At this point, Straight Talk don’t really need all that much introducing, seeing as they have become a household name in the US. As it stands, they are also one of the biggest MVNO service providers in the US too.
This sets them apart from other service providers, as being a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, they don’t own their own towers. So, how they operate is that they rent towers from other operators that have them, then use these towers to broadcast their signal.
At the moment, Straight Talk are using towers from Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and others to facilitate their service.
Of course, with all of these towers carrying their signal, they have gained a reputation for being overall a decent and reliable service to go with. And, seeing as they don’t have to build their own infrastructure, their outgoings are reduced, meaning they can offer their customers better deals.
However, the downside of going with an MVNO provider over the more traditional kind is that there is a lot about them that the average person won’t know about. For example, one such thing is that these US MVNO carriers is that there are restrictions on how these entities work outside of the US.
So, seeing as so many travel from the US to Canada, we thought we’d clear up a few things about ‘how does Straight Talk’ work in Canada. Here’s what we found out.
The Straight Talk Unlimited International Service Plan
In general, the fact that Straight Talk is an MVNO actually doesn’t have that much of a negative effect on how it works outside of US territory.
Seeing as Straight Talk seem to offer some decent deals and seem to think of everything before it is a problem, they already have something in place for those who want to use their service who also travel reasonably often. The service we are referring to here is the Straight Talk Unlimited International Service Plan.
This plan is by far the best option if you are a frequent traveller or happen to use the phone to converse with customers abroad. The Straight Talk Unlimited International Service Plan is best for this because it allows you to use your service to call mobile phone numbers in Mexico, Canada, China, India, and loads of other destinations.
But get this… There is no extra charge for doing so. No matter what way you cut that, it’s still a great deal. There’s no extra contracts you need to sign up for either – just in case you were looking for the catch.
So, that’s calls to other destinations from the US sorted. But what about if you want to travel to Canada and use your phone as normal over there? Well, here is the low-down on how that all works.
Straight Talk Roaming In Canada; Does It Work?
Though we hate to be the bearers of bad news, it occasionally falls on our shoulders to do so. The one great disadvantage of deciding to go with Straight Talk for your communication needs is that the service doesn’t work the same when you are abroad.
The answer to this refers back to what we were talking about in the introduction, when we talked about how MVNO operators work. These services are able to transmit their signal only because they have rented towers from other communications companies to do so.
As it stands, Straight Talk have only moved to rent towers in the US, which means that they can’t provide their service anywhere outside of where those towers reach. So, that means that there is no roaming feature or anything else that can help you out here.
If you intend to split your time between Canada and the US though, we have some tips that could help you out in the long run and save you some cash. We also have suggestions on what to do if this is a one-time visit and you need to have a phone with you. Let’s start with those.
One-time visits to Canada – what to do about a phone?
If it is the case that you happen to be visiting Canada for a one-off visit and don’t want to waste time and money signing up for a new number, there is an easy way around this. The good news is that Canada will sell you temporary SIM cards that can be used for a short time and then discarded.
Essentially, they work in the same way as our disposable numbers. You can just use it for the duration of your time there and then simply stop using it once you’ve left. It isn’t a bill pay, so there won’t be any chance you can get any extra charges.
These SIM cards are also really easy to find. You can pick one up at the airport, for example. They can also be found in duty-free outlets where they are considerably cheaper. So, there you have it. A way of staying in touch with people while in Canada that won’t cost you a bomb.
Frequently visiting Canada – what to do about a phone?
If you end up visiting Canada quite a few times throughout the year and are a Straight Talk customer, you probably know by now that this situation isn’t exactly the best. There are two options that are available to you here.
You could either just get a second phone that uses a service that is compatible with roaming in Canada. Either that, or there is this much smarter (in our opinion) option – you could port your own existing number to a different carrier.
Of course, you will need to choose a service here that allows for roaming. Porting, though it may sound difficult, isn’t all that tough to figure out. There are plenty of decent guides online and it won’t take all that long.