-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Canadian Gaming Deals and Discussion Thread 2
- Thread starter Firestorm
- Start date
- Status
They had a 6GB deal when the iPhone 4 was released as well.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Same reason why they don't take each other's giftcards in store even though you can apparently use them on each other's websites - to maintain the illusion of competition.
LOL reminds me of something that happened to me a few months ago. I had ordered a game from bestbuy.ca as a free shipping filler item, and it ended up having a Future Shop price sticker slapped on it.
When I went to the Best Buy store to return the game, I actually had to convince the clerk that someone from the warehouse must have just grabbed a Future Shop copy by mistake. She wouldn't even take my word for it, but after asking the manager, he told her it was fine.
Ridiculous.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Oh yes, there was a mess with FF13 as well, because BB was offering that novella while FS wasn't. Because of a screw up somewhere, people who ordered at FS were getting the novella and people who ordered at BB weren't. In the end, they got Square to send everyone free books. Whoops.
Erp, why don't iphones work on Mobilicity?
Ah:
Our network uses a frequency called AWS, with bands 1700/2100. At this time, the iPhone doesn't work on this frequency. But we have a wide selection of other brand name phones that you can pair with any of our unlimited plans.
That sucks.
The next iPhone is rumoured to work on that band and spectrum. I'd hold out until the end of the year.
Onion_Relish
Member
Even if you could get an iPhone on the mobilicity or wind, you would pay out the ear for it due to the way they incentivise their tab programs. Mobilicity basically doesn't give hardware subsidies, wind does but you can't get out of your wind tab without penalty unless you sign up for a new wind phone. The bell subsidy for an iPhone 4s is 490 dollars, so if you only contribute 4 bucks a month towards it (they do 10%, telus does about 20% of your normal monthly recurring charges towards your subsidy), you would still have 356 dollars to pay out if you didn't want to be with wind anymore. GOOD THING I DON'T HAVE A FIXED TERM CONTRACT DERP. My guess is that wind would probably have iPhones around 250, but the way the math works is still bullshit.
Like I said before, the 6 gb plan doesn't require a renewal. It even has a 10% off version at Bell if you are month to month ie: off contract and supplying your own phone. With the bundle 7 you're set for life.
Like I said before, the 6 gb plan doesn't require a renewal. It even has a 10% off version at Bell if you are month to month ie: off contract and supplying your own phone. With the bundle 7 you're set for life.
Except that Mobility probably only charge you $30-40 for a plan that cost $60 else where. If you save $20 a month then over 3 years you are saving $720, well over the $490 subsidy. Plus you can get a factory unlock iPhone from Apple which means you can use prepaid SIM instead of paying outrageous roaming fee when traveling.
Kuro Madoushi
Unconfirmed Member
Bringingdashillin!
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Hrm, I'll consider that. I don't need it at the moment anyhow.
If I bought a phone, I'd just buy the phone outright anyway. I think the plans I see on Fido/Rogers/Bell are 50 dollars per month for data/calling so at 20 dollars * 36 months, that's 720 bucks anyway (assuming Mobilicity is still the best deal anyway).
I think if the contracts were 2 years, like the US, I wouldn't have a problem. But 3 years just seems a bit crazy to me and if you're going to have to pay out the nose to break a contract, you might as well just own an unlocked phone outright from the get go.
Onion_Relish
Member
Until the mobilicity network craps out and you have pay per use charges on the rogers network. And obviously ill point out an apple iPhone 4s is 650 plus tax, so you're not really saving anything to begin with to be on a weaker network yay.... I'm not going to debate the merits of the top 3 versus the lower tier guys, its not a comparison. It was funny, someone told me bell wasn't doing well lately... Yeah, that's why you can buy a bunch of major sports teams... Oh, and completely buy astral media as well hyuck hyuck hyuck.
Edit: telus is actually really good at supplying good phones at 2 year contract pricing. Even after working with Bell I would still sign a contract, Bur you're always safer buying outright.. all bell plans have a 10% off non contract version, so you save even more in the long run.
While we're on the topic of cell phones, I recently picked up an unlocked iphone for $500 and got the following plan from Bell for $31.50 a month.
