[idearat]

Hi folks.

I'm going to be sailing in BC for 6 weeks, and looking for a low-cost way to have occasional internet access from my laptop to check email, pay bills, and whatnot. We have a cheap pay-as-you-go cellphone from Virgin ($100/yr, with rollover; we're currently over $200 on account), and it looks like they have a stick option... $79 to buy the stick, and "$45/mon or $45/gb". Not sure whether the $45/gb is time limited.

I'm wondering if there are cheaper options. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help...
Perry.

 

[topherpaquette]

If your going to be in ports or towns every night just use Wi-Fi on your laptop.

$45/gb on a mobile stick it a lot. On my mobile stick I have a $30 a month plan for 5/gb.

Maybe $45/gb is the going rate for PAYG. Check other providers websites and see what they offer. If not, like I said use Wi-Fi when ever your are in a port or city and see what you can get.

Best of Luck

 

[idearat]

Out here it's wilderness sailing... we stay away from marinas and towns and anchor out in secluded bays most of the time. In six weeks we might hit towns twice. There is pretty good cell coverage for much of the coast, though.

Maybe it's just me, but I find the provider web sites really hard to interpret. I don't deal with this stuff, I've never had a data plan and barely use my cell phone, and I'm looking for a minimalist option... which is not what they typically highlight on their sites.

 

[TorontoColin]

What does the $45/month get you? Do you know who has that coverage where you are? In BC I would assume Telus, but do you know if it's their CDMA network or the HSPA network?

 

[idearat]

Appears to be $45 per month or 1gb, whichever comes first. CDMA.

Looks like Rogers has a HSPA stick (I'm assuming that's the latest / greatest?) with plans from $10/100mb/30 days... but it costs $150. So $80+45/mo Virgin, or $150+10/mo Rogers. Haven't checked Telus yet.

As always, they do make it complicated.

 

[noelk]

I'm in a bit of a similar, yet different position, but had a thought related to your dilemma....and maybe someone else would have a view whether this would even work.

It seems a big factor for you should be somehow taking advantage of the existing $$$ credit you have with Virgin (which I assume is on their prepaid service). One option would be to purchase an Android smartphone that could also be used as a mobile hotspot, either an unlocked phone plus add a Virgin SIM card, or buy one directly from Virgin. You should (but verify first) then be able to carry your old phone number and balance to this new phone.

Virgin lists that they have a data package for smartphones at $25/mo for 500MB of data, but its only listed for their postpaid accounts...I wonder if they offer such a plan for prepaid accounts (Telus recently started to offer data plans for prepaid accounts).

I suppose another option would be to see if Virgin would convert the credit on your prepaid account to a credit on a postpaid account.

 

[TorontoColin]

Virgin will give you a really hard time about transferring balances from prepaid to postpaid, but it can be done. They do not yet offer prepaid data on HSPA, though it's coming "soon."

 

[idearat]

Thanks for the suggestion... good thought. I'll talk to Virgin and see if I can work something out.

Cheers...
Perry.