# Wind mobile cell phones



## couchman (Oct 10, 2013)

I see wind mobile cell offering a great package on monthly plan. $40.00 per month unlimited phone calls and text 7 days a week and 5G of data. Sounds great..Does anyone use wind as a plan. Need to know what there coverage is like. Great plan but if my phone does not work 10 minutes out of Ottawa then not such a great deal. Any Thoughts?


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## couchman (Oct 10, 2013)

Did some checking and there coverage map is just basically in major cities and 30 km out no coverage,


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## ykphil (Dec 13, 2009)

Both my wife and I are on Wind 35 in Calgary, with unlimited province-wide calling, unlimited nation-wide texting, and unlimited data, throttled after 5 GB. With two lines on the account, our monthly bill is $65 plus tax. Service is fast enough for our needs (email, text, calls, enough data for us even if we don't have internet at home) within the Wind zone. Outside a Wind zone, the service is still good except we are roaming, and it gets very expensive, so we turn roaming off to avoid surcharges. Other than that, we are happy with the deal.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

I got this plan a few months ago when it was on special then. It is a great deal; your best bet is to check their coverage map. They have apparently upgraded their networks in the past year- I have the odd issue where I am at work but it could be because the building itself it very old and blocks some signal. Away from work it seems fine. You can automatically switch onto associate carriers if you go out of their coverage area.

You can call their support and give them a postal code and they'll tell you if they have coverage.


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## wendi1 (Oct 2, 2013)

It's not that your phone will stop working, it's just if it's outside the WIND coverage area that it will cost you money to use it.

I've had WIND for a year, and have yet to be charged a roaming fee, but it depends on where you will use it.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

couchman said:


> I see wind mobile cell offering a great package on monthly plan. $40.00 per month unlimited phone calls and text 7 days a week and 5G of data. Sounds great..Does anyone use wind as a plan. Need to know what there coverage is like. Great plan but if my phone does not work 10 minutes out of Ottawa then not such a great deal. Any Thoughts?


I have Wind. I used to have the monthly plan and used it outside of Ottawa, but the coverage does not extend beyond Stittsville in the west, Manotick south of Ottawa, and not sure how far east..maybe Rockland, and the reception will be sporadic at best outside the general coverage "Home" area.

See coverage map...Wind does have partners so maybe along hwy 7 you will still get some coverage..maybe. Otherwise, it won't work, or you could get the more expensive "Away" phone charges (similar to roaming charges) if you happen to be out of Wind's Home coverage, and using Bell or Rogers cell towers. 
https://www.windmobile.ca/network-and-coverage/coverage


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

couchman said:


> Did some checking and there coverage map is just basically in major cities and 30 km out no coverage,


I still have a Wind mobile cell. use for emergency use. It will work sporadically outside their Home area coverage but because they have to use other Telco's facilities, it will indicate "Away" from it's Home coverage area, and as a result if you can get a strong enough signal to place a call or receive a call, and the call actually connects without dropouts, 
LD, and maybe even roaming charges may apply.


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

Make sure your phone has a good battery. 

Their towers are very sporadic so your phone transmitter will switch to a higher power mode and use _significantly_ more juice.


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

That's not true, I have one phone with Wind and one with Koodo and there is no noticeable difference in battery consumption.

Wind is great if you live inside their coverage zones. If you travel outside their zones you are roaming and paying (I think) 15 cents per minute for voice, and I forget how much for data. See where your house sits on their coverage maps, if it's within a Wind zone I definitely recommend going with Wind. I really like Wind, let's see you get unlimited talk, text, and data with Koodo/Fido/Virgin/Bell/Telus/Rogers for $40/month, it'll probably cost twice that.

Another great thing about Wind: It works automatically in the US (uses T-mobile's network), you don't have to buy any roaming addon or anything.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

My son had Wind in Calgary. He dumped them. Coverage was terrible-especially outside town. They gave him a garbage phone as well.

