Will american prepaid phone work in canada?

Question

Im on a payasyougo plan with rogers, id like a newer phone, and my friend is visiting the states soon, and I want him to pick up a nice flip phone for me cuz theyre like 20-30 bucks cheaper.

Problem is that theyre perpaid phones are branded by trakphone or verizon like these:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=w376g&searchSection=All&go.x=0&go.y=0

or

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8627881&type=product&id=1194050793433

If i get one of those, can i just put my rogers sim card into it and start using it?

Answer 1

Trakphone and Verizon will not work with Rogers, you need to use a phone that will take a sim card like ones made by ATT or T-mobile. Problem is neither of these carriers will unlock a prepaid phone.  

Answer 2

Unfortunately this won't work.

Trackphone, Verizon, and Virgin Mobile are both CDMA whereas Rogers uses GSM.  Your SIM won't work on these phones.

AT&T Mobility has GSM Go-Phones, but they are locked to work only on AT&T's network, so your SIM won't work there either.  You could try to unlock the phone but its probably not worth the effort.

If you are very cost sensitive, you may want to consider a refurbished or a second-hand phone.  You can get a newer model that has a lot more features than your basic prepaid phone, and you can buy it unlocked so that your Rogers SIM will work in it.  eBay is a really good place to look--  just search for "unlocked GSM phone".  You'll see a big selection.