Help!

[c9]

leapfish and I currently have DSL, basic cable, a home phone, and a cell phone. The cell contract is ending, so we're looking at our options for simplifying / cheapening our lives. Let me just say this: there is nothing to depress you more than trying to navigate the Bell, Rogers, Telus, and Fido websites. You will fear for the future of humanity. Also, you'll be angry at them in a vague way.

Here are my notes, if you're curious:

B E L L

==== contract ====
2 x nokia 6016i, unlimited between us, 100 Anytime minutes, Unlimited weekends, additional:
35¢/minute, Long distance: 30¢/minute. $70 hookup fee, $50/month, 12-month contract, $0 due today.
--> $670

==== pre-paid ====
30¢/minute for the first 2 minutes, 5¢/minute thereafter
unlimited weekends/nights $50/month
voicemail free, if we're on the automatic-top-up program (which is required for unlimited above)
$148 for two phones due today
--> $748 plus daytime calls, or $198 plus all calls
--> it would take 21 2-minute calls per week to cost more than $50/month

==== bundles ====
- DSL 12-month contract = $35/month
- bundle DSL with a contract cellphone and we save $10 total per month

R O G E R S

==== contract ====
$100 (I think) for two phones on two year contract
$45/month shared 150 minute plan with free evenings/weekends
--> $640 first year, $540 second year

==== pre-paid ====
$280 for two phones, $100 mail in rebate
20¢/minute for the first 5 minutes, 12¢/minute after that

T E L U S

==== contract ====
$27.45/month with 100 daytime and 1000 evng/wknd minutes, unlmtd to each other
25c long distance, $200 for two phones, $35 hookup fee
--> $564.40

V I R G I N

==== pre-paid ====
25¢/min for first five minutes each day, and 15¢/min for rest of day
long distance 25c more/min, $160 for two phones
--> $160 plus all calls

F I D O

==== pre-paid ====
100 daytime mins / 1000 evng/wknd mins, unlmtd incoming, ... I give up.



Any suggestions for us? I want it simple and cheap, and ideally with a cell phone for each of us instead of a home phone. Low minutes are fine. Nuisance is not.

Basically, I'm venting. I'm not expecting that you'll be able to decipher my (probably incorrect) notes and find the (possible) gem(s). But Canadiansresidents of Canada (sorry jdhorner and senhor) with good setups are encouraged to tell me their secret. :-)

Comments

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

One thing to check with the no-home-phone plan is if the door buzzer can be hooked up to a cell phone. It's rare, but I ran into a few buildings where the buzzer was somehow hardwired to the phone line that ran into the apt rather than allowing an arbitrary number.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that occurred to us too. That, combined with our laziness, suggests to me that we will not actually end up without a landline.

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

The places I ran into that had that problem were rather old so I'd be surprised if your place didn't support sending the buzzer call to an arbitrary number. A quick call to the building manager should straighten it out.

But then I suppose there is the issue as to whose cell phone it goes to. I guess being single does have its perks sometimes. ;-).

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

You could always dump the Canadian companies all together and go with a $60USD/mo family plan on Cingualar. Add $10USD for the "North America" plan, pick up some cheap free phones and you have 500 daytime min + free evenings and weekends + free long distance any where above the Mexican border.

Hmm...now that I think about it, $70USD/mo is far more than any of the options you had. And there is the bummer that everyone would have to pay long-distance charges to call you since you'd have US numbers.

Never mind.

Though, factor sms costs into your calculations as well - at $0.35/min it could be cheaper to sent text for the quick "can you pick up milk" types of calls.

[canuckboy.livejournal.com]

Don't for the 79 cent per minute roaming charge. :P

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot the other beauty part of the "North America" plan. It includes roaming inside Canada as well. So any calls you make from the US or Canada to the US or Canada are covered.

And now that I think about it, if I made C&V "family" on my plan, and we kept our combined daytime calling to < 500min/month we could have all of our calls covered for $25USD/mo + tax.

[canuckboy.livejournal.com]

There are, as you know, some distinct differences between cable and DSL internet. There are even more distinct differences between CDMA (Bell, Telus) and Rogers/Fide (GSM/GPRS). I'm not sure if that really matters to you, but you may want to consider it while making your decision.

Bell is offering DSL without a landline, so you can now get VoIP with it. VoIP has its issues, but it's cheap. If you're seriously looking to cut costs, I'd suggest VoIP for the landline and one of the pay-as-you-go plans for the cellular stuff.

[cap-hill-latte.livejournal.com]

Good point. If you're planning on using your phones outside of North American go with GSM. You might say "oh, we'd never do that" now, but the few calls I made & sms messages I've sent on my trips to London have made GSM worth it.

[primary-suspect.livejournal.com]

Don't forget that Rogers bundles as well, theirs is more simple to understand, if you bundle 2 or more things (Cable, Internet, Cell) you get 15% discount on your bill.

Bell has changed so many things lately its hard to keep track. They are getting rid of their "bundle" plan for something different so it might not be around much longer.

Rogers used to charge an extra $10/month if you had Cable Internet but not Cable with them. The last bill I got didn't have that charge any more so maybe they ditched it.

If you are going Pre-paid, the Rogers one isn't bad since you can add Evenings/Weekends to it and the web charges are cheap ($0.02 per page view). Bell had just re-launched Solo Mobile (http://www.solomobile.ca/) which has the best pre-paid rates right now, and includes stuff like text messaging, call display, and unlimited web, plus the rates are low. Solo also includes 10-4 (walkie-talking mode for the phone) that is cheap $1 for a day per per use.

Also, with Bell I think they have some new Family plans so you might be able to get a better deal with one of those to call between yourselves than what you found.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's a few. You're right, it is confusing to keep track of.

Our basic cable doesn't qualify for bundling, but if we got cable internet again we'd qualify. But it turns out our DSL is costing us $29+tax/month until July, so I'm inclined to let that be.

I'll check out solo, but I'm not terribly motivated. :)