# Frustrated with Mobile/Internet Costs



## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

I am so clueless when it comes to this stuff, but I know that we are overpaying like crazy.

We are spending about $150 per month on our two cell phones with Koodo.
I'd love to cut this in half at least! 

We are spending about $190.50 per month on our Internet/Cable/Home Phone package with Rogers. This seems crazy to me.

When I looked at it, I sort of wanted to barf. 

All we really need is: unlimited texting for 2 cell phones, free calls between those particular phones would be nice, and long distance rates that are fairly decent (gets used occasionally for work). Would like call display, but don't need any other bells or whistles (no Internet, no camera, etc). We live in Southern Ontario.

Basic home phone, don't really need TV at all, and Internet service decent enough for some online video game playing.

I am locked into a contract with Rogers for home phone/TV/Internet. We both have phones with Koodo, which don't have contracts, but we'd have to pay off the phones if we switch out of their service.

Any suggestions?

Our Internet usage over the last 6 months was:
14 GB
8 GB
10 GB
10 GB
56 GB ????
23 GB

In January, we used 23 GB, and only had a plan for 15, so we ended up paying a bunch for the overage. I upgraded to 60 GB (not even sure if there was an inbetween option, this is just what the Rep advised on the phone) and the next month we used 56 GB. Since then, we have never gone back over 15 GB ... I have no idea why - maybe H played a ton of video games online in January/February? I only ever use the Internet for email/forums/surfing - no videos, downloading, etc.

Should I drop my plan back down again? With my luck, we'll go over 15 GB again and pay out the behind. I am just irritated - I wish there was a flat rate and you just paid for what you used.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

Can someone talk to me about this 7-11 Speakout Prepaid phone?

Basically I can pay $25 plus tax for 100 anytime minutes and that will last 365 days. I will also pay $1.25 per month for 911 service. (Right now we get 100 minutes per month with our current plan and that seems to be fine - in fact, I would estimate that we use about half of that). I could estimate $25/month to use this phone?

It comes with Caller ID free?

I just checked and FH has just over 2000 text messages over the last 30 days. I have about 1200 text messages over the last 30 days. I would say that this is typical. 

It looks like you pay $10 for 2500 outgoing text messages per month (incoming is free)? 

So I would pay about $35 per month plus 911 fee and taxes?

I live in Southern Ontario, and where H works is long distance from home, so we sometimes have to call each other long distance. 

Would this phone be worthwhile for our situation?


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## Calgary_Girl (Apr 20, 2011)

petulantfem said:


> We are spending about $190.50 per month on our Internet/Cable/Home Phone package with Rogers. This seems crazy to me.
> 
> I am locked into a contract with Rogers for home phone/TV/Internet.
> 
> ...


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## leoc2 (Dec 28, 2010)

I use speakout and love it. I don't surf web nor do I text message. I use the phone sparingly.


SpeakOut:
http://www.speakout7eleven.ca/

The Unofficial 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page
http://www.speakoutwireless.ca/


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

Call Rogers and say that you want to cancel your services. If you do that during work hours, you'll get forwarded to retentions and they'll likely offer discounts on your services. That call is an annual event for me.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

Calgary_Girl said:


> petulantfem said:
> 
> 
> > We are spending about $190.50 per month on our Internet/Cable/Home Phone package with Rogers. This seems crazy to me.
> ...


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## ChrisR (Jul 13, 2009)

I'm not an Ontarian, so I'm not very familiar with the expected pricing in your area. But the numbers you've posted look unbelievable to me.

Without even knowing who the discount providers are in Ontario, here is what I was able to find:

Phone, family plan with Rogers (includes the first 2 phones)
-200 shared minutes
-Unlimited evenings/weekends
-Unlimited messaging
-Unlimited long distance between members
-$50 

Internet, Rogers Express
-60gb per month
-$46.99

Home phone, Rogers basic
-$26.50 ($10 discount for 1st year)

Cable, Rogers digital basic
-$32.49

All together $156, will probably come to about $180 with taxes and stupid fees. I suspect that you can do even better by shopping around or signing up when there is a special offer.

As for the long distance. Buy a phone card! You can pick up a $10 PC phone card at the same time you buy your groceries and then for all the extra work it takes to dial an extra 20 digits, your long distance charge drops to 4 cents a minute.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

You can also sign up with Yak for long-distance -- no codes required and you get 3.5 cents/minute anywhere in Canada and 3.5 cents/minute to the US as well:

http://www.yak.ca/yak-long-distance

I use VOIP (Vonage, which is more expensive but more user-friendly than other VOIP options out there) and have a flat rate for phone with unlimited calls per month; my girlfriend gets to talk to her mother in France for an hour or more, effectively for free, and I use it for my work calls, I'm on the phone to the States all day long.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

If you're looking to switch ISPs, I'm looking for referrals to Acanac. I'll give you $50 if you sign up for DSL and I refer you. They are very reasonably priced, and offer lots of great extras that Bell/Rogers will not, including unlimited bandwidth and an 'online PC' you can use from anywhere.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

I use SpeakOut wireless and highly recommend them.

