Cell phone service in Canada?
I wasn't sure whether to fold this into my original Canada advice post, but I decided not to do so for the sake of clarity.
In getting all our ducks in a row for our move to Toronto, Mrs. Yeti and I have started looking for cell phone providers. At the outset, we heard tales of how horrible cell phone service is in Canada, and so far these tales have been accurate. I'm sure it doesn't help that we have semi-complicated requirements, but it's not been easy to find a plan that works for us.
Basically, we would like to get a family plan that also allows us to call to the States, preferably from the same pool of minutes. Since she's going to be traveling a bit for work, something that has a pretty decent roaming plan (again, in the States as well) would be ideal. At this point, the thing that's looking the best for us is just to get a US prepaid phone and use that when we travel, but that seems like a tremendous pain.
Anyway, it could very well be that what I'm looking for doesn't even exist, but I thought I would again draw on the Goodjer collective's enormous store of Canadian ancestral knowledge.
So, does anybody have or know of a plan similar to what we're looking for? So far, I've looked at Telus, Rogers, Bell, and Fido to no particular avail.
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I use Telus.
I _really_ don't recommend using Telus. I'm going to be switching to $something_else, probably Fido or Bell, once I get around to it.
Mystic Violet wrote:
If I may pry, why don't you recommend them? Bad service? Bad coverage?
Also, has anybody done the unthinkable: buying a US cell plan? Sprint in particular seems to have a decent US/Canada plan.
OK, maybe decent isn't the word. How about....less....punishing?
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From personal experience i would choose Rogers. They used to be very, very bad however in the last 2 years they have cleaned up their act incredibly well. Great customer service, and they will generally bend to your will on pricing issues (due to the recent adoption of wreless number portability, and their need to keep customers), and due to their adoption of actual GSM and EDGE networks. Bell is also pretty decent but lacks the joys of SIM cards and the easy ability to upgrade and coverage outside of canada as they have a hybrid GSM network. Stay the hell away from Fido if you plan on entering any remotely rural areas, as their coverage is straight metro/urban. Telus is a nightmare, half the time you will only pick up analog service (voice only, no data, no sms/mms) no matter where you are and when you finally do get some digital service, its a 50/50 chance your texts and emails will get sent. Plus, Telus treats their employees like sh*t, which shows up in the way their employees treat you, and they are one of the worst corporations in all of Canada. Stay AWAY!!
Hope that helps
A recent study showed that cell phone services costs are about 30% higher in Canada than in the states, pretty much across the board. So you're going to get screwed on price regardless. You're also probably going to get screwed on services regardless, as I've had (and heard) horror stories from all major providers.
The plan you're looking for probably doesn't exist. We're backwards cell-phone wise, no question about it. In fact, i don't think you can even get a plan with free national roaming, and I KNOW those exist in the states.
If you've looked at the big 4, you might want to check the Virgin site.
I personally use Fido, but I barely use my cellphone. They were nice when they screwed up my account, at least, at least more so than every single other service provider that has also screwed up my account (that being 100% of them)
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I used to be anti-Telus, but it seems they've figured out that they're losing ground and are trying to change their image.
So Telus gave us a phone call asking about it, and offered four free phones. Seriously. I now own four, free, new, decent cell phones.
Given how costly my first two were to get (I know they're free with a plan... but looking at the costs to buy one individually), and to get repaired (these costs were huge, regardless of plan) given how destructive I can be, I was stunned.
As to poor service, I can't really comment, given I don't have anything to compare with. I wasn't horribly pleased with Telus before, but by no means was I up in arms against them. The costs were a little steep, especially when we see the deals you get on all the american channels we watch, but I can't really think of anything else that bugged me about it.
EDIT I do recall a couple places I lived at, I got poor reception, while friends didn't, but it wasn't a common thing.
Silly yeti, they don't have cell phones in the Canadia. They only have these.
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I've had a Telus cell on both coasts and they've been okay for me. Not that I'm really recommending them, mind you, just that I've never run into any problems either.
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In Alberta, Telus is the way to go, because they have the best coverage, (we are a fairly spread out populous, with much commuting). Their customer service sucks a$$ though, (think waiting on hold for 30 minutes in my experience). Rogers is a close second in coverage, and so far seems to be a lot better in the customer service dept. I haven't heard a single good thing about Bell here, and the others are very much sideline options, (probably only decent coverage in major centers).
Pricing seems to be, in my experience, fairly standard between the major ones (read bloody expensive).
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Failing that, there's always carrier moose.
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Actually, during their rutting season, they can be fairly unreliable. Personally as a second option I would use the CDMS (Canadian Dogsled Message Service). With advancements into genetic sciences, and hundreds of years of experience in our perpetually snow covered, igloo dotted landscape, the reliability is second to none. The speed of the network is unfortunately comparable to dial-up.
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I've used Telus in the past and was very happy with them. Stylez and I are likely going to use them for our new company's BlackBerries. All I have to say is don't use Bell for anything. Trust me, if you ever have to deal with their customer service you'll understand.
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Yeah unfortunately cell plans in Canada are the crap! I doubt you will find a plan that will give you what you need, at least not right now. In another year, now that number portability has been introduced, that might change.
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As I said, I switched over to Rogers. I'm, so far, happy with it.
Still getting screwed on rates, but at least I get a goddamn SIM card now..
Mystic Violet wrote: