This is the final installment in this series. The moment you have ALL been waiting for is finally here. As you can probably tell, I have made my choice. The following is a list of steps that I did to get the best deal in my opinion.
Step 1
I basically decided that to get the possible deal I would need to take over someones contract. To do this, I went onto Cellswapper, Kijiji and Craigslist in search of someone who had a free HUP and was willing to do a contract takeover. This can be an arduous process but in the end it worked out. i got a new phone, a great contract and some more buying power that I wouldn’t have received if I was a brand new customer.
Step 2
Next you need to get into contact with a seller that fits your needs as some offer a longer contract but a free phone. From there, many things can happen because exchanging a contract can be a very tricky process since the new party wants to verify some details about the contract and the current contract holder doesn’t want to get screwed over. In my case, he added my name to the account, I negotiated for a retention plan. Once i was satisfied with my plan, I confirmed and then we did the account transfer. The next day I did my free hardware upgrade to my current, beautiful phone which I will do a review on later.
Step 3
Enjoy your new contract and phone! The details on what I got myself into are:
Samsung Galaxy S 2 with Bell Mobility
Plan Details ($49.50/month + taxes)
200 Anytime
Unlimited E/W at 7pm
Nationwide Fab 10
Caller ID and Messaging Centre
Unlimited MMS/SMS…
1gb data
Overall I am extremely happy and when the school term starts I’m going to try and add some long distance minutes for free onto it. If I am successful I will add it on here.
For this phase I’m trying to gain an understanding of what exactly I’m looking for. Since I’ll be sticking with my choice for up to 3 years I’ll need to put some thought into what phone I get, what type of plan I’m looking for and what carrier I’ll be going with.
Phone
I traditionally keep my phones for 2 years and make a switch to something new and although my current phone is a Blackberry 8820 and might be older than me, I’ve had it in my hands for 2 years so it’s time for something new. In this day and time, technology moves so fast that I’ll definitely need to buy a top of the line phone such as the HTC Sensation 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II. I am also heavily leaning towards an Android device and I can get into the reasons in a whole other post but I’ll leave that for another time. The basic premise for me jumping from Blackberry to Android is because it’s super fast, upgraded hardware and very easy to customize.
Plan
My cousin recently signed with Bell and her sister is probably going to do the exact same thing. Her plan is absolutely amazing and I am going to try and mold my plan after theirs. It consists of the following:
200 Anytime Minutes
Unlimited messaging
Unlimited E/W at 7pm
1GB Data
CID/Message Centre
100 LD minutes
Nationwide Fab10
This is all for $49.50+tax CDN. Hopefully I can get a plan that resembles this fairly closely and I would be satisfied. Due to my cousin already getting this I am leaning towards trying to get this out of Bell. It also doesn’t help that Bell currently sells four Superphones including the Samsung Galaxy S II.
Carrier
As mentioned above I am leaning towards Bell because of the potential opportunity with the plan and their lineup of superphones. My backup is going to be Telus because of their customer service but I may have to wait to land a decent phone from them.
Update: I knew it would be hard to land a decent plan being a new customer so I’ve developed an alternate strategy. As previously mentioned in my post about landing a better cellphone plan, I am going to use Cellswaper as well as Kijiji/Craigslist to try and take over a contract. This can take time as people back out and don’t respond sometimes and it can be frustrating but in the end you can get the plan you’re looking for.
I came up with this series mainly to document my struggles and joys with switching from one carrier to another. I am learning many things including what options to exercise and really how cutthroat the wireless industry is. I had initial idea of what I wanted to do when I set on this learning experience. That initial idea involved just going to Wind Mobile and picking a top-end phone that was compatible with their network. Like everything in life, it wasn’t so easy.
Why I Didn’t Go This Path
Wind Mobile is expanding at a rapid rate but has still left voids in its current coverage area leaving me skeptic about a brand new coverage area in KW. Although I am a student and I really should have low needs and a low budget, I am also constantly looking for a new job for the next co-op term or communicating with my current employer. It wouldn’t be the best situation if I had a potential employer on the line and the call gets dropped or they place a call to me and I’m in a dead zone so they can’t get a hold of me. Sure it’s probably going to be fairly rare but at the end of the day I’m not going to go with a more robust network which the Big Three can offer me in the Kitchener/Waterloo region.
The price (and new smartphones) keep on enticing me but with network quality so important I decided it wasn’t in my best interest for now. Hopefully down the road they’ll still be there with competitive prices and updated phones so I can give them another shot.
My New Options
With Wind Mobile out of the picture (keep in mind I’m not considering Mobilicity & Public Mobile due to their lack of coverage in KW), I was left with the Big Three and their side brands. Outlined below is my current opinion on the carriers I have to choose from.
Fido – My current carrier has done fairly well for me but because it’s a discount brand, the phones do lack in quality (they’ve added the LG O2x and Nexus S which are two great phones). I have a decent plan but what really threw me off was a horrible mishap that they handled even worse and a call into the CSR to upgrade. Not everyone will experience this so take the following with a grain of salt.
Mishap -I basically lost my SIM and so I needed to replace it. I went in to purchase one; got home and put it in. Called Fido; they did some stuff and then they told me to power down and restart. I did as I was told and hung up. My Blackberry took a long time to load up but when it did, I had someones account with their number. I called Fido back and they had no clue how it happened and I was just going to have to wait. They also told me I was free to use the account however I pleased. The next day, I’m calling Fido to figure out the status of my situation and lo and behold, I can’t make a phone call because they’ve cut my service off. Luckily I’m in a mall with a Fido store so I go in and the guy sells me a SIM card and I’m finally back to my old account after a call in to Fido. Best I get for my troubles in unlimited local calling for the month.