We are very happy with Koodo from a price/coverage perspective. It has been almost three years.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Earl said:


> That's not true, I have one phone with Wind and one with Koodo and there is no noticeable difference in battery consumption.
> 
> Wind is great if you live inside their coverage zones. If you travel outside their zones you are roaming and paying (I think) 15 cents per minute for voice, and I forget how much for data. See where your house sits on their coverage maps, if it's within a Wind zone I definitely recommend going with Wind. I really like Wind, let's see you get unlimited talk, text, and data with Koodo/Fido/Virgin/Bell/Telus/Rogers for $40/month, it'll probably cost twice that.
> 
> ...


Telus owns Koodoo and Rogers owns Fido, like most of the small cell phone companies, but not Wind, at least so far.

So it's a choice between the mexican wrestler and all those barking dogs. Rogers has been known to stick users with humongous roaming charges..not nice.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...22-000-data-roaming-shock-from-fido-1.1333067


I'm still with Wind. got one of those 'garbage phones" but it was not free..paid about $50 for it. It's very small and has that Chinese name (HuaWei).
Works ok so far after 6 or 7 years. Had to buy a new battery for it on Ebay last year.

I got Wind's Pay-as-you-go plan. You top up the service plan with at least $40,that will last about 5 months, so it works out to about $8 a month.
Topped up in November, now about to top up another$40 for another 5 months. it's a good deal if you only need your cell for an emergency call out phone, as my internet VOIP phone has been down in the past for as long as a day. 
Wouldn't be able to reach Teksavvy without it.

On my Wind mobile plan, I just deposit about $50 in my account for air time (20c per minute on outgoing calls), but my with my old plan, incoming calls are FREE.

I've thought about going to a smart phone Koodoo etc, but Wind for me is a pretty good deal so far.


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

geez 7 years with the same phone... I think the longest I kept one was 3 years. Currently using a Motorola Moto G. Got it from Koodo a few months ago when they were giving out 150k pc points plus a $50 referral credit if you sign up for a new plan and stay on it for 3 months, so it's effectively a free phone. Unlocked it and it works on Wind. This is the deal I'm talking about: http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/414208...ay-samsung-grand-prime-moto-g-3rd-gen-canada/

I guess if all you ever do is make calls you can use a 7 yr old phone but I have a few apps I like to use. I like a good quality camera too.

Not a fan of getting subsidized phones on a contract, I'm convinced those deals are for suckers. It's always better to buy your phone outright.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Earl said:


> I guess if all you ever do is make calls you can use a 7 yr old phone but I have a few apps I like to use. I like a good quality camera too.


My semi-smart phone turns 8 years old this year and shows no signs of dying, I plan to keep it another couple of years at least. Battery life is awesome, about a week. I can still get email on it; web browsing is a joke but otherwise it has everything I need.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Earl said:


> geez 7 years with the same phone... I
> I guess if all you ever do is make calls you can use a 7 yr old phone but I have a few apps I like to use. I like a good quality camera too.
> 
> Not a fan of getting subsidized phones on a contract, I'm convinced *those deals are for suckers*. It's always better to buy your phone outright.


It serves my purpose and is the essence of frugality. Yes, you can sign up for 'free iphones" with all the current providers of mobile service. but you get suckered into paying for a 2 year contract with a monthly use percentage of the cost of the phone on your tab.

And if you decided to surf and download stuff with these "free phones", you can exceed the monthly included data allowance, which has been cut down to almost nothing. 
Fido offers only 300mb for their basic plan for $55. You can use that up within a day!

However, as a promotion to keep you with them after the contract expires:


> We’ve added 1GB/mo. of extra data on your wireless ***-***-**** at no extra cost. Thank you for being our loyal customer. Enjoy this gift effective May 7,2015, valid only on your current plan until your next device upgrade for a maximum of 12 months. (non-transferrable)


If you sign up for a free phone, you pay $55 a month for 300mb of data included..that isn't going to go very far when you start surfing the internet and send pictures or download pictures/music. With these free deals, frugality is an oxymoron..the more data you use the more you pay.

For instance for the 2GB of data in your plan, you pay $85 a month! 
Add the taxes and other charges (if applicable) and you are suckered into paying Rogers nearly $100 a month for the convenience. If you go over your data limit, it's $5 per 100mb..that's about another $50 for 1GB....suckers!

http://www.fido.ca/web/Fido.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=MonthlyPlans&getAvailablePlans=true


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

Exactly, that's why I'm with Wind, they offer unlimited data. You never pay any data overage charges on Wind. Nobody but Wind even offers unlimited data as an option. Actually the speed is throttled down if you go over 2gb/month but it's still unlimited usage with no cap.

The only way you would ever pay for data on Wind is if you use data while roaming, but you can disable that in the phone's settings.

If any other provider offered unlimited talk, text, and data (even if it's throttled) for $40/month I would definitely consider them but as it stands now Wind is the only one with this offering. It's my understanding that similar plans are actually common in Europe and Asia, but we Canadians are always behind when it comes to technology unfortunately.

On my Koodo phone I used about 2 mb of data for the month and was charged an extra $7.50 for it because my plan did not come with a data package. Ridiculous!


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Earl said:


> On my Koodo phone I used about 2 mb of data for the month and was charged an extra $7.50 for it because my plan did not come with a data package. Ridiculous!


My friend got one of those KooDoo 'free iphones'..I think its a Samsung Galaxy Android "something or other". At first he was taking in calls and surfing a lot, not understanding the data charges. Finally he got big bill one month for excessive data usage and that put the binder on his surfing and such. 

He had to tell Koodoo to turn off the data at their end, so he would not be charged for excessive data usage. 

However, there are self help apps that warn you if you are over the 500mb per month..which today isn't that much and Koodoo offers a 1GB topup for $20 a month, I believe.
Now he uses free wi-fi (mine included) where ever he goes.


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## RentGera (Apr 28, 2016)

I've used Wind Mobile for about 3 years now. You should always have service for phone calls within the city, but the data sometimes goes very slow, even inside the city. Sometimes the data just doesn't work, even if the signal strength has all the bars. I stick with it though because it's unlimited and I don't like keeping track of data / minute usage.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

RentGera said:


> I've used Wind Mobile for about 3 years now. You should always have service for phone calls within the city, but the data sometimes goes very slow, even inside the city. Sometimes the data just doesn't work, even if the signal strength has all the bars. I stick with it though because it's unlimited and I don't like keeping track of data / minute usage.


I had their internet/data offering for a while while I was with them on a monthly basis.
I had to get one of their wi-fi USB stick antennas that came with its' own SIM chip and telephone number.

That plugged into any USB port on my computer or laptop. It seemed to work for a while, then I started to get dropouts and had to re-establish the internet connection each time, which was a PITA. 

Although there was no actual cap on data usage, after 10GB per month, they forced you into a data rate slowdown, where downloading or streaming would take forever, it was very slow (kb/sec). You could still send emails, but for anything else, it was unworkable, once you hit their monthly usage threshold.


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## RentGera (Apr 28, 2016)

carverman said:


> I had their internet/data offering for a while while I was with them on a monthly basis.
> I had to get one of their wi-fi USB stick antennas that came with its' own SIM chip and telephone number.
> 
> That plugged into any USB port on my computer or laptop. It seemed to work for a while, then I started to get dropouts and had to re-establish the internet connection each time, which was a PITA.
> ...


For most cell plans, you will get throttled after only 5GB. And depending by how much you go over, they can slow you down to 16 kilobits per sec, which is equivalent to 2KB/s. https://www.windmobile.ca/docs/default-source/default-document-library/data-fair-usage-policy
I never got to that point, but that would be painful!


