By Beth on Jan 19, 2010

I’ve had so many problems with Rogers lately — including customer service reps lying to me — that I’d be tempted to switch just to ditch the company. Does anyone know anything about Wind Mobile’s customer service?

By Jay Miedema on Jan 20, 2010

I just switched to wind, and must say the plans, customer service and even the phones are a great value, since the latter have little to no markup. The Huawei U7519 (aka tap) touchscreen is only $130.

The only downside has been coverage. I’m in Calgary, and coverage has been shotty at best. In chinook mall for example, at the movie theater, I could not place any calls to my friend no matter how many times I tried. A block away, the call went through. Likewise in my basement suite, I’m constantly dropping calls and switching from Wind Home to Wind Away (roaming). This is frustrating, but it’s eased by the overall value and hope I have in their techs improving the coverage.

I’d suggest new customers hold off a few more weeks before jumping into anything.

By William L. on Jan 22, 2010

No one should be making phone calls from a movie theatre anyway, so I wouldn’t sweat your coverage issues there Jay M…..

Let’s just hope that a few more players come into the picture willing to undercut the big guys because Rogers, Bell and Telus are such financial monsters that they could just buy out WIND in a heartbeat, steal their customer base and keep the ‘Competition’ regulated at the prices they want rather than actually compete…like they do with Home TV service….

By Sameer goyal on Feb 1, 2010

I can only imagine the plans getting better with publicmobile jumping into the market in the next few months .

I am holding my breath and waiting till the end of 2010 to get a wind phone . Hopefully their network will sort itself out by then.

By AngryChineseDriver on Feb 3, 2010

I’m an early WIND adopter from Toronto and I must say that it’s been great overall. Customer service is a million times better than Rogers, devices can’t be any cheaper, and coverage is pretty good — not the best and there are still some issues, but what do you expect from a brand-new company on a brand-new network?

Personally, I’ve been getting great coverage/reception, but I do know people in Calgary and Toronto who have experienced less amazing service. What’s important though is that WIND actually listens and responds to feedback and complaints, something that blows my mind in our collusive wireless market.

Just remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

By nasir on Feb 10, 2010

I just switched to wind a month back , i jumped in so quick cuz i was fedup with rogers but believe me the experience is so awful that i suggest please wait atleast till 2011 to jump.The service is not there my calls drops anywhere in Toronto.People who dont drive a lot and most of times are in same locations like work to home and the towers r working good there will never feel anything,but a person like me who travel around the city as a courier (i drive 200kms daily minimum)can tell you how bad this phone is you talking to someone and the voice of other side gonna go low then disconnects.And if you see the main screen of phone itll show you Winds Away,which is just phony away in toronto.I called the customer service and complained they told me they are building these towers and engineers are there whatever the areas i complained.i live in scarborough,not in a basement or highrise just a ground floor unit,my calls drops there so bad that i compalined them on daily bases,but as they said about tower still not there and enemy copanies are dropping my calls.One gal asked me to switch the sim card or the phone by store(I use Huwavei)when i was in there in store (scarborough town centre)the store refused to do so and told its a technical issue.which can be solved by there engineers again.And this time after explaining every thing to the rep she advise me to contact huawei in china.Please dont be a victim and relax now go wind when time is right,but realy doubt the price then.

By Kevin on Feb 10, 2010

Been thinking about switching for a while now, just changed my fido plan to a $15/month plan so i can port out my #, on my way to the wind store now, I will keep you posted on the coverage and service i receive.

By Feriel on Feb 25, 2010

Hi

I am too a fido customer, I really want the latest blackberry (Bold 9700), I don’t like contracts but almost went with rogers or bell because it is so expensive to buyout the phone. I just found out about Wind and I am tempted to switch but I am a bit skeptical. I was thinking may be I could get the phone (it’s a bit cheaper) and then switch back to fido or rogers if I don’t like it. However, I am not sure if their phones work with other carriers.
anyone know if they do?