You'd be looking at about $39.50 a month for that bundle.

100 minutes = about $28.25 ($25 plus tax)
2500 texts = $10 (I'm not sure if this is tax included) and yes incoming are free.
911 fee = 1.25


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

If you only need a voice plan for your cell phone

Check out Rogers discount brand: http://www.chatrwireless.com/web/chatr.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PlanBrowse

$25 CID, voicemail, unlimited province-wide calling, 50 outgoing texts unlimited incoming texts
$35 CID, voicemail, unlimited nation-wide calling, unlimited texts

Long distance calls outside Canada are going to cost $$ no matter which mobile provider you choose. Best to use a phone card for that.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

^ That looks pretty good. It has no 911 fee or access fees either.


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

The voicemail retrieval fee on the first plan could get annoying. Im soon switching providers myself, I'll give them a ring tomorrow to find out if you can opt-out of voicemail


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Isn't Chatr available only in Toronto? If you're in Toronto then you could just get Wind or Mobilicity.

I second switching to Acanac for internet, or Techsavvy. I think it's somethign like $35/month for unlimited access, no 60 gb cap nonsense like Rogers.


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

It's available in the top 6 cdn CMAs (Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver) coincidentally the new independent operators market. Rogers also gives these same plans to their own customers for $17/mo or less if you speak with retentions. OP was pretty vague with location so it's worth mentioning in case they do live in a major city.


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## financialnoob (Feb 26, 2011)

Not sure how you are spending $150 on Koodo? Their most expensive plan is $50/month for all the bells and whistles. Are there data charges too?

Not saying Koodo is the best, nor am I saying you should stay with them, but you should be able to get what you want for no more than $40/month/phone, so the $150 puzzles me.

$25 talk and text plan: 100 mins, unlimited texts. 
+$2 long distance saver (reduces LD rates)
+$5 unlimited Koodo to Koodo
+$6 caller ID
= $38+tax+whatever long distance you're using.

The Chatr deal sounds pretty good. You could always unlock your Koodo phones depending on if they're worth it or not. I think the unlock fee is $50/phone. You'd have to verify with the other provider if they do a SIM-only option and if your phone would be compatible with their network.

Rogers is pretty awful but unfortunately, there's not much competition in most areas for cable services. If you can find an alternative, it's probably better.

On Internet, the difference between Lite and Express isn't just limited to download limits, but also speed differential.

Lite = 15 gigs, 3 mbps, $36
Express = 60 gigs, 10 mbps, $47

So the $11 difference at least gives you 3 times the speed. For your usage, you could get away with Lite, but I'd feel better if I could figure out what resulted in that one huge month. If that happens 2 or 3 times, the overage charges are going to be more than your annual savings by going Lite.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

financialnoob said:


> Not sure how you are spending $150 on Koodo? Their most expensive plan is $50/month for all the bells and whistles. Are there data charges too?
> 
> Not saying Koodo is the best, nor am I saying you should stay with them, but you should be able to get what you want for no more than $40/month/phone, so the $150 puzzles me.
> 
> ...


Okay, I just looked at my bill to break it down: 
2 phones x $25 = $50
Additional Local Airtime = $14.60
(Our total airtime was 332:43 combined, we were charged for 41:41 which wasn't included/free)
Long Distance Charges = $62.73
(193:38 of LD minutes)
Data and other Services = $0.75
(We don't actually use data, this must have been a pocket dial to Internet)
Features and Add-ons = $19.00
(Call display x 2 = $12.00, LD Saver x 1 = $2.00, Koodo to Koodo Local Calling x 1 = $5.00)
Taxes = $19.12
Total = $166.20

Well, I see that two of the problems, now that I am looking closer, is that they only put the LD Saver and Koodo to Koodo Local calling on one of the phones, not both.  He makes 99% of the calls from his phone, and his phone is the one that is missing those features.

So I will add that to the other and see what a difference that makes. The LD rate is $0.05 per minute, so if we used 193:38 minutes, that would be around $10. So it looks that adding the LD Saver would have saved $50 off of that bill, right? Am I looking at that right?

The K2K feature should mean that we won't go over the minutes of airtime either, since we essentially only ever call each other. That would save us another almost $15, plus the taxes on all of that. Add the $7 for those features though.

