My daughter is a student in Montreal and this is what we did for her. No smartphone. No data plan. But we have her on our AT&T family plan using an unlocked phone. In Canada she has a plan with Fido that is month to month, lets her use her phone, and (we are told) can either be parked or terminated for the summer months. She swaps cards when she crosses the border. Simple. Effective. She has managed to loose two SIM cards already, but now she seems to have the routine down.

The other nice thing about this plan is that the other Canadian cell plans with the major carriers required a 3 year contract. Since those plans would be suspended for the summer months, she would have been under contract for her full 4 years of undergrad studies. Month to month looks sweet by comarison (even if Fido's network has gaps. Not in Montreal so far.)