|
Lexicon posted:You sort of can, with an iPad plan. I'd be tempted to go that route entirely if I knew an iPad provisioned sim would reliably work in an unlocked iPhone. It entirely can. Without a voice plan it will be pay-per-use for any voice or text though... and it won't be cheap. Rogers month to month flex rate data (as of writing) goes for $20 for up too 500mb and $40 for up too 5gb. cowofwar posted:I'm on rogers pay as you go and it's massively cheaper for me to buy an iphone straight up and put a $100 card on it (lasts 1 year). I then get the text messaging package which is $3 a month, grab a skype yearly subscription, and grab the $5 for 60mb data (or 1 week) vouchers as needed when I'm away from wireless. Works out to $15 a month for me. This is a really great idea for people who don't use their phone. I did the same thing in highschool and college (with used dumb phones, no iPhones back then), but post-paid plans will never be like this.
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 00:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:27 |
|
|
DarkJC posted:Looks like it's actually 2GB for $60 monthly though, and unless you need the minutes the Talk and Text plans with Pay Per Use data are still a better value. In Manitoba Telus offers unlimited text/nationwide calling w/5gb of data for 60 bucks a month, but their coverage is horrible here and it's all HPSA+ still. When I port my number the company should cancel my plan/service the second they lose the number right? Thats a thing I'm not making up in my head.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 01:34
|
|
|
Lexicon posted:Koodo just launched a plan with unlimited national calling, and 3GB of data for $60 monthly: That's what I have from Rogers. What I need now though is another voice/text line, which ideally could also be configured to call forward to my other phone. Zarkov Cortez fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 01:38
|
|
|
WienerDog posted:It entirely can. Without a voice plan it will be pay-per-use for any voice or text though... and it won't be cheap. Really? So shove an iPad sim into an iPhone and you've got a data-enabled iPod touch? Why don't more people do this?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 01:43
|
|
|
Lexicon posted:Really? So shove an iPad sim into an iPhone and you've got a data-enabled iPod touch? Why don't more people do this? Because a poo poo ton of people still use their phones as actual phones and don't want to have to bother with trying to get people to call them on Skype or something.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 01:45
|
|
|
mediaphage posted:Because a poo poo ton of people still use their phones as actual phones and don't want to have to bother with trying to get people to call them on Skype or something. No one's obliging you to do it. But there's a, I would think, pretty large portion of the cellular-using population who care far, far more about mobile data than mobile voice, and would find the substantial savings attractive. I mean, hell, the iPad with cellular has already proven itself as a useful device/service combination. Why would you assume a smaller form-factor version of this same package is somehow a bizarre desire?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 01:55
|
|
|
Lexicon posted:No one's obliging you to do it. But there's a, I would think, pretty large portion of the cellular-using population who care far, far more about mobile data than mobile voice, and would find the substantial savings attractive. So you're going to carry around two cell phones, or none at all? e: to elaborate, If were planning on ditching a cell number altogether, that won't work because some people don't have data, or won't use whatsapp or facebook, so you have to text these people. You also need to have a phone number, unless you have a homephone. So if you were considering carrying around some voice-only phone, you might as well put that $20-$40 ipad plan towards an iphone plan and get a hardware subsidy and minutes to use. WienerDog fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:00
|
|
|
WienerDog posted:So you're going to carry around two cell phones, or none at all? Hell no, I'm not going to walk around with two phones. My ideal setup is probably to walk around with a data-only iPhone, and have a PAYG speakout wireless or equivalent dumbphone that mostly lives at home for the few voice calls that I do make.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:09
|
|
|
Lexicon posted:Hell no, I'm not going to walk around with two phones. My ideal setup is probably to walk around with a data-only iPhone, and have a PAYG speakout wireless or equivalent dumbphone that mostly lives at home for the few voice calls that I do make. The better solution for a low volume voice user is what cowofwar mentioned earlier. You can have an iphone for as little as $100/year on Rogers Pay as You Go if you use mostly evening and weekends calling, minimal text and spend most of your time in wifi. Obviously you have to acquire a compatible iphone out of pocket.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:16
|
|
|
WienerDog posted:The better solution for a low volume voice user is what cowofwar mentioned earlier. You can have an iphone for as little as $100/year on Rogers Pay as You Go if you use mostly evening and weekends calling, minimal text and spend most of your time in wifi. If being bound to wifi wasn't a problem an iPod Touch coupled with a flip phone is a better solution. The whole reason I'd consider switching to an iPhone with a data-only plan was for those times when I'm between wifi hotspots.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:23
|
|
|
