[atvong]

So currently I'm residing in the U.S. and I'm about to leave for Canada to go to college maybe in Vancouver or Toronto, I'm not sure yet. But anyway I just want to find out which wireless carrier has the best blackberry plan along with decent pricing on international calling?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[giustinaaah]

Not Bell or Rogers, that's for sure.

I'd look into Telus or Fido if I were you

[TheComebackKidd]

Becuase you will be making calls back to the US I'd look into Wind Mobile. Their pricing is pretty competitive. They are a new upstart in the Canadian cell phone market.

[Artwerks]

Becuase you will be making calls back to the US I'd look into Wind Mobile. Their pricing is pretty competitive. They are a new upstart in the Canadian cell phone market.

As far as I can tell, Wind Mobile Home zone is only available in Toronto downtown and Calgary downtown area, which means that their price won't be as competitive as they should as soon as you're out of a home zone. Also, where I live, I have 3G network from both Rogers and Bell/Telus but absolutely no signal from Wind! The best thing is to look at coverage maps and see if it fits our needs before going with them...

Not Bell or Rogers, that's for sure.

I'd look into Telus or Fido if I were you

Why Telus and not Bell? They share the exactly same network! Why Fido and not Rogers? They also share the exactly same network!

That said, if you want Fido because of their call being billed in seconds instead of minutes, UMA availability and their competitive pricing, you have to bring your own unlocked BlackBerry on their network as they only sell one BB, the Pearl. I personally dropped Fido three years ago as my plan was changed from seconds to minutes billing, voice mail and call display were charged 9$/month (they used to be free when I signed into for 3 years but Rogers changed that) and my long distance calls were charged 30�/minute billed to the minute instead of 10�/minute billed to the second! At least, with Bell and Telus, they won't change the pricing of your plan while you're still under contract.

For coverage, when I go skiing or out of the city, I can't rely on the Rogers network as they have too many dead zones out of town. Bell/Telus network is, by experience, way better when it comes to coverage. Now it's up to you to look at your needs and the price of the plans. I'm currently on the new HSDPA network by Bell/Telus (on Bell) and as far as I can say, coverage and speed are excellent, I only had a network downtime of about 6 hours last week-end while my CDMA phone was working great with full signal... but the network is new, I'll give them a chance!

[Artwerks]

I forgot to mention, Bell customer service is HORRIBLE! I hope that you don't have to deal with them if you choose to go over there. I had to deal with them this summer and spent countless hours trying to fix a plan problem... I also used to be on Telus for two years and I had a great experience with the customer service. For Rogers, I can't tell about their customer service.

[nfld_sapper]

Not Bell or Rogers, that's for sure.

I'd look into Telus or Fido if I were you

*cough*FIDO is ROGERS*cough*

And if you look at the coverage maps if appears that Bell covers more area than Rogers......

[Reed McLay]

*cough*FIDO is ROGERS*cough*

And if you look at the coverage maps if appears that Bell covers more area than Rogers......

More accurately, Rogers Wireless owns a 100% interest in FIDO.

Previously, there were competitors in the Western Canada marketplace. Now, FIDO is the discount brand positioned to compete with the discounters with lower prices and prepaid service plans.

Rogers is my carrier of choice. They support Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) which makes it possible for me to get service in a sub one bar signal zone. The unlimited national calling that comes with it is a bonus.

[atvong]

So does anyone know which carrier is best in British Columbia area? Vancouver to be exact.

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[Artwerks]

So does anyone know which carrier is best in British Columbia area? Vancouver to be exact.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Telus is pretty strong in Alberta and Western Canada, and their new network just launched in time for the Olympic Games in Vancouver, which was the main purpose of launching it before the Winter Olympics. The coverage should be excellent in Vancouver area. As Telus and Bell share the same network, I'd go with one of them. As I live in Eastern Canada, I can say that Bell/Telus network coverage is way better here than on Rogers... but no UMA for Bell/Telus.

