on the available plans for my zip code.  Yesterday it was not available. 

Phil

Steve said:

Thanks for the tip on Onstar, Nelson. Does that mean you can use Onstar for routine call phone calls? I thought, based on the commercials, it was a service for emergencies, but I never had any first hand experience with it.

Click to expand...

Steve

ONSTAR will call for help if the sensors are tripped which is the ad you see. Another part of ONSTAR is a hands free cell phone, you just purchase minuites from $.29/min up. Site to check it out http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/index.jsp

Tim and Jan,

Hope you have a terrific time visiting our Country.  If you need travel information, be sure to let us know, as there are several resources I can point you to, in addition to my own personal preferences in the Maritimes.

I've been very pleased with the coverage of the Verizon partner in Canada, which is Bell Canada for coverage.  Be sure to run the *228 routine on your phone before leaving the US and a Verizon tower to upgrade the software in your phone to the new plan.  You cannot run that routine while in Canada, so it must be done while within Verizon coverage in the US.

Also you cannot call directly to pick up voicemail while in Canada.  You have to call your cellphone number from your cellphone to access your voicemail.

Phil,

Glad it was available to us. it would have been a lot tougher to handle calls while in Canada.

Steve.

Thanks for the Verizon advice.

I have a rough itinerary, of where we plan to go and what campgrounds we are thinking of staying at, that I will clean up and post in the travel section soon and would welcome your comments.

Tim & Jan

I'll gladly compare CG notes when I see your schedule.

Be careful changing your Verizon plan to the one that gives you Canadian calling because if you have extra promotional minutes on your current plan they will be cancelled and they do NOT give these promotional minutes back to you when you switch back to the plan you had.

If yoiu have an AT&T phone they give you unlimited calling in Canada for $20 per month without affecting your current plan.

JerryF

Jerry,

We have already changed over from our Verizon national singlerate to the North America's Choice and when we change back, it will be to the regular America's Choice.