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Analysis of All Telecoms in Canada (The Ones Prominent)

B12
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

To lay out the obvious (I think it is), here are the big 3 along with their offspring's... This part is opinion-driven based on my own experience, so I'll list who I think is best to least.

 

Telus > Koodo > Public

Rogers > Fido > Chatr

Bell > Virgin > Lucky

 

Whatever is bold is what I think is decent and the rest... well...

 

Now for some facts...

 

TL;DR If you're paying over $25 for your cell phone bill I feel for you.

I would also like to list every plan that each carrier provides but that would take too much time and I got the hunch this post is a) going to be deleted for whatever reason or b) won't catch the attention of most users here. Instead, I'm only going to list plans that are $30 and under from Public, Chatr and Lucky, as well as any Add-ons I think are worthwhile.

 

$25 from Public Mobile gets you Unlimited Talk and Text + 500MB of data

$15 from Public Mobile gets you 100 outgoing minutes and Unlimited Incoming calling, Unlimited Texting + 250MB of data

 

$25 from Chatr gets you Unlimited Talk and Text + 500MB of data

$15 from Chatr gets you 100 outgoing minutes and Unlimited Incoming calling + 250MB of data if you sacrifice your credit card

 

$25 from Lucky gets you Unlimited Talk and Text + 500MB of data and if you sacrifice your credit card another 500MB of data

$15 from Lucky gets you 100 outgoing and 100 incoming Canada-wide minutes, Unlimited Texting + 250MB of data if you sacrifice your credit card

 

For Add-ons I will strictly be referring to Public because the other 2 names either don't have Add-ons or the Add-ons aren't any good (to me). This could be construed as fact or opinion, you decide.

 

The $5 Add-on for 500 minutes Canada-wide (advertised as LD)

The $15 Add-on for 1,000 U.S.A. minutes (I've had some chats with people who think it ain't worth it. The way I see it is that you could pay a company such as Fongo $5 and call the U.S.A. for cents per minutes and then you also need an internet connection to go with that. If you pay Public, I'm not saying $15 is cheap for 1,000 minutes but I am saying you don't need internet to do it, just barely a "plus" in my book)

The $15 Add-on for 1,000 UK minutes (didn't know this was a thing, maybe it's new..., seeing as the UK is on the other side of the planet [or maybe it's not? I'm quite geographically inept] I think $15 is ok for this, as is the USA)

The $15 Add-on for 1GB of data is so-so, it's ok when you're in a pinch which I'm sure Public banks on, quite literally

 

That's my analysis on much of the telecom services in Canada. If you're like some people I know and you just don't wanna pay for cell phone coverage in Canada I highly recommend Fongo and no I do not work for Fongo, just a satisfied customer.

17 REPLIES 17

cin7
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle
Thanks for clarifying, @B12

B12
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Hmm...

 

$25 might be a lot to US but it's PEANUTS to these companies. 🙄

gpixel
Mayor / Maire

imo chatr has upped their game. they pretty much matched lucky and pm for plans, except for the $25 plan. pm still wins on the $50 plan with us calling.

 

Lucky's referral reward is actually pretty good. each customer gets $25. that's $25 one shot wether the referee stays or leaves. $1/month for over 2 years 👍

 

*nevermind it's a promo... 👍 pm wins!

B12
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@Anonymous I think that is another theme of which the companies are slowly adopting. Add-ons that do not expire, they vanish as you use them.

 

Of course, they can't all roll out this system at once, that'd just be too unusual.

 

I like your take on things and as a personal note, I'm not fond of any of these companies but there's one that stands out to me as the worst and it rhythms with hell.

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @B12 

I wrote my own little assessment of the $15 plans down in the lounge. The thing that I think PM wins on is the fact that add-ons remain on the account until consumed. The effortless rewards are nice but they're just a few bucks.

B12
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@cin7 It would appear that despite how many times I read my own post I still managed to not include some information.

 

Chatr does come with unlimited international texting at $15.