[rainor94]

If you will be in a city where WIND has coverage go with them. They have the best price plan and they don't have contracts. You can also go pre paid. Also in Canada people pay long distance if you leave the city. WIND has coverage in the city and then outside the city you roam at 25 cents a minute on Rogers. On Rogers you pay 35 cents a minute when our outside the city so it's actually cheaper to use WIND outside the city. Only disadvantaged with Wind is you won't be able to use your current phone. You have the ATT 9700 which won't work on WIND. If you get a T-Mobile 9700 it will work on WIND or you can just buy one from WIND for $450. WIND's Website is windmobile.ca and they have a "conversation" section on there website where you can ask stuff about the network and get responses from people like you and me and WIND employees.

[reeneebob]

Not Bell or Rogers, that's for sure.

I'd look into Telus or Fido if I were you

Are you kidding?

With Telus's $720 ETF? And Rogers being general dickheads?

I've been with all 3 and there is a reason I have everything through Bell now, including internet and satellite as well as home phone.

And I am hesitant with a company who just showed up from Egypt. I'd wait a couple years and see what they are REALLY like before shelling out money.

[GlitchZero]

Are you kidding?

With Telus's $720 ETF? And Rogers being general dickheads?

I've been with all 3 and there is a reason I have everything through Bell now, including internet and satellite as well as home phone.

And I am hesitant with a company who just showed up from Egypt. I'd wait a couple years and see what they are REALLY like before shelling out money.

It was 400 last year, unless they suddenly found a loophole to really hack the wound, it hasn't changed. In fact I'm pretty sure all of the big 3 have $20 for each remaining month or $400 maximum, whichever comes first. I've been on all 3 as well, and so far Telus seems to be reaching in my pocket the least. Just my own opinion. The Rogers statement is pure truth though, nothing but problems with Rogers be it cable, internet or wireless. It's like a prerequisite to be ok with punching babies to work in Rogers billing department. Jerks.

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[reeneebob]

I forgot to mention, Bell customer service is HORRIBLE! I hope that you don't have to deal with them if you choose to go over there. I had to deal with them this summer and spent countless hours trying to fix a plan problem... I also used to be on Telus for two years and I had a great experience with the customer service. For Rogers, I can't tell about their customer service.

And again, I have had the completely opposite experience. I had to call several times when I first got my Berry due to data switches and when I got the bill, there were data errors. They not only corrected it in one call, they found an extra error I didn't catch and corrected that too. So YOU may have had a bad experience, but if I went into all my experiences with Telus and Rogers, it would take pages.

[reeneebob]

It was 400 last year, unless they suddenly found a loophole to really hack the wound, it hasn't changed. In fact I'm pretty sure all of the big 3 have $20 for each remaining month or $400 maximum, whichever comes first. I've been on all 3 as well, and so far Telus seems to be reaching in my pocket the least. Just my own opinion. The Rogers statement is pure truth though, nothing but problems with Rogers be it cable, internet or wireless. It's like a prerequisite to be ok with punching babies to work in Rogers billing department. Jerks.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Rogers and Bell both charge consumers the greater of $100 or $20 for each month left in the contract, capped at $400, to get out of their contracts. Telus charges customers $20 per month to abandon their contracts though there is no maximum. Virgin Mobile penalizes customers with time remaining on their contracts at a rate of $10 per month.

Phone companies say the fees are clearly spelled out in the contracts and are used to recover costs incurred when cellphones are bundled with long-term contracts at discounted rates.

For example, Anne-Julie Gratton, a spokeswoman for Telus, suggests consumers who want to get out of their contract early can transfer their contracts to another consumer for a fee of $25. She also notes consumers have the option to buy a la carte services and products.

"I think that one thing that needs to be clear is that the contracts are optional, you're not in any way obligated to sign a contract with us to get a device or to have a phone plan," she said.

"The bonus when you sign a contract, for example, is discounts on devices and maybe discounts on different plans."

When asked why Telus doesn't cap its early-termination fees along the lines of Bell and Telus, Gratton said the $20 per month rate was firm.



