Using US iPad in Canada

[flynz4]

Success!!!

We just arrived in BC yesterday. On two iPads, we inserted the Rogers SIM cards I got from The Apple store last month. We had already attached them to iTunes to initialize them. Once we arrived into Canada, we entered a Canadian mailing address of a friend, and we both used different US credit cards. We activated OK and I am posting this from my iPad while in Canada.

/Jim

We are back in the US now. Both of our iPads worked flawlessly during the 7 day trip. We each used about 600 MB of data.

At the border on the way home, we switched back to our A&TT SIM cards and we connected right away to the AT&T network.

It looks like I am all set now for my somewhat frequent trips to Canada.

/Jim

 

[SarahCatt]

Off to Montreal in about a week

Great! Thanks, Jim! I have my Canadian wireless carrier SIM card collection in my iPad survival kit and as soon as we touch down in Montreal, I'll try the Rogers SIM first. I'll use the address of my apartment in Laval and my funky U.S. VISA card and perhaps it will work as smoothly as did yours.

Whatever happens, I'll certainly post it here. I should be in Montreal on October 5th. I appreciate all of the information sharing!

 

[samoran]

Success with Bell (step-by-step)

Ok, I arrived in Vancouver from Australia and was staying at a local hotel. I did the following steps, and it worked! First of all, I went to a Bell store and they told me that for some reason they don't sell the prepaid iPad micro-sims. Just the monthly ones (weird!?). So they told me that I had to get it from Futureshop. So....

1. Went to Futureshop and purchased a prepaid iPad micro-sim. Cost me $11 (inc tax)
2. Bought a VISA gift card from 7-11 store.
3. Put the micro-sim in the iPad
4. Plugged in my iPad to my laptop and (after updating my iPad firmware), it asked me if I wanted to update my carrier settings. Clicked on Download and Install.
5. Ejected the iPad from iTunes and turned it off/on.
6. Goto Settings > Cellular Data > View Account
7. Billing Page comes up. Filled out all details. For the address, I simply used the street address of the hotel I was staying at. For the Name on the Visa Gift Card I just used my own name.
8. Success!!!

It worked for me, so it should also work for any other traveller to Canada with an overseas iPad.

All the best....

 

[SarahCatt]

No joy in Montreal

From The Apple Stores in Montreal/Laval:

Bell - No (have not tried since September trip)
Rogers - No (activation failed)
Telus - No (person at store called Tech Support and she asked me if the iPad was bought in the US so that brought a response that it wouldn't work, along with Je suis trés désole)

I am not sure about this 'prepaid SIM' from The Future Shop or whether it is different from the Bell SIM card I got for free at The Apple Store, but I never tried the prepaid VISA card from Canada. I tried a gift VISA from the US and regular VISA credit cards from the US...all with the address of my apartment in Laval. No 3G so far.

Should I just throw away my iPad and buy another?

 

[flynz4]

From The Apple Stores in Montreal/Laval:

Bell - No (have not tried since September trip)
Rogers - No (activation failed)
Telus - No (person at store called Tech Support and she asked me if the iPad was bought in the US so that brought a response that it wouldn't work, along with Je suis trés désole)

I am not sure about this 'prepaid SIM' from The Future Shop or whether it is different from the Bell SIM card I got for free at The Apple Store, but I never tried the prepaid VISA card from Canada. I tried a gift VISA from the US and regular VISA credit cards from the US...all with the address of my apartment in Laval. No 3G so far.

Should I just throw away my iPad and buy another?

Sarah,

Did you connect the IPad with Rogers SIM to iTunes to initialize? After this, I had no issues using Canadian residential address and my USA credit card.

One last suggestion, do you have any Canadian friends or co-workers who will let you use their credit card and address with reimbursement?

/Jim

 

[maestrokev]

1. Went to Futureshop and purchased a prepaid iPad micro-sim. Cost me $11 (inc tax)

Technically it is not a prepaid microSIM unlike the one Telstra, Optus, Vodafone offer in Australia. In Canada you are just buying a microSIM, there's no data included until you add credit.

I don't know why people aren't just going to the Apple Canada retail stores to get the microSIM as they are still free for Bell and Rogers.

 

[flynz4]

Technically it is not a prepaid microSIM unlike the one Telstra, Optus, Vodafone offer in Australia. In Canada you are just buying a microSIM, there's no data included until you add credit.

I don't know why people aren't just going to the Apple Canada retail stores to get the microSIM as they are still free for Bell and Rogers.