I went nuts on my data usage last month since I was mostly on the road and my bill was 30 bucks higher than I'd expected. I had the $58 Fido special from a while back (2GB data, unlimited calling/texts/pictures and visual voicemail and caller ID) until now, but after 611'ing Fido yesterday to see if I could weasel out of those overage charges again they ended up selling me on a new plan. I'm now paying $64/mo. We agreed to cut down my unlimited calls to 400 daytime minutes (free from 6-10pm) since my calls never last too long and I'll never use that much anyway. This was in exchange for bumping my data up to 6GB. It's basically that $58 plan with less minutes and more data for an extra $6. That's pretty good right? It seems way better than a lot of the plans I'm seeing posted here but hardly anyone mentions Fido in this thread. Is there a downside (like terrible coverage or something) that I'm not seeing? I'm in a biggish city (Edmonton) so that hasn't been an issue yet. Also, I couldn't get that $30 overage charge waived but they did offer to wipe it in exchange for signing me up for a 2 year contract which costs $12.50 to break out of anytime. I was paying month-to-month before and it was nice so I probably should have just eaten the charge and stuck with it, but this doesn't seem too awfully bad either. About 17 bucks cheaper even if I cancel it long before the 2 years are up. frogg fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Jul 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:41
|
|
|
BGrifter posted:If being bound to wifi wasn't a problem an iPod Touch coupled with a flip phone is a better solution. The whole reason I'd consider switching to an iPhone with a data-only plan was for those times when I'm between wifi hotspots. I don't think it's worth it to carry two phones. I find it difficult to pass up the hardware subsidy when you're considering spending $30-$40 monthly on an tablet sim anyway.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:45
|
|
|
WienerDog posted:I don't think it's worth it to carry two phones. I find it difficult to pass up the hardware subsidy when you're considering spending $30-$40 monthly on an tablet sim anyway. I'd just leave the flip phone at home personally for those rare times I need to make a phone call. Most of the people I keep in contact with I either email, Skype or iMessage. I really only make voice calls to talk with family in the evenings (that could easily be done via Skype if I needed to) and to order the occasional pizza or call a cab. Even a lot of the pizza and cab companies support online ordering. Losing the $150 tab subsidy hurts a little I suppose, but I'm not crazy enough to sign a three year contract on a device built to last for two so the bigger subsidies aren't really a concern. Hopefully by the time the new iPhone comes out we'll see a little more movement in cell plans and I'll be content to just avoid the hassles and spring for a straight up phone plan, but currently a data-only plan has it's appeal.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 02:56
|
|
|
Lexicon posted:No one's obliging you to do it. But there's a, I would think, pretty large portion of the cellular-using population who care far, far more about mobile data than mobile voice, and would find the substantial savings attractive. Who said I can't see the appeal? I barely use my phone as a phone, but I keep a plan because no third party VoIP app ever ends up working as reliably as a regular phone call...and if NEED to call someone, I don't want to be futzing around with trying to get Skype to work in some kind of low-signal area. Sometimes this place is just a huge cell nerd echo chamber full of people trying to use iPads as their only phones and suggesting it's a normal thing to do.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 05:01
|
|
|
I might only use 5-10 minutes a month at most in calls. I still keep a voice plan for the convenience of having a phone number people can reliably call/SMS. Plus I can send text messages in areas with crappy but available cell signals and no data.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 05:15
|
|
|
Makes me grateful I didn't have my Future Shop EPP cancelled when I quit. My girlfriend's rate plan under my name is ridiculous, the flat 50% EPP attached to the Saskatchewan/MB of only plan of $60/month for unlimited everything except 6GB data. Knock on wood, hopefully they don't discover I quit over a year ago. It's crazy how solid the SaskTel plans are here and with unlimited 25 megabit connection they're hard to say no to.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 05:28
|
|
|
Seems reasonable. Fido's CS is pretty good, especially if you know how to talk to the retention guys. If nothing else, I'm grateful Rogers didn't gently caress that up when they acquired Microcell. Also, access to the 2600MHZ LTE band is nice as well.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 05:56
|
|
|
grack posted:Also, access to the 2600MHZ LTE band is nice as well. What band is this go on!  Do you mean 1900?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 05:59
|
|
|
less than three posted:What band is this go on! No, I mean the 2600mhz LTE band that Rogers deploys, like it says right here -> http://mobilesyrup.com/2012/10/31/rogers-confirms-that-2600mhz-lte-is-available-in-all-markets-where-we-offer-lte-aws-2100/ On my unlocked Rogers Optimus G that supports said 2600mhz LTE band, like it says right here -> http://www.lg.com/ca_en/cell-phones/lg-LGE971-optimus-g/technical-specifications What, is three seconds of Googling too much for you?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 08:24
|
|
|
mediaphage posted:Who said I can't see the appeal? I barely use my phone as a phone, but I keep a plan because no third party VoIP app ever ends up working as reliably as a regular phone call...and if NEED to call someone, I don't want to be futzing around with trying to get Skype to work in some kind of low-signal area. No, it's definitely not a normal thing to do. Hell, that's part of the appeal.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 12:45
|
|
|
I believe Bell has started rolling out the 2600 MHz band as well. I guess the benefits are wider channels at the expense of building penetration.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 14:47
|
|
|
DarkJC posted:I believe Bell has started rolling out the 2600 MHz band as well. I guess the benefits are wider channels at the expense of building penetration. As far as I know development of that band was a joint project between Bell and Rogers. Right now it's rather nice as there are very, very few phones in Canada that support it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 16:59
|
|
|
Is tablet data sharing still a thing? I was looking at Virgin's site and it looks like I need to buy another plan, which is a lot more expensive, not worth the convenience of not having to tether.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 17:10