Which would bring that bill down to around $100? Isn't that still expensive?

Anyway, thanks for making me look harder at the bill - they are both under my name so the bills are combined, and the three features listed ... I never realized until now that some are only on one of the phones.

I have no idea what caused the jump that month where we used 53 GB ... is it possible that someone had accessed our wireless service? We have a password on it, but we did have issues with getting the password on when we set it up in December. I'm not worried about speed either, for what I use the Internet for, but H plays Xbox online sometimes, so he might be annoyed if I get a slower connection. :/

And, for those who were wondering, we are about an hour and a half west of Toronto, in a little town. I am not sure how awesome coverage would be here for some of those services, I checked their coverage areas and we sort of look like we fall just outside of it.

The Acanac looks interesting, though, I am going to check into it now.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

ddkay said:


> If you only need a voice plan for your cell phone
> 
> Check out Rogers discount brand: http://www.chatrwireless.com/web/chatr.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PlanBrowse
> 
> ...


The $35 plan looks interesting. I am not in the chatr zone, but fall into the "no worries" zone, what does that mean?
But it freaks me out that it says it charges $0.25 per minute when outside chatr zones. I can see this racking up fast any time we go visiting family or on little trips, without realizing it. Our family cottage is in Round Lake Centre, which looks spotty for "no-worries" coverage.

This looks cheaper than my Koodo plan, even if I make the changes to the features. We don't call outside of Canada on our cell phones, the LD charges are just calling each other while he is at his work site 1.5 hours away (annoying).


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

andrewf said:


> If you're looking to switch ISPs, I'm looking for referrals to Acanac. I'll give you $50 if you sign up for DSL and I refer you. They are very reasonably priced, and offer lots of great extras that Bell/Rogers will not, including unlimited bandwidth and an 'online PC' you can use from anywhere.


Do they have a contract? It looks like one year, right?
The package is for 5mbps ... right now we have 10mbps. I really have no idea about this stuff, but how will cutting it in half affect H's video game playing? He'll be upset if he can't play.

Otherwise, this looks pretty good to me. I could switch the phone and Internet and just drop cable altogether.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

At best, the speed ratings are theoretical. Most times you neither use nor have access to that rate of transfer. Gaming is more about latency/response time than absolute transfer of data. I have no complaints myself, but note that they are reselling Bell's network, so it may depend on your area.

It's not really a contract per se. You pay for one year of service up-front, with a 30 day money-back guarantee.

I have dry loop DSL and VOIP through Acanac, and it costs me altogether about 45/month, everything in. They also give you a substantial discount for your first year.


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## financialnoob (Feb 26, 2011)

Wow, that's a considerable long distance expense. The Koodo website says $0.35/minute for LD, or $0.05 after the LD saver ($2) is applied, so yeah, $50 reduction. 

$100 still does seem expensive. One other thing to consider is if both phones are under your name, there is an "Unlimited Local Family Calling" option available for no extra charge under almost every plan I looked at, including the $25 one. That would eliminate the Koodo-to-Koodo charge ($5/month/phone = $10 less), as well as any potential over-use charges.

When I looked into that for my wife, they said it would cost $35 because our accounts were not under the same name, so the fee is to change the account name. But if your phones are already under the same account, you should be eligible for this without a charge perhaps. Check out a kiosk, as I am still learning about this and don't have all the details.

So that would get you down to say $25 for unlimited texts and 100 minutes + $6 for caller ID + $2 for LD saver (no Koodo-to-Koodo charge if you set it up as a family plan) x 2 phones, or $66 + LD at $0.05/min + tax. Based on last month's usage, you'd be at around $85 total as opposed to the $166.20.

I'd still check out other options, but if you're attached to your phones, that looks a lot better. A lot of the budget cells are solid deals but the phones may not be great so if you have a BB or Android, Koodo might be a better option. If the phones suck, might be worth ditching them.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

petulantfem said:


> Do they have a contract? It looks like one year, right?
> The package is for 5mbps ... right now we have 10mbps. I really have no idea about this stuff, but how will cutting it in half affect H's video game playing? He'll be upset if he can't play.
> 
> Otherwise, this looks pretty good to me. I could switch the phone and Internet and just drop cable altogether.


I have Acanac and I play online games and have never had a problem.

If you're going to go with Acanac for your phone, you should know it's an IP phone rather than a "real" phone like what you get with Bell. So it doesn't work in case their servers go down, and it doesn't work in case of a power outage.


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## liquidfinance (Jan 28, 2011)

Dont forget for long distance call you can use freephoneline ca

register with them and you get free calls to most Canadian cities. You also get a number equivalent to that of your local area and people can then call you at their prevailing rate. 

I've used it a few times in the variant of the zphone provided by Z103 although the service is still provided by free phoneline.


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## Financial Cents (Jul 22, 2010)

I live in Ottawa, this is what I'm paying for comparative purposes?

2 cells with Koodo including 500 MB data per month per phone = $90/month including taxes.

Internet, Rogers Express - 60 GB per month = $40/month including taxes.

Home phone, Rogers basic - 500 North American Long Distance min. = $36/month including taxes.

VIP Digital Cable, Rogers - with Movie Network = $88/month including taxes.

All together, given the services and "extras" we are getting, no too bad. We could probably crop $60 off our telco bills if we didn't have VIP cable with movies and home phone. We love movies. Might consider dropping the home phone over time and use VoIP.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

I know there aren't many Bell fans here, but we have our DSL internet and phone with them and I'm thinking of going fiber-optic for internet since their fiber network is available in our area. It's actually cheaper than my current DSL plan, which is now costing me $70/month (unlimited download/upload). I rarely download more than 10 gigs/month, so I could pay $35/month and get better performance with one of their fiber optic plans with a cap of 25 gigs/month.

There are two things holding me back, though: 1) it looks like you are required to use their wireless router, is that correct? That would be a pain because I already have my own wireless router and network. 2) they also provide some sort of security software that I don't want to use, and in fact am prohibited from installing on my work computer. 

Does anyone here have experience with Bell fiber-optic and know if you can opt out of these features, just using your own equipment? I tried calling Bell a couple of times but couldn't get a straight answer.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

@Brad, you should be able to connect the bell router to your router which would mean you don't have to set up a new network.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Four Pillars said:


> @Brad, you should be able to connect the bell router to your router which would mean you don't have to set up a new network.


Thanks, I hadn't thought of that! So I would just run an Ethernet cable between the Bell wireless router and my wireless router?


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

Yup.

I used to do the same thing when I had my personal router as well as one that I had to have for work.

Not sure about the software - most internet companies (ie Rogers) provide security software, but I can't imagine you have to install it to use their service.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Shaw has some free software to deal with the network, viruses etc. and it often says it detects something wrong so you run it and nothing wrong is found.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

brad said:


> Thanks, I hadn't thought of that! So I would just run an Ethernet cable between the Bell wireless router and my wireless router?


Yes, I believe so.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Four Pillars said:


> Yup.
> 
> I used to do the same thing when I had my personal router as well as one that I had to have for work.
> 
> Not sure about the software - most internet companies (ie Rogers) provide security software, but I can't imagine you have to install it to use their service.


I had Rogers internet for a couple of years. Their free security s/w is a
nice touch, but it doesn't have the "teeth" of Norton 360 which I'm using 
now. The Rogers does have a firewall, which is a necessity, but it
doesn't always identify phishing sites. I just buy Norton 360 at Staples
for $40 odd dollars..licence good for one year. You get reports on what
it has discovered and you can clean the internet temp files and registry
as well as do an online backup and run different levels of virus/spyware
detection. and it also does background level detection.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

If anyone is looking for a good anti-virus program, I recommend this one: http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

I have tried many and this is the best free one I have found.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

What's wrong with the latest Microsoft Forefront Security client?
It's free and comes pre-packaged with Windows 7.


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## Financial Cents (Jul 22, 2010)

I use AVG for internet security, never had an issue. It's free.


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## ddkay (Nov 20, 2010)

I cancelled my mobile data plan for good this week. Tired of paying overage fees when the quotas are never adequate to begin with...

I've been with Rogers for 5 years. The longer you've been a Rogers customer the easier it is to negotiate pricing with them, it partly comes down to skill but it's mostly luck. You have to re-negotiate service credits on a annual/biennial basis (in case competition gets wiped out and they completely fix market prices again). For now, not a big deal.

I wrote down offers from the competition (Wind/Mobi/Chatr) and called Rogers Customer Relations on a weekday afternoon. Since I couldn't really complain about my voice/text messaging limits, my only objective was to match the competitions prices. They generally don't match features easily (i.e. unlimited everything). Here is the before and after:

