Do you have a separate cell?

[Stormrider]

This article over at the Globe and Mail site got me thinking that bringing up the issue of having a separate cell for this hobby is pretty much a must.

Border agency asked for Canadians’ telecom info 18,849 times in one year.

For those that havent thought of separating their day to day phones with their hobby phone, just remember that if they make the connection of who you are calling they can make your entry into the US difficult if not impossible.

So the question is who is providing service to your 'burner' phone? I currently have a pay as you go from 7-11.

 

[bcneil]

Yes I have a pay as you go pooning phone from 7-11
I also have a work cell and a personal cell.
As well as a pay as you go American cell, that I use on vacation.

Whenever I go to Vegas I only take my American phone. Its paid for itself many times over.
If some border guard wants to snoop at what restaurants or poker rooms I called, no big deal.

 

[Stormrider]

They even are allowed to confiscate computers,cells and ask for the passwords.

 

[Chef99]

The "issue at hand" is starting to diverge here. Stormrider is referring to an article that states CBSA routinely requests info from Telecoms. It appears that such info is along the lines of basic "who owns what account" type stuff. It does not specifically state that they want to see and analyze who you're calling or texting. Personally, after reading the article I would not be making the connection that they would be trying to make a connection of you to this hobby. I think they have bigger fish to fry.

However, L2LP introduces another issue which is: when you are personally at the border, what do they actually want/demand to see. That's a whole different can of worms.....

 

[hornygandalf]

For an anonymous, pre-paid phone service, the 7-11 SpeakOut service is worth looking at. I have one for my son and it is pretty low cost.

 

[hornygandalf]

Are you forced to use it within a time limit ? Or can you " buy " air time and use it ......whenever?

You have 1-year to use the time, and you can get it in blocks of $25 ($28 after tax). There is about a $1 monthly service charge. Still, anonymous and low cost if you don't use it often.

 

[bcneil]

You mean they demand to search through your cell phone (ie - contact #'s / who are you calling / texting ) when crossing the border ? Really ?

Yeah, once coming back from Amsterdam, I got stopped. The 20 something kid working at the booth, thought it was very suspicious that I went to Amsterdam, but only stayed 6 nights.
He couldn't fathom why someone will travel that far for a few days. He looked through my phones pictures, and even had questions about a few, that were all taken months prior and in Canada.
But he had no interest in even looking at my actual camera, where I had taken over 100 pictures on my trip. They never even looked in my carryon, but I was there over an hour.

 

[newtothis]

I've been using a 7-11 speakout phone as my 'burner' phone for a few years now, and like hornygandalf says, you can go with the minimum $25 block and it's good for the year. Pretty good deal that saves so much potential headache that can come up with using a personal (or worse, a work) phone.