Which phone company to choose in Canada?

This is a spoiler, choose FIDO! Leave a comment if you agree with me. There is an update at the end of the page. If you live in Canada, help me to answer this question:

My favorite phone company so far.

A lot of students are coming to Canada this end of August for the new academic year. You might wanna know which phone company I poured my money into. Seriously there are a few main players here, Rogers, Fido, Bell and Telus. I might’ve missed the others but most probably would go for either Rogers or Fido, and surprisingly Fido was bought by Rogers in 2004. Enough for the history.

Phone plans.

Postpaid phones in Canada is different from Malaysia. There are few plans that you can choose from. But I’ll give you the definition first.

Definition:

Monthly fees: The basic charge that you’ll have to pay. If you go over limit, then you’ll be charged. You will also be charged for tax ( 13% in Ontario)

Minutes: Everytime you call , you will use the ‘minutes’.

Evenings and weekends: If it says unlimited, then you call until your ear feels hot. Your ‘minutes’ wont be used at this time. Since most plans give unlimited evenings and weekends, the 100 or 350minutes is already enough for you.

Outgoing text: From Canada to a Canadian wireless number. If you roam, that would be different.

Outgoing international text: From Canada to U.S or international Wireless number. Again if you roam, that would be different.

Incoming text: Just like in Malaysia, text you received wont be charged.

Incoming call: It does not work like in Malaysia. You get charged for the incoming calls.

System Access Fee: Fido dont charge a for system access like Rogers which is about CAD6.95 last I checked.

Caller ID: You have to subscribe this for CAD7 to see who’s calling you.

Go to fido website and you’ll see different kind of plans. The plan I’m using right now is 35CAD plan. 350 minutes that I get is more than enough for a STUDENT like me. The most important thing is that you’ll get unlimited international text messages. So you text your home country anytime. If you dont think you’ll be texting much, then the 25CAD plan would suit you better. 100 minutes also is more than enough, I had previously used 25CAD plan but then I switched the plan.

Why is 100minutes enough for a student? During the day, you would be in class, and at night and weekend, you can call without limit. Even when the minutes are used when someone call me during the day, it is still enough for me. I had never get any overuse charge.

The total of my monthly bill does not exceed CAD50. Let’s do some math:

Basic charge: CAD35
Caller ID: CAD6 ( It’s CAD6 at the time when I subscribed, so the rate does not increase for me)
Tax: 0.13XCAD41=CAD5.33
TOTAL=CAD46.33

Contract

This is the most important part. You might be tempted to get the Iphone 4 or 3GS. I bought mine without the contract for CAD600 plus. When you get the Iphone for a discounted price, you have to remember that you’ll be tied to a 3 years contract and you have to take data-plan. The monthly charge then would be ridiculous. If you still want to get it, then it is up to you. According to the term by Fido,

“If your service is terminated prior to the end of the Fido Agreement, you’ll be charged an Early Cancellation Fee (ECF). The ECF is the greater of (i) $100 or (ii) $10 per month remaining in the Fido Agreement, to a maximum of $300 (plus applicable taxes), and applies for each deactivated phone number.”

Which means you will have to pay between CAD100 to CAD300 plus tax.

Get Free Credit

Please note that this is only for Fido. Once you get here in Canada, do the followings to get free credits:

1. Last time I saw an ads that if you activate your phone online, you will get CAD25 bonus credit into your account. So you are paying CAD25 less. If you purchase the phone at Fido store, then you can just activate it straight away.

2. Get a referral code. You will get another CAD25 if you get a referral code from your anyone. I can give you the referral code but I have a limit of monthly referral. You can just email using the contact form your first name, last name and email so I can send you the referral code. If you know me personally, that would be easier, tell me the same thing and I will let you know the referral code. I cant guarantee that I can give everyone the referral code but I will try.

Go to the store and give the promoter the seller code that I sent you to get free 25CAD credit. That is about RM75, aint that a lot?

What You need to register a phone in Canada?

I dont quite remember, but I think you will need these:

1. Your passport
2. Bank statement ( you will need to open a bank account first)

To get a bank account, you will need an address here in Canada. If you dont have an address, get your friend to write a simple letter ( can be hand-written), saying that you are staying with him/her. Then photocopy the lease.

If you want to ask anything, dont ask me on facebook, because sometimes I dont get the notifications. Use the contact form or drop a line of comment here. I am still on the draft on my post entitled “Step by Step to Canada”.

UPDATE

My friend remind me of incoming call, it does not work like in Malaysia. You ‘minutes’ will be used for every incoming call. But trust me, so far I’ve never run out of my 350minutes.

Also, this plan is suitable for me as I am a student, if you are worker than I do think that data plan and voice mail are both needed.