Mobile Phone Thoughts

[jkahane]

Back from going out to do some shopping with spross on this cold, blustery day. Brrr!!

Hot cup of tea siting on the desk. :sip:

Supper for mom and me is cooking as I type this, and I'm starting to smell the savoury odour of chicken with garlic, parmesan, and rosemary...

Aside from picking up some groceries and a few luxury items, spross and I went mobile

Comments

[aearwen2]

Provided those cheaper plans come with unlimited minutes, go cheaper. If not, then go with the extra $15 to get unlimited. Pre-paid sounds great - until you start realizing that you use up your minutes faster than once a month. Been there, done that, am now on a monthly family plan with daughter, hubby and son.

[jkahane]

The more expensive plan comes with unlimited minutes, in Canada at least. I'll need to talk to the fellow about the arrangement/deal for the U.S. minutes. I'm not too concerned about the minutes to the U.K. or Europe, other than when I have (another) business trip, because I don't plan to use the mobile to call there from Ottawa; if I do, it's from a land line.

Any other bits of advice on this? :)

[absinthe_dot_ca]

If the plans are identical in terms of usage, etc., then the only limiting factor is mathematics - $15 a month over 3 years is an extra $540 over that time. If the phone is cheaper than that (which I'm assuming it would be if they're locking you into a 3-year contract), then pay for the phone up-front if you can.

[jkahane]

However, as I understand it, if I pay for the phone up front, I don't get upgrades to the phone over the course of the plan. Does that make it a huge difference?

[absinthe_dot_ca]

That depends on you :-) Some people upgrade their phone every 6 months or year. If the $15 extra includes free phone upgrades, then that might pay for itself fairly quickly. Usually, when you buy the phone up front (or especially with 'free phone' contracts), if you want to upgrade your phone before the end of the contract they extend your contract. Do that a few too many times and your contract might just outlive you! o.O

[jkahane]

Hmm, good points to remember and ponder. I will certainly bear these in mind.

[hub_]

I am of the school that telcos shouldn't be selling the phones as everything they touch become bad. And they lock the phone to their network, change them so that the become crap, etc.

Back when I had WIND, I bought a phone unlocked (that I knew worked with WIND) and I have no regret.
I switched carrier and I have a different phone I didn't pay for (won it) but had to get unlocked (because it was a poisonned gift). I would have bought one otherwise. You can get decent smartphones for 300-400$ these days, even less for feature phones[1].

As for WIND, I can't tell you to not go with them, but I was very unhappy at the end with them. And soon they'll be irrelevant to me as they don't cover Quebec outside of the Gatineau area.

[1] just be careful not all phone works equally well on Canadian carriers because of technology differences. This is why when I left WIND for Koodoo I had to change phone.

[jkahane]

What do you mean by "telcos" in the first sentence? Telecommunication companies? That means I should never go with Bell, Rogers, etc., right? :)

Umm, you mentioned that you were very unhappy with WIND at the end. Can you tell me why?

And are there any reasons you can give me why I shouldn't go with WIND for the mobile phone?

[hub_]

Telcos are telecommunication companies. That mean you should never buy a *phone* from them.

As for my unhappiness with WIND it boiled down to crappy service in Vancouver (black holes downtown, including at the office) and hostile customer service. Probably as hostile as the others. Oh and the started messing with existing customer by offering promos they couldn't get.

I can't really give any reason to go or not go with them, it is like picking between the Italian mob, the bikers, the triads or the yakuza. If it works for you, it is quite cheap. But don't expect miracles. There is also Mobilicity that I have no opinion on.

When I switched to Koodo I had two things in mind:
-for the same price having better coverage. Note that my plan no longer existed and I would have had to pay more for a similar use.
-Also the fact that moving to Quebec would force me to do so anyway.

[jkahane]

Thanks for clearing up the telcos business. :)

As for the rest of your post, that's what I thought might be the case, Hub. :) WIND seems to offer me the best deal for what I'm looking for. And in the case of talking to you en Quebec, I will use the land line. :)