Conference Calling & Call Waiting
200 anytime local minutes
Unlimited nights (6 p.m. - 7 a.m.) and weekends (6 p.m. Friday - 7 a.m. Monday)
National Fab 10 - Text & Talk
Text Messaging - Unlimited Package
Unlimited Picture and Video Messaging
$0.05 Data CAN/US
Basic Long Distance Rate
Pay per use flex data
The great thing is if Apple does decide to offer an iphone in the future that is compatible with Wind or Mobilicity I can always sell mine buy a new unlocked one from Apple and switch. (The above plan is pretty hot though, so I'm probably just going to stick with it for awhile)
Conference Calling & Call Waiting
200 anytime local minutes
Unlimited nights (6 p.m. - 7 a.m.) and weekends (6 p.m. Friday - 7 a.m. Monday)
National Fab 10 - Text & Talk
Text Messaging - Unlimited Package
Unlimited Picture and Video Messaging
$0.05 Data CAN/US
Basic Long Distance Rate
Pay per use flex data
The great thing is if Apple does decide to offer an iphone in the future that is compatible with Wind or Mobilicity I can always sell mine buy a new unlocked one from Apple and switch. (The above plan is pretty hot though, so I'm probably just going to stick with it for awhile)
Who cares where he is linking to? He is providing information to the thread that is valuable to some members and he is sourcing it. This is A-OK in my books as long as it's not spamming links for the sake of linking.
He's reposting things that were already posted in this thread (not the first time) just so he could link to that site (again, not the first time).
Onion_Relish
Member
Fab 10 promo 35 with 10% off is definitely the best talk and text plan out there. If you ever need more local minutes just get fab 45 with 10% off, has 500 mins. Bundle 7 works on either one.
The only problem I seem to be having is being charged a flat $5 for data instead of the five cents per mb. I'm going to have to give them a call to try to get that worked out =/
They have an even better one:
Tsilon.ca
That's not true. If you stick with wind for 3 years, your tab is wiped clean. You'd have $0 to pay. I don't get some of the complaints Wind gets. They offer similar hardware subsidies for people who want that and rates that are half of the big 3. What more do you want?
Side note: they have finally leveraged the fact that Global Live has cellphone networks elsewhere in the world and now have some kick ass Europe roaming rates.
narcosis219
Member
Coverage.
Unlike Moblicity, Wind is actually expanding their network so that will come in time. Nobody really complains about that though since you don't even consider them if their coverage area doesn't work for you.
Onion_Relish
Member
Your tab is only wiped clean if you get another wind phone, as I said before. Also their subsidies are not as good for phones that aren't as good. I've never heard of Huawei before working with bell. The Sam gal Nex 3 is 300 on their 40 dollar plan, 450 on the 25 dollar plan.
I'm not saying wind is inherently bad or awful by any means, but I've had plenty of personal experience that indicates that they aren't up to my standards as a consumer. A lot if the people I work with have all kinds of phones including wind. I've never had someone tell me wind is as good as Bell or rogers Ior telus for a reason: because they aren't.
What are you talking about. The pay off promise clearly says 37 consecutive months of service=tab wiped clean. As for phones all they are really missing is the iPhone. Huawei is apparently a company worth keeping an eye on. Wind getting one of their top end phones is a big deal.
Wind is not as bad as you make it out to be. You can get a great phone and a great plan at a fraction of what you'll pay from the big 3 with only a couple minor drawbacks.
Thanks I saw them today earlier, but when I went to the site they said it's premium members only? I assume that would require me to buy some sort of membership and I'm not really sure if I want to since I really only need 1 item.
Umm, no? It clearly just says that premium is optional.
"GFC Premium is Live (in Beta)!" "Once you register, your account will be flagged as a Premium account in our system and you'll be able to access a special version of our Package Forwarding (PF) site."
http://www.gamesforcanada.com/package-forwarding-rules.php
When you register for the website, you don't register for the premium service. That's just an additional service you can pay for that will save you money if you're a frequent user of Goomba's services.
Eh, the Mister guy at Tsilon said last time that FS was simply the vendor and whoever was behind the site was someone else (still unclear to me).
