I’m hoping this is the most frustrating part of the trip.
Both Hanika and I have unlocked iPhone 8s, bought outright from JB Hifi. I’ve used my in Canada and Thailand with new SIM cards without issue. After a bit of research I figured Verizon would be the best carrier for us given their service coverage and store locations.
We cruised into Vermont and went to the closest Verizon store we could. I paid $120 USD to set up two prepaid plans WITHOUT having any credit on my account. They wouldn’t accept payment in store and told me to call their 1800 number to finish the process.
6 hours later I still couldn’t activate my phone. By this time we were in another town and after an hour they said it was sorted and I should be good. They gladly took another $100 USD. Cash only though because they wouldn’t accept my USD credit card because it was from Canada (on a prepaid!). By the time we got to Chester it was clear things were not working as they should. I spent over an hour on the phone with Verizon and Apple, both blaming each other. Our phones were certainly compatible with Verizon (CDMA and GSM).
The next day I called back and got an assurance, though it was made abundantly clear it wasn’t a promise, that my $100 credit would be reimbursed. As for the $120 set up fees I’d have to visit the chain of stores I went to originally (resellers not actually Verizon). They refused to give me a refund over the phone for some garbage reason.
I finally gave up and went to AT&T and sorted us both out within 25 minutes for a fraction of the cost! They had no issue taking my credit card in store.
Over 6 hours and $220 wasted! Travelling without a phone these days in nearly impossible. We don’t have paper maps anymore and our van doesn’t have a built in GPS. We relied on free wifi from the parking lots of restaurants to load up Google Maps and download offline maps and the next set of directions.
Lesson learnt: Verizon sucks.