I've been with Wind for three full years now and couldn't be happier. Call me a fanboy if you like, but I like to think of it as being a (very) satisfied customer. It takes a lot to get a grouchy jerk like me to promote a service....
I've decided to provide some stats and give a 'real life' example. I'm a pretty typical smartphone user....a fair amount of talk, some overseas calling, a lot of text, and a lot of video/browsing/social media and would consider myself a solid benchmark for comparison.
I've gone through my usage history for the past three months.
W=On Wind Network
A=Off Wind Network
July-August (in progress for another 9 days):
W= 256 minutes, 464 text, 967 MB
A= 2 minutes,16 text,18 MB
June-July:
W= 72 minutes, 312 text, 1GB
A= 0 minutes, 4 text, 21MB
May-June:
W=158 minutes, 497 text, 1GB
A=0 minutes, 2 text, 6MB
Monthly Bill, Past 18 Months ($40/mth base plan)
Aug $58.53
Jul $47.63
Jun $43.05
May $42.91
Apr $42.43
Mar $43.44
Feb $48.06
Jan $80.55 (Trip to East Coast, Significant Roaming)
Dec $102.57 (Trip to East Cost, Significant Roaming)
Oct $53.11
Sep $49.91
Aug $91.21 (Trip to USA, Significant Roaming)
Jul $59.82 (Trip to East Coast, Significant Roaming)
Jun $47.57
May $48.10
Apr $51.56
Mar $56.74 (Trip to East Coast, Roaming)
Feb $47.93
18 Month = $1015.12 = $56.40 monthly average.
Months Primarily in Calgary = $624.23 = $48.02 monthly average.
Months With Significant Travel (Roaming) = $390.89 = $78.18 monthly average.
So even when I travel and rely heavily on roaming (don't really alter my usage very much...) I've averaged the same cost as an $75/$80 entry level plan with the Big Three. Now with the roaming rates substantially cut, this cost will plummet.
For day to day usage (Calgary and Southern Alberta) the cost is roughly 2/3 to 1/2 of the Big Three.
General Thoughts after Three Years:
1. I have no service complaints. The data network went offline (voice was fine) for a few hours last month which was the first service interruption I experienced in three years.
2. The HPSA+ data speeds are obviously not the same as LTE (the sacrifice you have to make with Wind, presumably for the foreseeable future) but I've never had trouble streaming MLB.TV, YouTube, Netflix, etc.
3. I have been well over 3GB in data usage several times. A mental tally of the bills this morning suggest ~1.5 average. Short of cancelling my internet and hotspotting all my home internet traffic, I don't see how I could possibly hit the 5GB fair use cap.
4. Network Coverage in downtown towers is good, but becomes a bit touch and go when in sealed rooms/elevators in the core of the building. It's not uncommon to switch to roaming in these situations (20% of the time?)
5. There a noticeable improvement in coverage over the past three years, particularly in the past 12-18 months. I get full coverage at CrossIron Mills and good coverage in southern parts of Airdrie.
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