Rogers Value Brand "Fido" Plans

[Canada EH]

Foreign accented Fido customer service is currently closed.

Gotta start saving big time, tax season and all

 

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Main Question

          What does it mean on the $15.75 pay as you go plan - Do I get $15/$0.30 = 50 minutes of local airtime then anything above and beyond that is $0.30/min additional money deposits into account? *Or do I pay $15.75/month for the privilege to have $0.30/minute - But I need to add additonal monies into my account to even get airtime minutes. The lowest tier plan states 50 min included but higher per minute rate above and beyond 50 min usage.

 

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Second Question

          I cant tell if the $10.75 plan is 50 incoming and outgoing texts or is it just outgoing?

Sometimes I get lots of short incoming text then I do one very long outgoing text.

Oh I see the printing

Quote

to Canadian, U.S. or international
wireless numbers

 

so incoming texts are free, good good. I may go for that plan for $10.75 and get free 50 minutes, then add an add-on for data of $10 for 100MB then download whatever I need on Shaw WiFi or Home WiFi.

 

 

 

 

 

Side notes:

$50 is their minimum non PPU but I never use 1GB let alone 3GB or 4GB

 

 

and their talk and text plan with a data add-on is not much better in pricing.

Addon is $10 for 200MB for the month

so $35 +$10 = $45 for 200MB, 500 min, unl text

Might as well buy the $50 4GB all in plan which repulses my wallet.

I am thinking either 15.75/m prepaid plan with unl text

 

 

 

https://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/Fido/PrepaidPlans/Plans

 

 

 

 

 

[dizmo]

Do you have to go with Fido?

There are far, far better options out there.

[dizmo]

@Canada EH Why aren't you following your own posts

[Canada EH]

4 hours ago, dizmo said:

@Canada EH Why aren't you following your own posts

Just at the strip club tonight.

 

With Fido but the phone is unlocked now. What other plans are good. Lucky mobile is new in town, Bell brand.

 

 

All I require is 200MB to 300MB max, 100 minutes of calls and 1000 texts.

 

I brought my own phone, and paid the first bill plus $25 fee.

 

I will surf the companies again and see.

 

PC Mobile, SpeakOut, Petro Canada, Shaws Freedom,

Rogers, Fido, Chatr

Bell, Virgin, Lucky

Telus, Koodoo, Public

 

 

[dizmo]

6 hours ago, Canada EH said:

Just at the strip club tonight.

 

With Fido but the phone is unlocked now. What other plans are good. Lucky mobile is new in town, Bell brand.

 

 

All I require is 200MB to 300MB max, 100 minutes of calls and 1000 texts.

 

I brought my own phone, and paid the first bill plus $25 fee.

 

I will surf the companies again and see.

 

PC Mobile, SpeakOut, Petro Canada, Shaws Freedom,

Rogers, Fido, Chatr

Bell, Virgin, Lucky

Telus, Koodoo, Public

Sign up for Koodo prepaid. Runs off the Telus system so you have coverage pretty much everywhere. 

 

$15/mo for unlimited texting

$25 for 500 minutes. 

$30 for 1GB

 

The data and and minute boosters roll over, so net cost is quite low. Works out to $0.05/minute. 

[Egg-Roll]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

Sign up for Koodo prepaid. Runs off the Telus system so you have coverage pretty much everywhere. 

 

$15/mo for unlimited texting

$25 for 500 minutes. 

$30 for 1GB

 

The data and and minute boosters roll over, so net cost is quite low. Works out to $0.05/minute. 

Personally I just left Freedom to go to Public. IMO it's the best prepaid on the telus network. I'm assuming the $30 is rollover data, which depending on how much they use could become more expensive.

 

9 hours ago, Canada EH said:

I will surf the companies again and see.

 

PC Mobile, SpeakOut, Petro Canada, Shaws Freedom,

Rogers, Fido, Chatr

Bell, Virgin, Lucky

Telus, Koodoo, Public

Avoid freedom, Shaw is being a bumbling idiot when it comes to maintaining the network. In the last 8 months I went from having good data and ok reliable talk service to the network refusing a call out and more dropped data signals than I could tolerate

... Maybe in 10 years they'll have a network the big 3 would be worried about.

 

PC and Fido look like the old school Virgin Mobile Plans.

 

But what are your talk requirements? Because back before data/text was a thing/popular those pay as you go minute/text plans where decent, however you have to be careful to not over use the minutes else upgrading the plan would become cheaper. 