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

RentGera said:


> For most cell plans, you will get throttled after only 5GB. And depending by how much you go over, they can slow you down to 16 kilobits per sec, which is equivalent to 2KB/s. https://www.windmobile.ca/docs/default-source/default-document-library/data-fair-usage-policy
> I never got to that point, but that would be painful!


they said they had to do the throttling to be fair to other users, which meant if you were acting like a 'download hog' tie-ing up their equipment (or whomever they were contacting out to).
You either had to go to a higher data rate plan or don't download as much.
Watching youtube was painful .. Netflix forgetabout it!


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## BC Eddie (Feb 2, 2014)

carverman said:


> Telus owns Koodoo and Rogers owns Fido, like most of the small cell phone companies, but not Wind, at least so far.
> /QUOTE]
> 
> Actually, since March of this year, Shaw Communications owns Wind


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## GreatLaker (Mar 23, 2014)

RentGera said:


> I've used Wind Mobile for about 3 years now. You should always have service for phone calls within the city, but the data sometimes goes very slow, even inside the city. Sometimes the data just doesn't work, even if the signal strength has all the bars. I stick with it though because it's unlimited and I don't like keeping track of data / minute usage.


Wind does not have an LTE network, so their data services are not as fast as RoBelus.

They have spectrum and late last year secured funding to deploy a VoLTE network (with Nokia), but have not announced any roll-out timeline, so their data network will remain slow for some time.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Wind's speed problems are not due to lack of LTE. Wind uses HSPA+, which supports speeds up to 42 MBps, which is faster than most consumer broadband connections. Their problems are more network capacity & tower coverage. Their spectrum is also poor at penetrating structures (lacking low frequency spectrum).


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

andrewf said:


> Wind's speed problems are not due to lack of LTE. Wind uses HSPA+, which supports speeds up to 42 MBps, which is faster than most consumer broadband connections. T*heir problems are more network capacity & tower coverage.* Their spectrum is also poor at penetrating structures (lacking low frequency spectrum).


I tend to agree. When I was Wind for data (the wi-fi USB stick antenna they give you for data use), it was good at first, then after a few months, there must have been some obstruction built around the closest tower area in my location , and the reliability was not there. 

I had drop outs frequently making it very frustrating to continue. They were not able to determine what the problem was to my satisfaction. 

They even sent me a replacement WIND data stick antenna for free with a different phone number SIM. 
I abandoned the data service with WIND. Now I have two WIND HSPA wi-fi sticks that are not much good to me.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Just an update to my post several months ago when I had just joined Wind. I have to say here that "WIND BLOWS". I had nothing but problems, which they could never resolve, and they would not return service calls that were supposed to be 'escalated' up the service chain for a higher level person to call me back. I just wouldn't hear back from them. The last straw was when I received SIX text messages from employees and suppliers that had been send almost a month ago- Wind had no explanation as to how that could be possible. Pretty lame. I had continual drops in coverage despite being in the middle of their supposed 'coverage' areas in Van, Port Moody, New West, etc, my phone calls would fail while dialling, on and on it went. They never did answer a single one of my many coverage and service problems- it was a bit of a nightmare and I'll NEVER go back to them.

I moved over to PC Mobile from Superstore- their plan is a flat $44/month (save $8 if BYOP) and you only pay for any data you use- seems more fair and so far the coverage and service has been great- it runs on the Telus network. The PC Mobile guy said they get lots of people moving to them from Wind.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

carverman said:


> I tend to agree. When I was Wind for data (the wi-fi USB stick antenna they give you for data use), it was good at first, then after a few months, there must have been some obstruction built around the closest tower area in my location , and the reliability was not there.
> 
> I had drop outs frequently making it very frustrating to continue. They were not able to determine what the problem was to my satisfaction.
> 
> ...