By Tindy on Mar 22, 2010

Feriel, Wind does not use the same phone as any other Canadian cell company. I hope that answered your question.

By amanda on Apr 6, 2010

I just switched to wind — I am located in Ottawa and have had zero problems with the wind network. I am actually blown away by how great it is!

People should give wind a chance

By Darcy on Apr 8, 2010

I have been looking at wind for a bit but i only have one question if i got the unlimited text addon does it work in a away zone??? im kinda hazy on this point

By Lola on Apr 10, 2010

i apologize for the length.

so, i’ve been looking into wind for a long time now and i’m going to be the test subject for our family. always shout because that covers everything i use. i called them today, and they told me about all of the issues that they’ve been having, and said quite clearly that for a while, i’d have to be careful. and they’re having an aggressive plan to get the network out around my area. but they’re not sure when it’ll be complete. they offered no promises that were not on their website. there were warnings etc.

however, what stunned me was the fact that the person i spoke to was ACTUALLY nice. i know for a fact that bell, rogers, fido and telus’ customer service is BS. they’re rude. plain and simple. if for the average 100 phone calls we make to complain about their service we get 3 nice people, and 5 reasonable people then it’s a nice month. it also seems that none of the companies know how to handle their own damn billing. one of the reasons that we’re trying out something different is that we’ve been customers of these companies for more than 3 years(there are 5 different plans in my house with different companies) and i think that the 2 larger ones(rogers and bell) have gotten our bills right…. 6 times? but they constantly harass their customers when the mistake is theirs to begin with. honestly, i’m not above paying for good service. and that seems to be what it’s going to come down too.

for the guy who’s phone calls dropped all the time. i don’t know what to say… i was with a bigger company, in my house on ground level, in downtown locations, and every time a car drove by, my call would get cut off, and they were established for more than 20 years. they said i’d have no problems because i had one of the latest phones. then when we had issues, no one knew how to fix it. so it’s still possible on any network and it could have just been the phone.

i also kind of don’t agree with negotiating with the phone company. simply because it seems to be the root of all evils. unless it’s initially what your plan was, there always seems to be trouble. and then months later when they screw up, and can no longer give you their initial offer because… your changes to your account mysteriously vanished from their system, what they try to offer is neither comparable to the offer, nor manages to stick for more than a month…

i think that if bell, rogers, telus, and fido can at least learn some decency from their competition, then that’ll be enough. don’t forget that wind isn’t locking anyone into a contract, they don’t have service fees or activation fees, so you can try it, and don’t like it, say your peace, warn people of the issues, then move on(company wise ofcouse). there are plenty of companies coming out soon, i think public mobil was mentioned. Moblicity, and i know there was one that i looked interesting. but i mean, if you’re short on options, i think even the grocery store, and the gas station offer cellphone’s and plans now… and if all you want is a few minutes of talk time, i hear they’re not bad either

By Rekha Prasanna on Apr 15, 2010

Feriel, my cousin bought the Blackberry Bold 9700 from Wind and he unlocked it and using it with Fido now. I’m sure you can do it too.

By Craig on Apr 24, 2010

@ Rekha Prasanna

You can definitely use it on Fido (which is Rogers btw) but you will not get 3g service because the Wind phones use a different band than Rogers does for 3g. You will still get edge data and all the other GSM services i.e. voice, text, etc.

Just a note: if you want to buy a phone and unlock it to use on WIND, simply buy a T-mobile phone from the US. I got a Mytouch 3g (on Rogers = Magic) on ebay for significantly less than it would cost to buy from a carrier. This phone works fine on Wind 3G. Similarly, you can buy a US AT&T phone and use it on Rogers 3G if you unlock it. Unlocking generally costs about $20 and is 100% legal.

By Mike on Apr 24, 2010

Wind Mobile International Roaming is BAD!!!