For example from Fido if you talk longer than 47 minutes a month the $15.75 plan it would be more expensive than the $30 plan which gives you unlimited 5PM-7AM talk with 250 minutes. If you're going to pay $30 a month you might as well go with one that has a data connection which hilariously (as in stupid) Rogers has not done with their brands.

 

I actually tried to explain the whole don't overdo your minutes to someone back then and they didn't get it, and to further things they where confused when my monthly costs where less with more minutes

 

15 hours ago, Canada EH said:

          What does it mean on the $15.75 pay as you go plan - Do I get $15/$0.30 = 50 minutes of local airtime then anything above and beyond that is $0.30/min additional money deposits into account? *Or do I pay $15.75/month for the privilege to have $0.30/minute - But I need to add additonal monies into my account to even get airtime minutes. The lowest tier plan states 50 min included but higher per minute rate above and beyond 50 min usage.

I'm surprised no one has answered this. This is a C&P plan back from when Virgin was new, it basically means you pay them $15.75 to be on the network and you pay $.30 per minute. Tho they do have me puzzled at the increase in per minute for the $25 one as in the old days the price would either stay or drop.

[Canada EH]

3 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

Avoid freedom, Shaw

I avoid all the virtual companies, and if shaw is building their own towers then its not worth it.

 

I like Public Mobile, Telus' value brand. $30 is good deal. See if I can get out of Fido ASAP, because $50 is bad news, Virgin I was paying $40, but 30 is bestest.

[Canada EH]

6 hours ago, dizmo said:

Sign up for Koodo prepaid. Runs off the Telus system so you have coverage pretty much everywhere. 

 

$15/mo for unlimited texting

$25 for 500 minutes. 

$30 for 1GB

 

The data and and minute boosters roll over, so net cost is quite low. Works out to $0.05/minute. 

Koodo looks good $25 for 250GB, unl text, local calls free.

[dizmo]

3 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

Personally I just left Freedom to go to Public. IMO it's the best prepaid on the telus network. I'm assuming the $30 is rollover data, which depending on how much they use could become more expensive..

How do you figure roll over data would be more expensive?

I was basing this on the usage he gave.

6 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

Koodo looks good $25 for 250GB, unl text, local calls free.

The prepaid plan works out to around $16 or $17 a month with the specifics you gave.

[Canada EH]

14 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The prepaid plan works out to around $16 or $17 a month with the specifics you gave.

Quote

Sign up for Koodo prepaid. Runs off the Telus system so you have coverage pretty much everywhere. 

 

$15/mo for unlimited texting

$25 for 500 minutes. 

$30 for 1GB

 

The data and and minute boosters roll over, so net cost is quite low. Works out to $0.05/minute. 

 

I am on the prepaid for Koodo (see address link) website

I see there is a save 10% with autopay, good good.

 

Ah I see what you are saying, ROLLOVER DATA, so get $15/m plan, buy a 1GB for $30/12= $2.50 added on. Then when I travel I can just buy the ADD-ON for Canada-Wide.

 

I am on Month-to-Month with Fido, so I can cancel anytime. @dizmo thanks for letting me know about Koodo, I will save lots of money now!

Quote

Service Term, Changes and Cancellation

1. What are the categories of Services covered by my Agreement?

   The Services are categorized as follows:

   1. “Term Services” are Services that you subscribe to for a committed period of time as indicated on your applicable service agreement (“Term”);
   2. “Month-to-Month Services” are Services that you subscribe to on an ongoing basis, but not with a Term; and

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dizmo]

8 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

 

I am on the prepaid for Koodo (see address link) website

I see there is a save 10% with autopay, good good.

 

Ah I see what you are saying, ROLLOVER DATA, so get $15/m plan, buy a 1GB for $30/12= $2.50 added on. Then when I travel I can just buy the ADD-ON for Canada-Wide.

Yeah, so you pay $15 a month, then add on the other features.

So, at the start you'd pay $25 for 500 minutes and $30 for 1GB of data. Then you just use it until you run out. They last as long as you're paying the $15 a month. It's pretty good, I use it for my second line. If you don't use much of either, it's the best way to go IMO. With your usage you'd probably have to buy data a few times a year, and minutes maybe about the same.

 

The data is Canada wide. You only have to buy different data if you go down to the US, though wifi is everywhere down there and if you need GPS just download Here maps.

[Canada EH]

The calling is free in-province, I assumed it was only in the "Zone" which is "home" city. But I read the FAQ now I am up to date.

 

I can control my usage, I am not using much data these days. Sometimes it would be 1.5GB, or 800MB, but I studied my usage over the months, it averages around 200-300MB per month, and that was using the cell more then I really needed to. I like internet radio, but not the much. Youtube is good for tunes, but they just eat up the data. I can change my usage pattern easy enough. This month I hardly used data.