Stick 'em on Craigslist for a few bucks.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

indexxx said:


> Just an update to me post several months ago when I had just joined Wind. I have to say here that "WIND BLOWS". I had nothing but problems, which they could never resolve, and they would not return service calls that were supposed to be 'escalated' up the service chain for a higher level person to call me back. I just wouldn't hear back from them.
> 
> I moved over to PC Mobile from Superstore- their plan is a flat $44/month (save $8 if BYOP) and you only pay for any data you use- seems more fair and so far the coverage and service has been great- it runs on the Telus network. The PC Mobile guy said they get lots of people moving to them from Wind.


I only have an emergency cell phone with WIND now. They were never good at resolving problems. However, at $50 for 6 months of "pay as you go" service, which includes some air time, it's not a bad deal for me.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

My son had Wind mobile in Calgary. Terrible service, terrible reception. He ditched it.

We are on Koodo. Cheaper than Wind, great reception, good plan that includes all of Canada. No plans to switch. Dealt with Bell once, never again. 

Lots of options for everyone these days.


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

ian said:


> We are on Koodo. Cheaper than Wind


How so? Wind gives you unlimited calling/text and 5gb data for $35/month. According to Koodo's site, the cheapest 5gb plan I see is $90. Koodo definitely has better coverage and a faster network than Wind, but it's certainly not cheaper.


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## Woz (Sep 5, 2013)

Koodo has a $55 unlimited calling/text + 5GB Manitoba plan that you can get outside of Manitoba with a bit of finagling. $5 off for BYOD. Wind is still cheaper though. Especially on a legacy plan.

I find with Wind it depends what you expect. It definitely has worse reception, but if you don't use your phone heavily then it's not a big deal. I mainly use my phone for the occasional call, a fair number of texts, and internet. Outside reception is generally fine. When I'm in large concrete buildings reception's poor, but then I usually have wifi so I don't find it to be a big deal. For phone calls and texts when I'm roaming I just eat the roaming charges and don't worry about it. It's never more than ~$5-$10 in a month and still a lot cheaper than other providers. I don't use roaming data though. That would cost a lot more.


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## Earl (Apr 5, 2016)

The koodo sask/manitoba plan is intended for residents of sk/mb only, while it is possible to get this plan by lying abotu your location, I have read on howardforums that koodo has revoked this plan from some users. Also I don't want that plan on principle I shouldn't have to jump thru hoops to get a decent plan. I think it's BS that some provinces get better cell plans than others. I don't like what Rogers did with Chatr either, they made it available only where Wind is availeble, even though it uses the Rogers network so there is no reason (other than profit) that they couldn't make it available everywhere. We Canadians are really getting screwed over compared to most other countries. But you can't really blame Rogers/Bell/Telus, when there is no shortage of people willing to pay the ridiculous rates they demand, why should they lower prices? I am astounded that there are people out there willing to pay $100+ per month for their cell phone plans. Many of these people don't even make much money. I'm currently paying $30-something and would rather go without a phone if I was forced to pay much more.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Happy Koodo customer. More data I can use and unlimited text and calling and voicemail for $50 per month + taxes. I wouldn't pay $100 for my cell phone plan. That's nuts or stupid, or both.


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## Koogie (Dec 15, 2014)

My Own Advisor said:


> Happy Koodo customer. More data I can use and unlimited text and calling and voicemail for $50 per month + taxes. I wouldn't pay $100 for my cell phone plan. That's nuts or stupid, or both.


+1 Been with them for about 2 years now. For what I used to pay BHell every month I now have service for both myself and my wife. Plus we got her a Moto-G 2nd Gen on their cheap never, never plan and it is a great, great phone (every bit as good as the Nexus 5 i bought direct from Google)

Koodo service (being Telus) works everywhere we have tried it so far. Was even easy to use in the US with their add-ons. 

disclosure: she happily owns TSX: T and their 4.95% divvy more than pays for our Koodo service.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

My Koodo plan Is a few years old. $35. 600 minutes anywhere in Canada. Evenings after 5 and weekends free. Plus texts. We do not have internet for the phone but it does have wireless. Very good reception. 10 percent of the tarriff went towards paying for the phone. Very good reception.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Koogie said:


> disclosure: she happily owns TSX: T and their 4.95% divvy more than pays for our Koodo service.


