How do you like Wind? - Shaw Purchases Wind

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Igster

lol...yeah, we should pay more for up time on a contract we pay for. Sorry...I think if we all expected more, we would get more, for less. But hey, if you're happy with what you get, so be it.

I get what you're saying and even agree in principle, but people have to be reasonable. We get 99.x% uptime with cell phones, cable, satellite, internet (etc) for a (usually) reasonable price.

The cost to add additional layers of redundancy and staff would certainly drive the cost of service far higher. In the case of Wind, would having a $40 plan become a $45 or $50 plan be worth it just to squeeze out that last half percentage? To each their own, but I don't see the value.

Louis CK sums it up nicely (sorry, can't imbed....I'm a well documented moron)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=KpUNA2nutbk

[DoubleK]

I want five nines availability and only want to pay $35/month.

Can you make that happen?

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by Igster

Will do bud.

I could have posted that like less of a prick and maybe I'm more likely to give Wind a little more leeway because of the price, especially compared to the big 3... but think about the fact there are occasional 911 call center outages in major cities throughout North America. They're a lot less infrequent than downtime with any cell phone companies, but considering the built-in redundancy these call centers have and they don't have 100% uptime, how can we reasonably demand that while paying $30 to $40 a month?

[Igster]

We've all said what we wanted to say. Let's just move on.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Agreed. I'd love to switch gears and talk about the future of Wind Mobile....

6 months ago people were saying Wind was dead because Orascom pulled funding from the 700mhz auction and wrote the assets down to zero. Time has shown that to be due mainly to external circumstances and had less to do with Wind's business than first assumed.

CEO Lacavera said last month that the company is looking to build out a full LTE over the next couple of years, and that access to quality spectrum is a big issue. Apparently the cost is ~$500MM to get it all done. Probably doesn't hurt that the Gov't is setting aside big portions of spectrum exclusively for "New" players. Should be interesting to see how Videotron plays into that....

Business wise, the company seems to have turned a corner. 735k subs and their APRU continues to grow well....5% here, 6% there, and is around $32. Pretty darn solid (imo) for a low cost, full feature service provider - albeit half of Rogers' $65. Most importantly, the company appears to be set for its first profitable quarter, a fantastic sign.

Five years into existence, Wind hasn't come as far as I thought they would but they continue to grow and I'm a very, very satisfied customer.

I can't help but wonder what happens in the next 2-5 years. I see two very likely scenarios, neither of which involve closing shop. They can go it alone, build out the LTE network, and push into new markets, or I could see Videotron merging/buying them as they make their case to be the next big carrier. Should be interesting....

[Kipper is King]

Telus raised the cost of my monthly bill to absurd levels.

Are wind and Mobilicity the same in terms of coverage/general experience? Right now, Mobilicity seems to have the best plan.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

Telus raised the cost of my monthly bill to absurd levels.

Are wind and Mobilicity the same in terms of coverage/general experience? Right now, Mobilicity seems to have the best plan.

Better off going with Wind IMO. Mobilicity is on the verge of bankruptcy and hasn't built new towers in a while.

Wind has better coverage and is more stable.

Mobilicity was trying to get Telus to buy them at one point.

[AcGold]

I am very happy with my Wind service, unlimited, 40$/month and no contract. Can't beat that.

[FlameOn]

I'm happy with mine as well. $35/month unlimited everything local to Alberta. I went to the US and activated their unlimited US option as well and only ended up paying $7 for well over 300MB of data over a 2 week period. It was great.

Coverage isn't anything to write home about. You get up to Cross Iron in the north and a bit past the somerset LRT station in the south. You start roaming on rogers or the like otherwise.

[Badgers Nose]

I tested Wind two years putting my teen on it. We live on the edge of town so I expected roaming charges. Still waiting for the first roaming charge for voice or text.

Earlier this year I switched from Telus. On a business where I had to travel sunday night and was away from the PVR I steamed all my HBO shows to my phone via Shaw on demand and Wind (Edmonton) and used 7 GB in one or two nights.

I am very happy with wind and will be putting my wife and another child on the network.

Teenager 1 has $29 BTS, I have $40 unlimited everything, and I get $5 off every month because I have two lines.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

Telus raised the cost of my monthly bill to absurd levels.

Are wind and Mobilicity the same in terms of coverage/general experience? Right now, Mobilicity seems to have the best plan.

I was looking at Telus/Bell/Rogers plans this weekend and was blown away at the prices. Basically, $70 for talk/text and 500MB of data. What a joke.

To answer your question, Wind is a couple significant steps ahead of Mobilicity at this point in terms of coverage and signal quality.

And given the Mobilicity is operating under financial protection, I'd have some reservations about signing on. There is likely some inconvenience ahead....

[WilsonFourTwo]

And just a heads up to those of you who care about Apple....

The iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s all work with Wind. This lack of iPhone support used to be a big knock against the company but it's no longer an issue.

And with the iPhone 6 due out in a month, I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the first Apple product that Wind actually retails.

[Azure]

Right now the biggest knock against Wind is their lack of LTE support. Not sure what they will do to fix that, but I'd imagine if they could get some hands on spectrum or team up with a carrier, they could offer a much better footprint.

They do well quarter to quarter.

[Azure]

Right now the biggest knock against Wind is their lack of LTE support. Not sure what they will do to fix that, but I'd imagine if they could get some hands on spectrum or team up with a carrier, they could offer a much better footprint.

They do well quarter to quarter.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

And just a heads up to those of you who care about Apple....

The iPhone 5, 5c, and 5s all work with Wind. This lack of iPhone support used to be a big knock against the company but it's no longer an issue.

So they now support all iPhone 5 models? When we looked before it was only the newer serial numbers; not from when the iPhone 5 first came out.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

I was looking at Telus/Bell/Rogers plans this weekend and was blown away at the prices. Basically, $70 for talk/text and 500MB of data. What a joke.

To answer your question, Wind is a couple significant steps ahead of Mobilicity at this point in terms of coverage and signal quality.

And given the Mobilicity is operating under financial protection, I'd have some reservations about signing on. There is likely some inconvenience ahead....

It's actually $80.

[Kipper is King]

Originally Posted by ken0042

So they now support all iPhone 5 models? When we looked before it was only the newer serial numbers; not from when the iPhone 5 first came out.

I believe you are correct about only more recent serial numbers. I remember reading that.

[AcGold]

$80 a month is insanity

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by Azure

Right now the biggest knock against Wind is their lack of LTE support. Not sure what they will do to fix that, but I'd imagine if they could get some hands on spectrum or team up with a carrier, they could offer a much better footprint.

They do well quarter to quarter.

The lack of LTE is a problem with with the whole Wind financiers who have a dispute with the Canadian government. This is why they pulled out of the 700Mhz spectrum auction at the beginning of the year. Hopefully Videotron (who picked up all the spectrum) will sell to Wind or buy Wind out... either is preferable to the big three.

[Azure]

Yup. Would be huge if Videotron got involved outside of Quebec. They could do great considering they already hold spectrum.