Wirelessnorth.ca

Pay $3,000 over three years plus overages because of a shrunken LDCA, changes in plans without notice, wonky fees and what ever else can be dreamed up. Or pay a little less than that with no surprises.

To plan your dollars over a three year term without also considering risk allocation over the same period is to only do a half-assed job of planning, at best. An argument that has as its conclusion that you should commit to a full term in order to save ~15% of costs, with the implicit premise that major telecommunications companies are somehow incurring unnecessary costs as a result of their own planning makes me wonder if you've thought this all the way through.

A corollary of your idea is that Roger's, Telus, and Bell should be encouraging me _not_ to purchase a subsidized phone with their contract. Their marketing apparatus appears to be aimed in the opposite direction.

You can't get something for nothing; and if you think you can, then you're not done thinking.

This is pure gold! Did I write his post and don't remember it!? It's exactly what I've been saying!!!

If you don't have a contract and pay month-to-month you're subject to surprises. Whenever a carrier has tried to change my contract (with 30-days notice of course) I've said “no thanks, cancel it.” and they've left the contract as-is to keep my business!

Like the author said, taking a contract doesn't commit you to the phone. And it doesn't commit you to the plan either – you change your plan or features every month during the contract if you wish. You're not actually committed to the contract either since you can pay the ETF and walk away – which works out to the same as paying no-contract price initially for the phone anyways. So why not take the risk and save a few bucks?!

If you buy an unlocked phone you can make your 90$/month bill go down by calling Rogers/Bell/Telus and tell them you have no reason to stay with them now. The cheapest 3G plans cost around 50$/month.
If most of the customer had no-contract with Rogers/Telus/Bell, prices wouldn't be the same in Canada.

I'm stuck with Rogers for 23 months because I bought my Magic in June 2009. I'm not even using this phone now.
I will have to pay 85$/month for 23 more months even if this price become ridiculously expensive in a few month.

I know a lot of people who had been smarter than me and don't have a contract anymore.
They are all paying less than me for their 3G plans.

If you value the subsidy at $500, it also so happens the early cancellation fee is $500 as well (Using Rogers as an example $400 ETF + $100 DTF). So even if you cancel at any time, you've had the time value of that $500 in your pocket until you do.

The marketers have discovered that they can sell a lot more product by burying the true cost in a long stream of monthly payments than by advertising a high one-time price of entry.

The author says “At a typical $90/month” so you might be able to make do with a $50 plan but typically we're paying $90 per month. And that makes sense if you look at Bell's offerings the media price for a plan plus a feature bundle is over $90 per month. If it's a normal distribution then the average and the median should come pretty close.

And why not call Rogers, tell 'em you're not using your phone and want to reduce your monthly cost to the minimum – I know people who did that and ended up paying around $15/mth when they lost their phones until the phone they really wanted came out and then they upped the plan again for their new phone.

No no no no no…

You can recover some or all of the cost of your unlocked GSM-based phone by selling it, to anyone anywhere in the world — because it's unlocked! See how that works?

Carrier contracts are beneficial only to carriers. More here (from a post I wrote three years ago!):

http://andrewcurrie.ca/2007/04/14/canadian-cell…

If you're not planning on doing any extensive traveling, or moving to another country, or switching to another carrier, then a 3-year contract is probably fine. If you are (like myself), then an unlocked and unsubsidized phone seems like a much better way to go. Either way, it's nice to have a choice.

I am still on a plan with Fido I got back in 2003 before The Borg(TM) ended up swallowing them.

The Borg(TM) have tried again and again to get me to sign up for a three year contract with them and offered me pretty much any phone I wanted. I have declined because none of their current deals even comes close to what I have with them right now.

I have not gotten a subsidized phone in my 10 years in Canada (outside of the first one with Fido), because I don't like the idea to be beholden to the carrier. If I want to leave Fido because someone better comes along I can, i don't have to worry if my phone will work or how much ETF I have to pay.

THAT is worth $500 or so for me upfront, not to mention the advantage of cost when travelling outside of Canada.

Interesting argument, but you forgot to factor in the “retentions” department. If you don't take a subsidized phone from them, you can likely negotiate for a credit of X dollars per month in lieu. That way, you're still free from the contract.

