CELL PHONE INSANITY

[Marigold]

Hi All,

My husband and I are in Ontario, Canada and would like to reduce our cell phone bills. We are with Bell, but would like to get out. We recently switched our internet to TekSavvy.

Our bill just for two cell phones is 182.00 per month!

Our plans are in place until 2015.

Is this standard Canadian price for cell phones? I would be happy with a flip phone, but my husband wants a smart phone for his business purposes - he does Android and mobile development...

Thanks

[Financial Threedom]

Hey Marigold,

I went with Petro Canada Mobiity, yes, the gas company.   I have a Nokia C3 that I bought for about $100 taxes in about a year ago, I pay $15 for 50 minutes Canada wide, caller ID, voice mail, out going texts 10 cents each, no data obviously.  No contract either.  I plan to keep the phone at least 3 years.  Phone has been great, no issues with call reception. 

 http://mobility.petro-canada.ca/

Hope this helps.

[Deano]

Virgin Mobile, no data plan with good long distance etc is 25 a month. If he really needs data they have a solid data plan for 50. Koodoo is another good one.

Bell and Rogers....don't touch them or go anywhere near them, they are toxic to the average citizen.

[Daley]

It's a bit dated at this point, but it's still useful for a rundown of Canadian mobile alternatives:

http://www.techmeshugana.com/2012/10/dial-c-for-canada-eh/

[daverobev]

If you live somewhere that Wind Mobile serve, you can go with them. If not, the major carriers have less expensive versions of themselves for absolutely no good reason I can see:

Rogers -> Fido
Telus -> Koodo
Bell -> Virgin, maybe others.. Chatr? I forget.

PetroCan and 7-Eleven are on the Rogers network too I think.

How much do you use your phones? Koodo have $60 plans that are unlimited. The downside is that, if you go on a lower plan, they charge by rounding to the nearest minute not the nearest second... dirty.

Now - there are changes coming to how long operators are allowed to make their contracts this year, I think - 2 years max, from the 3 year plans you get ripped off by at the moment.

You will have to pay early termination fees, but I think these change, and you should be able to get out free later on once you've hit 2 years, by law. You'd have to look into it.

I live outside a Wind zone but even then (on pay as you go) it's only 10c/minute (I don't use data). I buy a $40 refill every 6 months or so - but of course if you're using your phone more you'd need to analyse more closely your needs. Depending on who you go with you should be able to unlock your current phones and be ok... With Koodo, if you're not 'paying off a tab' you get a 10% discount on your bill.

Without knowing how many minutes a month you use it's hard to tell, but as I said, with Koodo, you'd be looking at $60 + tax - 10% for using your own device. There may be discounts for having more than one account, too. $130 is better than $180, but if you are willing you can reduce your minutes used by using Dell Voice/Fongo - which gives you an alternate number and is free to call all Canadian numbers - when on Wifi, etc.

[Marigold]

Thanks for the help!

I am going to run these suggestions by my husband :)