After waiting on hold for nearly 30 minutes I am more confused than ever. I wanted to know if I could buy a local sim or sim&phone and have my Koodo number forwarded to a local Aruba phone # and apparently that is not possible. The main reason I am considering a local sim/phone is for 2 phones @ $12/day x 60 days it'd be a $1,440 phone bill.
However then I was reminded of the $150 cap on the easy roam international billing. I asked what happens after that, the person on the support phone call said the phone will not work after that??? I could have swore that normally it'd just keep working as if you had easy roam (at least I thought it did in the US). If you have unlimited call/text and 1gb on your normal plan you'd continue to have that even after the $150 cap? I need some clarification. I don't want a $1,440 phone bill.
Yes, once easyroam reach $150, you don't have to pay more and you can continue to use your plan with easyroam.
Also, note that the $150 is on top of your normal rateplan so it would be $150 + your rateplan (for that roaming billing cycle).
If you have unlimited call/text and 1gb on your normal plan you'd continue to have that even after the $150 cap? I need some clarification. I don't want a $1,440 phone bill.
You don't have a cap on your data/minutes (included in your Canadian plan) while roaming . The cap is on the cost of roaming.
So it will continue to function as if I have the $12/day easy roam international on the plan I just will not have to pay for it beyond the $150 mark and since i have unlimited text/talk+1gb in Canada it will continue to work as if I have Easy Roam International applied even though it won't charge me anymore?
You got it @Dinh! Once the $150 cap is reached, @KellyB will still be able to use her services without incurring additional roaming charges for the bill cycle. Once the bill cycle restarts, so does the $150 cap.
Another important specification I would like to make is that the $150 cap doesn't include any overage you may incur.
For example, if you exceed your 1GB of data while away, you will still be subject to the standard overage rates of your plan.
That's reasonable as long as its at the same rate as it is here (not at international roaming rates without Easy Roam).
You arrive on the 4th and start day 1 of your EasyRoam. Your cap kicks in on the 16th, so you've racked up $150 in Easy Roam charges so far.
You continue to use it freely until your next cycle starts on March 17th, at which point is day 1 of your next EasyRoam days, and you cap out on March 29th, meaning another $150 in EasyRoam bringing you to $450. The rest of your trip in this case would be covered freely after this 3rd cap is hit.
With this example, you'll hit the cap 3 times due to how your trip dates align with your billing cycles, meaning a total of $450 per line on top of your regular monthly plan changes (and any overages, as @Chris Koodo pointed out). Then multiply that by 2 for your 2 lines and you're at $900 + regular monthly plan changes and any overages.
While this is still a lot cheaper than the $1,440 you mentioned, it is still a large sum of money you will be paying for the service. You might still want to consider getting a couple of local prepaid SIM cards and 2 months of service. You can forward your calls to a free Fongo number based in Canada and use the app over WiFi or mobile data provided by the local SIMs to receive your calls as normal.
@Dennis yeah this is a "worst case" scenario, really. But since the OP was talking about using all 60 days and worried they'd get an uncapped bill for $1,440 + monthly plan charges and any overages, I assumed they plan to use it daily.