I’m soon coming over from the UK for a week or so, and I’m wondering if anyone knows if the upgraded cell phone network will now allow my cell to work when in Rupert… Last year, everything worked fine until I left Vancouver, then nowt in Rupert!
Im sure I could cope without it, but it would be a struggle!!!
Hi
The Citywest network will likely still not support your phone as it is a cdma based network whereas most european phones are gsm based. That’s the bad news… the good news is that Rogers is now also servicing PR and they are the only large canadian GSM carrier.
So odds are you will be connected when you come this time.
Actually on the subject of international mobility… I lent my daughter my cell phone when she went to NYC and she was unable to get any connectivity in NYC or Washington DC. Now my phone is an old telus phone on Citywest’s network but it struck me as very odd that with the new Bell arrangements in place that roaming agreements wouldn’t be in place with carriers in those two states.
The other annoyance she experienced is when the phones didn’t work, she tried to call home collect and the operators were unable to find any arrangements in place with CityWest so she wasn’t even able to call home collect. I was astonished to hear that this problem (Supposedly rare according to CITYWEST) does happen from time to time.
Has anyone else experienced these types of situations when they travel? I’m curious whether these are as rare as our telco makes them out to be.
It is not a rare occurence to not be able to call home collect. Something about Telus and City West. If you are a Telus ld customer then no issue, but if you are a CityWest LD customer then you have to jump thru many hoops in order to be able to call home collect. I to gave my child the cell phone while in Alberta, same thing very irritating to say the least. Now I just give him a calling card works way better. Even though I jumped thru hoops to sort out the LD problem it still happens way to frequently. Also … anyone else get lots of dropped calls this weekend, and a msg when you tried to dial out "I’m sorry all circuits are busy’ ARRGH City west better get fixing this problem.
[quote=“Speakuppr”]Has anyone else experienced these types of situations when they travel? I’m curious whether these are as rare as our telco makes them out to be.
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I’ve had the same situation, ironically, on Bell’s network. This was years ago, though. They had no idea what Citytel (at the time) was, or why I should be allowed to roam on their network.
It should be fine now, though.
I’ll bet the problem is that you have a phone that still advertises itself as a Citywest phone, and not a Bell phone like the newer ones.
[quote=“Grockle”]
I’m soon coming over from the UK for a week or so, and I’m wondering if anyone knows if the upgraded cell phone network will now allow my cell to work when in Rupert… Last year, everything worked fine until I left Vancouver, then nowt in Rupert![/quote]
If it worked last year in Vancouver, it should be fine in Rupert. Your phone is GSM, so it will be on the same Rogers network that worked in Vancouver.
Thanks Mig… This may have been the issue with my cell phone when my daughter tried to roam in the eastern US but as she wasn’t able to get roam access, she had to use a land line to try to call home. In the end, she did purchase a calling card. I guess my concern is that calling collect on land lines is pretty ancient technology. While this may be the fault of other carriers that don’t know what a city west is… it’s just one more example of the difficulties faced by residents and businesses in Prince Ruper when they rely on CityWest.
Cool! Thanks for the info! Now all I have to do is try and justify the extortionate data roaming charges, and remind myself that sending all those txt’s is going to cost me a fortune!
Shame I cant just stick a Canadian SIM in my UK iPhone yet 
Why not?
If voice and texting is all you want, just buy a SIM when you get here. You can get a pay-as-you go SIM from Rogers and Fido. 7-11 and PetroCanada also have pre-paid service, but they won’t sell the SIM separately.
Trouble is, the iPhones locked to the one network here in blighty! I could jailbreak it, but Im loathed to do that before I get my new one next month… come to rely on the damn thing too much to risk breaking it!
Suppose I could just bring a normal phone and drop in a PAYG sim (have Rogers got a store in Rupert, or would I be best to try and pick one up at Vancouver Airport?), and then just use the free wireless in the hotel for email etc… but I love the whole iPhone, 1-gadget-fits-all idea!!
Not sure but I think that if you dial the roaming number according to the list then the number you want to call should work? Never tried it before so just passing on the info that I got from Citywest and my cell is only 2 months old MIG should it be okay? I dont use many of the features unlike my nearly teen, but I did get it for staying in contact. NOT WORKING very frustrating thanks for all your info you are like a walking enclopedia! You must have lots of rems in your sleep!
My iPhone has a 7-11 Pay-as-you-go SIM in it, and previous to that it had a Fido SIM, and before that it had an AT&T GoPhone SIM in it 
It’s not that difficult to unlock. It’s basically a one-step procedure these days.
But don’t they have to be activated at purchase?
I just walked into an Apple store and bought it.
You may not even have to unlock it, depending on how the version 2.0 firmware goes. Since Rogers and Fido will both sell the iPhone, technically any Rogers/Fido/7-11/PetroCan SIM will work just fine.
That’s how I used mine (with an AT&T GoPhone SIM) before I unlocked it.
The only problem I had with my Rogers GSM phone in the US was when I was only using pay as you go…wait…it didn’t work in Vegas in 2006, but later that year it worked in NYC…weird.