The Bell saga
It's over, my flirtation with a Smartphone. Yep I sent it back and cancelled my account. This was done because it is impossible to get a plan that allows the Smartphone to operate properly for less than $70.00 a month. That's a whack of dough just to look at email on a phone. How Bell can sell a phone that is web dependent without a data plan being mandatory is beyond me but they do. So not willing to pony up that kind of money I called it quits. But this phone hell never seems to quit, this morning I have to phone Honeywell about a programmable thermostat that has never worked properly from the day it was purchased.
10 comments:
Virgin has a reasonable smartphone plan for $50/month, that can be used with a $99 iPhone, but with a 36 month term of course.
Fido seems to be one of the cheapest, you can take a $15 voice plan (hope you don't want to talk much) and add $25 for data, but they probably charge a couple hundred $$$ extra for the phone if you do that.
Oh and Telus starts at $50 as well.
But the telus 2 year plan price for the phone is at least $249 for the cheaper models. They get you coming and going so much for competition!!
Yes that's the way it works, you get a bigger discount on a phone the longer you are willing to commit. Some carriers (Virgin and WIND) are starting to offer smartphones with no contract but for full price - $599 and up is the norm. The phones are also locked to the carrier you bought it from so even if you cancel you can't take the phone elsewhere.
In our quest, as consumers, of ever lower pricing, suppliers whittle away costs wherever they can to remain competitive in the global marketplace, and that usually involves the reductions in the labour components (jobs). It seems, today, personal service is considered more of a frill than a key ingredient, and the most likely place for cost reduction efforts to be directed.
A step in the right direction would be an option 'offering' on each and every service plan, for anything likely to require assistance at some point in the future, of real time, real person (understandable), voice support for the service in distress. Even with a charge for such an option, I can see where many would welcome such a chance for assistance and relief.
Fido looks good but the selection of phones is small and most don't browse they just have a dedicated facebook app. But promising all I want is a phone with an advanced calendar, and web browsing plus GPS all for $50 per month. Obviously the Holy Grail
There is a US carrier called Jitterbug that features US-based operators who will "call you by name", add numbers to your address book for you, etc. It's marketed toward seniors but why wouldn't people of all ages appreciate service like that.
Ben - most carriers have an "unlimited mobile browsing" option for non-smartphones...I think it can be as little as $10/month add-on. Some of the cheapest phones can run half-decent web browsers (Opera) and email applications. A lot even have GPS and can run the Google Maps application, though I've heard that some carriers disable the GPS on your phone except during 911 calls. (They want to sell you their own Maps service)
I guess it's a trip to the big malls where I will talk to all of the many cellphone kiosks to determine which ones will work for me. Thanks Chris
I have been with Virgin for 2 years now and have never had a problem. I have never had trouble reaching a person to talk to, even over Christmas when we activated my son's new phone. They seem to be adding new phones every week and they do have and I-phone 8g for $99 with a 3 year commitment. The cheapest data plan, as Chris L said is $50/month. The only thing is that Virgin is now owned by Bell and if you did not want to deal with them you probably should not deal with Virgin, but I have had only good experiences with them.
Now that this little saga has mercifully ended, for Ben and for us, can we talk about something else?
How about the news that the County is charging the County paramedics double rent for their new digs at the old Kraft research building?
This according to a story in Northumberland Today.
Are they not both landlord and tenant here? Whazzup Ben?
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