*Before*

```
Charges
My10 Unlimited Local Talk & Text		25.00
6pm Unlimited Early Eve & Wknd Calling		0.00
100 Anytime Minutes				0.00
100 Bonus Minutes				0.00
Value Pack (CD, VM, 2500 Sent/Unltd Rcvd Txts)	10.00 (Expires Jan 2012)
1GB Data Service Plan				30.00 
System Access Fee				6.95
9-1-1 Emergency Access Fee			0.75

Credits
$10 Data Discount				-10.00
System Access Fee Credit			-6.95
Better Choice Bundles 5% Disc			-2.25

Cost
53.50, 60.45 with HST (actually avg'd $75/mo over 12-mo due to data overages)
```
*After*

```
Charges
My10 Unlimited Local Talk & Text		25.00
6pm Unlimited Early Eve & Wknd Calling		0.00
100 Anytime Minutes				0.00
100 Bonus Minutes				0.00
Value Pack (CD, VM, 2500 Sent/Unltd Rcvd Txts)	10.00 (Expires Jan 2012)
System Access Fee				6.95
9-1-1 Emergency Access Fee			0.75

Credits
$10 Monthly Fee Discount			-10.00 (Expires Jul 2012)
System Access Fee Credit			-6.95
Better Choice Bundles 5% Disc			-1.50

Cost
24.50, 27.69 with HST
```
Background on my usage: I average 2000 voice minutes a month with My10 numbers (about an hour a day). In the future, to make travelling outside my Local Calling Area (LCA) more affordable and convenient, I will try to request changing My10 Local to My10 Canada-wide and request a credit for Unlimited Network Calling (Rogers-to-Rogers) to free up room by removing Rogers customers on my My10 list. Pretty much my perfect plan.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Rogers and Bell have been ripping customers off for far too long.
My cell phone with Bell average $50-$60 and I only had 200 mins on
the plan.

Dropped them last December and went to Wind...
now I pay a flat rate of $25 a month + taxes for UNLIMITED air time... and "roaming" well actually LD in Canada is 25c a minute with them, and that is fine with me. In town, I can also called YAK and get LD for 3.5 c per minute. 

They also allow free calling to any WIND serviced area in Canada..which for
now is only the principle cities, but that is still better than Bell/Rogers/Telus.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I average about $7 or $8/month in mobile costs. I mostly text when out to coordinate with friends when meeting up. Occassional short phone calls. I have a voip line at home for conversations.


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## Oxidd1979 (Feb 14, 2011)

Here's what I pay:

Cell phone: 120$ for my iPhone Data plan (Fido) + my fiancee regular phone (Rogers) (unlimited texting, unlimited night & weekend) 

Home Phone: voip.ms, about 3-4$ a month, e911 included. Lien quality is between phone and Cell, uses almost no bandwidth. It a Pay Per Use phone line. Fix price of 1.50$ a month for phone number, 0.50$ a month for e911, + usage. You have to talk ALOT (like 4-5 hours a day) to pay 20$ a month of phone! Includes VoiceMail for free, CallerID is 1/2 cents per call. Long distance is super cheap too. You only need to buy a ATA, like the Linksys PAP2T for about 70$ and you plug that between your phone and router.

I will NEVER go back to a regular phone line. Bell still charges for touchtone upgrade fees! Come on! 

Internet: TekSavvy. 40$ a month, Dry-Line included for 5mbps DSL internet, 300gb monthly limit.

Cable: well, Videotron here in Laval. 55$ a month.

So total of 220$ a month, cell included.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

It's amazing how much you can put out for these high tech gadgets.
How did people manage 25-30 years ago without them?

I'm a luddite, even though I live in a high tech world. Still prefer the "ole"
can and waxed string method. it's person to person and
you can see who you are talking to..cheap too!


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

I can't tell you carverman how much I wish for a return to those days. A few days ago I was conducting job interviews, it took about 4 hours. 

During that time I shut my phone off, I got 41 voice mails. 

I have a cold and I'm on the verge of losing my voice, good for me! Finally an excuse not to answer the phone.


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## Smurfette (Jul 31, 2011)

I don't know whether coverage in your area is available, but I just switched to Wind Mobile and my plans is $25 + tax (no extra fees) for unlimited local calls, unlimited canada wide text, call display, etc. The only extra thing I pay for is voicemail for $5 (if you don't care about this, then you're at $25. I believe they have some family deals too.

And for internet...I heard tech savy is good (300Gz @ up to 5mbp for $31), but I am not with them so can't speak from personal experience. You do have to buy a modem though.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

Thanks all. For mobile, I am sticking with Koodo. DH talked me into switching to Blackberrys though, and that is a LOT of overkill for what I use it for. Anyway, since they rolled out the Canada-Wide calling, long distance isn't an issue any longer. I also have call display and unlimited texting for $25/month. I don't use the Internet on the phone, so that's not an issue either. (I do like the calendar on the BB though, it's been very good to scatterbrained me).

We decided to just cut our cable out, so that bill should be less as well.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

petulantfem said:


> I am so clueless when it comes to this stuff, but I know that we are overpaying like crazy.
> 
> We are spending about $150 per month on our two cell phones with Koodo.
> I'd love to cut this in half at least!