|
|
|
grack posted:As far as I know development of that band was a joint project between Bell and Rogers. Right now it's rather nice as there are very, very few phones in Canada that support it. The S4 and the Optimus G both do, I would imagine there's more than a few S4s out there. ZShakespeare posted:Is tablet data sharing still a thing? I was looking at Virgin's site and it looks like I need to buy another plan, which is a lot more expensive, not worth the convenience of not having to tether. I don't think Virgin offers it but Rogers definitely does, and I think Bell too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 17:19
|
|
|
Godinster posted:The S4 and the Optimus G both do, I would imagine there's more than a few S4s out there. Is it so difficult to assume I meant "in comparison to other LTE bands"?
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 17:36
|
|
|
ZShakespeare posted:Is tablet data sharing still a thing? I was looking at Virgin's site and it looks like I need to buy another plan, which is a lot more expensive, not worth the convenience of not having to tether. Bell certainly does. Telus probably does too. As for the whole "data/text only" plan debate, I think a big reason why it's not offered is because almost no one would use it. I've met maybe two customers ever who asked if such a thing existed. I work at a high volume location and honestly I don't see people forgoing talk minutes much at all. I guess there aren't that many goons in Halifax (thank God because I have no idea about any of this frequency band poo poo seriously no one ever talks about it here)
|
|
#
?
Jul 10, 2013 23:43
|
|
|
You know, if you're on data only (or even on an ipod touch) and really need a phone number, you could try something like Fongo. I haven't tried it, since I'm living in the States, but it seems like a good solution for most people.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 16:22
|
|
|
I've been investigating the data only route. So far, I've tried Line2, Fongo and a SIP line from Freephoneline.ca, but the latter two are basically the exact same thing. In all cases, anything short of a pristine 3G or HSPA+ signal is going to have some pretty inconstant call quality. Line2 doesn't use SIP and seems a bit more resilient to a bad 3G signal, but it has some inherent latency even on a good WiFi connection. Fongo I hardly used because the client is like a bleeding eyesore. SIP seems like the most promising avenue, but the built-in ICS Android SIP is lacking a lot of essential SIP configuration which I believe could help address the feedback issues people tell me it has. Both Line2 and SIP have issues to an extent with the caller hearing themselves over the line, but SIP with the vanilla config has been considerably worse. If you're not a huge talker but moderate data user, then going data only is definitely viable. But these days I had to call a lot to organise a move, insurance, etc. and VoIP services were just too unreliable so I ended up using the minutes part of my plan more. I'm going to look into dropping voice, though, because I'm loving sick of having to pay $60 a month just to get a decent amount of data, when tablet plans are the only goddamn way to get flex data.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 18:59
|
|
|
Jan posted:I'm going to look into dropping voice, though, because I'm loving sick of having to pay $60 a month just to get a decent amount of data, when tablet plans are the only goddamn way to get flex data. This isn't true with at least two of the 'discount' brands these days (Koodo and Virgin). Both offer voice plans with reasonable (for the canadian wireless definition of reasonable) flex data.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 19:24
|
|
|
DarkJC posted:This isn't true with at least two of the 'discount' brands these days (Koodo and Virgin). Both offer voice plans with reasonable (for the canadian wireless definition of reasonable) flex data. The shape of the data versus cost curve is just insulting though. I don't expect it to be linear necessarily... but it's absurdly concave. I doubt there's another product on sale in the entire Canadian economy with that kind of "economy of scale" (spend 6x more, get 120x more product). All because they're so, so obsessed with maintaining the high ARPUs our glorious nation is known for.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 19:36
|
|
|
Oh for sure. $5 for a paltry 25 MB is stupid, but I'm pretty sure the tablet flex plans have even more stupid and less flexible cost curves, which is what he was considering anyway. The tablet flex data plans essentially give you 2 break points, but the first two are both pretty small amounts of data. Use more than 250MB and you've already hit the maximum tier ($35 for the month), whereas on the phone flex data plan up to 300 is smack dab in the middle and $20 less. Besides, it's not like you get any better of a deal by buying a fixed size bucket, unless you consistently use most of the bucket you pay for. DarkJC fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Jul 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 20:09
|
|
|
DarkJC posted:The tablet flex data plans essentially give you 2 break points, but the first two are both pretty small amounts of data. Use more than 250MB and you've already hit the maximum tier ($35 for the month), whereas on the phone flex data plan up to 300 is smack dab in the middle and $20 less. Yes, but then you have to pay for voice so it's not really $20 less. What I'm asking for is a plan like this one at the bottom left: $30, 100 minutes talk | Unlimited text | First 5GB at up to 4G speeds In the absence of such a plan in Canuckistan, though, going data only is about the only choice. I'm paying $60 a month for 100 minutes I don't give a poo poo about and a whopping 2GB data. Also, you need to do your research, the only tablet plans with a lovely 250mb before max cost cutoff are Bell-Virgin's. Jan fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Jul 12, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 20:21
|
|
|
Can I sell someone who is on Telus a MTS iPhone 4? I think both are CDMA, no?
