Cellular Device Subsidy - Are you getting ripped off?

[tonytiger55]

Im having this dilemma right now.

I was on Bell back in 2012/2013. I was paying $90 a month. I calculated after the my phone was paid off, the bill itself should have been around $44 a month.
Bell would not budge at all and it was something stupid like 1g a month. The complaints process was to frustrate and rather not deal with the issue. I left and went to Fido.

Ive had no issues with Fido in terms of reception and usage. I was with them back in 2007 - 2011 (no issues there). Right now im paying $60 a month for 3gig, plus bonus gig nonsense and I get discounted calls to the UK. Ive calculated my wireless usage. I never go above 3gig. Sometimes 4, but thats it.

If I upgrade my (dont laugh) S4 Samsung to the S9. I can pay $619 just for the phone. But I would have to get a different plan and pay $65 month (I don't think that includes the international calls). Yes its $5 more(but its $120 for the two years) and im a cheap ass. So $120 + 612 = $739
If I get the phone free but then im on a plan that pays at least $110 a month for shit I dont use. Basically im paying $1200 for a phone that is advertised on Kijji for $600.
Its cheaper to buy the phone out.

With the S10 coming out, I wonder how much the S9 will drop in price..?

[D'z Nutz]

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Im having this dilemma right now.

<snip>

Yeah I had a similar problem but with Fido. I was with them for well over a decade and they couldn't/wouldn't do a thing for me when I wanted a new phone so I left them.

I've come to the conclusion these companies are only interested in new customers and put very little effort into keeping existing ones. Loyalty doesn't mean shit. If you're the type of customer that is okay with being on contract to get a new subsidized phone, be prepared to jump companies every 2 years to reap any benefits.

[nismodrifter]

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Im having this dilemma right now.

If I upgrade my (dont laugh) S4 Samsung to the S9. I can pay $619 just for the phone. But I would have to get a different plan and pay $65 month (I don't think that includes the international calls). Yes its $5 more(but its $120 for the two years) and im a cheap ass. So $120 + 612 = $739
If I get the phone free but then im on a plan that pays at least $110 a month for shit I dont use. Basically im paying $1200 for a phone that is advertised on Kijji for $600.
Its cheaper to buy the phone out.

With the S10 coming out, I wonder how much the S9 will drop in price..?

Im in the exact same situation. Rocking an S4 right now, on a cheap plan, it does the job. With newer phone these SOB want me to have $60/mth plan. Ugh. Decisions.

[KrisYYC]

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Im in the exact same situation. Rocking an S4 right now, on a cheap plan, it does the job. With newer phone these SOB want me to have $60/mth plan. Ugh. Decisions.

If your S4 still does the job, it seems you don't care about having the latest flagship device. I'd just a buy a decent mid-range phone unlocked. There's plenty of good mid-range Android phones out there now for under $500 outright. The mid-range segment has come a long way in quality.

[rx7boi]

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Im having this dilemma right now.

I was on Bell back in 2012/2013. I was paying $90 a month. I calculated after the my phone was paid off, the bill itself should have been around $44 a month.
Bell would not budge at all and it was something stupid like 1g a month. The complaints process was to frustrate and rather not deal with the issue. I left and went to Fido.

Ive had no issues with Fido in terms of reception and usage. I was with them back in 2007 - 2011 (no issues there). Right now im paying $60 a month for 3gig, plus bonus gig nonsense and I get discounted calls to the UK. Ive calculated my wireless usage. I never go above 3gig. Sometimes 4, but thats it.

If I upgrade my (dont laugh) S4 Samsung to the S9. I can pay $619 just for the phone. But I would have to get a different plan and pay $65 month (I don't think that includes the international calls). Yes its $5 more(but its $120 for the two years) and im a cheap ass. So $120 + 612 = $739
If I get the phone free but then im on a plan that pays at least $110 a month for shit I dont use. Basically im paying $1200 for a phone that is advertised on Kijji for $600.
Its cheaper to buy the phone out.

With the S10 coming out, I wonder how much the S9 will drop in price..?

That's how I normally do it. I buy a device that isn't too old but not the newest and latest gadget either.

Bought a Samsung S8 from a great Beyonder several months ago. BNIB for a wicked price.

You can get BNIB S8's between $400-500 and S9's for $600-650. The difficulty is finding a legit seller cause the used phone market are full of scammers.

[revelations]

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Oh so you guys are talking about it being a ripoff due to the availability of something like Wynd mobile and it's 40$ a month everything included and unlimited plans? Yeah fair enough. Those small tier service providers are known for having pretty crummy reception at peak hours, so I guess the question is what is the value on the usability of the service you pay for. But with free wifi available almost every where nowadays, I'm not sure the poor service matters much.

I use WIND/FREEDOM as a small bis, and its been fine the past 3 years, and I drive/visit clients all over the city.

[ExtraSlow]

There's lots of beyonders who sell lightly used phones. Much less hassle than Kijiji

[Misterman]

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Can't speak for wind but not been my experience with any of the other small guys.

Maybe things have gotten better? I don't know if Rogers and Telus have been doing a lot of infrastructure upgrades? It was definitely very common for providers renting bandwidth from the 2 major players, to get capped connections at peak times. Mades total sense, not like Telus is going to bog down their own loyal customers.

I might go look at some options from one of these smaller providers. I'm due for a new phone and my contract is up with Telus.


EDIT- Just checked Freedom mobile. Basically same plan I have now(127$ a month with Telus), is about 140$ a month on Freedom, but that includes getting a new Samsung S10+ with 0$ down up front. Same thing at Telus would cost me 460$ up front. So 13$ extra per month, but no up front cost. Really it's nothing special at all, as the 460$ breaks down to 19$ a month on a 2 year contract. So I could save a whopping 6$ per month by going to Freedom.

[dirtsniffer]

Holy shit what kind of phone bill is $140 a month?! I thought unlimited everything was like $90

[pheoxs]

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Holy shit what kind of phone bill is $140 a month?! I thought unlimited everything was like $90

1500$ phone subsidized over 24 months adds 65$ a month to the plan I guess.

[killramos]

^Math

[Misterman]

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1500$ phone subsidized over 24 months adds 65$ a month to the plan I guess.

55$ Either way, it's still only a 107$ a month plan at Telus with no subsidy. The differences aren't much at all. I swear it was Wind/freedom that was advertising these 40$/month unlimited plans awhile back?

[ExtraSlow]

Anyone on any plan from the big three that's advertised on the website is getting ripped off hard. Those are all terrible deals.

[killramos]

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Anyone on any plan from the big three that's advertised on the website is getting ripped off hard. Those are all terrible deals.

And the thread has come full circle.

[ExtraSlow]

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And the thread has come full circle.

[msommers]

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If your S4 still does the job, it seems you don't care about having the latest flagship device. I'd just a buy a decent mid-range phone unlocked. There's plenty of good mid-range Android phones out there now for under $500 outright. The mid-range segment has come a long way in quality.

Agreed. <$400 for a Pixel 2. I'm sure they'd haggle a bunch too.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cell-phone/c...ationFlag=true