Should You Switch To Wind Mobile?
January 18th, 2010 Posted in Non-Financial Product Reviews, Smart Tips
Wireless Competition Comes To Canada
Wind Mobile Review
Wind Mobile, owned by Globalive Communications, launched its service in Canada and opened doors to new competition. Canada’s cell phone market was captured and manipulated by the big three carriers (Bell, Rogers, and Telus) for a long time. Wind Mobile’s entrance in Canadian market is revolutionary and is expected to make dents in the big three’s over-priced cellular plans. However, how economical are Wind Mobile’s voice and data plans? Should you switch right now?
Wind Offers Simple Plans
Wind Mobile currently offers these three simple voice plans:
Chat – $15 per month
Always Talk – $35 per month
Always Shout – $45 per month
It also offers an Unlimited Internet USB Stick Data Plan for laptop called Infinite Laptop priced at $55 per month. You can also add an unlimited data plan to the Always Talk and Always Shout plans for an additional $35 per month.
Wind Mobile – Need to Know
Before I go into whether you should jump into Wind Mobile, let’s look at what you need to know:
- There are no contracts, no system access fees, no 911 fees, or any other fees. However, the handsets are not subsidized either; you pay full phone prices upfront.
- First month of any new Wind plan is free!
- Wind allows you to buy just a SIM card (without a phone) and use it with your current (unlocked) handset. But, Wind operates on the AWS band (1700 Mhz/BandIV), and a majority of phones available in North America (like the iPhone) are not compatible with this band. However, a lot of new phones (including Google’s Nexus One) do support this band. Wind will verify if your current handset is compatible with their service.
- Some of the big 3 have changed their basic plans to compete with Wind. For example, Rogers now offers unlimited local calling on some of their plans.
- Wind has amazing deals on voice plans, but if you combine voice + data, your monthly bill can be the same as (if not more than) the big three.
- Wind offers Unlimited Wind to Wind calling on any voice plan.
- Wind has an amazing unlimited local calling feature in any Wind Home zone. If you’re in Toronto or Calgary (Vancouver, Ottawa, and Edmonton coming soon) there’s no roaming charge for using your phone.
- However, you pay 25 cents a minute for calls outside Wind home zone.
- Another great deal for travelers: All calls made from the US are charged at the regular Wind Away Zone rate (25 cents per minute). This is a huge benefit compared to charges from other carriers that can reach $2 per minute when you use your phone in the US.
Should You Switch To Wind Mobile?
Wind Mobile plans may look like quite a deal if you are just skimming the surface. However, if you look deep enough, you will see that some Wind plans aren’t much different than what is already available in Canada. With Wind, a premium voice plan with data added would cost approximately $80 a month. This is not very different from the other three companies, and you may be able to get better deals with the other companies if you know how to bargain with them (yes, like everything else, you can bargain with your cell phone company). For example, I have a plan with my cell phone company which is something like Wind’s Always Shout plan but only better, and I pay around $35 a month (after taxes, all fess and everything). If you are wondering – yes, I had to bargain with my cell company to get this deal.
My Take
Wind Mobile’s $15 a month Chat plan and $55 a month unlimited Internet for laptop plans are unbelievably incredible deals and most likely no other wireless companies in Canada can beat them. The unlimited Wind to Wind calling feature on the $15 plan is great for students and families. If you are shopping for unlimited Internet for laptop and a low monthly plan, Wind is the way to go. If you travel within Canada and the US regularly, there are some excellent benefits to being a Wind customer. If you are looking at the Always Talk and Always Shout plans, talk to the other wireless companies first and you may be able to get a better deal.
Links:
Canada’s Personal Finance Blog
How to Get Free Internet for Your Laptop at Starbucks
Free Home Phone Comes To Canada
9 Responses to “Should You Switch To Wind Mobile?”
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 A.D. on Jan 20, 2010
Beth, I called them once and my experience was totally positive. They are open 24 hrs. Readers, please share your customer service experience. Thanks.
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?