[norwscaper]

i've got an iphone on the way from the states and I've been weighing my carrier options (albiet limited) and am curious as to what carriers and plans ehmac members have gone with.

I'm leaning towards fido's 25$ student plan. It has unlimited incoming, evenings and weekends and 150 anytime minutes. The only downside seems to be that if I decide I want to add data to my plan down the road, fido doesn't exactly have the best rates. But I've heard good things about their reliablility.

 

[da_jonesy]

Hey guys... you do know that Fido (aka Microcell) is owned by Rogers, right?

There is only one GSM carrier in Canada and that is them.

 

[devon_woodward]

well actually there is two gsm carriers in canada. rogers/fido has no network in the nwt; therefore there is a small privately funded company known as Ice Wireless providing gsm service is selected communities (eg. yellowknife) where rogers doesnt have service.

 

[Patchfoo]

What is Fido's $25 student plan? I didn't know about that, it sounds pretty good for me. Is there a link to a website that I can go to or do I just need to ask about it at a Fido place?

 

[madgunde]

I'm with Rogers on a corporate employee discount plan. I pay $10/month extra for 10MB of EDGE data.

 

[mirkrim]

If you're going for a plan, remember to add $7-8 in hidden fees to get the real price. They never tell you about it, but every carrier charges "network access fee" or something like that, so after hidden fees and tax, a $20 plan actually costs $30/mo.

Maybe that's obvious, but I've known more than one person who got suckered into a plan because they didn't know about the hidden fees.

 

[norwscaper]

http://www.studentphones.com/

student phones has a 25$ fido plan, but as mentioned by Mirkrim, it's more like 35 after the extra 7 dollar fee and taxes. Also, fido charges you extra for options like call display, text messages and voicemail. they bundle these, but still...I'm looking at 25 for the plan, 7 for fees and another 11 for voicemail, call display and they throw in 50 text messages a month (not something I really use, but nice to have the option).

The only downside perhaps is that I've heard that rogers voicemail works as visual voicemail on the iphone, but not so much with fido. and perhaps it's cheaper to go with rogers if after all the extra fees with fido the plan comes to 36 plus the extra 7 bucks. Also, if I decide that wireless hotspots aren't enouhg and I want a dataplan, fido is ridiculously expensive compared to rogers. perhaps Rogers bears further investigating.

 

[dwp]

And don't forget with Fido that you pay an extra 25¢ a minute when you leave their limited calling area and enter the Rogers zone.

I'm with Fido on the unlimited incoming call plan and they goosed my deal to stay with them, but even so the unlimited incoming I found to be the best deal going.

 

[Patchfoo]

And don't forget with Fido that you pay an extra 25¢ a minute when you leave their limited calling area and enter the Rogers zone.

I'm with Fido on the unlimited incoming call plan and they goosed my deal to stay with them, but even so the unlimited incoming I found to be the best deal going.

You pay and extra 25 cents per minute when you leave the Fido zone? Is this only if you don't pay for the extra $5 per month for the bonus (Rogers) coverage?

 

[jackyk]

I was with Fido.. now with Rogers. For any potential iPhone owners:

GO WITH ROGERS

Why?

1. Voicemail notification on iphone does not work with Fido
2. Rogers will soon carry iphones, so go with them.

Plus, I had issues receiving text messages on Fido... for some reason it just stopped. Not only on my iphone but on a regular Fido phone. I dont know if this had to do with the iPhone but.... it worked at the beginning and then suddenly it just stopped working.

 

[caustik]

Does one already need to be a rogers subscriber to use the iPhone? Or will they sell you just a sim card to drop into it? Would you need to say its for some other old phone you bought off Ebay?

Lots of posts explain how it works when you currently have an active phone/acct on the go.

Thanks

 

[mirkrim]

You can go into any Rogers store and buy a sim card for $25; they'll give you a number to call for activation. Don't activate online - the system is buggy and your request might not go through (happened to me).

Then you can choose whether you want a plan, prepaid, or whatever else. Also, if you want to port your previous cell # over, you can ask them to do that as well.

 

[caustik]

Thanks Mirkrim! Thats exactly the info I was trying to pin down.

 

[jackyk]

If you're looking to save some $$, buy rogers sim cards off ebay or craigslist or even ehmac classifieds. I think I've seen some for $10 as appose to $25 at the Rogers store. And some of them on ebay have pretty good prepaid accounts tied to them.

I got a Fido Sim off ebay that had like $40 in prepaid time on it for like $20. And it came with a # in my area code, the SIM card, etc... Not bad if you want to test out which carrier you want. Though I highly recommend Rogers.

 

[caustik]

Jackyk, I will def scoop a card from ebay or the like. I take it I do not need a special version of a sim to pop in the iPhone, just something for Rogers...

Thanks for the tip.

I am switching from Telus Mike, so I am hoping Rogers is similar in quality...

 

[Anatomy]

if you don't mind signing a contract Rogers will give you a phone [with a shiny new sim card] for free