You sure are! That's nuts! 



> We are spending about $190.50 per month on our Internet/Cable/Home Phone package with Rogers. This seems crazy to me.


You couldn't have put it better..I bet Robers loves "pay-through-the-nose -and-then-some"customers like you. 



> All we really need is: unlimited texting for 2 cell phones, free calls between those particular phones would be nice, and long distance rates that are fairly decent (gets used occasionally for work). Would like call display, but don't need any other bells or whistles (no Internet, no camera, etc). We live in Southern Ontario.
> 
> Basic home phone, don't really need TV at all, and Internet service decent enough for some online video game playing.
> 
> ...


Cancelling a contract before it expires is going to cost you BIG money in
penalties...in the future don't go for the free phone "carrot" they offer
to get you to sign a 2 year contract. Find a service provider that doesn't
have a contract and buy your own phone. These days, most new cell phones
come with SIM chips..Local number portability between service providers,
so it doesn't make sense to sign contracts anymore. 

I use WIND. $25 month. Free LD and only 25c a call if I'm in a roaming area.
I bought my own cell phone...and $25 +taxes is all I pay. I get free voice
mail, texting and other services. 



> In January, we used 23 GB, and only had a plan for 15, so we ended up paying a bunch for the overage. I upgraded to 60 GB (not even sure if there was an inbetween option, this is just what the Rep advised on the phone) and the next month we used 56 GB. Since then, we have never gone back over 15 GB ... I have no idea why - maybe H played a ton of video games online in January/February? I only ever use the Internet for email/forums/surfing - no videos, downloading, etc.


Video games, watching any streaming video on your computer involves tons
of incoming bits..kilobits turn into megabits and that becomes gigabits
very quickly over a day. 

Email doesn't use much..surfing the internet uses a lot more, but the big
gobbler of those gigabits is video streaming. Someone is either doing that
from your home, or if you have wi-fi, someone else is using your bandwidth
and charging it to you. If so, you should have had some Wi-Fi security
s/w installed on your computer to prevent that. 



> Should I drop my plan back down again? With my luck, we'll go over 15 GB again and pay out the behind. I am just irritated - I wish there was a flat rate and you just paid for what you used.


Yes, WIND offers flat rate and INFINITE DATA on their INFINITE LAPTOP tier. 

Over usage of monthly data contracts is a nice money maker for most
service providers....smile and bend over! 

What where they charging you (per megabyte) when you exceeded the original 15GB?

In January, if you went over by 8gb, and you don't know why.. 
and now you say you have use as much as 56GB on your
highest data usage tier, it very likely is going to happen again. 

To go back to the lower tier, you will have to calculate what it would
cost, based on the over usage for the January (15GB) data tier,
and what the projected usage per Mb is going to cost you, 
if you are actually using now, all that 56GB...vs... 
what it is costing you now for 60gb tier you are paying per month. 

If you go back to 15Gb and you consume 40 GB in the month that
you downgrade the data usage..WATCH OUT FOR A HEFTY over usage
bill! 

I went with Wind, initially (wi-fi data stick laptop antenna), 
I had a monthly plan for 3GB per month and 0.02c per megabyte after that
if the 3GB was exceeded in a given billing month. 
I blew that out of the water the first month, and had to pay extra data
charges for the excess which mounted up very quickly with Youtube etc.

I loaded in a data usage counter s/w (DU Meter) and monitored my data usage
for a month to be sure, it was me that was causing the ove rusage..and
then switched to a Unlimited data plan for $29 a month + taxes. (7.2mb/sec). 

That deal with WIND is good for 12 months (although it has to be prepaid in advance)
and even if it goes up to $45 a month after that, I'm still ahead of the game by not paying any extra for over usage.

BTW..even still, I monitor my daily/weekly/monthly data with my DU s/w
and it gives me a report of WHAT IT WOULD HAVE COST ME, in excessive
usage.

You just have to be a bit more savvy these days with the service providers.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

petulantfem said:


> We decided to just cut our cable out, so that bill should be less as well.


I'm cutting my Bell Sat tv in January. The monthly charges $42 for basic
tv is a ripoff! Unfortunately I got sucked into a 2yr contract in Jan 2010
and if I try to get out now, early termination penalty of $100 + $50 for
each receiver applies. Since I only have 3 months left on the contract
at $42 a month, I'm not going to hand them over $150 for free by
cancelling now. 

In December I'm giving them 30 days notice to avoid any further penalties
(according to my contract) if I don't give them 30 days notice 
and I'll be going off cable and satellite tv once and for all.

