Cell Phone Plans

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by JonDuke

Can anyone speak Public Mobil's coverage? I know they use Telus but has anyone had issues in Calgary?
They have a 40GB for $34 and it's 5G instead of LTE.
I woke up this morning convinced the kids would go with Virgin and their $34 plan but this one seems quite a bit better.

What am I missing?

No issues here, it will be exactly the same as Telus...also their rewards system should give you some $off from time to time

Have one of them refer the other

[ken0042]

In case anybody is curious, my son is reporting that his phone is now showing 5G. We had planned on going into a store for a new SIM on the weekend, but no need now. So his iPhone 12 is just fine on Koodo's 5G network. I really feel bad for people who may not know any better and would say "I guess I just need to spend $1000 on a new phone now."

I might still do a speed test to see what he is actually getting for speed.

[Calgary14]

I just switched to a $50/m 60GB plan with Telus that has Canada and US minutes, data etc. So I guess the big companies are eliminating their roaming add ons for those plan types?

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I just switched to a $50/m 60GB plan with Telus that has Canada and US minutes, data etc. So I guess the big companies are eliminating their roaming add ons for those plan types?

Did you supply the phone or did they?

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by habernac

Did you supply the phone or did they?

I supplied it. If I had got a new phone I assume that plan wouldn't be available

[Izzle]

Traveling to Mexico for the first time. Do you guys recommend getting a SIM at the airport?

I'm with public mobile and they don't have roaming for Mexico, even as an add on.

We're only gone for a week and are staying at an all inclusive resort. No plans to go explore the city. Just staying in the resort and beach time.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

seriously? is this 2005? lol

That would be 2G in 2005.

As for plans, the best deals seemed to be $34 (or in some cases $29) 40 or 50 GB on 5G from Fido, Public, Freedom. I’m not sure if the deals are still available. They’ll be back Boxing Day if you can wait.

Public has free eSims, no activation fee, and no 911 fees and uses TELUS network. I moved from a TELUS family deal from last year to Public and have zero complaints.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I just switched to a $50/m 60GB plan with Telus that has Canada and US minutes, data etc. So I guess the big companies are eliminating their roaming add ons for those plan types?

Yeah Freedom had some crazy $60 plan with no roaming in 130 countries or something like that, for BF.

Maybe our phone plans will finally catch up with the rest of the world. Probably not, these are public companies Telcos with their $50/month average subscriber revenue are fuelling a lot of pension plans and mutual funds Haha.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Traveling to Mexico for the first time. Do you guys recommend getting a SIM at the airport?

I'm with public mobile and they don't have roaming for Mexico, even as an add on.

We're only gone for a week and are staying at an all inclusive resort. No plans to go explore the city. Just staying in the resort and beach time.

My travel SIM solution is using an eSIM like Airalo. There is a thread about it here: https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showth...ghlight=Airalo

Not all phones support eSIM, so you’ll have to check your device first to make sure. I have only used it in Europe, but my parents used Airalo for Mexico last year and it worked well for them.

Some people still like to get a physical sim at the airport or from a local vendor.

[SportsJunky]

My wife and kids are on a telus plan. It's $14/day per person to roam in the US. That was surprising. I'm in the US often. Have a rogers plan. No extra charges for international.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

My wife and kids are on a telus plan. It's $14/day per person to roam in the US. That was surprising. I'm in the US often. Have a rogers plan. No extra charges for international.

You are on a Canada USA plan, because if any company would find a reason to charge you for something it’s Rogers.

[pseudoreality]

I just switched two accounts from Bell to Virgin Plus. We went from 2 x $85/month for 5GB to 2 x $39/month for 20GB. It seems insane that I was paying what I was before. They don't even have 5G towers where I live so not missing out there.

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Traveling to Mexico for the first time. Do you guys recommend getting a SIM at the airport?

I'm with public mobile and they don't have roaming for Mexico, even as an add on.

We're only gone for a week and are staying at an all inclusive resort. No plans to go explore the city. Just staying in the resort and beach time.

We've done Mexico at an all inclusive several times with no need for roaming / SIM / anything. I'm guessing you already have transport set up to and from the resort, and after that you'll have wifi for nearly of your needs. Concierge can make calls and set things up for you if you want to do a excursion or two.

[White Out 403]

Got a 50 dollars plan for 120 gigs 5g. Canada callout and texting, no USA.

[fotze2]

I am with Freedom and paying $55/mo for 40 GB plus roam yadda.

The plans I can change too look way cheaper but there is a small difference that I am not sure about. Of course phoning and asking is a 12 hour ordeal, plus they would lie anyway.

Current plan says
DATA (FREEDOM NATIONWIDE + U.S.)

• 40GB of Fast LTE

Future plan says
DATA:
100GB (Freedom Nationwide + U.S.)

None of the 10 plans I can change mention "Fast LTE". Like it doesn't exist any more.

Did they just get rid of the term Fast LTE and its the same on the new plans or is it slower crap data I'd be moving too.

[ken0042]

I would more importantly ask why you are getting a $55 plan? How much data are you using per month? Do you need the US Roaming? There are plans out there for more data than you currently have, for less money.

If speed is a concern, then I would suggest looking at a 5G plan anyway.

[dino7c]

What are you guys doing on your phones that needs 5G anyway?

especially with data limits

4G is 100 Mbit

seems like a lot of marketing

If you were actually pushing 5G speeds for something...your data would be gone quickly

I realize the benefit for the provider because they can provide more bandwidth amongst their customers but its not worth paying more for

[GoinAllTheWay]

Currently a customer of Koodo, have been for years. Decided to look at Freedom today and was impressed with some of their BYOD plans. For the same price I'm paying with Koodo, I can also get USA and Mexico roaming included, for the next 2 yrs anyways. On top of that, the 5G speeds with Koodo have been underwhelming. Think I was doing better with the LTE plan with speedboost.


I recall the knock against Freedom was coverage not being so good, I assume that's improved these days? Anything to be concerned about with Freedom?


One thing I liked about Koodo was the ability to log into my account and change my plan easily online if something better popped up, I assume you can do that with Freedom as well?

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Currently a customer of Koodo, have been for years. Decided to look at Freedom today and was impressed with some of their BYOD plans. For the same price I'm paying with Koodo, I can also get USA and Mexico roaming included, for the next 2 yrs anyways. On top of that, the 5G speeds with Koodo have been underwhelming. Think I was doing better with the LTE plan with speedboost.


I recall the knock against Freedom was coverage not being so good, I assume that's improved these days? Anything to be concerned about with Freedom?


One thing I liked about Koodo was the ability to log into my account and change my plan easily online if something better popped up, I assume you can do that with Freedom as well?

I switched to Freedom last week. So far I haven't noticed any issues with their coverage within Calgary, and speeds have been no different than Telus. I haven't been on the Nationwide network to see what the speeds are like yet.

Yes, once your account is created there is self serve options available to change/add to your plan.

[OldDutch]

For roaming in US and Mexico I would say get a SIM off Amazon. I paid $30 for 6 days of unlimited 5G+ data on t mobile. I forwarded my calls to the American number I was given.

Only draw back was traditional texts didn’t forward for some reason. Need to look into that.

That said I would get the cheapest Canadian only plan and use SIM card like this

https://a.co/d/0M6mN4u