Cell Phone Plans

[skidderman]

I didn't know wether to start a new thread or to revive a very old one. Seems to be a lot of talk about promotions with more data and not much if any difference than what I'm paying now. If AO members are willing to share are you making any moves and what seems to be working best. Currently with Virgin at $65 a month all in with 4 gigs of data. Phone is paid off. Looking for wisdom before I do something stupid. Not with Shaw anything so am thinking Shaw is not likely in the cards.

[esher]

Public mobile. Bare bones tellus.

[fishnguy]

$65 for 4 gigs is quite a bit. Koodo currently has 20 gigs for $40, from a quick look. Shop around and find something that fits your needs. $65 is way too mich for 4 gigs (should include the phone at that price, which it probably did and they never dropped it after it was paid off).

[pdog15]

Just went with Rogers on a seniors 55+ plan. Unlimited calls/texts in Canada but no data. $20/month. $50 hook up fee but $25 was waived by doing it via phone rather than in a store. They wouldn’t bundle it with Shaw home services. What a Zoo trying to keep up with all the offerings. I use Wi-Fi for data as the rates for data are atrocious.

[ak77]

Every service provider needs a kick in the groin every now and then. I'm with Virgin. Up until March i was paying about $75 for 10. And when i started it was $50 for 10. And new activations where advertised around town for $60 for 20. So i looked around, and Freedom had 20 for $50. I called Virgin tech support and asked if they can do anything. And they can. They always can. I ended up with 50 for $55 now.
Few things to keep in mind ..
1. Be ready to follow up on your bluff. I did the same thing few years back, agent in the phone didn't seem to be interested in keeping my business. So i quit and went with Freedom. Virgin called back in the few weeks and begged me to cover back.
2. Whatever you agree on, keep the agent in the phone until s(he) send you the new agreement. Go over it. Make sure it says what it should. When i called and talked to them in March what they put on the paper was waaay different from what we were talking about.
3. They will try to sell your the phone. You don't need a new phone to change the plan. Up to you if you get one, but some agents are quite aggressive pushing for the new phone. I had to get a bit nasty with them.

[Homesteader]

I’m still with Koodo, cell service has been good everywhere I’ve been including globally. $39 month, 20GB data, unlimited talk and text in Canada, and now they added unlimited texting from Canada to anywhere in the world but that’s no good for me till smokinyotes moves to Tanzania.

Anyway it definitely pays to shop around or rattle Virgins chain, because they just had the same offer. Be polite but firm, and if the agent won’t help, ask for the loyalty department. That or wait for Black Friday, but I’d act now, then check again Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

PS I buy my phones on the tab with Koodo when I want a new one. It’s a bit cheaper I feel. They’ll get you one way or another with a pay me now or pay me later scheme.

[Unregistered user]

^ same.

[barbless]

So from what I'm reading here, is that it is only one phone on the plan. What about a phone for your spouse? Same or different price? That of course you do have a spouse....

[waldedw]

Wife and I are with Bell, 10 gig data each, unlimited talk and text in Canada $55 / mo each phone, phones were promoed on a 24 month plan Samsung galaxy 10E phones, we are both due for an upgrade now but I haven't gone in to look yet what's available.

[fishinisgood]

Unlimited everything in Canada and 20gigs of data for $45.00/month. Phones paid off. Have three phones on same plan

[Sundancefisher]

If anyone does have shaw internet we have been happy with shaw mobile. Signed up a number of years ago at $25 a month, unlimited data, talk and text in Canada.

I think it’s $30 for new customers now. Any time another company tries to sell me new service I ask them to beat the deal and they say have a nice day.

For what people are paying it seems like you can sign up for shaw internet and still come out ahead depending upon how many lines you are needing.

We could have up to 6 lines.

[jpohlic]

Check the maps to see where the nearest cell towers are to your house. We had terrible service with Bell in SE Edmonton so we switched to Koodo (Telus). There are a multiple Telus towers closer to our place than the nearest Bell tower and service is much better.

My wife was with Shaw and couldn't make voice calls from Jasper Place high school, now with Koodo she can.

Sometimes it's not all about the $$$

[funkman]

Public Mobile.....$37/month....5 GB....never come close to using the GB.
Canada Unlimited text and calling

[Macdrizzle]

Originally Posted by Homesteader

I’m still with Koodo, cell service has been good everywhere I’ve been including globally. $39 month, 20GB data, unlimited talk and text in Canada, and now they added unlimited texting from Canada to anywhere in the world but that’s no good for me till smokinyotes moves to Tanzania.