Read more: CBC News - Consumer Life - Early-termination fees: Taking the bite out of consumers' bark

[09DannyH]

I've had horrible experiences with Telus and I wouldn't recommend them. Been waiting about a month for any confirmation that my Storm will be fixed.

[wiggy999]

Very happy with Virgin Mobile in Ottawa so far ... but now that Bell has their hooks into them..The prices are going up already if you miss a payment, change plans etc..

[skwij]

Virgin Mobile is worth checking.

[jgodin03]

Telus plans are very good, but with some rogers plan, you can get unlimited calling in wifi area... It could be useful for you!

[jm2hill]

I can only comment on Toronto, taking that into mind, my only choice of carriers will be rogers, granted I haven't looked at there new plans and such my plan is over 3 years old, but the customer service I recieve is usually good, and when its not good I usually receive benefits that somehow make it that much better.

What you should look into are things like
voice plans as the data plans pricing is usually similar between companies
contract renewability
termination rights
selection of phones
coverage

[atvong]

Thank you guys for helping me out. What my concern is basically with data plan and international calling. How much data plan is reasonable for use of the BBM? I don't use my browser that much except to check the crackberry website lol, also I use the facebook application. Should 1gb be plenty?

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[Reed McLay]

Thank you guys for helping me out. What my concern is basically with data plan and international calling. How much data plan is reasonable for use of the BBM? I don't use my browser that much except to check the crackberry website lol, also I use the facebook application. Should 1gb be plenty?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I use a couple of pushed data applications, Email, Messenger and I regularly follow up with my Browser when a post is reported. 100 emails and messages are typical.

I rarely to exceed 1 Mb, or 1/1000 of a Gb.

[juicebox666]

I've been with Telus since the Clearnet days (almost 10 years) and I'm very happy. The customer service is excellent and they have matched several plans for me throughout the years. I'm currently using a Blackberry Tour on a EPP + $25 unlimited data plan and lots of bonus features (including unlimited SMS and nationwide Telus to Telus calling). The CDMA/1xEV network coverage is excellent (I'm in Ontario, an hour outside of Toronto).

You will probably find the plans, longer contract terms and higher phone prices in Canada a bit surprising. I recommend calling the carriers directly (and try more then once) and negotiate. I would also browse through the carrier specific forums on HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource so you can get an idea of what you can ask for.

I hope that helps.

Good luck!

[Masahiro]

Thank you guys for helping me out. What my concern is basically with data plan and international calling. How much data plan is reasonable for use of the BBM? I don't use my browser that much except to check the crackberry website lol, also I use the facebook application. Should 1gb be plenty?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Unless you use Tether, 500 is more than enough. The most I've ever used was about 20%, and I mostly use the browser for CB as well. Haha.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[GlitchZero]

Yeah 500 should be fine unless you're tethering. The first month I got my S1, I didn't have my laptop yet and decided to use my BB as much as possible. BBM + Facebook + MSN + Opera + downloading about 30 different themes (seriously) + about 20 apps, still only made it to 350 megs that month.

Now that I have the S2, because of the WiFi, I use even less.

[reeneebob]

Thank you guys for helping me out. What my concern is basically with data plan and international calling. How much data plan is reasonable for use of the BBM? I don't use my browser that much except to check the crackberry website lol, also I use the facebook application. Should 1gb be plenty?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

That would be overkill.

With Facebook, Hockey News, Snaptu, BBM, and a lot of web surfing I never come close to my 500 mb limit. As far as Rogers being the only choice in Toronto? Not anymore, not with the new networks. ****, I was getting push email alerts on the subway in TO with Bell 2 summers ago. And Rogers sucks balls CS wise from my past experiences.

I have a $45 plan with Bell that includes 500MB data along with 300 anytime minutes and unlimited nights weekends starting at 5pm. The most I have ever used was 300 MB and that was when first loading themes and apps onto the phone when I first brought it home...