Rogers has been a very bad service provider and I signed up with Wind postpaid for the $45/month subscription just to try it out. I bought a Nokia N900 so I can just switch SIM cards between Rogers and Wind. When I signed up, I told the Wind rep that I travel a lot internationally and they told me that I will not have any problems with international roaming. Prior to leaving Toronto, I called their call center and they told me the same thing that I will not have any problems with international roaming.

Lo and behold, when I got to Chile, Brazil and Argentina; although Wind mobile was able to pick up the various service providers in those countries but IT HAD NO ACCESS. Good thing, I did not terminate my Rogers subscription so I had means of communicating back-forth to Toronto.

At Argentina, I called Wind and advised them of the situation. The call center rep said that they do not have international roaming beyond US and Canada. Another information given to me which has been very inconsistent with Wind.

When I got back to Toronto, I went to the store where I bought my Wind SIM and talked to their manager. Apparently, my international roaming service was not activated yet I informed several people (again several not only one) that I travel a lot. Either people in Wind DO NOT HAVE COMMON SENSE, they DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMER NEEDS, or THEY HAVE IMPROPER TRAINING due to their inconsistent service.

I requested for an extension of the 30 day free trial to 60 days since I will be doing more travel and will give Wind another shot with international roaming. Call center manager said that they cannot extend the free trial beyond 30 days.

Rogers is bad but their network is reliable especially with international roaming. I strongly suggest that DO NOT SWITCH to Wind mobile since their answers are inconsistent and their service is really bad and will not go beyond the extra mile of helping the needs of their potential customers.

I went for the extra mile by using my own money of calling Wind from Argentina regarding my situation yet they were not willing to reciprocate of extending the free trial for another 30 days.

Extremely bad in all aspects. Network, service and provision of information to customers. Apparently, they did not listen to me yet they are supposed to.

By VDY on Apr 30, 2010

Signed up with Wind for nearly 2 weeks now. Solid phone and data service for my area. It really depends on where you live how good reception will be. I do notice at least one dead zone near where I live but when I’m at home or work, the reception is fine.

I use the data to tether and it’s fine. Stable and reasonably fast.

Can’t speak of customer service quality as I haven’t had to use them. It took a week for my account to be available online.

If you look at the WIND cell towers location map you should get a decent idea if service will be OK in your area. I find if you have a few towers within < 1 major block of you signal will be fine.

By steven on May 1, 2010

I would like to think this company called Wind would do better than the other so called companys out there, if you want to call them that. The fact is Wind is just that, another company nothing more. They are there to make money, period.
But if your majority of incoming and out going calls conversations consists of “where are you” or “what are you doing” I think you should save your money and get on with real life.

By Manoj on May 3, 2010

Rogers/Fido the worst company on this planet. I hope Wind teach Rogers/Fido some lesson as to how customer service should be and also the pricing

By AirHead on May 9, 2010

I’ve been hearing a lot of Buzz around this MOBILICITY cellular provider opening up shop soon (June 2010 ). Maybe thats’ why WIND has this ‘May 30 Promo’ going on!.
CONS: Wind dropped call frequency.
PROS: Mobilicity has even better deals,so I’m told. Details have not been released yet.
CONS: Mobilicity “might” be piggybacking on the Wind Tower system for a period of time til they get their own towers constructed?(thats’ just a guess and heresy ).
HOPES: That Mobilicity really rocks!

By Shaniqua on May 31, 2010

Wind sucks the big one. I hate them. I will go back to rogers before I stay with Wind. Boo Wind.

By Gouri Misra on Jun 1, 2010

I took Wind connection 4 days before and paid for partial of May and June. Now my phone is suspended. PLEASE AVOID WIND IF YOU CAN AFFORD OTHERS AS THESE PEOPLE MESSED UP BILLING SYSTEM AND PATHETIC CUSTOMER SERVICE.

By Gouri Misra on Jun 1, 2010

I would like to take back on what I said earlier. Here is my learning with Wind. Wind takes around 45 minutes- 1 hour to get them to speak to you. Customer service at Kiosk is not impressing. After 5 attempts, I got an opportunity to speak to Customer support service agent and found extremely is helpful. Patience is key when dealing with Wind. Price is low so I guess somewhere compromise has to be made.