Nothing wrong with telco stocks. I own a few and in a few years, RCI.B, T, SRJ.B and BCE dividends will pay for my telco bills (cable, internet cell phone and more) every month free and clear


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## familyman (Apr 6, 2015)

You guys all suck!! Before doing more research, I was with Fido and now with Rogers. I pay almost $90/month for myself and the same for my wife. $4320 in total on 2 year contract! I feel so jipped! It's unbelievalbe how much it adds up over a few years!

And now I stumbled on this forum and can't wait until my contract expires in 1.5 years. I'll probably try Wind or PC Mobile...


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

familyman said:


> You guys all suck!! Before doing more research, I was with Fido and now with Rogers. I pay almost $90/month for myself and the same for my wife. $4320 in total on 2 year contract! I feel so jipped! It's unbelievalbe how much it adds up over a few years!
> 
> And now I stumbled on this forum and can't wait until my contract expires in 1.5 years. I'll probably try Wind or PC Mobile...


STAY AWAY FROM WIND!!! This is my post on it a couple of months ago. 

"Just an update to my post several months ago when I had just joined Wind. I have to say here that "WIND BLOWS". I had nothing but problems, which they could never resolve, and they would not return service calls that were supposed to be 'escalated' up the service chain for a higher level person to call me back. I just wouldn't hear back from them. The last straw was when I received SIX text messages from employees and suppliers that had been send almost a month ago- Wind had no explanation as to how that could be possible. Pretty lame. I had continual drops in coverage despite being in the middle of their supposed 'coverage' areas in Van, Port Moody, New West, etc, my phone calls would fail while dialling, on and on it went. They never did answer a single one of my many coverage and service problems- it was a bit of a nightmare and I'll NEVER go back to them.

I moved over to PC Mobile from Superstore- their plan is a flat $44/month (save $8 if BYOP) and you only pay for any data you use- seems more fair and so far the coverage and service has been great- it runs on the Telus network. The PC Mobile guy said they get lots of people moving to them from Wind."

And I'll add a update to my switch to PC Mobile- it's been great. Good coverage, no drop outs or weird problems like Wind, very cheap. I'm a satisfied customer.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

familyman said:


> You guys all suck!! Before doing more research, I was with Fido and now with Rogers. I pay almost $90/month for myself and the same for my wife. $4320 in total on 2 year contract! I feel so jipped! It's unbelievalbe how much it adds up over a few years!
> 
> And now I stumbled on this forum and can't wait until my contract expires in 1.5 years. I'll probably try Wind or PC Mobile...


I've had Wind for years. Initiallly in the first couple of years, I tried them with a USB data stick antenna (using a different phone number from my cell phone number) for internet. Experienced dropouts on data, and after a while they capped my internet usage to 10gb per month (fair usage policy), , so I discontinued their internet service, which was a LOT cheaper than Rogers ( "Ripoff") and Bell. 

Tried a couple other internet service providers and they were just as bad with non support, leaving you high and dry when your internet was down , and it wasn't due to your computer or modem.

If you had problems with your internet, you would get a recording ("all of our support staff are busy") and although you could leave a message, in most cases you wouldn't get a call back until the following day or in the middle of the night when you were sleeping. "sorry I missed you"..etc.

I still got the Wind Mobile cell phone service (pay as you go), and for somebody who only needs it for emergency calls ( I just have a regular cell phone, not a smart phone), I find it very economical for me.
$50 applied to my Wind account gives me about 6 months of service at 20c a minute outgoing and incoming calls are still free for me (being on the old plan).


