Questions for former wind mobile customers

[Mana]

Hello,

I am am trying to help out a couple of friends who are currently with "freedom" fries (formally known as wind mobile) and are undecided or on the fence about switching to PM. 

I was wondering those of you who switched from "freedom" fried, I mean wind mobile can share their experience and deciding factors. 

Things that I have noticed that are holding them back are:

1.  They are paying $30 or less for 5gb of data

2.  They are hoping with wind implementing "LTE", it will also improve their 3G speed and coverage issues. 

3.  Customer support of wind is getting better and they have stores and can be reached by phone support right away. 

Please share your thoughts. 

Thanks. 

[ASharpTM]

Early reports seem to indicate that the LTE network can pump out some pretty respectable speeds. Time will tell whether or not that's sustainable though considering there's barely anyone on the LTE network right now due to the lack of handsets available.

[Mana]

I think wind has no choice but to use that band for LTE.

They were not able to deploy 3g properly so I doubt that they will be able to deploy LTE properly. Their LTE may have 3g speed.

[computergeek541]

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@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
Thanks geek 🙂
I understood why FM was using it. Appreciate the explanation on the US providers.

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probably just for bragging rights so that they can advertise that they have the fastest speeds

The need for additional bandwidth could be greater in the U.S.  I just quickly looked at some Open Signal stats and they claim an average LTE download speed for the Canadian Big 3 around the 17Mbps mark.  https://www.biv.com/article/2016/1/bell-has-fastest-mobile-speeds-among-canadas-big-t/ .  But for the U.S.A., Open Signal's 2015 results only show an average LTE download speed in the neighborhood of 6 to 12Mbps at the large carriers.   There could be a congestion issues causing lower average speed results than Canadian cariers.

[Rockdaddy22]

Thanks geek 🙂
I understood why FM was using it. Appreciate the explanation on the US providers.

[computergeek541]

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@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
Why are those networks using it, are there any benefits?

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Carriers that are using AWS-3 Band 66 for LTE would be doing it out of necessity, or for increased bandwidth capabilities.  It's another "lane of traffic" that can be used to transfer data.

In the case of Freedom Mobile here in Canada, they're doing it because they really don't have a choice.  In some parts of the country, they just don't have enough spectrum to use Band 4 for both HSPA and LTE. 

[Rockdaddy22]

Why are those networks using it, are there any benefits?

[ASharpTM]

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@Stormy wrote:

I keep seeing speculation elsewhere that they will but only Apple and the Android manufacturers know for sure, and I haven't seen anything anywhere confirming one way or the other yet.

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AT&T and T-Mobile in the United States will be rolling out LTE on AWS-3 in the new year. It is without a doubt that the most of the newer flagship phones within the next year or two will have AWS-3 support which means it will work on Freedom Mobile's LTE network.

[MoreYummy]

Actually there isnt many people here in this forum using freedom mobile anyway, so you better ask those who uses or test it yourself using their phone.   Maybe a few here still uses PM, that's very very rare audience if you ask here.

Im pretty sure you know the advantages using PUblic mobile, but certain there are some advantages using freedom mobile, if you are in a good coverage area, dont mind a few blind spot inside the building.  However I can see some improvement in freedom mobile since I used them and so are my friends.   It is not too much slower than Public mobile in the same area when using 3G. 

There are some disdvantages in PM, it is not hard to see from the forum what the problems are.

It is just about what you use your phone for.  😄

[Mana]

Another friend of mine called wind and talked to level 2 tech support to find out if they will be improving their 3G network along with the implementation of LTE and was clearly told by at least 3 techs that there is no plans to improve 3G, the focus is only on LTE. If it happens that most people move on to LTE from 3G then it ,any become better due to less traffic. This is coming straight from wind.

They pretty much took advantage of their loyal customers who stood by them in hope of improved network and free upgrade to LTE which was promised to them at that time but at the end "freedom" screwed them over. 

[Stormy]

I keep seeing speculation elsewhere that they will but only Apple and the Android manufacturers know for sure, and I haven't seen anything anywhere confirming one way or the other yet.

As for coverage, this explains it best,

http://mobilesyrup.com/2016/11/21/freedom-mobile-lte-coverage-map-devices-and-plans/

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LTE rollout schedule

• At launch: Central Toronto and Central Vancouver
• Spring 2017: Complete coverage of Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver
• Summer 2017: Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa
• Fall 2017: All current Freedom Mobile 3G coverage areas (including Southwestern and Southeastern Ontario)

Frequency

• AWS-3 / Band 66 in the Greater Toronto and Vancouver areas, Calgary and Edmonton
• AWS-1 / Band 4 in Eastern Ontario, including Ottawa, Kingston and Peterborough

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[Rockdaddy22]

What about future iPhones or android flagships?

[Stormy]

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@stonechucker wrote:

I understand the Nexus6P and the LG V20 are current phones that will work on that carrier, and their LTE frequency.

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You're only half right. The V20 is the only one of the two you mentioned that wil work with the new LTE. The only other phone that will work on the new LTE is the ZTE Grand X 4. They are currently the only phones available at the moment that have/support the band 66 needed.

