Is there really a people friendly Mobile carrier exists in Canada?

[s2184]

I have been with Rogers for more than five years. Now I want to switch to a carrier who is better than Rogers or want to switch to a 'pay as you go plan.'  :

A while ago Rogers had given me long distance calls for free, and I was happy to use it. But, the honeymoon ended abruptly once I received long distance charges from Rogers recently for the amount of around $500. I was shocked to see the bill & initiated a case with Rogers. They investigated it, and came to a conclusion saying that the free long distance was just a promotion for a month (in any case they are the winners anyway).

I was tired talking & explaining my side to to the customer reps., and when I tried to talk to one of their managers, he said 'hi', & cut the line. It was such a pain in the *** to pay the bill of this amount. However, I have paid the outstanding amount in full to avoid late fee, and to protect my credit score.

Now I am thinking 'pay as you go' should be the safest option for me to protect  my wallet from corporate stealing. When I have the 'pay as you go plan', I can basically control how  much money I want to spend in a month. On the other hand, having a  monthly plan, where the monthly charges fluctuate based on our usage is vulnerable for corporate stealing.

Is there really a people friendly Mobile carrier exists in Canada?

 

[dapaterson]

If you are in an area covered by their service, try Wind.  I pay $35 plus tax for unlimited ld in Canada, voice mail, unlimited texts and data as well. (I think the plan is $40 now)

 

[Tibbson]

I've never done a comparison in any depth but I was with Rogers and one time and eventually switched over to Bell.  With Bell I have unlimited Canada wide long distance and texting and it's not a promotion in any way.  If it is I've had it for over a year and a half so I'm not going to complain.  My bill works out to $38 a month and that includes voice mail and the typical 911 surcharge. 

 

[kratz]

I've had a pay-as-you-go plan with Virgin for a number of years.
My plan is no longer offered, but based on your suprise LD bill,
one of the benefits that is still current with Virgin may interest you:
- for every 3 months paid on time, you gain one new unlimited number anywhere, anytime
- you can also change one of those numbers for free per month

 

[Cloud Cover]

Wind is pretty good, 40 bucks for a pretty decent package, but their coverage does not seem to be as comprehensive. My device seems to roam off their network a lot, but they appear to be eating those roaming data charges, not me.  I do have my z-30 device programmed to auto log in to any wifi hot spot that I have the authentication creds for. I use a lot of VOIP so the LD charges are minimal anyway. [please no laughing or snide comments about me being the only civvie left in the world who uses a BlackBerry by choice].

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Wind is pretty good, 40 bucks for a pretty decent package, but their coverage does not seem to be as comprehensive. My device seems to roam off their network a lot, but they appear to be eating those roaming data charges, not me.  I do have my z-30 device programmed to auto log in to any wifi hot spot that I have the authentication creds for. I use a lot of VOIP so the LD charges are minimal anyway. [please no laughing or snide comments about me being the only civvie left in the world who uses a BlackBerry by choice].

Hey I use a Z10, will use Blackberry till they completely disappear ....'From my cold, dead hands!

 

[Jarnhamar]

I've heard from someone inside the evil corporate rogers team that cell phone companies are going to be sharing cell phone towers (ie rogers and bell) come January 2015 or a bit later.

 

[runormal]

I really like Koodo. (It is owned by Telus so you get their coverage). The plans used to be better, but are still decent. They have random promotions here and there and they also typically have a good really good Christmas special.  The good thing about Koodo is that you don't have a contract* and can cancel/switch your plan at any time (Once a month). It also offers some pretty cheap add ons for the US. Another nice thing with Koodo is you can do everything yourself through their website (add on things, change your plan etc). All plans are Canada wide as well (I'm not sure if this is a big deal anymore, but it was for me when I originally signed up). 

*- If you finance a phone through  the tab system you will have to pay off remaining balance prior to leaving Koodo. 

Koodo's biggest con is phones. You can finance your phone through either a tab small, medium or large. The large tab is a rip off as you are restricted to "tab Large plans", which aren't good.
The small/medium tabs are pretty good. With the small tab Koodo will pay 10% of your monthly bill towards your tab balance, and you can finance a max of up to $150. With the medium tab, you will pay 5$ a month extra towards your tab and Koodo will pay 15% of your monthly phone bill towards your tab balance, you can finance up to 300$ this way. With either the small/tab you will be tab free within two years.

This is where the con of Koodo is apparent, if you want the latest/greatest phone you are going to be looking at paying the remainder of the balance in cash. However if you currently have a phone or are comfortable with an older phone, then you are good to go. 

I've been with them for three years now and have no complaints.

 

[KerryBlue]

Hey I use a Z10, will use Blackberry till they completely disappear ....'From my cold, dead hands!

My dad has a Z30, and it is by far the greatest phone I have used. Better then Droid or Iphone in terms of being a functioning phone. If they had released the Z30 prior to the Z and Q 10's I think they would be on top of the market still or at least in a better place then they are now.

 

[MeanJean]

I am with Telus right now and I plan on switching to Koodo when my contract is up.  I will get my iphone unlocked and bring it with me, that will get me 10% off any of their monthly rates.  $40 before discount will get you 300 minutes and 300 MB of data and no long distance charges across Canada.  For another $5 you can get 500 minutes and 500 MB of data.  I am not a big data user so 300 MB is more than I will need.

If you are a no data user and light talker / texter then I have a deal for you.  PC Mobile, through Loblaws grocery store (it's Super Store out here), allows you to load up your account for $100 and it expires in a year.  So for about $8 a month you have an emergency use cell phone basically on the Bell network.  Some of their other plans may be worth checking out but I think you will be hard pressed to beat Koodo at this point.

Good luck and let us know what you go with!

 

[SupersonicMax]

I've been with Rogers for 8 years and never had issues with them.  I pay 55$ a month for 3GB, unlimited talking Canada-Wide and unlimited text North America.  Best deal I could find on a reliable network.

 

[s2184]

Thank you very much everyone for taking time to share your mobile experience.

I have got a month to month plan with Wind mobile. $25 + $8 (for voice mail) + tax. The plan includes unlimited Canada-Wide texts & calls, Caller IDs & stuff. I bought a 109 value phone, which I seem to like more than my iPhone4. The model is called 'ALCATEL', I never heard of it before, but very much impressed with its performance & features.

The lesson I learned from Rogers is that I should check my Phone usage in detail at least couple of times per week to make sure I am aware of what is happening with my phone.

The Wind mobile has an option to make the payment in advance rather than receive monthly bill at the end. This would help me to control the amount of money I spend on a month. It won't allow me to use features such as data that are not included in my plan. I think if Rogers gave me the same amount of control, I wouldn't have wasted $500, my hard earned money.

Good day!

 

[mrjasonc]

Rogers has a CF Appreciation Discount at the moment. Www.getconnected.ca/signin pass phrase is "rogersepp" hard to beat actually for reliability