I decided to ask the Mint folks what would happen if I roam into Canada without purchasing a Minternational Pass. The answer is that the line will basically be inert unless I’m on WiFi.
Given that the politest phrasing I can come up with for the cost structure of the Minternational Pass is barking insanity, at least as applied to Canada, I’ll rely on WiFi and either my BoostInfinite line, if it works in Canada, or an eSIM for data when away from WiFi.
Just another data point for the Mint crowd.
Canada isn’t a very competitive landscape, and I get it. Huge land mass to cover, much of it with sparse population. Rogers and Bell want to recoup their investment, and they’re very protective of their territory.
Does the Minternational Pass price vary depending upon the country one would use it in? It doesn’t look like it:
Airalo (and probably other similar markets for international data SIMs) is considerably more cost competitive albeit for data only and unless willing to employ workarounds 
, an eSIM capable phone is required.
On the other hand, depending upon phone, it may be possible to route Mint talk & text over the international eSIM’s data connection. It’s definitely possible with iPhone but Androids would need to support backup calling (not all Androids do so).
Given that I can buy a 1 week eSIM profile from Manet Travel for a bit over $5 for 1GB of data, the Minternational Pass is an absurdly bad deal for Canada. I’ll just make do with WiFi for my Mint number. I have tried forwarding to my various VoIP numbers, but it seems that Mint/T-Mobile will not forward to those. They all fail in various ways.
Since BoostInfinite has done some creative interpretation of permanent credits, I’m down to one line once I contact the retentions department there.
Yeah, Airalo is $6 for 1 GB lasting 7 days for Canada (and $6.50 for all of North America). The larger point I’m hinting at is Mint’s Minternational Pass is a lousy value generally not just for Canada.
So now for a bit less than I can get 1GB of data for a week for the whole North American market, I can get the same 1GB plus an hour of voice and a block of 60 messages from Mint for one day.
No.
I’ll let my technically-inclined friends know to use one of my VoIP numbers/WhatsApp/Viber/Signal/Skype while I’m in Canada. The non-technical types will just have to take their chances.
It would be nice to think that I had an effect on this, as I called Mint two days ago and explained that they weren’t selling me a pass because the pricing was a bit lacking in sanity. This was part of asking what happens if I cross without a pass. This can’t actually be the case, but the timing is amusing.
Now if that 3-day pass were a 7-day pass, the convenience of voice calling on my regular number might actually be worth the $10.