[stonechucker]

I understand the Nexus6P and the LG V20 are current phones that will work on that carrier, and their LTE frequency.

[Rockdaddy22]

Do we know for sure if future iPhones or android flagships will work with the new LTE from freedom Mobile

[outdoorsaddix]

A big one to think about for LTE. Are they aware they will have to buy a brand new phone to use Wind's new LTE network?

[stonechucker]

I've been on Public Mobile now for 120 days (tomorrow).

I had a WindTab, as I was paying off an iPhone from them, and was only using the iPhone because of continuity on iOS, to get service in my apartment.  I was on a $45 plan for 4gb of "full speed data", but in had throttled unlimited data at 128kb/s

As I don't live in a major centre, I only had 'WIND' service in my downtown core (Brantford ON), some other areas of the city, and other cities in SW Ontario.  'WIND Away' roaming occured all the time, charing me $0.05/min on the better network (not wind), and texting was charged too.  My average monthly bill was around $65 after roaming charges were applied.  The lack of quality service in my area ruins the price of the plan, because you don't get what you're looking for.

On Public Mobile, it's the Telus and Bell shared network Coast to Coast.  My plan gives me today  6 GB of usable reliable data for 90 days (it goes to 12 this weekend), unlimited calling in my provice and although I don't need it, I have global texting.  It's awesome - I love it, and I'm spending about $40/month, actually $120 for 90 days, plus the taxes EACH MONTH.  There is never a roaming charge, there is never an overage charge, I know what I am paying for, I get exactly what I pay for.

PM also gives the rewards for community involvement, friend referals, autopay discount, and loyalty rewards for those who stay more than 1 year on the service.

It's a no brainer for me.  Public Mobile, hands down, is the better carrier.

For me, I'm saving about $25-$30/month compared to WIND.   I was on Rogers before that, and it was $90/month on a 1GB per month, and I owned my phone at the time.

Public Mobile has already saved me the value I paid off to leave WIND.  I'm now saving money to buy my next device to use on this fantastic carrier.

[JohnLoewen]

I have had both services recently. Wind and now Freedom I had. Nexus 6P not compatible with LTE on their network. Great plans. Great price. Left to public Mobile. LTE excellent. Speed way better. The price of plan - terrible. In first month with add-on - 80.00 plus tax for 3g. Not what I was hoping for not expecting.

[Rockdaddy22]

Now you should consider getting rid of the home phone. @A10A

[A10A]

PM is far superior to Wind. Wind's 3G data is like having no data. I had to use my house phone whenever I made calls from home. They have low prices but you're paying for nothing. 

[ASharpTM]

I was previously on Wind before switching to Public Mobile recently. I had the $30 / 5GB plan. Here's my reasons for switching.

1) Signal consistency - While they've been making improvements, there's still tons of places where I will get very little or no signal. I find that usually anything below 3/4 bars on my phone is basically unusable on Wind. Compared to PM, I can now have 1/4 bars and everything still works great.

2) Full signal but little to no data - Very frequently I would be using my phone and I would have signal. When I would try to use my phone to load a web page though, the page would either time out or assuming it does eventually load, it would take a ridiculously long time. You could see this happen a lot with things like messages as well. You would try to send a text message or maybe a message on WhatsApp and it would take ages for it to actually go through.

3) Nationwide coverage - With Wind you have to be in very specific cities in order to get coverage. If you're traveling between major cities, you can forget about having service without roaming. This is no longer a problem on PM since I can now go from coast to coast and still be able to use my phone's data.

4) Missed calls - It would happen a lot where people would try to call me and because of the poor signal or some other unknown reason, my phone would not even ring. I would only know that someone tried to call because I either get a text message from Wind saying I missed it or the person tells me after that they tried to call me.

5) Price - As mentioned, I was on the $30 plan. It was a good price but for only a few bucks more ($40/mo minus any rewards) per month I'm getting much faster, more reliable, and more consistent service with essentially the same features.

While over time I can see Freedom improving and maybe even be a viable competitor, I doubt that will happen anytime in the near future. Maybe in a few years. As someone who had to use Wind for the last three years, I was tired of waiting and wanted something better now. Public Mobile offered a very competitive plan so I jumped and have been very satisfied. I no longer have to worry about whether or not my data is going to work or if I'm going to miss an important phone call. Everything just works.

[Pillzberri]

I was with wind until I hoped on the pm 4gb $38 a month plan. I cannot stress how happy I am and how thankful I am for switching. I actually paid 275$ off my tab from wind just to switch. Pm data is much reliable than winds and the voice is SO much more clear. Tell them to switch and the will NOT regret it.

[Rockdaddy22]

I think it's a clear choice 🙂

[MoreYummy]

@ManaDepends on what they need from their phone.  Usually if they want 5GB data or more at that price, dont mind a few area or coverage issue, stay with freedom.   Or they need store or phone service. 

Otherwise change.  If somewhere in between,  It would be hard for your friend to choose.  I know a few in this situation. haha.

[makkahn28]

Let me say this, PM beats Freedom Mobile Not a boat load