Anyway it definitely pays to shop around or rattle Virgins chain, because they just had the same offer. Be polite but firm, and if the agent won’t help, ask for the loyalty department. That or wait for Black Friday, but I’d act now, then check again Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

PS I buy my phones on the tab with Koodo when I want a new one. It’s a bit cheaper I feel. They’ll get you one way or another with a pay me now or pay me later scheme.

40 bucks for 10 GB is a good deal. I'm 55/month month to month for 20GB which I never limit out on (Fido). Been a loyal Fido customer for over a decade now but I'm always on the hunt for cheaper. Does your 40/month include phone or month to month? How are you finding the reception when you go to fishing/hunting in the bush?

[JB_AOL]

Just make sure you're comparing apples to apples..

Most of those "sub-brands" are quoting u on LTE data not 5g.

[Macdrizzle]

personally I can't tell the difference between 4G and 5G speeds. Both are pretty instantaneous. Even on 3G I haven't had a video buffer on me.

[darlin]

Im with Telus. I pay $90 for 100gb of 5g data, unlimited slower data after that. I don’t have wifi at home or work and I like to use Spotify a lot. I only use the full 100gb up if I’m watching a lot of YouTube. Telus offered this plan after my first two yr contract was up. Before that I was paying $75 for 20gb high speed data, so it was an easy sell for them to upgrade me.

[CNP]

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/ab/plans#4G

[Homesteader]

Originally Posted by Macdrizzle

Does your 40/month include phone or month to month? How are you finding the reception when you go to fishing/hunting in the bush?

It does not include a phone, but you can sometimes negotiate a deal. I got my iPhone 11 when they first came out, paid $600 dollars believe all in. Just before Christmas they were giving away iphone 11’s with some very good plans. And just recently some decent Andoid phones for $1 per month. I declined because my 11 is still good, and my like it good enough.

Reception has been good, not perfect but it has been better than Roger’s. Koodo is owned by Telus and operates on all the same towers.

LTE only but I have zero issues with its speed. Some people actually don’t want 5G

[Pioneer2]

Is trash with many dropped calls and dead zones in Red Deer city for crying out load. Texts come back unable to send then when resent the recipient asks why you sent 6 of the same texts.Two bean cans and a string would be more reliable.Contract up in July and so is Koodo.With Govt tracking I'm dropping my cell.

[Homesteader]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

Is trash with many dropped calls and dead zones in Red Deer city for crying out load. Texts come back unable to send then when resent the recipient asks why you sent 6 of the same texts.Two bean cans and a string would be more reliable.Contract up in July and so is Koodo.With Govt tracking I'm dropping my cell.

Sorry to hear that for you, but my experience has been the exact opposite and I’ve been with them over a decade.

[vic1]

Did you try call Virgin? I suggest you do. They have much better plans now but if you don't complain they are happy to keep you on this old plan as well.

[Dean2]

Virgin Mobile, owned by Bell, use same cell towers as Telus but not same network. $39 a month, bring your own phone. 20Gig data, unlimited Canada call evenings and weekends and unlimited Canada wide text. Offer ended June 5th. (Pay attention to the call limited to weekends and evenings, this is one of the last that I know of that has this limitation)

Koodo has the same offer, still available till June 7th, but only applies to new clients, they won't extend it to existing clients unless you get a new phone number. The calls are NOT limited to evenings and weekends. For existing clients they have a $35 a month, 3 Gig of 4G data, unlimited Canada call, unlimited international text, $35/m. While 20Gig of data is nice, not likely many would ever use close to that. For my purposes 3 Gig a month would be plenty.

The Shaw free cell call and free text with the ability to buy data as needed at 1 Gig of data for 10 bucks good for 90 days, with surplus data rolling over, is no longer available since they were bought out by Rogers April 4, 2023. You can keep the ones you have but no new and no major changes to your existing plan.

[does it ALL outdoors]

Originally Posted by funkman

Public Mobile.....$37/month....5 GB....never come close to using the GB.
Canada Unlimited text and calling

Same here.

Hard to beat that price but their customer service is non existent, literally.

They have a forum where customers solve each others problems and if that doesnt work then they will kick you over to a Public rep, its straight up bazzar.

I got bricked out of my HotMail account associated with my Public account, big, BIG hassle! I almost lost my number of 25 years due to lack of customer service, had to get another SIM card and number just to get into the stupid Public portal. And the new number they gave came with a 625 area code, NOBODY would answer my calls thinking it was just a spam call. When I FINALLY got through to someone they were asking for an ungodly amount of information like exact date's and amounts of when I started with them, I dont know anyone that keeps THAT kind of detailed info, EXTREMELY frustrating! It took another friend acting as a liaison between us, again just bazzar.

