Author Topic: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?  (Read 3164 times)

MrsPB

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Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« on: December 04, 2016, 11:49:14 AM »
I'm currently with Rogers and have been for around 7 years. My current 2 year term is up in a few months and I'm looking around for better deals, potentially with another provider. I'm in Nova Scotia and so I think most if not all the major players have coverage here so it comes down to deals and service basically. I've always had great service with Rogers and have a loyalty plan which seems fairly comparable to other Rogers plans except I get a better deal on a phone upgrade (although I'm still doing comparisons). I'm sorting through plans from places like Koodo and getting my head around all the different ways they charge. I'm looking at probably getting a 2 yr plan but who knows, I do want to upgrade my device when my plan is up though, but not to the most recent phone. I don't need huge data, I use only around 200mb a month. Anyone got any feedback on various companies out there as I wade through all the plans and info online?
« Last Edit: December 04, 2016, 12:17:42 PM by MrsPB »

Goldielocks

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2016, 02:13:15 PM »
Rogers is horrible for service in NFLD except St.John's, and any non-urban area in canada, IMO. 

MrsPB

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2016, 02:31:58 PM »
I'm in an urban area and travel minimally. No plans to move any time soon but thanks for the info, it's helpful to think about where that might be an issue for me in the next couple of years.

WackyTomato

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2016, 09:29:59 PM »
Compared to other countries, we Canadians get screwed SO MUCH for all telecom products

dess1313

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2016, 12:51:55 AM »
sometimes the next province may have better rates.  here in manitoba we set up a phone for my friend's son, with a manitoba number who moved to NS for school.  Was almost $20 or 40 cheaper.  Have you considered buying your own phone?  sometimes your rate can consist of $10 or $20 for just phone costs.  Have you shopped at costco?  they have a fantastic warranty plan where it was $99, and a $50 deductible if anything happened to it they would replace it.  even water or dropping damage.

MrsPB

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2016, 02:03:03 AM »
Wackytomato-I know! Urghhh, grinds my gears! Don't even get me started on how our home internet is $85 a month in NS 🙄

Dess1313-thanks for the tip! I hadn't considered Costco for devices, I will take a look.
Right now with the main providers, the best plan rate is about $45/month plus tax with around $600 down on a device and a 2 yr term but I expect prices for devices to drop in the new year. I have seen BYOD plans for less like you said, and my current 5c is paid off bar $40, but I'd like to upgrade to get a better camera as I use it so much (I have young kids and the pics are valuable to me) and value if highly. Also, the battery sucks on it. I'm not looking for the latest model, the 6 looks good and maybe Costco has that.

dess1313

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2016, 04:37:57 AM »
if you are not adverse to androd, costco also sells samsung phones as is.  they're the samsung ace or something like that, and based off i think the samsung galaxy 5 i believe.  That's a lot up front, here its 100-300 for some phones but it depends on the storage and stuff too.  what specific phones were you looking at?  android or apple?  how many gigs in your plan? 

I had my LG die on me.  Called the warranty plan, they had a phone mailed out to me priorirty took 2 business days.  luckily i had access to an older phone i put my sim card into.  always hang onto your older phone even if its not great, take it traveling instead of your new one sometimes.


MrsPB

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2016, 05:05:17 PM »
I'm probably going with iPhone for a variety of reasons but have not fully decided yet. My current plan of $50/month plus taxes gets me 500mb data, unlimited Canada wide 5pm to 8am, 500 daytime minutes plus VM, caller ID etc. It's decent. I only use 100-200mb data and I never use up my daytime minutes so was considering going to Fido or Koodo who offer data in smaller chunks. Once I add all the bits together though, it's a similar price for less data/minutes than I have now. I hate cellphone plan shopping. My husband can add me on his Telus share plan but it's $60/month for me so makes no sense except I have to factor in some credits they are offering to bring me over. More math to do...gah!
In terms of phone memory, I want 32 or 64mb due to photo storage mainly. Need to look into this more.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2016, 05:35:31 PM by MrsPB »

Goldielocks

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #8 on: December 05, 2016, 06:49:51 PM »
I'm probably going with iPhone for a variety of reasons but have not fully decided yet. My current plan of $50/month plus taxes gets me 500mb data, unlimited Canada wide 5pm to 8am, 500 daytime minutes plus VM, caller ID etc. It's decent. I only use 100-200mb data and I never use up my daytime minutes so was considering going to Fido or Koodo who offer data in smaller chunks. Once I add all the bits together though, it's a similar price for less data/minutes than I have now. I hate cellphone plan shopping. My husband can add me on his Telus share plan but it's $60/month for me so makes no sense except I have to factor in some credits they are offering to bring me over. More math to do...gah!
In terms of phone memory, I want 32 or 64mb due to photo storage mainly. Need to look into this more.

Ok, look instead at prepaid plans...  and take a hard look at how many calling minutes you really need.  Use the Wifi ap for calls when you are at home...etc.

We have Koodo, PREPAID, and it is by far the cheapest around.. for reception in our area of BC.   Basic plan starts at $15/month plus top up for data.   e.g., if you use 250 mb of data and 16 minutes of talk per month, you are at $18.50/month in costs.     250mb data, 30minutes of talking and 100 texts is still only $33/month etc.  I think we average about $25 per month for my husband's phone, and the kids are closer to $16 per month each (I don't have a phone).

If you use a lot of data, then Chatr is great, the lowest plan price is $35/month, for 500mb, but if you use 750mb of data, you only jump to $40 per month, if you buy the data package, which is nice.  Very nice.   

MrsPB

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Re: Switching Canadian cellphone provider-what do I need to know?
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2016, 02:27:29 AM »
Thanks, I am going to review my usage for the past feee months although it's likely going down even from that as I'm now back at work after mat leave so a small usage package is viable!