 Poster: A snowHead
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Well we have taken the plunge, move away from Europe and take a holiday in Banff next time around.
We have always kept in touch with the kids via PMR radios in previous years and it worked reasonably well. I wonder what suggestions people might have for keeping in touch with family members whilst skiing in Banff? Better to use the Canadian version of PMR radios or is it possible to get mobile phone service up in the hills and go for a pay as you go sim card type approach. Any suggestions please?
Ta
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not sure about the radios but my brother has jsut finshed a season in whistler. The problem he found though was that he couldn't find sim cards by themselves. Him and his buddies ended up having to buy new phones as the sim cards were all built in to the phones. Seems a little odd to me but he swears he couldn't get hold of a sim by itself.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Cobra.., you can hire radios in ski rental shops. we got urs at the hire shop attached to the inns of banff
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The Rogers Wireless shop downstairs in the Mall does sim cards but they are pretty expensive and a pain in the ar*e to set up, got some automatic voice called Melanie. In Banff radios work across all the resorts, even cheapo ones travel pretty well, even from the front to the backside of Lake Louise which is quite a distance (you'll see when you are there).
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Assuming you're all on the same ski hill PMR isn't a great advantage as there are a number of places you can be and I wouldn't swear that you can receive a signal from the backside at Louise on the frontside for example. Far better to go to the old standby of rendezvous points. North American PMR is on a different bandwidth to Europe so European PMRs can interfere with Emergency channels IIRC.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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So it sounds like -
- sorting mobile phone comms can be expensive and a pain
- I knew that our Euro PMR radios are illegal over there so I was looking to buy Canadian legal handsets from ebay - it was this that prompted the question in the first place.
- It looks like renting a set when we get there might be the answer. We will take the risk of interrupted comms because of the mountain, its something we have put up with on previous hols.
Ta
everyone
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Hi,
Having spent last season instucting in big white I know a wee bit for the comms thing. As pointed out above the Canadian mobile services arent the best, in comparison to the UK it is very pricey, the cheapest phone that the good lady and I could find was $150cad, then you have to top up and melanie as noted above is a rite pain in the a55, she doesnt have the capibility to understand my scottish twang. Rogers as a network was ok but it even costs you to pick up a call so can work out expensive.
As for the radios. Well I would say that would be the best idea. We also had 2 2way radios, they are made by cobra and worked excellently, they have a range of 25km+ so there was no problem anywhere on the mountain.You can pick these radios up as a pack in Sportscheck (a big canadian sports retailer) mostly all citys have one. the radios were $90cad for the 2 and the charging dock. So if your going to buy the radios it would prob be cheaper to get them over there.
whatever you decide - have a good trip. I am very jelaous 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| el nombre wrote: |
| Not sure about the radios but my brother has jsut finshed a season in whistler. The problem he found though was that he couldn't find sim cards by themselves. Him and his buddies ended up having to buy new phones as the sim cards were all built in to the phones. Seems a little odd to me but he swears he couldn't get hold of a sim by itself. |
He didn't look very hard then.
Some carriers (eg: Rogers) are GSM and have a SIM card in their phones, and you can buy pay-as-you-go SIM cards on their own. Some carriers are not GSM (eg: CMDA) - and do not use a SIM card.
Both the Rogers store in the Marketplace and the 7-11 sell PAYG SIM cards on their own.
See below:
http://www.natives.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10959
Note that the GSM frequencies here are 850/1900, most tri-band phones only cover 900/1800/1900, so you'll only use the 1900 band if you have a tri band phone. Not a great problem in the metropolitan areas, but may be slightly limited up the mountains (in the depth of the valley etc.) to only have 1900.
The best option is to have a quad band phone GSM 850/900/1800/1900.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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veeight is right.
Cobra.., either option is feasible, however you will probably find the mobile phone choice a bit expensive for a holdiay (set up costs and charges etc).
Personally I find those radios damn annoying, and rarely work that well (here in Whistler they give you great coverage, but you seem to only get 3/5 or 4/5 transmissions)
Better to make rendezvous points, and give the kids cheap digital watches with an alarm set. when the alarm goes off, they have to go to meeting point A. if they are late, no skiing tomorrow for them.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Cobra.., Use a Euro model across the pond and the States frequency ones over here. Means no one else is compromising your channel 
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FAQ
thanks for the info 