Everyone: A few options for everyone trying to go back and forth between US and Canada with their iPads.
First, I am a Canadian, who lives very close to the USA/Canada border. In fact I am so close I can see the AT&T signal from my Ipad. I go to the states often.
The next time you are in the states, go to an AT&T store and pick up a microsim from them. The website says they are $15, but you should be able to ask them to provide it to you for free. (I got 2 for free incase I break one.) Simply say it is for your new iPad. They may ask you for your AT&T mobile number, but simply look at them with a strange look, tell them you are Canadian and remind them that the iPad plan is un-contracted, and is setup right on the device, so you don't have a mobile account with them yet. Next, if you are ready to get your iPad connected to AT&T, go down to Walmart and purchase one of their prepaid visa cards. Put enough money in it to cover at least 2 months worth of service plus some extra for any transaction fees. Unfortunately you will need to have a computer handy. You need a computer simply to sync your iPad with itunes to initialize the microsim, and yes, you do need to be connected to the internet on this computer. (wifi coffee shop perhaps?) You will also need a friend in the USA with a real usa address which is within AT&T's 3g coverage area. Before you leave check the AT&T site to make sure his/her address is covered. I know this is a lot of work, especially if you are only going to be in the states for 2 weeks or so. The reason you need a friend is that your temporary visa card must be attached to a real address, and once you do this Walmart/greendot visa may send a real card to this address later. The reason you want to put some extra money into the visa card initially is to cover any taxes, as well as the monthly admin fee of the card if you decide to keep it more than the first month. Remember, you can always spend the balance of the card on something before you leave the usa so feeding it with more money is not a bad thing.
Now I said I would give you another option.
The other obvious option is not to bother with all of this and simply bring it along and use free or low cost wifi as you travel. Depending on where you are staying, Hampton Inns in the USA all have free wifi, as do a number of other hotel chains. Do some research. Getting back to the usa friend thing, if any of them are AT&T smartphone subscribers, you may be able to borrow their wifi account info and connect at over 20.000 wifi hotspots that AT&T offers.
Another option if you are a Bell Mobility subscriber and you have a smartphone under contract is to change from their $50 month smartphone combo plan to their $80 month smartphone/turbo stick combo plan. Yes even if you have a Bell iphone you can put your Bell Iphone in a non iphone plan. The only differences between the Bell $50 iphone plan and the Bell $50 smartphone plan is that the iphone plan has an free option you may have picked for 5 national favorite numbers, while the iphone plan does not have national 5 fav numbers, only 5 local numbers, but it does offer free wifi at Canadian hotspots such as starbucks. If you are a Bell DSL home internet subscriber you may already have the canadian wifi free already, so you may not loose this if you switch plans. So, back to the $80 plan. With this plan you are able to share 1Gb of Canadian data between your smartphone and a turbostick. Go into a bell store and again, ask them for a simcard but don't purchase or recontract on a new turbostick. Just change to the plan and the sim activated for it. Now with this sim in your iPad you can use Canadian data, and roam in the states with your iPad as well. Now keep in mind, roaming in the states with this plan will be $6 per Mb, but if you are aware of this and you use wifi whenever you can in the states your overcharges for US data should be lower than purchasing a 5gb plan from AT&T without the hassle of buying a US credit card, asking friends and family for their info or having to bring your laptop to activate a AT&T sim card which you also have to get. Again, roaming can get costly. So, if you are in the states for a month, get a USA AT&T simcard and plan. For small trips, use a roam-able turbostick sim plan from your Canadian carrier. Telus and Rogers have simular turbostick plans but currently at $30/month they don't allow you to share your data with your smartphone, and only include 500Mb of canadian data. At least with Bell you are able to share this 1000Mb between your phone and your "turbostick". Again, DON'T contract a new service. if any of the Canadian providers hand you a free turbostick you have just entered into a new contract. Don't contract this service. You want to be able to turn off this plan at anytime. You are trying to get access to the occasional ability to roam in the states. Don't do youtube on your iPad unless you or on wifi in the states. Keep the roaming selector in the iPad in no-roam until you really need to be connected. If you are a Bell smartphone subscriber, you will be able to drop your plan back down to the $50 month option next month, and then purchase whatever Canadian non-roamable iPad plan from Rogers, Bell or Telus again. Telus Ipad plan actually does allow for US roaming at $3/Mb but at the $20/month plan it has 500Mb per month is $5/month more than the Bell or Rogers. Telus also allows you go go over.
The Telus data plan, as compared to Rogers and Bell, is an odd one. At $20 for 500MB, the Telus plan provides much more value than the entry level $15/250MB from Rogers or Bell. However, Telus has an overage fee.
On Telus, what this means is each megabyte above 500MB is charged at $0.05/MB to a maximum of 5GB. That can get really expensive, really fast as compared to Rogers/Bell. However the Telus overage fee is capped at $30 per month.
In other words, while initial 500MB Telus data plan costs $20, customers may end up paying more than $20 and up to $50 (with the extra data used) instead of $20 per month since customers will pay for each additional megabyte over 500MB (if you go over your given data amount).
In effect, this means that for 5GB, Telus charges $50. As Telus has confirmed that the data cap is 5GB, we can say that Telus will charge $50 (capped dollar amount) for 5GB (capped data amount). Rogers/Bell offer $35 for 5GB. Customers who exceed 5GB will have to purchase another data plan or top-up again to continue using data.
Lastly, before you go to the states, bring your iPad to Canadian customs and have them give you a greencard for your new device. They write down the serial number of the device and stamp a green card which you can keep with you and the iPad while traveling. This way when you return, if they ask you about your new shiny iPad your child is playing with in the backseat while you come back you can prove to them you had it before you left and you won't be expected to pay taxes on something you already own. This is a good idea to do for any major personal electronics you may travel with such as expensive cameras, laptops or as I suggest your new iPad.
So, in summary:
Option 1: If you are with Bell today with a smartphone, consider adding $30 to your bill to share data between your iPad and smartphone and be carefull with roaming.
Option 2: If you are not with Bell, using Telus ipad plan, being careful with roaming for the month that you will be travelling may work for you. But Telus is more expensive both at 250/5Gb Canadian plans when normally at home.
Option 3: Pick up a USA sim card and do the USA credit card dance if you are going to be in the states for 2 or 3 weeks or so, and you don't also mind dragging your laptop along and getting friends to assist.
Mike