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Well, given that they are also related to the Cinema... whatever site, I'd say that they're pretty closely related anyway.
You sure? It says so pretty explicitly at the top here:
http://www.gamesforcanada.com/package-forwarding.php
E: Oh you must be referring to the direct request service? I see that might have to do. Thanks.
Hmm, strange. That didn't show up for me when I looked at the page, it only showed up using your link. I had completely forgotten that he had changed the way PF worked. I haven't had money in months so I haven't bought anything recently, lol
In any case, you should be fine with the direct request service. It's still much cheaper than any Package Forwarding service available. (Unless you live close to a border)
I'm paying Wind $10 a month for better features than Bell was giving me for $30. I'm glad I'm not paying anyone $20 a month extra just so they can own the Vancouver Whitecaps.
I know you suggested that people stick with shitty Bell plans because it builds sucker points and might entitle you to be offered halfway decent deals down the road on exclusive cutting edge product if the customer service rep is in a good mood, but my mom had a shitty Bell plan for more than six years and her loyalty apparently wasn't worth a free upgrade to caller ID in order to keep her on as a customer with her shitty plan.
isny- its ok thanks. I wouldn't have seen the direct request if it weren't for you.
On the topic of cell phone plans have you guys considered Speakout with 7-Eleven? It's a pre-paid service that seems to be carried out on the Rogers network so it works with iPhone. I know for a fact because I've been using iPhone 4 with it for more than a year and it says Rogers at the top. Newer SIM cards say Speakout but I think it's still the Rogers network because I tested it with an old iPhone 3G that was locked to Rogers and it still worked with newer sim cards.
It's good for low usage users because their minutes don't expire for a whole year. Even for higher usage users I think they have a pretty good promotion going on right now where it's $35 for 400 minutes + Unlimited Browsing and Texting:
http://www.speakout7eleven.ca/prepaid-cell-phone-rates (under Value Plans)
I'm using their unlimited browsing for 10 bucks a month now and the speeds are pretty good. I've never tried legit 3G before so I can't say how fast or slow it is compared to that. But compared to Wi-Fi I think it's only a little slower.
On the topic of cell phone plans have you guys considered Speakout with 7-Eleven? It's a pre-paid service that seems to be carried out on the Rogers network so it works with iPhone. I know for a fact because I've been using iPhone 4 with it for more than a year and it says Rogers at the top. Newer SIM cards say Speakout but I think it's still the Rogers network because I tested it with an old iPhone 3G that was locked to Rogers and it still worked with newer sim cards.
It's good for low usage users because their minutes don't expire for a whole year. Even for higher usage users I think they have a pretty good promotion going on right now where it's $35 for 400 minutes + Unlimited Browsing and Texting:
http://www.speakout7eleven.ca/prepaid-cell-phone-rates (under Value Plans)
I'm using their unlimited browsing for 10 bucks a month now and the speeds are pretty good. I've never tried legit 3G before so I can't say how fast or slow it is compared to that. But compared to Wi-Fi I think it's only a little slower.
Warm: used Arkham City (X360) for $14.72 + $3 s/h
http://gameaccess.ca/Game-Store-DealOfTheDay.htm
They usually have the PS3 version of multiplat games on the next day.
http://gameaccess.ca/Game-Store-DealOfTheDay.htm
They usually have the PS3 version of multiplat games on the next day.
AzureSkies
Member
Mobilicity's coverage is pretty good in Calgary. I originally had a problem with me constantly losing my signal and then it turned out that was actually a problem with My Nexus S on Stock 4.0.4. After flashing to Cyanogenmod I've had literally no problems on Mobilicity.
I live in Toronto and Hamilton currently (live in the city during the week and Hamilton temporarily until I quit my second/weekend job there and exit from my lease) and currently pay Telus $70+ for 6GB data, free texting, free VM/caller ID/etc, evenings/wknds after 5, my5, and 350 anytime minutes.
I'm nearing the end of my contract next December and am thinking of buying a GSIII next weekend if I plan to actually stay with Telus.
You guys think it's worth it to just switch to WIND with the $40/mo. unlimited plan and grabbing a GSIII from WIND? I'd add voicemail for $8/mo. too.
