[PhotoJim]

I think the issue Stu was recognizing was that Canadian providers tend to charge long distance charges when you are outside your local calling area. Canada, like the US, uses geographic numbers for mobile phones, but nationwide calling tends not to be included in the plans. There is evidence that it is coming, but it is not a tomorrow thing.

There are several new providers that will be offering service in the near future. Their native coverage will be UMTS 1700 (we expect). The first that will likely be online is Globalive (which uses the Yak brand but is heavily backed by the investors of the European Wind provider, so this could be Wind Canada - we don't yet know). The carrier promised a few days ago that it would have attractive, practical prepaid service and implied that it would be a lot more like European prepaid service than typical Canadian service. In fact, their focus is going to be on prepaid, which is very innovative here where postpaid is king. (Then again, if I lived in Europe I might use prepaid on a daily basis as well - the plans available are not at all unattractive.)

As of yet, there is no good data plan on prepaid for any provider. Rogers allows pay-by-the-kilobyte coverage but it's costly. US carriers are not much better in the GSM world. T-Mobile offers very basic restricted data only. AT&T has good wireless data on prepaid, but it does not permit roaming except in Mexico. (It won't even roam on the local providers in North Dakota or Montana, whereas T-Mobile will.)

You could get a postpaid account on a short-term basis (you may want to figure out what, if any, penalties you'll pay and factor them into the cost), or simply avoid using wireless data and stick to using WiFi.

(Stu: the Rogers deal is 6 gigs for $30 which is really a fantastic deal, but yes, it does require a three-year commitment. Still, I snapped it up. For my purposes, 6 gigs is as good as unlimited.)

If you can be patient, wait for the new providers. There will be a bunch (perhaps four or more).