Choosing a Canadian cell phone and plan

Hi everyone :)

My Japanese girlfriend and I are heading to live in North America at the end of June (she in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and I in Seattle, WA, USA) and she wants to choose a good cell phone and plan for Canada. Ideally she'd like to have similar features as the ones she enjoys in Japan, such as a true e-mail system with notifications, etc.

I know a little bit about what's available in the US, but I know next to nothing about Canada in this regard.

My first question is, are there any phones she can buy in Japan that will work in Canada (SIM card swap maybe?) that would retain the Japanese features? If it helps at all, she likes the AU brand in Japan and has an AU phone. I can find out which one it is if anyone thinks it might work.

One of her biggest concern is whether or not she'll be able to send and receive e-mails with her friends and family that are in Japan. The ability to receive notifications is important.

The second thing is, would a Japanese phone be compatible with Canadian text messaging / mobile email services?

I'm sure there are more issues than I've brought up and that I just don't know about. If anyone has any info I'd really appreciate it! :)

Thank you,

Wes

Hi Wes,

I live in Vancouver and have had many Japanese friends come here and have had the same questions.

Tell her to get a cel phone locally. It's going to be wayyyyy cheaper. Unfortunately, cel phone tech and options here are wayyyyy behind that of Japan, that's for sure. She will be able to send text and that kind of stuff depending on the plan and company but it will can be expensive.

As for companies, it really will depend on what she wants. My guess is probably to go with Bell or Rogers. But seeing as she'll be here (I'm assuming to study), it'll be easy for her to talk to any of the literally 1000s of Japanese downtown, asking them about their own cel plans.

Anyway, hope that she enjoys her time here. Most Japanese certainly do. :)

does anyone know the number combo to text from tokyo to canada?? a friend of mine in tokyo keeps trying to text me here in canada and i don't get them.....was hoping to help him out....

What's your carrier and your friend's carrier?

I'm in Vancouver as well and love Japanese phones. They don't work here as they are on a different system even though we have SIM technology.

If she likes the look of Japanese phones, her best bet is to buy an unlocked phone online such as ebay. I believe phones from all other Asian countries work here. I have a Softbank HTC from Hong Kong which I got online and I guess distributed in Japan so the keyboard features are in Japanese. If she wants to buy an asian phone in store, have her to go Richmond where there are tons of asian malls and cell phone providers.

As for having similar features, it's very very limited here as everyone else has stated. Regarding email alerts are you referring to Blackberry like feature? If so, you'd have to get the feature in addition to your monthly phone package. It's very expensive. She could check out Fido and Rogers, they are the most flexible with SIM technology. Not sure about Rogers but Fido offers the "blackberry like" feature. In any case, we are very behind here in North America. I hope we catch up one day soon!

not sure what his carrier is but i use telus. i can text him by using the same number i phone him with. but his msgs don't come thru and i am not sure what the problem is...

using Fido is the way to go, if you can get an unlocked phone from Japan bring it to a Fido dealer and there SIM will fit right in and work, depending what system the phone uses. I would stay away from Rogers.