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 20:22
|
|
|
Jan posted:Also, you need to do your research, the only tablet plans with a lovely 250mb before max cost cutoff are Bell-Virgin's. Give me a break. These plans change as often as the wind changes direction, it was an example. I'm sure Rogers has slightly different cutoffs as well as Telus but in the end they're all roughly the same crap. I'm not going to Google every company's pricing chart and give you an exact cost breakdown for an example, I was just using numbers off the top of my head. If you did your research, you could be paying $55/month with phone flex data and use 3GB each month and have the option of paying $45 if you use 1GB which is better than your $60/month fixed-rate 2GB plan. It's a solution to your false claim that flex data is only offered on tablet plans, and would offer a much better experience than messing around with SIP for voice.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 20:37
|
|
|
Vintersorg posted:Can I sell someone who is on Telus a MTS iPhone 4? I think both are CDMA, no? They're both HSPA+, the phone would need to be unlocked.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 20:46
|
|
|
DarkJC posted:If you did your research, you could be paying $55/month with phone flex data and use 3GB each month and have the option of paying $45 if you use 1GB which is better than your $60/month fixed-rate 2GB plan. It's a solution to your false claim that flex data is only offered on tablet plans, and would offer a much better experience than messing around with SIP for voice. Who offers this, out of curiosity? $45 with a gig, that is.
|
|
#
?
Jul 12, 2013 21:06
|
|
|
Lexicon posted:Who offers this, out of curiosity? $45 with a gig, that is. Koodo's $25 talk-and-text plan with Flex-Data.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2013 00:57
|
|
|
DarkJC posted:If you did your research, you could be paying $55/month with phone flex data and use 3GB each month and have the option of paying $45 if you use 1GB which is better than your $60/month fixed-rate 2GB plan. It's a solution to your false claim that flex data is only offered on tablet plans, and would offer a much better experience than messing around with SIP for voice. Yeah, okay. My mistake. In my defense, Koodo isn't exactly touting this flex data part of theirs, they seem to prefer putting their fixed data plans up front, which aren't any better than the competition. That said, after writing about the complications of going data only, since a look at my Android data log shows I hardly used any data until my current tethering situation, and since Koodo happened to have a double minutes sale... I decided to go ahead and grab their cheapest $25 plan. You may go and collect your referral bonus! Even with the double minutes sale, it turns out that plan is the same as Fido's current $25 plan and the $20 one I was on was a discontinued turd. I need to get in the habit of looking at these things more often, especially since I'm going unlocked and contractless... Edit: Well this is delightfully ironic. I had initially quit my Telus prepaid because I thought the data speed and latency sucked for the price I was paying. Then Fido felt the same so I figured it was just my phone and/or normal for data plans. 2 years later, I'm back on the Bellus network and I haven't dropped below HSPA+ 4 bars in my neighbourhood, with everything lightning fast. Neat. Jan fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Jul 14, 2013 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2013 20:56
|
|
|
Wow, pretty significant Koodo pricing changes today: https://shop.koodomobile.com/plans/plans/index.html The Data Saver is now far, far worse. Yay Canada!
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2013 15:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 00:27 |
|
|
http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/07/15/telus-to-increase-prices-as-it-moves-to-two-year-plans/ Two year plans are starting to roll out. I discussed with friends whether or not the plans would go up and no one seemed to think it was likely, looks like they definitely have in a big way.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2013 15:21
|
|