So after all that ridiculousness I'm going to be switching over to Shaw Wireless.

If you have Shaw cable and Interweb (I believe?) you can get a Shaw Wireless account for FREE. Data is $10 a Gig and unused data rolls over to the next month, I can barely use 1 gig a month. So my new plan is going to cost me $10 a month. That's a little more my speed. I'm taking over a family members spot, as mentioned its no longer available to new customers. Too bad, that was a deal that couldn't be beat.

My days of paying $75 a month (with Bell) are LONG over with, cell phones are a COLOSSAL RIPOFF! No cell phone is worth more than $50 a month (to me)

https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/07/30/s...45-25gb-plans/

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by does it ALL outdoors

Same here.

Hard to beat that price but their customer service is non existent, literally.

They have a forum where customers solve each others problems and if that doesnt work then they will kick you over to a Public rep, its straight up bazzar.

I got bricked out of my HotMail account associated with my Public account, big, BIG hassle! I almost lost my number of 25 years due to lack of customer service, had to get another SIM card and number just to get into the stupid Public portal. And the new number they gave came with a 625 area code, NOBODY would answer my calls thinking it was just a spam call. When I FINALLY got through to someone they were asking for an ungodly amount of information like exact date's and amounts of when I started with them, I dont know anyone that keeps THAT kind of detailed info, EXTREMELY frustrating! It took another friend acting as a liaison between us, again just bazzar.

So after all that ridiculousness I'm going to be switching over to Shaw Wireless.

If you have Shaw cable and Interweb (I believe?) you can get a Shaw Wireless account for FREE. Data is $10 a Gig and unused data rolls over to the next month, I can barely use 1 gig a month. So my new plan is going to cost me $10 a month. That's a little more my speed. I'm taking over a family members spot, as mentioned its no longer available to new customers. Too bad, that was a deal that couldn't be beat.

My days of paying $75 a month (with Bell) are LONG over with, cell phones are a COLOSSAL RIPOFF! No cell phone is worth more than $50 a month (to me)

https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/07/30/s...45-25gb-plans/

My wife has that plan, she loves it and it costs her about 50 bucks a year for Data. No other costs. The data is actually good for 90 days, so if you are a low data user, total would be 40 bucks a year for cell phone with data. Even at 10 bucks a month if you use a GIG, still far and away the cheapest option around. Good part is unused does roll over so if you use way more data,, say during hunting season on Ihunter etc, then you get to burn it up then.

[skidderman]

Well maybe not perfect. Was with Virgin for $65.50 a mth for 4 gigs. I call Virgin and without any arm twisting the rate is dropped to $45 a month for 20 gigs. Certainly way better than what I had.

[dothepuff]

I've been using the Cell Phone Man for a number of yrs now and he has the best deals out there and he is legit!!! The whole family uses him now. I changed plans about a yr ago and am through Bell @45g/month (might be a bit more) for $65 a month! He's worth checking out if he has plans available.

[Homesteader]

Originally Posted by skidderman

Well maybe not perfect. Was with Virgin for $65.50 a mth for 4 gigs. I call Virgin and without any arm twisting the rate is dropped to $45 a month for 20 gigs. Certainly way better than what I had.

Much better. Go buy a cold sack of beer with the savings and enjoy, she's a warm one today!!

[jthoward11]

I'm not sure how much this will help, but I spent a couple months going back and forth with Telus. Their outside sales team had phoned me and given me an offer of $70/month with unlimited call/text/30gb data which would be shared, waived activation fees, and added an extra $15/month off my total plan because I have internet and TV. Long story short, I didn't accept the offer when they called, but I crunched some numbers moving over from a corporate plan and it started to make sense. Called back, no record of the offer was on file because it was from the outside sales team...2 months later and probably 20 phone calls I got the deal on 3 phones. Now my teenaged daughter can go crazy on data and I'm not paying overages.

[Macdrizzle]

I ended up searching up Koodo and they had a limited time $40/month for 20GB month to month plan (I'm currently paying for the exact same plan $55/month for 20GB with Fido). So I called Koodo and set up an account with them. I then called Fido to cancel my account and when they asked me why I'm cancelling I told them I got a better deal with Koodo. Fido then came back and offered me 35/month for the same plan. I said sure. Then I called Koodo and said don't bother sending the sims card because my current service provider out bid theirs. Koodo asked how much were they offering I said 35/month. So they transferred me to their loyalty department and they ended up offering me 30/month. I said deal.

Koodo sim card just shipped out yesterday

This thread just saved me 25/month (a 46% reduction in monthly phone bills) for the exact same plan I've been using from just a couple of phone calls so thank you.