CSR – I was able to let go of the above situation because other than that, Fido was pretty good to me. My friend recently got a contract renewal so I decided I’d try the same. The guy I talked to laughed at me when I mentioned it and told me I’d never get it. The way he acted actually disgusted me and from that point I vowed not to go back. I felt hugely mistreated for making such a simple call that usually gets a yes or no answer.
Rogers - Although they are a powerhouse, I have never enjoyed dealing with them and our family (among others) has had considerable problems with them. Granted most other wireless companies do, I have had first hand experience with them. With that being said, there’s little chance I will choose them especially considering the above experiences as well.
Bell – I had never heard a good thing about Bell in regards to customer service support and as you can tell I’m not a big fan of poor customer service. The restructuring of BCE, Bell’s parent company, in 2008 marked a turn for the better with a focus on better customer and tech support. I have still heard stories but it didn’t seem as bad and what wireless company doesn’t have a bad story or two?
Telus – This is actually probably the only wireless company I have not heard a bad thing about so far but then again the only person I know who’s on Telus is my Dad and he doesn’t have many issues as he’s on prepaid and barely uses the phone. The reason though I will not be considering these guys is because they don’t offer some of the top phones (although they will probably be releasing the Samsung Galaxy S II variant, Hercules).
From here, I’ll have to decide where I want to go and there will be sacrifices on the way. The factors playing into my choice are:
Hardware Choices (i.e. what types of cell phones they offer)
Plan Choice (i.e. what kind of a package can I get)
Cellphone plans are tricky and half of us don’t even look at our bill. We just pay it, not knowing they are over charging us or that it was possible to get Caller ID for free. This post details some sure fire ways to get a deal on your current plan or a future plan. I myself am trying to wring out a new plan from one of the carriers and I have learned some lessons along the way and I am still learning new information.
Current Plan Owners
Ask to Cancel – Even though you do not have the slightest inclination to cancel, call in to your respective carrier and just ask how much it will cost to cancel. I did that just to figure out the cost because I was curious, knowing full well that the price tag was going to be outrageous ($350) but as soon as they quote you, they’ll ask if you want to speak to a Customer Service Representative (herein referred to as CSR). Say yes and then just wait till they offer you concessions. Mine was free Caller ID for a year (worth $7) because I was such a loyal customer (almost 3 years).
Retention Plan – When you are ready for an upgrade or your contract is up for renewal, a lot of carriers are willing to cut you a deal for staying along for the ride. This can be in the form of a price discount or more features. Whatever the case may be, wait until the last week or so for them to call you. If they don’t call, they may not love you enough or they forgot, so give them a shout and try to get an idea of what they’re willing to offer. Usually the first time may not garner you the best offer so try again later. One tip I have heard is to almost play dumb and pray for a woman to pick up (they’re usually more willing to offer you something). When I say play dumb, I mean act like you do not know the features out there but say you call your parents a lot so it would be nice not to worry about cost. From there they’ll offer you a discounted LD plan. This advice is very arbitrary and it all depends on what you’re looking for but hopefully it’s a starting point.
New Activations
Compare to a Comparable Carrier – That’s a lot of C’s in that phrase but you get the point. In Canada at least, none of the Big 3 will flinch if you mention you’re moving to one of the new carriers because they know they can’t match it. Mention that another one of the Big 3 carriers is offering Caller ID/VM in their plan. Half the time they’ll match it and half the time they won’t. If they don’t, call back and try again. Once you get the plan you’re looking for, take down the CSR’s name, extension and the final plan details because when you go to activate the phone you may not get the same person so it’s nice to have proof. I have heard countless stories of people getting a good deal through a CSR, going in-store and getting burned.
Wait – Many people jump at the newest phone and just sign a new contract but half the time, a better plan is waiting around the corner. The two best times to get a plan is during the Back-to-School and Christmas season.
Using Websites
MyCellMyTerms- I’m putting this at the top because it is turning out to be an amazing website. It’s absolutely free to the consumer and you lose nothing. I first heard about this type of business model in regards to car buying but it can be applied anywhere else. Basically how the site works is, a prospective buyer outlines their desired plan with either one of their pre-made plans or a plan you design yourself. This includes the minutes, data, texting and any other features. The website then submits your proposal to its network of dealers and you just wait for offers to come your way. I signed up last night, got an offer within two hours (which I countered) and then a counter offer the next morning. If you decide to close on a deal, the customer doesn’t pay a cent; the dealer who connected the wireless carrier with you, will pay a commission to the website. CANADA ONLY (Select provinces for now)
Update: I have now received four offers as of August 4th, 2011 which is less than 3 days since I posted my ideal cellphone plan. The best offer I’ve gotten is from a dealer associated with Bell. The offer is at the bottom and I have just countered it so we’ll see what comes back. Read the rest of this entry »
This year has been marked with some huge advancements in the wireless industry. The Android OS has finally taken off, dual-core processors have been released with quad-core processors in the works, 4G networks are slowly making their way to your community as well as many more things. The big thing for me is, as of September 24, 2011, my 3 year contract expires. Up to this point, I have contemplated what to do about this situation. This series will chronicle all the mishaps, joys and thoughts about this personal experience that I am about to go through.
All of the posts related to this series will be linked on here as well as a snippet of upcoming posts. The first post in this series is going to highlight how you, the consumer, can get a better deal on your current plan or upcoming one.
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