I bought a tv antenna and preamp for my tv (which has a digital receiver 
built in) and I can get 6-8 stations in Ottawa, most are High Def and for
Free! Scr%w the greedy <#$%^&[email protected]!>


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

petulantfem said:


> Thanks all. For mobile, I am sticking with Koodo. DH talked me into switching to Blackberrys though, and that is a LOT of overkill for what I use it for.


Ya just gotta get off those "crackberries"..what did people do before they
came along? 



> We decided to just cut our cable out, so that bill should be less as well.


You can still receive digital off air. All you need is an antenna, and a
digital to anolog box ($50-$60) if your tv doesn't have a DTV tuner.

If it does, then all you need is an antenna of some sort and you should
be able to get 3 or 4 VHF and a couple UHF stations in your area..
wherever you are located in southern Ontario.


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

I second the OTA.

Ever since the full ("ahem") switch to digital, I am receiving 12 (soon to be more when the lagsters catch up) channels in finger slurping high definition (1080 sometimes).

I was flabbergasted when I noticed that CTV and City-TV were actually broadcasting 1 regular season NFL game per week (each)!! With professionnal sports on OTA, I have absolutely no reason to go back to paying for tv... EVER!


Also, no need to purchase software to "protect your wifi". All you need to do is log on to your WI-Fi router and set a password (preferably WAP over WEP).


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Guigz said:


> I second the OTA.
> 
> Ever since the full ("ahem") switch to digital, I am receiving 12 (soon to be more when the lagsters catch up) channels in finger slurping high definition (1080 sometimes).
> 
> I was flabbergasted when I noticed that CTV and City-TV were actually broadcasting 1 regular season NFL game per week (each)!! With professionnal sports on OTA, I have absolutely no reason to go back to paying for tv... EVER!


Yes, when they are transmitting 1080i H-D, it is fantastic. I'm just counting
the days until I can give the cable crooks, their notice. While I won't b
able to receive some channels, I find that with Bell sat, pretty much most
of it is standard CTV/CBC and Global from Halifax to Vancouver broadcast
in those time zones, so the only convenience of standard tv is to be able
to watch a prgm you missed at 7pm at 9pm, otherwise it's pretty much
a waste of money these days. 



> Also, no need to purchase software to "protect your wifi". All you need to do is log on to your WI-Fi router and set a password (preferably WAP over WEP).


Did you mean WPA (Wi-fi Protected Access? I am routerless, just
a USB stick antenna from Wind. Not sure if you can set protection with
that.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

We did password protect our wifi when we set it up. It is likely that H ran up those GB playing video games, I guess. He hasn't played in several months now.

The free TV sounds interesting, I'll look into that.


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## Smurfette (Jul 31, 2011)

Call your company's main competitor. Say "I am currently with X company for internet/cable/phone. I am disatisfied with the service because it is too expensive. What would you be able to offer me if I came to your company?" Then once they've given you a quote, tell them you'll think about it. Call your own company, ask to speak to customer retentions. Tell them "I currently have internet/cable/phone with you. I am disatisfied with the service because it is too expensive. Company Y will give me this. Can you beat their offer? If not, I will leave." If they can't offer you something the same/better, then leave for the other company (they almost certainly will at least match their competitor's deal). I recently cut my internet bill by almost half (while simultaneously increasing my bandwidth by 3x) and another friend cut their internet/cable bill by half (without compromising on what she was getting) just by doing this.

It's not that they can't give you a better deal. It's just that if you are willing to pay them more, why would they charge you less?


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

petulantfem said:


> It is likely that H ran up those GB playing video games, I guess.


It is a common misconception that online video games use lots of bandwidth. This is false.

What you need, in order to play video games online, is a connection with low latency (ping). All the images and sounds are created by your computer in your home and do not need to use bandwidth, the only information sent to and from the internet is "text" like (the position of your character, direction of movement, your stats... etc) so that other computers can recreate the same environment.

Big users of bandwidth are audio and video streaming (especially HD) and uploading and downloading files, the rest is orders of magnitudes less bandwith wise.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Smurfette said:


> It's not that they can't give you a better deal. *It's just that if you are willing to pay them more, why would they charge you less*?


Papa Smurf to Smurfette...
The reality of this " big 3 player monopoly" here in Canada (including Shaw/Cogeco) is that they already know what deals each one is offering. They are not about to cut each other's throats in a bidding war to get more customers.

They all know that a bidding war or dealing under the table to attract customers
can backfire on them. 

Sure they have occasional promotions to attract "new" customers and get
you hooked with them, but those promotions ALWAYS have an expiry date at which their regular pay-through-the-nose rates come in. 

