Quote:
Originally Posted by eltodesukane
If you got Freedom in Ottawa, can you travel to Montreal and still use the phone?
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Yes. Freedom's network itself covers the major urban centres of Southern Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, but in the rest of Canada, it switches to the "Nationwide" network, which is roaming on all the other providers networks. A Freedom phone automatically switches on and off of Nationwide as you enter and exit Freedom's coverage area. Your phone lets you know in the status tray when you're in Nationwide (in Android, a little triangle or an "R" symbol for roaming appears above the bars). If heading to Montreal on the 417, the switch usually happens around the Boundary Road exit.
Freedom plans give you unlimited talk and text when on Nationwide, but they do limit your data. The cheap Freedom plans don't give you any data at all in Nationwide (charging you a fee per megabyte), but the medium-to-high end ones give you a fixed amount of data you can use on Nationwide.
By default, the Android software automatically disables the data connection (but leaves the talk/text part of the network enabled) when you enter Nationwide, to prevent accidental use of data that could result in charges. You have to manually set your phone to use data in Nationwide if you want to.
One really cool fact: When in Nationwide, Freedom actually has the best rural coverage of any network, because Nationwide combines every network. Nationwide will connect to whichever Rogers, Bell, Telus, Videotron, or SaskTel tower has the strongest signal, so in rural areas, Freedom subscribers actually have the best network quality.