I am going to Vancouver, BC for an overnight visit and need to meet up with friends. I just added international calling to my Cricket phone plan. Do I need to do anything else to get reception and make calls in Canada?
What about using Google maps in Vancouver, BC.
Google maps is quite reliable in Vancouver. Having said that, depending on the date you will be visiting, there will be road closures related to the FIFA World Cup games in June and July. There are also road closures and reduced traffic lanes/street parking related to the building of a new underground transport system (the Broadway line for Skytrain) and for various road works (sewer and water pipe upgrades). As a local I allow extra time these days to get to any appointment if I am driving. I don’t use Google maps enough to know how they update temporary road closures (or if they do at all).
I use Google maps for getting around Vancouver all the time, and they tend to be up to date about road closures and traffic.
I can't comment on the reliability of Google Maps for Vancouver, but in general they show road closures. However, A couple of years ago in my hometown of Melbourne, Australia, both Google Maps and Waze showed entries onto a major bridge during construction when there were delays of over an hour due to closures. The entries were closed and I had to navigate around the city to find a way to get where I was going. Google tried to keep diverting me back to the closed ramps. Luckily, I knew my way around but a tourist relying on maps would have been lost for the day.
Having said all that, there isn't much choice, and they should get you where you are going, but you should compare the route with Apple maps, just in case.
Google or Apple maps should work fine in Vancouver or just about anywhere else. I assume you're driving so wanted to mention that it's important that you NOT use the phone while you're behind the wheel, even if you're stopped at a red light, as you could get a distracted driving ticket. They're becoming increasingly strict about that here.
You should be fine. Google Maps works normally in Vancouver as long as your phone plan includes data roaming in Canada. I’d download offline maps too just in case because border areas can get weird sometimes.
