Pre-paid mobile service provider that does US to Canada and Canada to US?... [View all]

We live in NY on the border of the US and Canada. I have family I'd like to call in Canada AND I need to be able to call my husband and daughter from Canada if I want or need to.

Currently we have Straight Talk and reception/connectivity is spotty as heck to flat out awful. Since apparently we need to buy new phones by the end of this year I figure this is as good a time as any to switch to a better carrier and hopefully one that will actually work both ways over the border.

Anyway, I need a prepaid service of some sort. I really don't want to get into contracts but it's also because we paid off our mortgage and debts years ago, have avoided taking on more new and so have apparently committed the ultimate sin of having zero credit.

So is there a single prepaid provider who offers the service we need or do I have to have a different phones/service provider for each country? I read something about buying a SIM chip to use in one phone but, while I'm fairly competent with a PC, with cell phones I'm a bit lost tech wise.

I've tried Googling a bit but am not finding the info yet and am feeling a bit overwhelmed so thought I'd ask here for suggestions and input.

TIA