prairiechicken

I'm wading through the quagmire of mobile phones here, and trying not to be sick every time I see how expensive it all is. I'm also slightly disturbed by the apparent lack of knowledge (or even misinformation) I've been given by some of the sales people who've tried to help me so far.

So the research I have done so far, along with info I've read on here, suggests to me that:

- Prepaid may be the best thing to start with because of the fact that I have no credit history. I don't even know if I'd get accepted on a pay monthly plan without credit history. (Experiences here would be appreciated).
- Prepaid is stupid, unless you want to pay a ton of money every month for NOTHING.
- Koodo is the only prepaid plan that allows me to buy talk time and data that doesn't expire after 30 days if I don't use it all (have I understood that correctly)

My husband and I don't use our mobile phones for much except texting, and the odd call if we need to contact each other urgently, plus occasionally a bit of data. So it looks as though the koodo prepaid plan might be a good place to start.

I'm interested to know whether anyone is on this, and how they find it.

Given how few minutes we have used historically, and that neither of us have EVER gone over our 500MB a month data included in the plan we were both on before (I suspect we weren't even close, but don't know how to find out), the minutes and data boosters could last us for absolutely ages.

Thanks

Siouxie

Most of the prepaid mobile phone companies have a $100 payment valid for 12 months. I pay $5 a month for 250 texts, for instance, 1c per minute for evening and weekend calls and apart from the odd call for a cab I don't really use my phone - so that $100 last me a year, easily. If I need data I either pay per day/week.

You could try using one of the websites to compare deals, but you need to check the coverage for the area you are living in - for instance, Wind mobile do a good deal but Wind coverage isn't the whole of Canada.

Prepaid Cell Phone Plans Canada - Best Prepaid Mobile Phone Plans
Cell Phone Plans | Compare cellular services side-by-side

This seems like a pretty good deal: http://mobility.petro-canada.ca/en/features/396.aspx

izzi81

We got pay monthly phones from Koodo when we arrived, with no credit history. They didn't give us free phones, so that was an extra $150ish each, but that was the only penalty.
I was told the pay monthly plan helps us build a credit rating...

JamesM

You can use Rogers on contract with no credit history. Telus more strict. No clue with Bell.

prairiechicken

Thanks. Yes that Petro Canada deal looks pretty good...

rd1981

If you have your own phone then I'd recommend Koodo prepaid. I wanted to have an idea of what my usage is like before committing to a pay monthly as I too was surprised at the price of mobile phone plans. I have the $15 monthly unlimited text messages which includes international texts and MMS. I then purchased 500 anytime minutes and 1GB of data. Im finding that I hardly use my minutes and im using approx 100mb of data a week. Like you said the bundles don't expire as long aa you keep your monthly plan active.
The great thing about the minutes is that if you needed to call the UK quickly, each minute is 5 of your anytime minutes. I also use Skype to Go which gives me a local number to call and costs 1.4p landline/4p mobile a minute using Skype Credit to call the UK. We don't have our own place at the moment so have no access to a landline.

The only annoying thing about Koodo is they don't accept international credit cards for top ups so you have to use mobile top up vouchers. So far the service has been great and I figure it's costing me about $35 a month. I don't think I want a new phone or contract anyway.

Gozit

I'd recommend Koodo prepaid for sure. You are spot on with that. I am not on it because i'm constantly using/upgrading my phone, so I have a full proper contract with Telus, which costs an eye watering $70 a month, but its a "good deal" for Canada.


BUT my brothers phone is on Koodo prepaid and its great. $15 a month for unlimited text, including international text!! plus the bolt ons that don't expire. Its awesome.

pip_is_fab

I got a month to month contract last week (bought my unlocked UK phone with me) on Virgin after being here 2 weeks.
Re credit history, they put a $200 credit limit on my account for 1st 6 months. Providing the bill is paid and kept up to date the limit will be removed after the 6 months. This was no issue to me as i have no intentions of letting the bill add up.
The sales assistant did say some providers require you to pay a deposit before opening an account.
The plan is $55 per month and includes 1gb of data, unlimited calls/texts to all canada and US and unlimited international texts (though the person receiving pays to receive it in the UK, so not as great as i had hoped!)

Gozit

Not true. UK usually has unlimited receiving anything. The virgin rep who told you was misinformed as s/he was basing it on how people without international texting IN CANADA pay to receive international messages.

UK providers usually go by the logic "If its received, it isn't your fault, therefore you shall not be charged" unlike the Canadian ones. On some prepaid (im looking at YOU Rogers) in Canada you pay to RECIEVE SMS.

pip_is_fab

Well, this was verified with the people I had messaged, not the rep in canada.
I was surprised they had to pay to receive it, but apparently they do.

Pizzawheel

Slightly off topic I just switched to a Koodo plan and am very happy with it; mind you I was coming off a Rogers PAYG deal which makes being mugged seem like a customer friendly experience.

Koodo has a $20pm add on that allows unlimited UK calling. When I asked for an explicit definition of unlimited the guy guessed I'd been on Rogers- it is what it says on the tin, unlimited.

Also to save bucks try avoiding data and stick to wifi at home/ when out and about. Everywhere has free wifif these days and once you've trained it to automatically log into Tims/ MacDonalds/ the Frog & Virus you might find you don't actually need mobile data.

felixtrebor

Having failed with Mobilicity's $30 unlimited offer (wrong kind of phone) and not having enough id at the time to go with Fido's $50 a month plan I went for the prepaid option.

Got a $100 top up card and just sticking $20 a month on 500mb data. Don't intend to make any calls unless it's an emergency and messaging will be done through Facebook and what's app.

Seems OK for the three days I've been doing it so far!

Oink

7-11 Speakout is better.

headingwest

+1 for speak out wireless. I went for the cheapskate $20 a month prepaid and have my own phone.

Then I downloaded the magicjack app from the play store. (I also use their internet plug in thing for my home calls as well)

If I am out somewhere I just ask if they have wireless, log on, then use the free north American calls with the magic jack app, works a treat.

Wouldn't work if you are a high call volume business type but for social calls/low volume user its just fine. I just needed to change my UK phone fiddling habits to bring the costs down.

I then get my mates back in the UK to use the magic jack app and free calls back and forth. The sound quality is much better than viber, even from a noisy UK pub.

Gozit

All that naff is great but some don't want to faff about with apps and such, they want reliable phoning and texting that doesn't depend on WiFi. Koodo's $15 a month is cheaper anyway (Obviously not including the once in a while $10-$20 bolt ons, which don't expire until you use up the minutes/data)