You update your parents about your safe landing, check GPS for directions to your accommodation, and you want to tag your location on social media
You update your parents about your safe landing, check GPS for directions to your accommodation, and you want to tag your location on social media along with a selfie, you need a mobile network connection! In this article, we are going to cover some fundamental ideas which will help you in decision-making about which mobile plan and cell phone provider you can choose from.
Major shareholders in the Canadian mobile network industry are TELUS, Bell, and Rogers, thus dominating the market for years. There are some other phone plan providers Fido, Bell, Koodo, Virgin, and Freedom. You will be surprised to know that Virgin is owned by Bell, Fido by Rogers, and Koodo by TELUS where these companies utilize the networks of their parent companies. Freedom is another choice for many because of its relatively reasonable prices but it is in the developing stage, no doubt its hold is strong in urban cities of British Columbia, Ontario & Alberta but as you travel to rural and outskirts areas of a city, there is an interruption in the networks.
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Cheapest Mobile Network Options
Chatr, Lucky & Public mobile offer competitive pricing with no credit checks, no contracts and these are also owned by Rogers, Bell, and TELUS respectively. We would recommend you check the mobile coverage maps of these companies before finalizing one. If you are planning to get a brand-new phone along with a mobile network connection, then note that being entry-level mobile carrier companies, these companies don’t carry high-end latest smartphones. There is always an option to buy the phone separately from Best Buy, Mobile Shop, Walmart, Source etc. and then combining with the sim cards from the carrier options above. You can expect to pay anywhere between $15 -$35 for their basic plans with limited minutes of phone calling per month.
Overall Best Value Mobile Network Plans
Network Carriers on a regular basis have some discounts and offers for students and newcomers. Lucky, Public, and Chatr mobile network overall provide a bundle of text, talk, and date at a reasonable process starting at $24 per month with an option of unlimited Canada-wide text, call and data of 4-5 GB LTE plans. If it comes to overall best value packs, then the new entrant Freedom is also not behind as it is investing heavily in bettering its network. Rogers, Bell, and TELUS are slightly on the higher side, starting at $35/month for talk and text plans but no data. If you are tech-savvy and need data so you can choose $50-$70 plan where the more you pay, the more data you get. You might be wondering why these are expensive as compared to other small players? Because of their smooth and streamlined network
operations covering almost the entire Canada.
BYO or New Phone
Many students inquire whether to bring their own phone (BYO)or purchase a new one in Canada. In BYO, no credit checks are required, and you can easily switch between different companies if you don’t like the service of your current mobile network. On the other hand, there is a credit check on your profile for the purchase of a new phone, and you have to sign a contract of 2 years with the network providers, so you are bound to use a single network company unless you pay the balance amount for the cell phone cost. Before landing in Canada, we highly advise checking the specifications of your phone whether your current phone is compatible with Canadian networks and will work in Canada.
Prices for new cellphones in Canada range from less than $100 with no internet capability and can go upto $2000 for the latest Apple, and Samsung high-end phones with the latest features.
Contract or Prepaid
Prepaid, as it names, defines (pay as you go) that you must pay for your services in advance of each billing period for calling, text, and data services. If you exceed your monthly usage, then you must pay an extra amount to continue usage of the services.
The contract basically means you need to pay at the end of the predetermined payment period, which is a specific date of the month. If you exceed the use of these services, the company will add an extra amount to your monthly bill (overage bill). Recently, companies have implemented some kind of data overage protection to have data turned off to avoid significant overage fees.