 

That $30 for 1GB works out to 83MB per month and $2.50/m.

[Egg-Roll]

2 hours ago, dizmo said:

How do you figure roll over data would be more expensive?

I was basing this on the usage he gave.

At $30 per GB assuming 300mb that's $9 per month additional or $6 per month. The problem with Koodo is when you're on their site I saw nothing about the minutes given for the cheaper plans.

Also the $15 plan is pure garbage:

"The $15 base plan requires a Talk Booster add-on and sufficient anytime minutes in your account to use voice features."

This means in order to meet their requirements they would have to spend (at least) $10 in boosters for minutes, and if they go over they'd spend even more, sure they roll over but that's only good if they can keep calls short and sweet.

The $25 plan while Koodo refuses to disclose the minute count, other sites state 100 minutes.

 

So while the logic is it could/should be cheaper, the reality is risky, and all that for $5 in savings in the first month? (actually a $25 loss due to data buying)

Also Public Mobile also offers a $25 plan and also has a $30 w/rollover, but with unlimited province and text, leaving only costly variable being data.

 

Side note Telus offers a prepaid plan that gives 150 minutes unlimited text and 250mb of data for $30/m (should be noted PM offers unlimited text/talk with 1GB for $5 more)

https://www.telus.com/en/on/mobility/prepaid/plans/

 

Edit:

2 sites actually claims no minutes for Koodo's $25 plan so it is possible the one site I saw was adding the one time bonus.

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

At $30 per GB assuming 300mb that's $9 per month additional or $6 per month. The problem with Koodo is when you're on their site I saw nothing about the minutes given for the cheaper plans.

Also the $15 plan is pure garbage:

"The $15 base plan requires a Talk Booster add-on and sufficient anytime minutes in your account to use voice features."

This means in order to meet their requirements they would have to spend (at least) $10 in boosters for minutes, and if they go over they'd spend even more, sure they roll over but that's only good if they can keep calls short and sweet.

The $25 plan while Koodo refuses to disclose the minute count, other sites state 100 minutes.

 

So while the logic is it could/should be cheaper, the reality is risky, and all that for $5 in savings in the first month? (actually a $25 loss due to data buying)

Also Public Mobile also offers a $25 plan and also has a $30 w/rollover, but with unlimited province and text, leaving only costly variable being data.

 

Side note Telus offers a prepaid plan that gives 150 minutes unlimited text and 250mb of data for $30/m (should be noted PM offers unlimited text/talk with 1GB for $5 more)

https://www.telus.com/en/on/mobility/prepaid/plans/

It's not bad if you don't use that many minutes. He stated he only needs around 100 minutes a month; the booster would last him 5 months. If he talks less, then naturally it'll last even longer.

For data, it's ideal because if you don't use as much as you think you might, it lasts longer. It's more flexible.

 

When you sign up for the prepaid plan you get a $20ish voucher.

 

Provincial only calling is a joke. Being unable to make long distance calls should you need is unacceptable. Public Mobile also has by far the worst customer service model. Need help? Have to make a post, wait for someone to reply, and then go back and forth.

 

Yeah, $30 a month. Which is more expensive than the Koodo plan works out to be, especially if his data usage is to the lower end of his range.

 

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

It's not bad if you don't use that many minutes. He stated he only needs around 100 minutes a month; the booster would last him 5 months. If he talks less, then naturally it'll last even longer.

For data, it's ideal because if you don't use as much as you think you might, it lasts longer. It's more flexible.

 

When you sign up for the prepaid plan you get a $20ish voucher.

 

Provincial only calling is a joke. Being unable to make long distance calls should you need is unacceptable. Public Mobile also has by far the worst customer service model. Need help? Have to make a post, wait for someone to reply, and then go back and forth.

 

Yeah, $30 a month. Which is more expensive than the Koodo plan works out to be, especially if his data usage is to the lower end of his range.

 

What he should do is actually go threw his online account and look at his minutes/data, look at what months are high which ones are low or based on what they have done in the past. If they are going into a high talking time it might not be a bad idea to go into a plan with high or unlimited talking even if it is for a few months.

 

Yea PM CS is a joke but that is assuming you need it(most don't, support is usually a security blanket/placebo thing anyways). With my past experience even the tele service is a joke (freedom after closing the Egypt location), IMO publicly asking and not getting answers/solutions does more harm to a company than publicly denying bad phone help or apologizing and offering 1 month free bs...

