Canadian Cell phone

I already had an unlocked phone that had been unlocked by ATT when I traveled to Asia. I don't think that ATT does that service any more. My main phone was not unlocked but it is legal to have it unlocked. There is an online service that unlocks the phones:
http://www.cell-unlock.com/

I paid $25 for the unlock code for my phone. They send you the unlock code, then you insert the foreign sim card and the phone asks for the unlock code. Type in the code and hit enter or OK and the phone is unlacked and able to be used with another provider.

ATT phones and T-Mobile phones are GSM which is the same network as most of the world but Canada, like the USA has many providers that use another network. In Canada, Roger's Cellular is on the GSM network. I believe that there is one other provider in Canada that also uses GSM.

We were too late on Thursday to get to the Rogers store. I needed to buy a sim card and then minutes for that card. As it turned out, though I didn't find out until Friday, Walmart sells sim cards and minutes. The cost for the sim card was $39 and I bought $20 worth of air time. I had to call Rogers using the Walmart phone department phone in order to activate the sim card and minutes. There were several prepay plans, none of them were particularly good deals. I opted for the 25 cents for the first 5 minutes, 15 cents thereafter + 60 cents per minute to call the USA. I am using the phone for just text massages and toll free numbers (though I think I still have to pay local air time). I do have to pay air time when DH calls me. :(

My intention is to use the phone for emergency calls, text messages and toll free numbers. It took me 3 phone calls and a total of 35 minutes on the phone to get the text feature and the phone to work. But it is working now and unlocked and the sim card works in both my unlocked phones. If the price of the sim card were less, I would have bought another sim card, but one will have to do.