# Mobile Phone plans in Canada



## -Beetle- (Jul 8, 2014)

Hi,

I've been in Canada for 4 years now as a student, and now permanently as a worker now that I graduated. Before I was on my parent's phone plan with Verizon and had a basic flip phone with international and unlimited text. Their contract is up soon and they'll be switching to another company so it's time for me to get my own phone plan up here. I've been looking at different companies like Koodo, Telus, Rogers, Mobilicity, ect but some charge for the phone in different ways which is a bit confusing.

What I'm looking for:

-Unlimited calls/texts/picture texts to USA as I get multiple texts each day from my best friend in the USA as well as calls at least once a week from my parents in the USA, as well as Canada-wide calling. 

-Mostly looking at Samsung Galaxy 3 or 4. Not sure on data plans...I've never owned a smartphone before (late to jump on that train) so I have no idea what I'd use. Probably not much. I'd rather not pay a boatload for a phone.

-Something around $50 or less each month for the plan. Even less would be great but I imagine with USA calls it'd be more.

Was wondering if someone was in a similar position and could recommend me a company and tell me what companies to stay away from.

Thanks!


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

Good luck with that...you're definitely _not_ going to find Unlimited anything to the USA for less than $50+HST... Canada and the United States are separate countries and as such you will be paying international rates for texts/data/calls etc. You might be able to find a package add on that offers some minutes/data etc to the US, but there again, it's definitely _not_ going to be unlimited and you will have to pay for the add on _in addition to_ your monthly cell plan.

In order not to pay an arm and a leg for a phone, you're going to be tied down to a 2-3 year contract that has a pretty hefty penalty to pay if you decide to break the contract before it's over. You should definitely read the fine print terms and conditions before committing yourself to a phone on a plan.

If you're going to get a smart phone, it's pretty much useless without a data plan (unless you want to hang out at McDonalds or Starbucks all day long to take advantage of their free wifi)... don't really know what the pricing on data plans are like these days except really expensive -- I've been living in the UK since Canadian Thanksgiving weekend '12 and my monthly plan is CAD $28.30/mo all in for unlimited data, 2000 mins within the UK and 5000 UK texts... I barely use any of my minutes and as my Husband and my Mother in Law have iPhones, I can text them for free and my parents (who live in Vancouver) and my Sister in Law (who lives in T.O.) have iPhones, so I can contact them for free via iMessage (Apple's proprietary text messaging program) or FaceTime (which is like Skype but for your iPhone).

Just had a thought... does your best friend and/or your parents have iPhones? If so, you should seriously consider getting one (if you get it from the Apple Store, it'll be unlocked and you can take it to any mobile phone company -- I'd avoid going to BestBuy/Futureshop to buy an iPhone... go directly to your nearest Apple Store)... the cost of iPhone to iPhone communication (other than voice calls) is free, regardless of what country you are in (thus the way I can text my Mom and Dad in Canada while I'm in London)... iMessage to iMessage runs off of your phone's 3G/4G wireless internet connection (or wifi connection, if you're in a wifi hotspot)... if you and your BFF both have iPhones and decent data plans, you could be chatting back and forth across the border all day and not have to pay long distance or roaming charges (you can also send/receive photos via iMessage and once you've connected your phone to a computer, iTunes will upload the photo(s) from the phone to the computer).

In regards to whom to go with, your big players are Bell, Virgin, Rogers, Fido, Telus and they should have competitive rates... Rogers owns Fido but operates it as a separate company. I'd say look at the plans carefully and compare what they offer to your list of your basic needs/wants (i.e. what "within Canada" services you want and what they provide) and then also check to see what their USA bound rates are and also if they have any sort of add-on. If you get an iPhone at an Apple store, they should have information on the plans that the different cell providers offer and can help you figure out what i s the best plan for your needs.

Good luck to you.


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## Jrge (Mar 22, 2011)

Hi,


-Beetle- said:


> Hi,
> 
> I've been in Canada for 4 years now as a student, and now permanently as a worker now that I graduated. Before I was on my parent's phone plan with Verizon and had a basic flip phone with international and unlimited text. Their contract is up soon and they'll be switching to another company so it's time for me to get my own phone plan up here. I've been looking at different companies like Koodo, Telus, Rogers, Mobilicity, ect but some charge for the phone in different ways which is a bit confusing.
> 
> ...


I'm afraid $50.00 is almost impossible to get. I mean, cellular access in Canada is one of the most expensive in the world.

My son is in a two year contract with Rogers. As far as I'm aware, he has unlimited Canada -wide, unlimited texts, unlimited others, unlimited USA calling and pays every month -GST included- $150.00

Animo
(Cheers)


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## -Beetle- (Jul 8, 2014)

Oooh yikes. 
My friend/roommate has Koodo and pays something like $28/mo but as far as I know doesn't have any USA add-ons. 

My parents and friend don't have iPhones. My friend has a Samsung Galaxy S4/5 and my parents haven't gotten their smartphones yet until later this month, so no idea what they'll get. 

Mobilicity has unlimited USA for $45/mo but the phone costs an arm and a leg. 
But yeah, most of these have USA as an add-on for something like $5-$10 extra a month which I can deal with. It all depends on how much the phone will cost me. I'll talk to my fellow American co-worker and see what she did.


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