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## familyman (Apr 6, 2015)

The pay as you go for $100/year sounds tempting, very tempting. An almost $2000 savings for me and my wife per year! Although I don't know if I'm ready to give up my smart phone to be honest. I think the PC Mobile one sounds more appealing as I'd probably bring my own phone and get the $5/month discount and still be able to browse and not worry about it costing every time I make a call.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

familyman said:


> The pay as you go for $100/year sounds tempting, very tempting. An almost $2000 savings for me and my wife per year! Although I don't know if I'm ready to give up my smart phone to be honest. I think the PC Mobile one sounds more appealing as I'd probably bring my own phone and get the $5/month discount and still be able to browse and not worry about it costing every time I make a call.


It all depends on what kind of use you expect from your mobile and how you use it.

For me, it's only for emergency services or calls when I'm out of range of my VOIP internet Home phone, when on my scooter or power chair. I also need it to call my service provider when my internet/VOIP is down, where there is no other way of contacting them as backup. 
At least I can resolve my internet problems using my cell phone in those situations. 
I don't use my cell for data (surfing) or texting, I have a Apple iPad for that.

In my case, I just turn off my cell to save battery power, just in case I have to use it outside somewhere, or call 911 for lift assist, so the occasional call out is all I really need it for. I usually turn it on at that point. 

If my Wind 6 month credit runs out within those 5-6 months of activation, because of extra long duration calls of more than 5 minutes (O/G calls at 20c a minute), I can always top it up instantly from my credit card, so it isn't a problem so far for me. 
The only disadvantage for me is that if you don't use all your credit by the the date of expiry, the credits vaporise, then you have to top up again. Unused credits are not carried over.


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## twa2w (Mar 5, 2016)

carverman said:


> It all depends on what kind of use you expect from your mobile and how you use it.
> 
> For me, it's only for emergency services or calls when I'm out of range of my VOIP internet Home phone, when on my scooter or power chair. I also need it to call my service provider when my internet/VOIP is down, where there is no other way of contacting them as backup.
> At least I can resolve my internet problems using my cell phone in those situations.
> ...


Carverman, you may want to look at Speakout from 7/11 or petrocanada mobility.
Petro mobility credits carry over as long as you top up before they expire, and you can set up automatic top ups as well as automatic low balance top up if your balance falls below 2.50.
100.00 is good for 365 days. Uses Rogers network.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

twa2w said:


> Carverman, you may want to look at Speakout from 7/11 or petrocanada mobility.
> Petro mobility credits carry over as long as you top up before they expire, and you can set up automatic top ups as well as automatic low balance top up if your balance falls below 2.50.
> 100.00 is good for 365 days. Uses Rogers network.


Ok, I was wrong in my previous post. My Wind credits are carried over as long as I top up the next 6 months (about $50) BEFORE the expiry date. I checked with Wind this morning. 

I forgot to do on on the last top up before expiry date, and the phone service was deactivated until I topped up a couple days later. 
I'm going to affix a sticker with my expiry date on the back of the cell phone this time.
I do check my online Wind.ca account, but not on a periodic basis, only if I have a long duration O/G call to see my remaining balance. I guess I need to check it once a month from now on.:biggrin:


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

familyman said:


> The pay as you go for $100/year sounds tempting, very tempting. An almost $2000 savings for me and my wife per year! Although I don't know if I'm ready to give up my smart phone to be honest. I think the PC Mobile one sounds more appealing as I'd probably bring my own phone and get the $5/month discount and still be able to browse and not worry about it costing every time I make a call.


You wouldn't have to give up your smartphone, you'd just give up using it willy-nilly. On the $100/year you can buy $1/day/10MB boosters. And pay per call. If you were a low-usage type of person it would be well worth it. I used to use a similar $10/month plan but then I got a job where I ended up going over my $10 every month and it added up a bit. So I switched to Fido's $15/mo tablet plan and am using VOIP for calls.


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