That is what I did... I chose Rogers and they installed and activated it in my iPad, and then it worked perfectly with my USA credit card, and a friends residential address.

/Jim

 

[SarahCatt]

My iPad...3G on Bell CA

After trying Bell, Rogers, and Telus since August and without apparent success, I discovered the problem that Bell CA's tech support could not: I could not activate a data plan on Bell CA because I had typoed my U.S. VISA card's expiration date.

When I got back to Montreal last month, I discovered this error when I was reviewing my account data on my iPad. Surely it could not be that simple, but it was. I've been on the Bell CA 5GB plan for almost a month. Rogers could not seem to get anything to work for me and Telus effectively told me that if I didn't have a Canadian resident driver license from any province, I could take my Telus microSIM card and...

BTW, I have Bell, Rogers, Telus, and AT&T microSIM cards and I've never been charged anything for the cards. While I am in Canada, I am paying AT&T and Bell for service. I never come close to using much data service on my iPad because most of the time, I have WiFi. I'm such a great business deal for both my wireless carriers, but at least when I want access to the Web or email, I have it.

 

[flynz4]

After trying Bell, Rogers, and Telus since August and without apparent success, I discovered the problem that Bell CA's tech support could not: I could not activate a data plan on Bell CA because I had typoed my U.S. VISA card's expiration date.

When I got back to Montreal last month, I discovered this error when I was reviewing my account data on my iPad. Surely it could not be that simple, but it was. I've been on the Bell CA 5GB plan for almost a month. Rogers could not seem to get anything to work for me and Telus effectively told me that if I didn't have a Canadian resident driver license from any province, I could take my Telus microSIM card and...

BTW, I have Bell, Rogers, Telus, and AT&T microSIM cards and I've never been charged anything for the cards. While I am in Canada, I am paying AT&T and Bell for service. I never come close to using much data service on my iPad because most of the time, I have WiFi. I'm such a great business deal for both my wireless carriers, but at least when I want access to the Web or email, I have it.

Congratulations on finally getting it figured it out. I've been perplexed on why it wouldn't work for you.

Regarding the bolded section. With Rogers, I never had to contact them at all. I just got the SIM card from the Apple store, and set up the plan from my iPad without human intervention. My daughter who goes to grad school in BC ended up with a Bell iPhone 4, and she has the add-on plan of $10/month which lets her use her existing 6GB dataplan on both her iPhone and her iPad. Since she is under contract with Bell on a post-paid plan... she needed the drivers license (or Gov ID card) from BC before Bell would sign her up for a plan. It sounds like whoever you were talking to at Telus about your iPad was confused between pre-paid and post-paid plans.

/Jim

 

[maestrokev]

Since she is under contract with Bell on a post-paid plan... she needed the drivers license (or Gov ID card) from BC before Bell would sign her up for a plan. It sounds like whoever you were talking to at Telus about your iPad was confused between pre-paid and post-paid plans.

/Jim

So much for the US/Canada Free Trade Agreement. You'd think telcos would make it easier for Canadians and Americans to use iPad/phone plans as many of us live close to the border and enjoy frequent trips.

 

[romigr]

Amex works with Rogers SIM

I am a US resident traveling in Canada. I picked up a Rogers SIM card at a Rogers Plus store. Registered with an American Express card (US billing address) using my hotel address on the Rogers registration form. So far, it's working...

 

[SarahCatt]

Optimism rules

Great to hear about your success! I think we might be past the kind of train wreck which others and I experienced with Canadian data plans for US iPad owners. Most of it appeared to be due to carrier inexperience with the problem. It never made sense to me that ANY cell carrier in the world would give a second thought to taking my money if I were willing to part with it so easily.

It turns out that they didn't and it's all good now. I mostly created my own problem by messing up the credit card number, which escalated rapidly (and not in a good way) when carrier tech support got involved.

 

[Keebler]

after reading this thread, I think i'm right in the following, but would like to confirm b/c i'll be spending $500 or more

I'm CDN and in the US so if i buy a 3G model here, I can just buy a rogers/bell etc.. sim card back home and be up and running right?

 

[flynz4]

after reading this thread, I think i'm right in the following, but would like to confirm b/c i'll be spending $500 or more

I'm CDN and in the US so if i buy a 3G model here, I can just buy a rogers/bell etc.. sim card back home and be up and running right?

Correct,

If you go to an Apple Store, they will give you a SIM card for free.

/Jim