By ash on Jun 3, 2010

my personal experience with mobile is not that great.. calls drop in middle of no where. and i m in teh scarborough area most of the time and all i can see on my screen is wind away(which means if i like to make a call i have to pay roaming charges) with this very unpleaseant experience i have no other choice or to go back to rogers..

By jjamieson on Jun 4, 2010

I don’t understand how Wind is different from the simple plans we already have in Canada. I do want cheaper but I switched to Koodo and it seems like im getting a better deal then I would be with any of winds plans. Plus you do have to pay for the phone outright. There are no hidden fees or contracts with koodo. Just the Tab which is NOT a contract. I just don’t get the appeal to Wind if I can get a better deal with Koodo.

By Anthony on Jun 10, 2010

I have had wind for 3-4 months now its great exept my signal… I live in Calgary Alberta and before i called in i didnt get any signal at my house. But now i get 3-6 when im in the city.

The Costumer service is good exept the waiting time im gussing more people : less employees.

When i call people ihave to wait a while idk? might be just me like 5-10 seconds before it connects.

They offerd more jobs to Canada which can probubly help our economy by a bit. but its still something.

My plan is
$15 – 100mins and some other stuff
$5- unlimited texting

Rate 10/10 exept for the fact they dont have the iphone and wont get the new iphone 4…..

By Mathew on Jun 15, 2010

I’ve been with wind for a month now. I live and work in Mississauga. I haven’t had any customer service issues, but the coverage is spotty. Even in their “Home Zone” (according to the coverage map on the website) I’m not always connected to their network. When I’m in an “away zone” calls in and out often do not go through. Sometimes when I’m in the Home Zone and try to make a call, it gives me a “network busy” error.

They still have some work to do.

By P.W. on Jun 17, 2010

I live in Calgary and cannot even make it to the city limits before I have no signal on wind. My wife was in Marlborough mall and could not call out and couldn’t recieve calls (we bought the phones from the wind store in the mall) and she had to be away from the mall about 300 yards before she could make or recieve a phone call. And if you go to Airdrie you can’t make or recieve calls and if you can they charge 25 cents a minute even 2 km in the city limits there is next to no service. And the attitude we have recieved from customer service was great but we found out they told us a load of crap to keep us on with wind. We have friends with the same phones on different companies and they work anywhere and they swear by there phones and the company they are with. Wind needs to get there heads out of their a$$e$ and realize that we bought the cellphones so we can be reached anywhere and call from anywhere. I give wind mobility two thumbs down for crap service and would never recommend them to anyone for the simple fact that they have no service anywhere even in thier wind home zones.

By Candy on Jun 25, 2010

I switched to Wind from Telus in March 2010. Got the rest of March free then April free (1rst month). Since I signed up b4 March 30 2010, I got a promotion of $150 credit for porting my number. If I didn’t get this promotion, I would probably have gone back to Telus or to another phone company because my coverage/service is almost non-existant.

I have the Huawei touch screen phone that I paid $120 for. My friend and I bought the same phone at the same time and we both live in Brampton, ON. Our phones were great for the first 2 months….Her phone still works great, but my phone simply says “no service” or “emergency call” most of the time. It doesn’t work at home (west Brampton), at work (west Mississauga) or most of the places I go to in Toronto either.

When it shows 2 or 3 bars of reception (rarely) and I try to dial a number, the bars disappear and I once again have no service.

I’ve had the handset exchanged (since its under warrenty) and the SIM card changed also. Still having the same issue.

I am EXTREMELY frustrated with this “inconvenience” and considering Mobilicity or back to Telus once these credits run out!

