Getting smart about cell phone plans in Canada
Today is the beginning of a concerted effort on my part to figure out where the soft spots are in cellular rates, here in Canada, and to exploit them. I currently spend just north of $500 every month with Rogers using my BlackBerry. That comprises $330 for 1750 minutes on the North American one-rate plan, which allows me to roam anywhere in the US and Canada at the same rate, plus $100 for 200M of monthly data, some minor service features, and (of course) taxes. Because it's a business plan, and unlimited roaming, Rogers has said "no" to any notion of free evenings and weekends, or any other plan that might give you a similar break.
So…
Yesterday I cancelled the North American one-rate plan, substituting a Canada-wide 1250 minute plan for it. The Canada-wide plan allows me to roam anywhere in Canada, but not the US. I only visit the US for a few days every other month, so this is likely not going to impact me. Price: $150. Savings: $180.
This morning I activated a new SIM for my Nokia N95. I added the Rogers MegaTime 200 plan, for $39, which allows unlimited evening and weekends (starting at 5PM), plus unlimited on-network calls to Rogers customers. In addition, I added the new MyFive promotion, which gives me unlimited calling between 5 people on any network. The people I call most are my partner Howard, my home, my parents, and my brother-in-law. They're all in MyFive, which means I don't pay to call any of them. Cost: $10. And, of course, the obligatory caller-ID / voice mail and data plan package: $20.
And finally, I added a TalkPlus account. The TalkPlus account was the impetus for starting down this path because, aside from its many many other benefits, TalkPlus allows me make any long distance call a local call and charges me between 1 and 3 cents per minute to call most places in the US and Canada. This is one helluva deal compared to Rogers' 30 cents per minute. Plus, I can simply buy a pay as you go card anytime I am travelling in the US, and experience the same benefits.
At this point I've likely reduced my bill by about $100 / month. But I have many more minutes and much more data than I will every likely use. For example, the N95 is a WiFi enabled phone as well, and I will try to make calls in my office using our WiFi hotspot and TruPhone in order to avoid burning up that precious 200 minutes of airtime that Rogers has so stingely allocated on this plan.
Next month, I will fine tune the plans after examining my bills. My intent is for the BlackBerry to remain my mobile email device, but to shift as much of the calling traffic from it to the lower priced consumer plans as I possibly can.
Stay tuned!
July 11th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Don’t get me started on Canadian mobile phone rates…
I use my BlackBerry on Rogers as well - do you really need 200MB of data on your blackberry? I e-mail all day with mine and haven’t cracked 15MB. Mind you, I never download attachments.
Also, I have an Unlimited Incoming calls plan - so all calls I recieve are free.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
My son is in BC and we need a cell phone plan with free incoming from the states. It is mind boggling how different cell plans are in the us and canada. I am going nuts trying to find an average priced plan that has the features he needs. He must have free incoming and would like to be able to received e-mail and text, but we would settle for the free incoming from the east coast of the us.
HELP!
April 21st, 2008 at 9:07 am
I’m also trying to find a plan that will allow me to make calls equally when I am in Canada and the US without roaming when I am in either place, because I literally will spend equal amounts of time in both places week to week for the foreseeable future starting later this year. At this time there appears to be no American plan to cover both, but Bell and Telus both have north america plans and I may go with one of them. An intriguing notion is using skype on a phone with an unlimited data plan and just paying their 25 pounds (british) per year for their unlimited us-canada calling plan, though I know of no one personally who does this and haven’t done much looking into it to see if it would make sense financially. Also I don’t know how the call quality might be.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Vito asks, “Do you really need 200MB of data on your blackberry?
Then he states, “Mind you, I never download attachments.”
You have a device to read e-mail, but you can’t read attachments…
And you don’t see a problem with this?
My Gosh!
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:58 am
Toni: US Canada plans
I live in Canada most of the time but am frequently across the border and make a LOT of calls while roaming across borders. I have signed up for the Verizon Canada Plan. It is reasonable and no long distance and roaming charges anywhere in US/Canada. It does have unlimited Ver-Ver calling but only in the US. In Canada V2V is counted as part of your minutes.
Only trouble is that there is no text messaging plan while in Canada.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 am
BTW the Verizon Canada plan I think charges $69-79 for 900 day time minutes + 1000 W&Nights + 1000 V2V