Cell Phones

taffer · Post by **taffer** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:30 am

Hello,

I was wondering if you guys could give me some advise and share your insight into cell phones.

I am currently in the market for a phone, and I admit that I know very little about the various companies and their plans. I am interested in a provider with good coverage across Canada and the USA. It will be used primarily for work. Currently, I do most of my flying throughout southern ON and I may also be flying throughout the USA as well periodically (mainly the eastern/SE portions).

I have been looking into Rogers, Fido and Telus. It seems that Fido has good customer service, but their coverage is poor; however, I can gain access to Roger's network with Fido for an extra $5/month. Telus roams on Verizon while in the USA, so it seems their coverage down south will be excellent. Rogers seems to be good for Canada-wide usage as well.

What do you guys use and recommend?

Thanks,

taffer.

flyinhigh · Post by **flyinhigh** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:34 am

I'd say telus, phones are good and plans are good.
we use them for work, coverage is excellent until you get into an analog network than it is a hit and miss game on how good it is..

Switchfoot · Post by **Switchfoot** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:35 am

Let me begin by saying that cell phones are a nuisance. But they can also be a necessity. Having one on board has helped me out on more than one occassion.

As for who to go with....I'd recommend TELUS. They have the best coverage areas and customer service is good. Just watch the roaming fees south of the border ($0.95/minute) when I was across in March. ROGERS didn't have good service when I was with them and I don't know much about FIDO.

Be prepared to spend some money (unless the company is paying).

Switch.

bandaid · Post by **bandaid** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 8:37 am

Taffer,
We have 2 telus phones and have had no problems with them at all. We had a Rogers cell about 2 years ago and the phone and the coverage was aweful. Bell Canada sounds like they are having problems too with their billing so I think I would steer clear of them.

pitot · Post by **pitot** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:11 am

I'm not sure about the rogers coverage in Ontario, but i have had both Rogers, and Telus and if your looking for coverage i have never found either to be that good, but i live in sask. Everybody has crap service, with maybe the exception of Sask tel. If you are looking for dollar value, i found rogers to be the cheapest by far. Reason, is whenever you recieve calls in your home prov there is no long distance. Everyone else charges you when you recieve a call as long distance as soon as your out of your city or what is deemed to be your home area. My average bill used to be $40 with rogers, signed up with telus, now its from 100-200. But my wife is the cause of that, calls me often. So if you have a significant other who likes to call you and cost is a factor, Rogers is a good bet.

loopy · Post by **loopy** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:30 am

I have a fido with access to the rogers network which greatly increases access in Canada. It has decent coverage throughout eastern US and most metroplitan areas and the US rates are cheap compared to rogers and bell.

altiplano · Post by **altiplano** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:46 am

pitot - sounds like you would benefit from a "family plan" or something similar...

Anyway, I have been very happy with my telus service. The phone is good, the service has been excellent, and my plan is really cheap ($20).

Although it doesn't offer tons of included minutes (150/month, free eve/wknd) it gives me unlimited free calls to/from other the telus mobility phones. Since most of the guys I work with, my wife and most of my friends are on telus it's a great deal... I think the plan is called the telus to telus 20.

Brize · Post by **Brize** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 10:56 am

I have a Rogers Samsung x426. No complaints here from all parts of Ontario. Used it in Michigan also, worked great. Sometimes it's way cheaper to send a text message (10 cents) to another cell phone, or send a txt message to a reg phone (gets verbalized) for a quarter.

Isabella · Post by **Isabella** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:43 pm

Stay away from Rogers!!! The coverage is crappy and I'm constantly getting charged for roaming when I'm in my own city - my own house even

LH · Post by LH » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:30 am

taffer -----take special note of something NO MATTER who you sign-up with.......while in certain States you do not want to be using their "systems" to make your calls. You want to have a special 1-800 number that you call first that will "link" you in with your own signed-onto system.....AND THEN you make your call. Example: you may use your cell to your hearts content in Minnesota, but if you use THEIR sytem to make your long distance call the "Flat Rate" for just using it is $59.95 USD AND THEN your cost per minute on top of that. Some States charge a flat rate for using their systems and some don't, so inquire about that from your provider when you purchase your cell. My provider DIDN"T know all that until I was "burned" and they then provided me with a 1-800 number on a decal and I just put it right on my calling card for further use.

Also watch the number that is assigned to you. The reason I say that is because sometimes those numbers are also assigned to some home service land-line user. I ran into that years ago and I was getting long distance calls from all over Canada and the US. A $2000+ phone bill for one month got my attention REAL quick. My provider said that such a mix-up was impossible to happen, but when I threatened legal action, their investigation proved otherwise......and their reply was "well that was just an accident and we're sorry". Take care, good luck and ask lots of, what might appear to be stupid questions. I didn't and ran into a world of grief and aggrevation. Everything is "cool" now, but it was a real "rocky road" at the beginning.