By Yousaf M. Shaikh on Jun 30, 2010

I switched to Wind about 3 weeks ago. My impressions? Well, I think the service is great; of course this depends largely on where you live but for where I live (Brampton, Ontario) it works really great. I’m a very predictable cellular subscriber; “predictable” in the sense that I typically use the phone in the same area(s) on a daily basis. I don’t roam or travel with my cell phone and I’m willing to wager that by the time I do need it for such purposes their service(s) would’ve expanded, so I’m not sweating it. I regrettably ended up purchasing the HTC Maple (talk about your mediocre cellular phone entries…sheesh!). It’s a very simple, plain phone. No bells or whistles here. I’m greatly disappointed though with Wind’s “customer service”. For starters, anytime I need to talk to them I have to wait for like an hour. No kidding. AN HOUR!!!! Also, the website registration was a real pain in the ass. It wouldn’t accept my e-mail address, so I had to create a secondary e-mail address and for whatever reason, it accepted that. So now I have to check 2 email addresses because I participate in the Wind Forum(s). And I find it disturbing that they can’t seem to correct the problem. I guess I find it disturbing because it’s THEIR WEBSITE; all of this is internal and if they can’t remedy this, then it begs the question : Are they capable of handling the invoicing on my cellular account? Now I’m worried that they may be incapable of billing me honestly and fairly. I realize that Wind Mobile is a new company, and when dealing with a new company you can either enjoy the cheaper rates and accept the lower level of customer service or you can PAY for better customer service from another company. Since I just bought my phone and have used it for more than 30 minutes (I can’t return it now) I guess I’ll just learn to deal with it.

By ashwani Gandha on Jul 8, 2010

i switched to wind about 4 months ago.wasnt a bad service from start buy past 3 or more days i cant recive no calls i call wind but there is more then 2 hour wait other problem when i got my blackberry off them they said after 3 months they will unlock my berry i called them after 3 months they gave me some number and told me too when i switch my sim just put that number in there and i tried it didnt worked so i call them and ask them if i can go too there wind store and maybe somebody can help me out at one off there store they said they wont so finally i got fed up with there service and today i went with fido as much i hate fido ,roger,bell , telus i mean there rip off plans and extras but i perfer too pay extra and get a better roaming with them then wind but in future i will come back with wind becouse they have better plans i hope they work on there service and roming .

By ash on Jul 8, 2010

i realy hope wind work on there service i mean really they have really bad service and realy bad roaming too wish u they luck wind

By Amy on Jul 9, 2010

“I did a real side-by-side comparison, and if you want to get a plan setup with all the same options, you’re looking at up to $145 with Fido, $125 with Bell, $129 with TELUS and $143.58 with Rogers.

It’s not just the voice, it’s the other stuff that factors into it too.”

By CJ on Jul 22, 2010

Problem with Wind Mobile

They have many areas within the downtown area where the phone indicates WIND AWAY. You are not allowed access to use the phone when it says this within the providers area (they may tell you different). Once I discovered this, I complained and they told me nothing could be done and it was too late to return my phone. I am moving to another provider as soon as I can.

I strongly recommend you avoid this provider. The reception and service sucks.

By Kailee on Aug 15, 2010

I purchased a WIND data stick a few months ago and am very unhappy with it.

I live in downtown Toronto, yet on a few occasions (about 5) I couldn’t get any internet access at all. Every call to customer service yields a different reason: the network is ‘down’; the problem is my computer (its not); the problem is getting service where I live (I live on the top floor of an apartment building in a major city – seriousy, I can’t get reliable service there? please), or no reason at all, the service just isn’t working properly (big help, huh?)

The internet service, when I do get it, is VERY SLOW. Web pages usually time out, sometimes you can’t even watch a 30 second Youtube clip, and forget about downloading anything.

The stick is supposed to work on any computer, but will not work on my laptop, only my PC. A few friends have tried it on thier computers, with mixed success.

This thing cost $150, plus over $50 a month, and is complete crap.

As for customer service: BAD. I’ve waited over 1/2 hour just to talk to someone, only to be put on hold for another 20 minutes to transfer to someone who was supposed to know what they were doing (they didn’t). The reps are friendly enough, but clearly lack training and a decent product.

