Canadian phones in Europe: what the Wireless Code guarantees and what to check

The rule that works in your favour

The Wireless Code is the CRTC's mandatory code of conduct for retail mobile services in Canada, and it applies to every network operator and every reseller. Its section F1, on unlocking, has two parts: any device a provider supplies for its service must be provided unlocked, and if a device is or becomes locked to the provider's network, the provider must unlock it, or give you the means to do it, on request and at no charge.

Unlike much of the Code, F1 covers prepaid as well as postpaid service. The CRTC's reasoning mentions travel directly: a customer who goes abroad with an unlocked device can put in another SIM and roam without contacting the provider first, which gives more ways to keep the bill under control. A European data eSIM is the current version of that other SIM.

When a Canadian phone can still be locked

The obligation has limits. In a later decision on the unlocking rules, the CRTC clarified that a provider only has to unlock, for free and on request, devices tied to an ongoing contract with that provider, whether fixed-term, indeterminate or prepaid. It does not have to unlock a phone for someone who was never its customer or has left, nor a locked phone bought from a third-party dealer or another provider, although the CRTC notes that many providers unlock for former customers anyway.

Mistakes happen too. The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) describes a postpaid customer who found out abroad that a local SIM would not work: the phone had been sold locked by error and was only unlocked eleven months after the sale. The CCTS found a breach of the Code and had the roaming charges reimbursed, but the trip was already over. Second-hand phones and phones bought outside Canada deserve the same check.

Checking the phone in your hand

On iPhone, go to Settings, General, About and look at Carrier Lock: No SIM restrictions means the phone is unlocked. On Android the menu depends on the brand, and our guide on checking whether a phone is unlocked covers the main ones. Then look for an EID on the same About screen; without one there is no eSIM, as explained in checking eSIM support.

Recent Canadian iPhones settle the eSIM question for you. Apple's Canadian specifications say the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo are activated with an eSIM and do not support a physical SIM, with two eSIMs active at once. A SIM card from a European kiosk will not go into those phones, so the travel line has to be an eSIM, installed next to your Canadian one. Our guide to travelling with an eSIM-only iPhone goes through the setup.

Questions for your carrier before you leave

• Is this device unlocked on your records? If not, please unlock it now, at no charge, under section F1 of the Wireless Code.
• Which European countries does my plan or roaming option cover, by name?
• Does a daily roaming option count towards the $100 monthly data roaming cap?
• Who on my account can agree to data roaming charges above the cap?
• How do I suspend the line quickly if the phone is lost or stolen abroad?

Get the unlock done and confirmed in the phone's settings at home, not from a hotel in Lisbon. The cap questions matter most on family accounts with several lines. The Code's own answers to the last three are below, so you can tell whether what you hear on the phone matches it.

The roaming alert and the $100 ceiling

Section E1 requires your provider to notify both the account holder and the device user, for free, whenever a device is roaming in another country, with the rates for voice, text and data. The CCTS expects a fresh notification each time you enter a roaming area, and you can opt out at any time. Read it on arrival: it is the price of using your Canadian line in that country.

Section E2 adds a ceiling: the provider must suspend national and international data roaming charges once they reach $100 in a monthly billing cycle, unless the account holder or an authorized user expressly agrees to pay more. The cap applies per account, not per phone, and the CRTC has reminded providers that it includes daily-rate roaming options with data and plans that let you use your phone abroad as at home. It covers data charges only, and it is not among the sections of the Code that apply to prepaid service.

Your Canadian number, a European data line

A data eSIM adds internet, not a number. Your Canadian line stays in the phone for calls, texts and the codes your bank sends, while the eSIM carries the data, and WhatsApp and iMessage keep your usual number. Set mobile data to the eSIM and turn data roaming off on the Canadian line, so it stays reachable without adding roaming data to the bill. The dual SIM guide shows where each switch is.

Snoozim's Europe pack covers 33 countries on one eSIM, the United Kingdom and Switzerland included, and only starts counting at its first connection there, so you can install it at home on Wi-Fi. If the phone goes missing, section F3 of the Code requires your provider to suspend the service immediately and at no charge once you report it; charges made before that call are still yours. More in lost or stolen phone abroad. In Europe, the emergency number is 112.