 

For me I chose PM because they offer what I wanted/needed for a good price. I do agree province only is BS but 10 years ago for province wide prices you only had local calling and not unlimited either.

 

So if they believe they can truly cut back or only use x minutes per month along with data then yes Koodo is a great choice, but if they find out they are exceeding the $25 limit for talk/text at least they have choices.

 

Reality is tho $15+5+2.5 is still $22.5/m if they do 50 minutes it drops to $20/m, which is a whole lot of limiting for a main line (I guess) to save $120+taxes a year... Or 60 if they are a big talker and less so data reliant which might be the case. Depending on the kind of person Canada Eh is the continuous monitoring that will be required might cause additional stress, I'm not saying don't try it tho. To me the amount saved for the save money approach it doesn't make sense, it's not like years ago where Canada Wide calling was almost unheard of. (PM offers a $8 US/CA 200 min long distance rollover addon)

 

@Canada EH How much long distance do you typically do? calling USA takes 2x the minutes with Koodo, and there is no US LD minute plans unless you go to the US.

[Canada EH]

@Egg-Roll

I dont do much, its random, depends on if or when I travel, but over-all I dont do much minutes, I would say like not even 50 minutes. Mostly text messaging and a bit of data. I have looked at my usage pattern and again it depends. Some months I was a gig, listening to Youtube and trying to be a data king, other months I could care less. Because what I see everyday are people staring down at their phones while walking, or driving, or sitting on transit. They are "connected" zombies!

 

I did a few test runs with an app on my phone to track cell phone data, and I like what I see. Quick search on the internet, a quick google maps, a few others and its very minimal. Plus I can use Shaws city-wide WiFi to save data. I have seen the webpage with the zones and its doable.

 

@dizmo found a good plan for me on Koodo, I will save a hunny or two a year which can towards other things. I doubt there is another plan comparable that includes a little bit of data.

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

What you could do is actually grab the music/video for offline use on your phone the night before (if doable) to save data.

I also use this app to display and track my data, not the most detailed thing going but it has a notification thats on 24/7 in the dropdown and it can tell you the % used of your monthly goal (in this case). If you find you're using more data you can always go into the data section for individual apps on the phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.internet.speed.meter.lite&hl=en_CA (it's also ad free)

 

The plan is good but the hassle imo isn't worth the savings, but that's just me. (base cost for the $15 plan is $180/yr, plus data and talk which gives another 180/yr for both before it's more expensive than $30/m)

 

1 hour ago, Canada EH said:

Some months I was a gig, listening to Youtube and trying to be a data king, other months I could care less. Because what I see everyday are people staring down at their phones while walking, or driving, or sitting on transit.

I used to be a data king (consuming up to 5GB+), not so much now, but still plan on keeping my data amount. Tho I will admit I do stare at my phone a whole lot while walking or on transit, doesn't mean I'm like everyone else who knows nothing about what's around them however.

[dizmo]

3 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

What he should do is actually go threw his online account and look at his minutes/data, look at what months are high which ones are low or based on what they have done in the past. If they are going into a high talking time it might not be a bad idea to go into a plan with high or unlimited talking even if it is for a few months.

 

Yea PM CS is a joke but that is assuming you need it(most don't, support is usually a security blanket/placebo thing anyways). With my past experience even the tele service is a joke (freedom after closing the Egypt location), IMO publicly asking and not getting answers/solutions does more harm to a company than publicly denying bad phone help or apologizing and offering 1 month free bs...

 

For me I chose PM because they offer what I wanted/needed for a good price. I do agree province only is BS but 10 years ago for province wide prices you only had local calling and not unlimited either.

 

So if they believe they can truly cut back or only use x minutes per month along with data then yes Koodo is a great choice, but if they find out they are exceeding the $25 limit for talk/text at least they have choices.

 

Reality is tho $15+5+2.5 is still $22.5/m if they do 50 minutes it drops to $20/m, which is a whole lot of limiting for a main line (I guess) to save $120+taxes a year... Or 60 if they are a big talker and less so data reliant which might be the case. Depending on the kind of person Canada Eh is the continuous monitoring that will be required might cause additional stress, I'm not saying don't try it tho. To me the amount saved for the save money approach it doesn't make sense, it's not like years ago where Canada Wide calling was almost unheard of. (PM offers a $8 US/CA 200 min long distance rollover addon)

 

@Canada EH How much long distance do you typically do? calling USA takes 2x the minutes with Koodo, and there is no US LD minute plans unless you go to the US.

Haha, most people are usually pretty steady when it comes to usage. Aside from say data, which can fluctuate depending on what you're doing.