On WIND phones: I don’t have one, and never will, given my experience. A friend on mine does, and he is almost impossible to reach now. I alwalys get that annoying bitch voice saying “The WIND customer is unavailible”. He’s only unavailible becasue his cell phone service sucks so much.

In case you can’t tell, I highly recommend you AVOID WIND.

By SUZ DAYGLER on Aug 22, 2010

YES ALL OF THE ABOVE- THE STAFF IS HAT=RDLY TRAINED, CANT ANSWER QUESTIONS.

By SUZ DAYGLER on Aug 22, 2010

I have never once been able to use my phone in any wind away zone, even though I am paying for that service.
Sometimes when I am at home it goes to wind away.
The customer service is absolutely useless. The are untrained and it takes forever to get through. I love it when I wait 45 minutes on hold for customer service and then the call gets dropped!
I have been rooting for all the competitors to fido, but if wind coverage does not improve soon, we will go elsewhere.
People should complain to the CRTC. They are offering services they cant provide.

By ROGERS SUCKS on Aug 24, 2010

Why should I try to bargain with blood suckers to get the same plan that Wind and Mobilicity offer in writing?

Also, I doubt you can get such deal from the big guys without signing for at least 3 years.

We, canadians need to support new comers and change or stop winning about high prices if we don’t support fair competition.

By Mars on Aug 30, 2010

I have been with Fido before Wind. I had the city Fido plan with the add-ons (plan + Voicemail + caller ID + text + service fees + 911 + taxes was costing me just shy of $80 a month. This was a $45 city Fido plan (later changed to $50 city Fido)
So when Wind Mobile come with their $45 plan unlimited talk and text + Voicemail, caller ID, 3way included with no other fees I drop Fido to join Wind.
Now I’ve been with Wind for a quite a while and I haven’t been with such an unreliable Cellular provider.
Some might think I’m trying to make Wind look bad, But honestly I could probably save you an headache.
Here is a list of issues I have come across:
-radio frequency sounds in the background,
-dropped calls
-drop of signal completely (no bars no signal for a short 1-5 mins)
-Voice fading in and out (I would have to disconnect the call and redial)
-Connection Error when I dialed out
I have contacted the customer service when it got so bad that every one of my calls with being disconnected, I was told my SIM card was old, I need to replace it. After the exchange the problems are still there, just every 2nd or 3rd call or a lengthy call.
I drive for a living so I’m not facing these problems in one location. And also I’m a heavy cellular user. I have tried to support a new Service provider, but I can not stay with them any longer, I was hoping they got better, but so far I don’t the see light.

I have been with all the major networks (Bell, Rogers and Fido, Telus and Kodoo and now Wind. All SUCK because of their overcharged prices. But the best I’ve tested was Rogers Cellular Network, and no I don’t work for Rogers, but I have worked for Bell. I haven’t tested Bells new network.
I should be switching over to Chatr Mobile very soon because they have the $45 plan with a better network but they don’t have any data plans. So I am also eyeing Mobilicity’s Voice and Data plan.

By kevin on Aug 30, 2010

I have had the worst experience with wind. even though I am within the “coverage zone” I was unable to make calls with my nexus– when the drop rate hit 90%, I told them bye bye.

On the phone they are very nice people to talk to, if useless.

The emails is pathetic, and I often wonder if it is a person or bot I am talking to, —I can ask very specif things int eh email, and they just send me some “form mail” back.

Kev.

By Jab on Sep 1, 2010

Wind is the WORST company I ever used. Phone reception is very bad. I was conned into buying the second phone at full price because the sales rep at Holt Renfrew location centre location convinced me that it was my fault that my first phone did not work. I purchased two phones in last two months and lost all my business calls ( because the phone did nod not register these calls )because a technical fault at their their end. You might think it is cheap and you will end up saving some money but actually you will end up losing lot of money and end up with a headache. So do not switch your services to WIND because you will end up in a pain and agony. THEY ARE way behind rogers and telus. So be very careful when you sign up for them.

Thanks
Jab