Buying a cellphone instead of signing a contract

[burnin_vernon]

My 3 year contract with Rogers is up and I'm thinking about buying my own phone and being a free agent.

Is there a smartphone that is compatible with most/all networks? I'm leaning towards Wind but the option to change carriers would be nice.

What kind of rates do you get when you don't get a contract? All the info on their plans are based on free/discounted phones. Do you just call them up and haggle?

[Sample00]

you can buy unlocked phones. There are many companies out there that sell them.
Buying an unlocked phone wont get you any discounts. In fact, in many cases, you will pay a premium for having an unlocked one.
The biggest thing is that if you find a decent plan and dont lock in, then the phone companies can change your plan by giving notice sufficient notice.
But the same holds true in reverse. You can move freely about if you dont like the plan that its been changed to.

[Regular_John]

Take everything I say with a grain of salt as I have no actual facts to back this up, just what I've pieced together.

I've got a buddy who worked at Bell and he said if you come in with an unlocked iPhone they'll give you a monthly discount off the posted rates (I believe in the neighborhood of 10%??). However I've also heard that same carriers (rogers in particular) will make you sign a contract anyways if their gonna offer you any discount. Basically sure "Sure, we'll give you a discount, on the condition you sign a contract".

Honestly check out http://howardforums.com/ and see what they say. The users there are quite up to snuff on current carriers and can probably give you some insight into this.

My contract is up in June of 2012 and I'm considering the pros/cons of signing a new contract or purchasing a new phone outright.

[renny]

I have never signed a contract before in my life because I hate being locked into any one company for any period of time since I travel so often and I'm not in Calgary all the time for extended periods of time it just doesn't suit my lifestyle.

That being said, I also never haggled with the providers. I would just shop around for the best deal every so often (it's even better now with Wireless Number Portability) and if I found something better than what I had at the time I would just switch.

The biggest advantage is not being tied down for any period of time. To be able to bring your phone with you anywhere in the world and use that phone as long as they have GSM. In my opinion that freedom is more than worth any premium I have to pay for my phone.

[puckluck]

Wind has awful reception and drops many calls. So many times I'll call my sister who is with Wind and it would say her phone is unavailable even though she's at home. I'd stay away from them.

[WilsonFourTwo]

^^ And I'll say the exact opposite. I've been with Wind for four months and yet to drop a call.

Further to that, I've yet to not have access to my voice or data when I've wanted it. Heck, even though their coverage map is supposedly Calgary only, I've had "Home Zone" coverage inside Cross Iron Mills and in parts of South Airdrie.

For others that are interested, before I decided to keep the phone/plan, I spent about a week checking for good/excellent connectivity (3 or 4 bars) within key areas of the city in which I spend a lot of time. All of the zones (below) passed.

SE - Industrial Parks, New Brighton
SW - Mt Royal Uni, Shawnessy, Bridlewood
NW - McMahon/UofC, Ranchlands
NE - Coventry Hills, Sunridge Mall Area

WIND's service has been far beyond my expectations. My brother and his wife switched one of their phones (from Rogers) and have now decided to swap the other. Cheap plans, no contracts, and terrific connectivity.....WIND has been great. Even their phone selection is decent now.

[I_H8_Crawford]

You can buy a phone like the Nexus S or the new Nexus Galaxy and it comes unlocked.

I would look at Mobilicity - right now they are offering 50% off their plans for a year.
$22.50 gets me unlimited AB calling, text, data, call id and voicemail.

[MaDMaN_26]

Keep frequencies in mind. Wind operates on a different frequency than most other carriers... just because a phone is unlocked doesn't mean it can work on any frequency.

I would suspect wind would be the worst service to be a "free agent" on as they have a very weird frequency range.

[Hack&Lube]

I'll have to also report bad connectivity with Wind. My roomate switched from Rogers to Wind and the reception was terrible. Nobody could ever call her and her calls were always being dropped.

She ended up paying the cancellation fee and going back to Rogers (which started her over from the beginning and lost all her Rogers perks) which cost a lot more overall in the end.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

She ended up paying the cancellation fee and going back......

Mobilicity and Wind do not charge cancellation fees of any kind.

Having to pay off a tab (which is what she probably had to do) is completely different than a cancellation fee.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

Mobilicity and Wind do not charge cancellation fees of any kind.

Having to pay off a tab (which is what she probably had to do) is completely different than a cancellation fee.

I admit I haven't done my research on this, but is the "tab" their touting basically just the balance left on the value of the phone? (EG: $400 phone sold for $100) None of that "$20 for each month remaining" stuff the other carriers have?

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

I admit I haven't done my research on this, but is the "tab" their touting basically just the balance left on the value of the phone? (EG: $400 phone sold for $100) None of that "$20 for each month remaining" stuff the other carriers have?

Yes you are correct.

I think 10% of your monthly bill comes off it each month.
If you cancel before the phone is paid off, your cancellation "fee" is the remaining amount owing on the phone.

[FlameOn]

You might want to hold off before switching to Mobilicity and Wind. Last I heard from people working is that they are still in the process of putting up towers so their coverage is only 70-80% complete for Calgary. It was some time in 2012 when the full network would be up IIRC?