 

The problem is when you need it, the help isn't there immediately. No one really expects to need CS, and theirs is abysmal. I've had numerous issues with their payment system, and it always takes them a couple of days to sort it out. Granted I've complained about it so much that it seems they've since fixed the issues I continuously have, but still. The fact you can earn money back by helping people on the forums is a neat idea, but it simply doesn't replace a phone in line. I've had excellent service from Koodo the few times I've had to call them.

 

True, but with those plans you could at least call; you'd just get charged more. With Public Mobile you don't even have the option, which IMO is absolutely ridiculous. They're currently one of the best options for a cheap plan though, provided you can shell out the money in advance.

 

I was just going by what he said, and if he's anything like me then I could easily make the Koodo plan work.

Though, as soon as I got a GF I had to find a plan with unlimited minutes.

 

1 hour ago, Canada EH said:

Because what I see everyday are people staring down at their phones while walking, or driving, or sitting on transit. They are "connected" zombies!

Haha, I'm one of those people! Generally because transit is a great way to get stuff done when you can't really do much else (I'm not there to socialize, so I couldn't give a fuck less about conversing with those around me) and I have to bid on auctions throughout the day. As well as keep in touch, reply to emails and PM's, etc etc.

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

The problem is when you need it, the help isn't there immediately. No one really expects to need CS, and theirs is abysmal. I've had numerous issues with their payment system, and it always takes them a couple of days to sort it out. Granted I've complained about it so much that it seems they've since fixed the issues I continuously have, but still. The fact you can earn money back by helping people on the forums is a neat idea, but it simply doesn't replace a phone in line. I've had excellent service from Koodo the few times I've had to call them.

 

True, but with those plans you could at least call; you'd just get charged more. With Public Mobile you don't even have the option, which IMO is absolutely ridiculous. They're currently one of the best options for a cheap plan though, provided you can shell out the money in advance.

Trust me I'll take forum help over the CS Freedom has... (back a few months ago they auto opped me into something when I bought the Stylo 3 and changed plans, didn't have enough funds and the account got deactivated) "tell me your PIN" "I'm in a public place" "I don't care" (they didn't say that but the 30 minutes+ of 99% BS they might as well have)  Or better yet this:

Quote

 

Thank you for reaching out to us!

 

We apologize for the delay in responding to your email. Regretfully, we are not able to fulfil this kind of request through our platform. For unlock requests, you will need to either call our Customer Care Team or it can be done via your My Account (if your services are still active). Just dial 611 of your Freedom Mobile device or call toll free at 1-877-946-3184 to call in or log into your My Account here: LINK THAT WAS USELESS AND DOESN'T WORK! (will require your phone number and 4-digit security PIN to log on).

 

Thank you for choosing Freedom Mobile

The link was https://thepipe.sjrb.ca/ + junk...

 

My initial Email:

Quote

 

I'm unable to unlock my Stylo 3 Plus which I bought from you last year. It keeps giving me a invalid IMEI error yet everywhere else including your compatibility checker recognizes the IMEI.

 

*Provided IMEI #*

 

 

End of the day I unlocked it via a website RFD users had great recommendations for, tho it took nearly 30 hours for them to give me the code... I simply refuse to go to any booth because I couldn't make a call out, or at least w/o a risk of dropping the call. An additional cost of 3.99USD to escape to true freedom (plus the $10 SIM card), money well spent.

 

I used my bank card (debit mastercard) for payment so hopefully it works flawlessly for as long as needed. Sadly I would have gone to Koodo or Telus prepaid but neither offer USA/Canada wide calling for prepaid for what I want/might need. I could technically buy the $25 canada wide and $20+$20 USA options and save some money with their $35 plan on Koodo but those data charges are killer... And if I turn into a heavy user again, tho I still have a 3g stick from Freedom that I could reactivate for data only...

 

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

I was just going by what he said, and if he's anything like me then I could easily make the Koodo plan work.

Though, as soon as I got a GF I had to find a plan with unlimited minutes.

Well it's always worth a shot, back in VM days I had a $10/15 plan that gave me something like $0.15/0.25/m (I forget which), no data (didn't really exist, or was really expensive). I made it work the months I thought I didn't need it I made sure not enough money was in the account (but always enough for a text msg), but those were the days the big boys had 0 monthly fees and true pay as you go...

 

 Unlimited still has a limit... I think something stupid like 5000 minutes or something (typical for many providers esp voip).

For me personally if that ever happened, I'd say, my unlimited minutes have exceeded their limits after 3 hours of talk time  Because, talking, send TXT... No like? Goodbye