Verizon Jet Pac Use In Canada? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

olderthandirt · RV-Dreams Family Member

Verizon Jet Pac Use In Canada?

Howard · Host

Nope. Verizon Non-phone mobile devices don't "roam" as far as I can tell. Not only did our JetPack not work in Canada, it doesn't work in Alaska unless we are on Verizon's system. Works in Juneau where Verizon has a tower, but it hasn't worked anywhere else in the Inside Passage. It should, however, work more places once we get to the rest of Alaska.

Best option is to use your phone on the Travel Pass and campground or other public Wi-Fi , unless you want to splurge on a Canadian hotspot which is hard to justify for just a couple weeks.

olderthandirt · RV-Dreams Family Member

Howard, I appreciate the confirmation. I've decided to use the installed WiFi Ranger as my secure gateway to available WiFi, campground or otherwise.

Hans

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

The prepaid Jetpacks do not work in Canada, but ones attached to a phone plan that includes Canada, like the Beyond Unlimited plan we have, do work in Canada. The exception is older Jetpacks like the 5510l, which do not support GSM like the 7730l we used in Canada. I will say we were unimpressed with using Verizon in both BC and Ontario, we seemed to be lowest priority and the service was very flaky, both on the phone and Jetpack. Those using T-Mobile and AT&T seemed happier with their Canadian service.

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

When we were last in Canada, we could not use our jetpack (because it did not support GSM, per Bill's above comment). However, we were able to use a phone as a hotspot. Different plans allow for different options -- but you may want to see if you can use your phone as a hotspot. Note: We do not have/use a prepaid plan.

gemert · RV-Dreams Community Member

We had the same experience in Canada. On the bright side we also had ATT unlimited hotspots and they worked great all the way through Canada and Alaska.

RonC · RV-Dreams Family Member

FWIW ... I have Canadian friends who speak very highly of T-Mobile hot spots in Canada.

olderthandirt · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have the Travel Plan for Canada on Verizon. It runs $5/day for any usage on that day, so not the most economical way for a hot spot. Unfortunately at my site (823) in Tunnel Mtn. Trailer Court, Banff, I do not have any WiFi. I am currently using the WiFi at MacDonald's in downtown Banff, which means I take the bus from the campground to Banff for accessing WiFi. You learn to make do with what you have.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I learned yesterday that with the new Verizon plans, the unlimited ones, the Jetpacks are an add on and only work in the USA. That means I was wrong on my earlier post. We took a day trip into British Columbia and our two Verizon phones worked and a text told us we had 500MB per day we could use. In our old shared plan the Jetpack worked in Canada, so I assumed it would work with our new plan. The last couple times we were in Canada on the shared plan the cell service on the phones was very flaky, but yesterday they worked fairly well. I can't tell if it is a difference in how the plan validates in Canada, a difference between our older phones and our newer Samsung S8+ phones, or Verizon made a different deal with Canadian carriers.