 

It seems to be a very common theme for the telephone companies to give out unlimited international texting for "as little as" $15. Perhaps no one else is curious why but I know I am. Same with Chatr's new "Day Pass" thing. (if you'll notice in the fine print, how sleazy the trade off's are)

cin7
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle
Thanks for sharing this analysis!

I'm happy to have remained on PM - was previously on $25 plan, but thanks to credits, have changed to $15 plan. It's nice to have the option to switch plans whenever I wish, without worrying about penalties/fees.

Interesting to see that Chatr doesn't have unlimited texting for their $15 plan...ick!

gpixel
Mayor / Maire

if public were to offer full LTE, the prices would most likely mirror Koodos prepaid plans. I'm sure if enough people ask for it, there's a good chance they'll consider it

@AE_Collector 

 

Yeah, AutoPay-Bonus-Data (but not AutoPay-Reward) without AutoPay is on my $15 plan.

 

I almost never use any of that data (or any of the free add-on data) on it because I almost never use that phone number anyhow. But my employer and my Rewards pay for it so I keep it around.


@mh1983 wrote:

Anything beyond the basics is biased and anecdotal. We all have our preferences and our un-preferences, it's unavoidable. And expressing them here is encouraged, it's the basis for how we inform and advise. But subjective opinions are not objective facts.


Should be a sticky post in all forums. 🙂 


I love the “what’s the best plan at Public Mobile” type questions! If there truly were such a plan why would they not just drop all the others and simplify the plan selection process as well as the advertising?

 

AE_Collector

@Korth 

Thats your $15 account, correct?

 

AE_Collector

mh1983
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Anything beyond the basics is biased and anecdotal. We all have our preferences and our un-preferences, it's unavoidable. And expressing them here is encouraged, it's the basis for how we inform and advise. But subjective opinions are not objective facts.


Should be a sticky post in all forums. 🙂 

One of my accounts gets the bonus data without AutoPay and without "sacrificing" any credit card. Dunno why, it just does.

 

Still, there's always the option of "sacrificing" a prepaid credit card instead of "real" credit card. Not all prepaid card brands work with PM but some do. Regardless whether you register your name onto them or you basically use them as anonymous gift cards.

Maybe I am misreading your analysis but the $25 PM plan has 500 Mb of data PLUS another 500 Mb of data “if you sacrifice your credit card”, just like you show Lucky with.

 

AE_Collector

B12
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@will13am Rewards, loyalties, referrals and autopay are all more/less "bonuses" and not everyone is going to look at them, and I tend not to myself. They are hook, line and sinker essentially.

 

I think for $25, a customer should get at least 500MB of data at LTE speeds, and unlimited everything else. I'm not the one in charge though, and I'm glad I'm not. I think the system is designed in this bizarre manner, deliberately. That is conjecture though.

Not sure why experiential analysis is needed to figure this stuff out.

 

Since wikipedia already summarizes all the basic information for us. More comprehensively. With numbers and data. And with citations to all the official source statements.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_mobile_phone_companies

 

Anything beyond the basics is biased and anecdotal. We all have our preferences and our un-preferences, it's unavoidable. And expressing them here is encouraged, it's the basis for how we inform and advise. But subjective opinions are not objective facts.

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

@B12 , I tend to agree with you that if the $15 and $25 plan works for you then Public Mobile is the best option.  The rewards which you did not make reference to is the game changer.  I know that the community is not for everyone and it is a lot of work to earn money here.  Referral rewards can be easy and it can be hard.  However, autopay and loyalty are rewards that are effortless.  Stick around for 5 years and the $25 plan becomes $18.  

 

As for dismissing all other option, I would not jump to that conclusion.  Outside of the lower usage plans, Public Mobile is not the right choice never mind the cost.  Heavy users would not tolerate the heavily throttled speeds.  Moreover, the higher usage plans are not cost competitive.  Long story short, there is no one size fit all here.  Every brand has its niche.  

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