Cell phone Retention Plans

[Deuce Bigalow]

well, I decided to give it a whirl with my shaw bill and it worked!

Previously
- Extreme Internet
- Full HD package
$120ish

Now:
- Extreme Internet
- Full HD Package
- Shaw phone w/ free longdistance
$84

Its only for 1 year, but that price is what they are matching for telus' deal (which is also only for a year). So saved myself about $35/month

In total, $50 on my phone/tv/internet, or $600 / year thanks to this thread, haha. Thanks!

[puckluck]

Thanks OP!

Made a call to Rogers today and at first talked to a representive who I think actually gave me a worse deal than I had so I asked to talk to someone else and he put me through to the Rentention department and within 10 minutes I had 250 more minutes and unlimited text messaging added for $10 dollars cheaper a month.

I told them my brother was getting a better deal with Fido and he was really good and wanted to help right away. He offered to make it $5 more cheaper a month if I renewed my contract, but I declined.

Thanks again!

[algernon]

So far the people that have stated their old pricing have shaved off a total of $83/month. That translates to a combined savings of $996/year saved on bills. This doesn't include the HUP's that were managed or people that didn't state their previous pricing.

This is good news for everybody on all networks.

I believe that finally, the Canadian cell market will begin to be competitive with other countries. Browna's advice is solid. Don't just phone up and be a deeb to the CSR's, have a game plan and be polite. I got my first reduced-rate plan 4 years ago from a thread on RFD...that was 2 years out of date, at the time.

Let's get the totals to $10,000!

[Mazrim]

Is there a flex data plan available on Rogers? That Fido flex plan sounds incredible, and I will never use 500MB of data. The most I've used in a month was 250MB. If I can get that flex plan on Rogers, I'll be calling retentions pretty damn quickly.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Is there a flex data plan available on Rogers? That Fido flex plan sounds incredible, and I will never use 500MB of data. The most I've used in a month was 250MB. If I can get that flex plan on Rogers, I'll be calling retentions pretty damn quickly.

99.9999999995% sure there is, couldn`t make it 100 for the same reason Sutter didn`t give 3Mil to white

But yeah, I`d call in.

EDIT: And if your on a blackberry you need the APN3CON feature code (makes regular data plans BIS compatible)

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by algernon

So far the people that have stated their old pricing have shaved off a total of $83/month. That translates to a combined savings of $996/year saved on bills. This doesn't include the HUP's that were managed or people that didn't state their previous pricing.

This is good news for everybody on all networks.

I believe that finally, the Canadian cell market will begin to be competitive with other countries. Browna's advice is solid. Don't just phone up and be a deeb to the CSR's, have a game plan and be polite. I got my first reduced-rate plan 4 years ago from a thread on RFD...that was 2 years out of date, at the time.

Let's get the totals to $10,000!

The key in my experience is being polite. Make the CSR`s want to help you get a better deal. Being rude with them will get you nowhere. They can just give blanket excuses such as ``no more credits for your account`` then.

[HOOT]

Decided to do this for Bell TV and got it down 20% plus the credits I already had. I told them Shaw was offering me 6 months 50% off and the service was a bit cheaper. I don't even know if they have a special like this right now but it worked in my favor.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Is there a flex data plan available on Rogers? That Fido flex plan sounds incredible, and I will never use 500MB of data. The most I've used in a month was 250MB. If I can get that flex plan on Rogers, I'll be calling retentions pretty damn quickly.

Rogers has it.

No tethering on that plan though - FYI

[red sky]

So when you are talking to shaw or bell do you say you want to cancel or do you ask to discuss your plan?

I wouldn't know what to do if I said I would like to cancel my plan and they would be okay with it... I then would have to backtrack somehow but I am not sure. Hang up maybe???

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by red sky

So when you are talking to shaw or bell do you say you want to cancel or do you ask to discuss your plan?

I wouldn't know what to do if I said I would like to cancel my plan and they would be okay with it... I then would have to backtrack somehow but I am not sure. Hang up maybe???

When you go through the options select 'cancel plan/service' option. When the person picks up all I said was "I'm wondering how much notice I have to give to cancel my service (enough though I know it was 30 days) because I'm thinking of switching to another provider because they have a deal on right now." The lady on the other end asked who and what kind of deal they were offering and I just made up a believable promotion. Worst case you just say you don't want to cancel right now you are just trying to line up installations and gather information for the switch.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by silentsim

EDIT: And if your on a blackberry you need the APN3CON feature code (makes regular data plans BIS compatible)

I'm on a BlackBerry, yes. Does that code change the cost or anything or is it just so it knows what system I'm on? I assume it's an automatic thing normally as I've never heard of this before. I'd like to know how it works before making an ass of myself with retentions trying to tell them.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I'm on a BlackBerry, yes. Does that code change the cost or anything or is it just so it knows what system I'm on? I assume it's an automatic thing normally as I've never heard of this before. I'd like to know how it works before making an ass of myself with retentions trying to tell them.

