Canadian Cell Phone Service - Advice Needed

[George7941]

I have been with Speakout (7-eleven) Mobile for about ten years. I pay $35 a month for 2.75Gb data and unlimited Canada wide calling. I don't use much data, less than 1 Gb per month. Service has been decent over the years.

No Name Mobile is advertising $19/mo plan which sounds like a bargain. 2 Gb data and unlimited calling to the States which I do not have now. However it has a lot of poor reviews on Reddit

Freedom Mobile gets good reviews but I will not be saving much money.

Do I stay with Speakout Mobile?

 

[2009Caraman]

Public mobile cheapest data plan. Telus towers.

$23/month for 6 GB

 

[dubber09]

I'd suggest you first check coverage maps for major providers and then research their lower cost subsidiaries, e.g. Koodo for Telus. Also check with your employer if they have something like what Telus calls EPP.
I pay C$50/mo before taxes that gives me unlimited Can and US calling, roaming between the countries is included, 5G, 60gb data, it was the cheapest I could get with roaming and calls between the countries included.

 

[Geekhead]

I have been with Speakout (7-eleven) Mobile for about ten years. I pay $35 a month for 2.75Gb data and unlimited Canada wide calling. I don't use much data, less than 1 Gb per month. Service has been decent over the years.

No Name Mobile is advertising $19/mo plan which sounds like a bargain. 2 Gb data and unlimited calling to the States which I do not have now. However it has a lot of poor reviews on Reddit

Freedom Mobile gets good reviews but I will not be saving much money.

Do I stay with Speakout Mobile?

I have a Freedom 10G data CDN/US plan for $29 which has worked very well all over GTA and great US service too. They have a $20 plan with less data that fits you. Try it for a month or so, you dont need a contract.

 

[dk1604]

If you are OK without US calling, Freedom has a couple of "yearly" plans that you might want to consider: $119 for 15GB, or $149 for 30GB. These plans also include WiFi calling so when traveling abroad, as long as you have WiFi (or data if you are using a travel eSim for data abroad), you can make and receive calls/text using your home number. That is very useful for sites that require 2FA (ie. banking).

 

[George7941]

The Freedom $119 for 15Gb is looking very attractive and I plan to switch over to it. I just checked my data usage and over the last 29 days I used about 300Mb.
Geekhead confirms that the service works well in Toronto. I don't see any downsides to switching over to Freedom.

 

[alarmguy]

The Freedom $119 for 15Gb is looking very attractive and I plan to switch over to it. I just checked my data usage and over the last 29 days I used about 300Mb.
Geekhead confirms that the service works well in Toronto. I don't see any downsides to switching over to Freedom.

Huh?
You were paying $35 a month and now you want to pay $119 a month? This is making no sense.
https://www.cellphones.ca/cell-plans/canada-mexico-8133/

Im shocked how much more costly cell service is in Canada and they also tie you into contracts for service? In the USA it's easy to get non contract service, you can switch anytime you want. Just like switching gas stations for gasoline.
https://www.androidauthority.com/best-phone-plans-canada-854126/

 

[George7941]

Huh?
You were paying $35 a month and now you want to pay $119 a month? This is making no sense.

$119 YEARLY! I will be paying 30% of what I have been paying for the last 13 years. I should have switched years ago.

 

[alarmguy]

$119 YEARLY! I will be paying 30% of what I have been paying for the last 13 years. I should have switched years ago.

Ah ha! I knew there must have been something to that post!

 

[George7941]

I am paid up at Speakout for another month, so I will be switching over to Freedom in a month.

I will be porting over my number. How long will that take?

I don't want to lose my phone service for even a day since it is the only phone I have. When should I inititate the switchover to ensure no interruptions? Now or a few days before end of my current service?

I have a Sim card now and plan to switch over to eSim. I have a iPhone13.

 

[dk1604]

I would probably do the port a few days ahead. That said, when I did this previously it happened very quickly. The same day as I recall but that was years ago. I also did it at a Freedom brick and mortar store so the sales associate took care of everything ensuring a smooth transition. If visiting a brick and mortar store is an option for you, that would be my recommendation if you are uncomfortable with the switchover process.

 

[dubber09]

Porting number over should not take more than 15 mins downtime.

 

[alarmguy]

Porting number over should not take more than 15 mins downtime.

Dont know about Canada but 15 minutes or less is my experience in the US

 

[George7941]

I switched over to the Freedom Mobile $119/year plan yesterday. I went to a bricks and mortar store and porting over was painless, took less than an hour.

Previously I always had 4 out of 4 bars signal strength at my house. However I am only getting two bars with Freedom. I was at another location today and only had three bars. Should I be concerned about this?

I have only made three calls on my phone today and did not notice any issues. No cutting out and voice clarity was good.

 

[Rand]

Speakout is Rogers,
freedom mobile is apparently using different towers.
They say they have their network and partner with the nationwide networks outside of their areas.
As long as it works its not a big deal.

 

[tc1446]

See if TELLO is a provider. I'm paying $10.82 a month for unlimited talk and 2gb text. It uses T-Mobil towers.

 

[George7941]

So far, so good. I have not noticed any drop in quality and I will be paying less than a third $10 vs $36.25 per month.

I was only getting 3G with Speakout, I am getting LTE with Freedom. Also Freedom allows WiFi calling, Speakout would not permit that.

 

[Rand]

See if TELLO is a provider. I'm paying $10.82 a month for unlimited talk and 2gb text. It uses T-Mobil towers.

He is in Canada, whole different game up there.

 

[dk1604]

I switched over to the Freedom Mobile $119/year plan yesterday. I went to a bricks and mortar store and porting over was painless, took less than an hour.

Previously I always had 4 out of 4 bars signal strength at my house. However I am only getting two bars with Freedom. I was at another location today and only had three bars. Should I be concerned about this?

I have only made three calls on my phone today and did not notice any issues. No cutting out and voice clarity was good.

I would try the service out for 3-4 months. If you are not happy after that, you can shop around for another provider. At that point, you are at roughly the same cash outlay as if you had stayed with Speakout.

I wouldn't be overly concerned about the 2 bars you get in your home since if WiFi calling is enabled, and your home router provides decent WiFi coverage across your home, you will be using that. The main thing to lookout for is whether the coverage is sufficient outside your home at your favourite stomping grounds (grocery store, shopping malls, your local Canadian Tire, etc.) Freedom will likely have more dead spots in certain neighbourhoods. They will almost certainly have more dead spots in tunnels and underground parkades. If you encounter those areas often, then you may want to look for an alternative provider that uses one of The Big Three for their backbone. As pointed out earlier in this thread, Speakout runs on the Roger's network. Other lower cost options include PC Mobile which runs on the Bell Network and Public Mobile which runs on the Telus Network.

 

[uc50ic4more]

My family's been using Public Mobile for years. It's essentially TELUS' bargain basement service. Do not expect anything - at all - in the way of meaningful support or service; but if you're ok with that you're getting nationwide coverage and high-quality service for a substantially less amount of money than with a more well-known carrier.