Bros..

I know a few of you live in Vancouver. I'm headed out there next month for a friends wedding (seems like everyone is either getting married or popping out babies these days!). Last year when I went, I tried to get a "pay as you go" sim card with data on it but the guy at Wireless Wave (??) told me that Canada don't have one for data but they do have one just for making/receiving calls and texts. He also mentinoed that one of the carriers will come out with one in the next few months. That was a year ago.

I was wondering if it's happened yet (I've tried google but it seems like only Rogers have anything remotely close to it but it's a monthly payment?). Also, do they have mini sims?

Cheers!

Canada just isn't in the game at this point.  You are pretty much screwed.

You might want to give Wind  http://windmobile.com a look.  Basically they have the same plans for prepaid as postpaid.  They are only present in the big cities though - no coverage outside of the cities, although you can roam for a fee.  They do have data plans.  You would be able to sign up for the first month and then abandon it.

Aother negative is that they only use wcdma 1700 frequency, so if your phone doesn't support that you are out of luck.  You may want to consider purchasing a cheap used phone.  But they will give you a sim if you bring your own compatible phone.  I bought mine in the states and activated it here.  

Essentially the news is bad.  Canada has about the highest mobile phone charges in the world, and consequently the lowest penetration.  And I am not aware of the buy it and go sims at the 7-11 like you can get in HK.

I just noticed a Wind SIM on craigslist. .  You may find some other phones there too.

Sorry man, you're not going to find any data-as-you-go plans here in Canada. As Yazoo already mentioned, Canada's mobile charges are on the top of the list in the world. If you are looking for prepaid call/text, I would suggest rogers/fido. However, don't expect too much calling time even from 20 dollars as the rate/min is off the roof there.

There ARE other much cheaper options such as Wind mobile or Mobilicity, but these two companies are very new to the Vancouver market and I really do not advise you to use them because half the time you would not get reception (a pain in the butt).

You're best bet IMHO is to go to Fido/Rogers/even Telus and ask them about prepaid simcards/phones.

Yazoo also mentioned about the 1700 frequency thing. This has changed now in Canada since Wind Mobile offers i believe 900.. I had a motorola droid from Hong Kong and I could only use edge(2g) on Fido/Rogers while I could use 3g on Wind. That's another thing you might want to look into if you do not want to buy a prepaid phone for another like 25 bucks.

Rogers have bought Fido years ago, so they are technically the same company. However, Fido I believe have friendlier rates than Rogers sometimes. Both companies offer Microsim cards that can be used in iphone 4s.

what about for Toronto?

i've been reading up on some of these prepaid SIMs, and it seems the minutes they offer are for calls within Canada and the US.what i'd like to know is, which of them is cost effective for SMS and calling International?

thanks in advance