Well, there are two types of Data packages. Blackberry and Smartphone. Blackberry package is compatible with every smartphone, and the smartphone package is not compatible with Blackberry (the BIS apps at least ).

I dont know if the flex data is available on the Blackberry package, so if you get the regular smartphone pack you would be unable to connect to BIS. The APN3CON code adds the BIS features to the regular smartphone plan. It cost's nothing- it just activates the features on a smartphone plan. Just tell them the last rep you spoke to said you would need the SOC code APN3CON to enable BIS on your package :P

[username]

Worked for me too - Basically got 30 bucks off my bill plus they've given me 1000 long distance minutes in Canada and upgraded my my5 to include talk and text across Canada.

With the long distance savings, I'm sure I'll be saving anywhere from 50 - 100 bucks a month!

Great thread!

[ricosuave]

Originally Posted by silentsim

After A LOT of negotiating, and ton`s of plan changes, I believe I have an AMAZING plan.

So now for 41.01 including GRRF I get...(43 after tax-only GST here)
500 Anytime- 6 months unlimited
Unlimited Evening Weekend 5PM
Unlimited Incoming
1000 Canada Wide LD
Unlimited Messaging (sms and mms)
6GB Data with APN3CON- 2 months unlimited
Unlimited Network Calling
Caller ID+Name Display
Visual Voicemail

It was 41.01 and the rep offered me an additional 5 off if I resign to 3 years, so I did (as this contract will be easily movable) so my total is 36.01 + tax

Any recommendations by you all on how I might snag a couple of plans like this, with i-phones (the 3g version) and a 2 year commitment?

weve been with rogers for ~8 or 9 years, never had a hardware upgrade, and are currently going month to month

[Barnes]

Should I call Fido retentions directly or call 611 and play the cancel game?

[Burninator]

I phoned Rogers just before I got my iPhone 4.

Previous plan:
Mega Value Plan (MY5, 150 minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends @ 9) - $25
Smartphone Value Pack (1000 texts, Caller ID, Voicemail) - $15
Bill total was - $50

After retentions:
250 minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends @ 6 - $17.50
Smartphone Value Pack (same as above) - $10
6GB data plan - $30
Service fee reduced from 7.95 to 2.85

Bill total now - $64

Obviously it went up because I added a data plan where their wasn't one before. Without the data I saved $17 a month. I think it's a much better plan for me now. Unlimited evenings and weekends starting at 9pm was ridiculous. More like unlimited nights. I didn't mind dropping the MY5 as it wasn't needed. Some of you guys have amazing plans, I am jealous.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Should I call Fido retentions directly or call 611 and play the cancel game?

If you call retentions directly, they will know you called them directly. That may or may not affect your negotiations, but I'd play it safe and go through 611.

[Barnes]

Called 611 and played the cancel game. It would have cost me $220 to cancel (2.5 months of bills essentially) Got transfered to retentions and got:

200 daytime, unlimited weekends/evenings after 5pm
VVM, 2500 texts, call display, waiting, free tethering etc...
6gb data

$62.50

Not bad considering I was paying $92.00. Didn't even have to renew.

Thanks everyone. I will be saving $30 a month now and add the fact that I switched to Telus Optik and will save $60 a month there, I've done pretty good.

[Azure]

Don't you love competition?

[browna]

Originally Posted by Azure

Don't you love competition?

Its that and the changing number of options on these plans that can be massaged.

10 years ago (back in the bill per second era), you were slave to whatever the companies wanted, because basically it was all about voice minutes. Sure, the odd text message as that was slowly starting, but all you could hope for was decent buckets of minutes, and maybe a feature like VM or CID or LD minutes thrown in.

Now there a bigger emphasis on texts, and in the past 3 years, data. With the widespread availability of those features, and I am guessing still a good margin each company makes on text and data (even over voice minutes still), and of course increased network capacity and leaps in technology, prices can come down on each one of these functions (data/voice/text) within a plan.

Also, handet prices have come down with the larger market, meaning that the telecom companies have that much more margin on handset sales, IMO.

But yes, number porting and coverages all similar, there's less advantage between networks on those basis, then even 6 or 7 years ago.