Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

OK, so this is what I do when i'm bored in class and the Wi-Fi is being slow.......... Have a read.

Anyone looking to buy the iPhone 6? Or any other smartphone, in fact?
So many people are warped into the idea that going on contract is cheaper because you pay less up front. With these bloody ripoff Canadian carriers, that couldn’t be further from the truth. On a new 2 year contract, the prices are exactly the same. On all 3 big providers and their subsidiaries. Yes. You read right. No matter who you go to, if you’re signing a 2 year contract, your plan will be the exact same, stupid ripoff structure. That structure is as follows. In this example, I’m using the iPhone 6 16GB model.
You pay upfront $275 on a 2yr contract, plus any cost of accessories, applecare, etc. Round 350 with taxes.
Your monthly bill then is at least $80/mth for one of the bugger “share” plans. That base $80/month only comes with a paltry 500MB of data. (and unlimited phone and sms of course, but seriously, that’s all you get for $80 a month?)

So if you add it all up, (350 + (80 * 24) ) the cost of ownership of a new smartphone on a 2 yr contract is $2270. And that’s with the MINIMUM 500MB data plan. Most people need at least 1GB. If you keep your phone after 2 years rather than renew, you still keep the same $80 a month plan. Why they are allowed to get away with this, I don’t know at all.

Ok, now lets move on to the good part:
If you buy the iPhone 6 outright from apple, it costs $800 roughly with taxes. Expensive upfront, I know. But, you have a world of options available to you.
All iPhones currently sold are network compatible with Wind Mobile’s network. Wind is a cheap provider but their coverage isn’t good outside of metro areas, and no LTE. But, you can have unlimited talk, text and data for $40 a month. Including voicemail, call display etc. They also have a $60/month plan which includes unlimited talk, text and data in Canada AND the USA. You read right. A cross border plan. For less than the big three’s ripoff ones!
You also have the option of going with one of the “big three”’s subsidiary networks, which when not signing a 2 year contract, can be much cheaper than the big three whilst offering the same coverage blanket as the big three.
Personally I wouldn’t go near Fido (owned by Rogers and have/had bad experiences with them) , so I won’t list their stuff here, but Virgin (Owned by bell) and Koodo (owned by telus) are pretty good. Koodo is the best though out of the three.





Here’s a little table of sorts I put together to list the multiple plans you can choose from:
Type of user
Cost
Plan details
Moderate-high
$50 p.m.
750 mins, 750 MB of data, and unlimited text/pic/video messages (includes international messages)
Light use
$40 p.m.
300 mins, 300 MB data, unlimited text/pic/video messages (includes international messages)
Light-moderate
$45 p.m.
500 MB, 500 mins, unlimited text/pic/video messages (includes international messages)
Heavy
$70 p.m.
2GB data, unlimited minutes, unlimited text/pic/video messages (includes international messages)
Ultra-Heavy (Gozit level usage)
$94 p.m.
5GB data, unlimited minutes, unlimited text/pic/video messages (includes international messages)

All these plans are available on BOTH koodo and virgin. Pick your fancy, although personally I think Koodo is better. They have better customer service, and are NOT owned by bell (Bell sucks, for a multitude of reasons)
Notice a pattern? How everybody likes to offer the exact same plan? And there’s really no competition? Yeah me too.

Anyway, so if we take one of the middle level plans, the $45/500mins/500mb/unltd sms one, and do the same cost addition, it works out to be cheaper over a 2 year course of ownership. Like so.
800 + (45 * 24) = $1880. Works out to $390 cheaper than the 2 yr contract, and is a fairly similar plan to the base 2 yr $80 share plan. Even if you took one of the larger plans, you may be paying a similar amount over 2 years, but you’ll have gotten way more out of the plan. Remembering that my calculations are based on the cheapest 2yr contract “share” plan, and if you are a heavy user using say the Gozit level plan, that plan would be about $135/month on a 2yr contract “share” plan, whereas its $94 on Koodo/Virgin. Likewise, if you take one of the cheaper plans on Koodo/Virgin if you’re a light user, you’ll see a lot of savings over the $80 base share plan.

The other avenue I haven’t even explored yet is prepaid! If you’re an extremely light user of the phone, opt for Koodo prepaid. It’s a $15 monthly cost, which covers your texting, with the option of bolt ons available for minutes and data if you need/want them. The bolt ons do not expire until you use them up… Which is really good. So if you average the plan cost out to $20 a month, plus the $800 cost of the phone, the total cost of ownership is $1480 over 2 years. $800 cheaper than the 2 year contract, and if you’re such a light user, it makes sense to stay on prepaid like this. Virgin has prepaid too, but it works out to be more expensive than koodo, so won’t mention it.

Ok, well that’s my raising awareness for the day :p

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

Attached screenshot of table from Word, because BE formatting messed it up.

Also, if the phone you're looking for isn't an iPhone, then you can buy the phone outright from either the Google Play Store (if you want a nexus phone) , or buy it outright from the provider you want to go with, either Koodo or Virgin, and then you can put it on whatever plan you want like I showed in my post. Keep in mind that if you buy outright the phone won't be unlocked. Koodo charges $35 for this and Virgin charges $50 I believe. Phones bought from the Apple store or Google Play Store come unlocked out of the box.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

When I was 15 I used to steal motorbikes and sniff glue.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

:eek:

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

Bliss! I lived in a baked bean can and wore a skirt.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

Last I checked, you were NOT a scot. :D

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

I noticed the plan we've got for my son in the US is the same as just buying the phone.

15, I was probably watching Blake's 7.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

I've got a blackberry curve from 2008. Just doing my bit for local business.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

when I was 15 we had two channels on TV - BBC & ITV, no phone, a one-tube mono 2 watt record player, never heard of fast-food & walked most everywhere. Never complained about much other than the weather & having no money.

Todays kids seem to worry about almost anything, including the latest gadgets

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

Yeah the US is fairly similar to here. Just a tad less ripoff-y.

:lol: Blackberrys suck. I have a hunch you aren't serious

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

I have an otter phone apparently. You can drop it and it'll be okay but I've also been assured that it doesn't float. :lol:

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

At 15 I was saving up my paper round money to buy an FSIE Yamaha and listening to "Yes" tale of a topographic Ocean at my pals house

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

Screw smartphones. Talking of screwing have you tried it yet? You really need something to distract you from all this stuff you know.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

Semi serious. I really do have a corporate bb in serious need of an upgrade. Still, it is free so I'm not complaining.

Re: Gozit's ultimate smartphone buying guide - Sept 2014
 

*otter box case. Otter phones don't exist :p You have an otter box case, on either an iPhone or a Samsung likely.