I just got back from one of my Canada trips, and have some interesting results on cellular access.
First, after 4 or 5 years, Boost has finally gotten Canada roaming working on my line.
Note that I am using a 4G phone.
On crossing the border, Mint needed about 5 minutes to get a connection going. Boost needed something over 10. Given that I was driving, precision timing is not available.
Now on to actual usage.
Apart from the service break while crossing the border, Mint roaming in Canada is completely invisible. The carrier indicator remains “Mint” and there is no roaming flag. Everything just works. All apps that I could test work, data flows, calls come in and go out, I can use a VPN.. The data indicator would occasionally switch from LTE to H or H+, but I could not see a performance impact.
Performance was sometimes lagging, but I don’t put much on that as I was at an event with around 40,000 other people.
Now, on to Boost. After it finally got a connection going, things mostly worked. The roaming flag was on and the carrier indicator said “Roaming”. Data performance was reasonably snappy, for the things that worked.
I made some test calls which worked. My language training apps were blocked. My location-based game apps worked. YouTube apps, including the official one, did not work. YouTube was only usable via a browser. My VPN did not work.
I have very little use for hotspotting, so this was not tested for either carrier. (Test hotspotting or go to the Lame Anime panel…hmmm.)
For those who may not have read this entire web site from end-to-end, there are some details you should know.
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Mint mobile includes unlimited voice and text messaging while roaming in Canada on all plans. 3GB/month data is also included. Unless something is broken on your account, there is nothing to activate, apart from enabling data roaming on your phone. Just cross the border, wait a few minutes for the connection to happen, and go about your trip. I was unable to find limits on this portion of the service, but figure it for occasional use.
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On Boost, North America Connect is an add-on, which was $10/month the last time I checked. Unlimited voice and test with 5GB of data are included. Usage is limited to 50% of service averaged across a few months.
You will need to asses your needs against the available information, but for someone who needs roaming in Canada a few times a year, the baked-in nature and effective invisibility of roaming are points in favor of Mint service. Boost has the issue of charging for the service, and roaming is anything but invisible. The various application blocks could well be a deal-breaker.
For me, Mint will be my primary service while in Canada, with Boost reserved for when I hit a dead spot on Mints’ Canadian partner.
