The conclusion is that the cheapest plan is SpeakOut wireless from 7-11 which has a minimum cost of $2.03 per month. Nothing else really comes close.
Except for
PetroCanada Mobility which is priced identically (excuse the available airtime for the money). Now, I don't say this to be a contrarian, but I do think it's worth pointing something out about this "cheapest" plan by examining the math behind it.
SpeakOut and PetroCanada both charge $1.25/month for 911 service on their per minute rates which run 25¢/minute and 10¢/outgoing SMS. Yes, 7-11 will let you do $25/year, but only $10 a year is available for actual calling. $10 is 40 minutes of usable airtime a year for incoming or local outgoing, or
an average of 3.3 minutes (or 8.3 texts) of usage a month (realistically, the real math factoring these taxes works out to 62.5¢ a minute for the convenience of a mobile phone at $25/year). SpeakOut may be the absolute
cheapest plan available, but at that price point and minute availability, one should ask themselves, "Is it even
worth spending the money to have a cellphone at all at this point?"
Say what you will about unlimited free incoming SMS messages, there's plenty of clever hacks that can be made with a service like that, but it's still pretty worthless without the communications being two-way.
Is it cheap? Absolutely! Is it an effective usage of money and a frugal communications solution? Hardly. If you actually need a mobile phone, you're going to
need to be able to use it at least somewhat. At 25¢ a minute versus other plans starting at the $20-30/month mark with unlimited local calling, pay per minute at any volume loses its appeal rapidly. If you can get away with a $25/year plan with those fees and per minute rates, it's really coming down to an issue of hedonic adaptation at that point and if you're carrying a phone because you actually need it or because society tells you to instead. Given the prevalence of WiFi in urban areas, the most cost-effective plans for Canadians are going to be VoIP solutions on a small tablet like Khao and a few others do around here.