No contracts. Never again. The long term leverage you lose in negotiating your plan to a much lower price is more than what you gain from signing your life away. If you got an extra $15 off per month for 36 months, you'd have your $500 back ($540 actually) and you'd be able to grind them again at any time within said 36 mos as the cellphone market starts to heat up and gives you better options. Just like now with new carriers coming into the scene. I better give them a call and get some money off :)

If you're not planning on doing any extensive traveling, or moving to another country, or switching to another carrier, then a 3-year contract is probably fine. If you are (like myself), then an unlocked and unsubsidized phone seems like a much better way to go. Either way, it's nice to have a choice.

I am still on a plan with Fido I got back in 2003 before The Borg(TM) ended up swallowing them.

The Borg(TM) have tried again and again to get me to sign up for a three year contract with them and offered me pretty much any phone I wanted. I have declined because none of their current deals even comes close to what I have with them right now.

I have not gotten a subsidized phone in my 10 years in Canada (outside of the first one with Fido), because I don't like the idea to be beholden to the carrier. If I want to leave Fido because someone better comes along I can, i don't have to worry if my phone will work or how much ETF I have to pay.

THAT is worth $500 or so for me upfront, not to mention the advantage of cost when travelling outside of Canada.

Interesting argument, but you forgot to factor in the “retentions” department. If you don't take a subsidized phone from them, you can likely negotiate for a credit of X dollars per month in lieu. That way, you're still free from the contract.

No contracts. Never again. The long term leverage you lose in negotiating your plan to a much lower price is more than what you gain from signing your life away. If you got an extra $15 off per month for 36 months, you'd have your $500 back ($540 actually) and you'd be able to grind them again at any time within said 36 mos as the cellphone market starts to heat up and gives you better options. Just like now with new carriers coming into the scene. I better give them a call and get some money off :)

I have heard of some Wireless carriers that have changed the terms of their Contracts Mid stream that increased the price of their customers bill while still holding their customers to their contracts

The problem is that carriers will often extend your contracts every time you make a change to your plan. Rogers did that to me.

How does being “month to month” protect you? If the carrier increases their charges next month what protection do you have? I have never had a carrier increase the contractual charges I pay during or after a contract. The laws might different in other places, but in Quebec they have to give you 30-days notice and the option to cancel.

They have tried to “renew” my three year contracts when I changed my services but I always told them not to and that was it. At this point they even offer to automatically cancel additional services if I only want them temporarily (like while travelling or during the summer).

The reasoning only makes sense if you believe that price points for the wireless services will stay the same or increase within the next three years. I don't believe that. So I will not commit to a three year bondage. I expect prices to be considerably lower in two years from now. Look at the Nokia N8: Price on a vastly overpriced 3 year contract: 80 C$. Price with no contract: 450 C$. Difference: 380$. The minimum contract price over 3 years is 1835 C$. If you add 15% HST (might become more within 3 years, who nows) that makes 2302.85 C$ for the cheapest price plan and the phone over 3 years (you will most likely pay more than that since with that price plan a lot is extra.) Let's assume that a competitor would be 10C$ cheaper per month now and that prices will drop only 5% yoy (which you can profit from when you're not locked in). You still buy the phone from Rogers because they are the only one selling it in the Cold Dark North. Plus you pay 8$ to unlock the phone online at a third party website. So this costs you all together 525.50 (HST included). Cost of service (HST inlcuded) year 1: 552 C$. Year 2: 524.40 C$ Year 3: 498.18 Sum: 2100,08 C$ (Nokia N8 phone included). A savings of over 200 C$! Plus, competitors will add 10%-15% of your phone bill to a tab to buy a new phone at any time (off their limited selection at their price). Let's take 10%, that would give you another 157.46 C$ towards a new phone. Would make a nice Xmas present for a family member, eh?

This is a very conservative approach as it does not take into account all extra fees you might be charged by Rogers (depending on your use of the service) but not by a non-3-year-contract-competitor and it estimates the price erosion at only 5% yoy. Still, this conservative approach shows an extra cost of about 10 C$ a month (or 360 C$ over 3 years) if you take the subsidized phone with a 3 year bondage. Hey, look, the 360 C$ are almost the same amount Rogers takes off the no-contract price as “subsidy”. Guess who's paying that “subsidy”…

My first time at the site and my last. What a retarded article.

How does any plan compare to mobilicity's 35 a month unlimited talk text and data? Are you forgetting about all the dirty tricks they use to overcharge you? My plan was 25 a month and the bill never came less than 40… People like you are why we bend over backwards and take it, its because we willingly sign the contracts. Never aga