Other than fulfilling your side of the implied contract (whether it be a signed or assumed contract by accepting their promotion), you are stuck because
they have early cancellation penalties (so much per month or maximum of $100) if you try to switch to another service provider. 

In my case, I had to wait until the contract was over and provide 30 days notice, otherwise, they can legally hit you for another month of service even if you have switched. If you have automatic deduction from bank acct or CC, they withdraw
that amount without your help. If you have control over when you pay them 
and don't pay, they report you to collection and possibly the credit bureau.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

Just got a nice retentions deal thought Rogers. This is our third year we've done this. Basically you tell them your cancelling everything and they will give you an offer. 

VIP cable, internet lite and basic home phone (no features) $88/month (all fees included) + tax. 

I use speakout wireless for mobile and the wife uses Virgin mobile pay as you go $100 voucher; it expires 365 days.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

Guigz said:


> It is a common misconception that online video games use lots of bandwidth. This is false.
> 
> Big users of bandwidth are audio and video streaming (especially HD) and uploading and downloading files, the rest is orders of magnitudes less bandwith wise.


I did not know this! Thank you.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

petulantfem said:


> I did not know this! Thank you.


Get DU Counter (Data usage counter) and you will see instantaneously
how much data is being streamed per second on Youtube, or any high def
streaming video website. 

Even though I now have infinite data usage per month, I still have my counters set
on DU meter to 0.02c per megabyte. I check it occasionally (out of curiosity) to see how MUCH I WOULD HAVE TO PAY, on a lower tier data rate monthly contract. 


DU meter shows you both incoming traffic and outgoing traffic on a kilobit/sec rate instantaneously as well as the totals for both directions, and the Network traffic cost. Nice bar graphs and reports you can also request. 

You WILL get a "wakeup and smell the coffee" reality check report, (daily, weekly or monthly) on how much data you have used ...and most important of all what it will cost you extra based on any data usage over your contracted rate.


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## petulantfem (Dec 13, 2010)

This is interesting. I don't watch Youtube or do much downloading of anything online. Mostly email/forums/facebook.

However, we have started watching some stuff on Netflix, so we'll have to keep an eye on that.


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## Financial Cents (Jul 22, 2010)

We keep calling the retention folks at Rogers every year.

Now paying $40 for internet for another year, high-speed as it gets, which is nice.

We use Koodo for cells. $100/month for voice, data, BBM, LD, text, etc. - the full meal deals for 2 phones which is nice.


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## Oilers82 (Jan 17, 2011)

Rogers Retentions is the key! My wife and I pay $85 taxes in for our phones combined with:

200 daytime for me, 300 for her
Both have Unlimited evenings (6 pm) and weekends
10,000 txts for me, 500 for her (she doesn't text too often).
500 MB data for me, 1 GB for her
both have VM, CID.

My bill is $39 and hers is $46 after taxes and fees.

We had a great deal (VIP cable, Chinese channel and Express internet) at 30% off with 2 free PVR's, but that deal expired and now they're charging us for the PVRs and only 20% off the services. I'm gonna need to make another call to retentions...


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Wind's super smart plan is $30/month for unlimited talk, text, and data.


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## rookie (Mar 19, 2010)

wind blows the brains out of speakout:

with their new pay your way promotion until oct31, you can get unlimited incoming calls. outgoing is 20c/m whether you are on wind network or not (rogers). so in the worst case, you pay as much as SO. 

now to sweeten the deal, if you can set up a call back service, you could convert your outgoing to incoming, which would make your outgoing calls 2c/m. now who can beat this for a low-mid user?

now for the icing: you can get data whenever you want at 20c/6m in wind zone or 10c/25kb outside wind zone.

no plan, no contract. pay for what you use only...

i hope they improve their coverage across the GTA...


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

rookie said:


> wind blows the brains out of speakout:


Depends on your cellphone usage. I rarely use my cellphone, so for me the longer the expiry, the cheaper it is. With SO, I can top up $25 and have it last an entire year even after paying the monthly 911 fee.


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## nathan79 (Feb 21, 2011)

Simply nothing compares to Speakout for low-use customers.

Many people spend less than $50 a year on Speak Out. The minimum cost of Wind is $100 a year. If you want Voicemail, it's an extra $5 a month, which brings the total to $160 a year. 

I'll keep spending $50 a year, thanks.


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## rookie (Mar 19, 2010)

CanadianCapitalist said:


> Depends on your cellphone usage. I rarely use my cellphone, so for me the longer the expiry, the cheaper it is. With SO, I can top up $25 and have it last an entire year even after paying the monthly 911 fee.


true. with wind the best deal seems to be 40$ lasting for 180days. so if your usage is less than that, then you can stick to SO.


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