[Thor]

Its odd but out in EU its quite normal to buy your phones and yes of course pay for them over 12 months, but not be contractually bound to your carrier.

I prefer to own my phones, have when I lived in Canada and will continue to do the same here in Iceland.

[puckluck]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

^^ And I'll say the exact opposite. I've been with Wind for four months and yet to drop a call.

Further to that, I've yet to not have access to my voice or data when I've wanted it. Heck, even though their coverage map is supposedly Calgary only, I've had "Home Zone" coverage inside Cross Iron Mills and in parts of South Airdrie.

For others that are interested, before I decided to keep the phone/plan, I spent about a week checking for good/excellent connectivity (3 or 4 bars) within key areas of the city in which I spend a lot of time. All of the zones (below) passed.

SE - Industrial Parks, New Brighton
SW - Mt Royal Uni, Shawnessy, Bridlewood
NW - McMahon/UofC, Ranchlands
NE - Coventry Hills, Sunridge Mall Area

WIND's service has been far beyond my expectations. My brother and his wife switched one of their phones (from Rogers) and have now decided to swap the other. Cheap plans, no contracts, and terrific connectivity.....WIND has been great. Even their phone selection is decent now.

The cold hard facts are that Wind doesn't have full coverage yet, and just because you haven't dropped calls doesn't mean people calling you have been able to get ahold of you right away.

Their coverage is still in progress, and will eventually be at the level of Rogers and other companies, but it definitely isn't quite yet.

So it's good that you've had no problems but I assure you there are a lot of Wind customers having problems including a couple people I know who get extra charges when out of the "Wind zone" which is a worse zone then other companies.

[Regular_John]

Ultimately I think Wind's biggest downfall is the inability to use the iPhone. I realize this has more to do with the iPhone than Wind, but it really does keep them behind the 8-ball. If I were able to buy an unlocked iPhone and take it to Wind I'd have done it already.

But at this point it's "Well you can by the unlocked iPhone, but your choice of carriers is still the big 3"

[NSFL]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

^^ And I'll say the exact opposite. I've been with Wind for four months and yet to drop a call.

Further to that, I've yet to not have access to my voice or data when I've wanted it. Heck, even though their coverage map is supposedly Calgary only, I've had "Home Zone" coverage inside Cross Iron Mills and in parts of South Airdrie.

For others that are interested, before I decided to keep the phone/plan, I spent about a week checking for good/excellent connectivity (3 or 4 bars) within key areas of the city in which I spend a lot of time. All of the zones (below) passed.

SE - Industrial Parks, New Brighton
SW - Mt Royal Uni, Shawnessy, Bridlewood
NW - McMahon/UofC, Ranchlands
NE - Coventry Hills, Sunridge Mall Area

WIND's service has been far beyond my expectations. My brother and his wife switched one of their phones (from Rogers) and have now decided to swap the other. Cheap plans, no contracts, and terrific connectivity.....WIND has been great. Even their phone selection is decent now.

Just wondering which phone do you have. My best friend has had nothing but problems with reception. Especially at the U of C. I'll call her and it'll say her phone's not available when she has it on waiting for me to call. And at Cross Iron, she doesn't even bother taking her phone out of her bag because she knows she isn't going to get reception.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

Ultimately I think Wind's biggest downfall is the inability to use the iPhone. I realize this has more to do with the iPhone than Wind, but it really does keep them behind the 8-ball. If I were able to buy an unlocked iPhone and take it to Wind I'd have done it already.

But at this point it's "Well you can by the unlocked iPhone, but your choice of carriers is still the big 3"

Lack of high end phones and minimal coverage are two drawbacks of Wind, obviously. I have the Nexus S with Wind, a phone I love, and a phone I would have with either of the big 3, but that is about it.

As for dropped calls, I've never really had that issue, and haven't heard about problems from people calling me. I had some issues with reception for a bit, but I dropped the Blackberry and no problems at all with my Nexus S.

The new spectrum auction in the new year is going to be interesting if the big 3 aren't allowed to hoard it all. Wind has the potential to be a major player in the Canadian cell phone market, but it's a new company and their are obvious growing pains.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by NSFL

Just wondering which phone do you have. My best friend has had nothing but problems with reception. Especially at the U of C. I'll call her and it'll say her phone's not available when she has it on waiting for me to call. And at Cross Iron, she doesn't even bother taking her phone out of her bag because she knows she isn't going to get reception.

I've got the LG Optimus 2X (Which is terrific, btw).

The Cross Iron Mills part doesn't surprise me (they don't technically have Home Zone coverage out there) but I'm really surprised about UofC. I spent the day there a few weeks back and was on the phone regularly throughout the day.

Dunno what to say. My experience with Wind (Device, Plan, Connectivity, Customer Service) has been darn near perfect. Comparing to previous experiences (Bell, Telus and Rogers), I wouldn't even contemplate switching back.

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Originally Posted by Thor

Its odd but out in EU its quite normal to buy your phones and yes of course pay for them over 12 months, but not be contractually bound to your carrier.

I prefer to own my phones, have when I lived in Canada and will continue to do the same here in Iceland.

Canada (and the US to a lesser extent) is the red-headed stepchild if the cellphone world.