Are the data speeds borked or something? I know the coverage area is small, but I generally don't call anyone outside of Toronto and the GTA anyway. For long-distance stuff I just use Skype.
I feel like I'm missing a catch. Is there a connection fee of $7 like there is on Telus?
I'm nearing the end of my contract next December and am thinking of buying a GSIII next weekend if I plan to actually stay with Telus.
You guys think it's worth it to just switch to WIND with the $40/mo. unlimited plan and grabbing a GSIII from WIND? I'd add voicemail for $8/mo. too.
Are the data speeds borked or something? I know the coverage area is small, but I generally don't call anyone outside of Toronto and the GTA anyway. For long-distance stuff I just use Skype.
I feel like I'm missing a catch. Is there a connection fee of $7 like there is on Telus?
No. And the data speed seems fine. I've been able to stream Youtube/Crunchyroll videos on the bus with moth Mobilicity and Wind (in Ottawa).
Thanks for this. Telus customer service is great and all, but that no longer justifies the price of things (I had a long conversation with a retention manager to get my plan to where it is and it's still too expensive in my mind.) when WIND has a flagship phone like the GSIII and a 40/unlimited plan.
See ya, Telus.
Onion_Relish
Member
To be fair to your mom, it does depend on who you call. If you get someone in the phillipines they are generally pretty stingy while people in canada are generally more giving. Obviously I'm not going to look into it but suffice to say if she didn't get what she wanted then I'm sure she moved to another company where she did.
As I said before, I'm not here to debate whether wind is so amazing or bell is horrible for diversifying their revenue stream ( I get deals to the whitecaps
) its always about options. If you stick with bell or rogers or telus, you're going to get deals, that's the way loyalty works. If however the wind or mobilicity network is good enough for you and you want to save the money then by all means go ahead. For me their speeds and quality and coverage is not up to par. 3 mb/s pales in comparison to the 48 mb/s I can get on an lte device, those are my needs as a consumer. I don't call a lot but the call quality on wind phones that I've used just isn't that good in my opinion.Translation: didn't read my contract.
Anyways ill leave everything at that. I'll just post new deals or bundles if I see them.
I've never understood this attitude. Read your contract from top to bottom whenever you sign for something. Explicitly ask about what cancelling entails before you sign. Any decent sales person will tell you if you ask -- if they don't, or are shady about it, ask to speak to someone else or refuse to sign until they outline it clearly for you.
It's a well-known sales tactic to never mention the cancellation fees and such when trying to sell someone.
Don't be the moron who comes in, expects to cancel your contract while you're still bound to it, and then is an asshole because you didn't read/ask your rights about/understand any cancellation fees and procedures.
I'm not necessarily aiming this at you, so please don't feel that I'm pointing the gun at you. Just make sure you protect yourself so that you can make informed decisions and avoid frustration in the future because you were prepared and proactive in educating yourself about any contract.
Uh, so, this, goodbye Telus then?
http://shop.windmobile.ca/ProductCa...x?id=Samsung+Galaxy+S+III(WINDCA)&color=green
I can actually give you an opinion that works out perfectly since I live in Hamilton full time, am in Ancaster area (passed Meadowlands) for work every day and visit Toronto often.
So yeah I have that same plan (no addons) on a Galaxy Nexus and the only time I notice an issue is in my basement in one spot. Otherwise I never have dropped calls and my texts always make it through.
The speeds are decent and good for browsing the net and listening to Youtube/Grooveshark/etc., but they're definitely not top speeds so using it for downloading larger files wouldn't work out well.
The catch though, technically, is that there's fair-usage after 5GBs (in a given month), and they're suppose to start capping your phone. I personally haven't gone over 5GBs since I've been on the plan but I have a friend who regularly does (somehow) and he says he constantly does a speedtest and there's never been a difference.
Hope that helps!
I think the most I've ever used with my Galaxy S Fascinate on Telus is 3 GB in a month. The battery on my GSFasc dies too quickly to use lots of data. :c
Probably a blessing in disguise.
Thanks for giving your opinion! That helps solidify the decision, pretty much.
It's amazing how, maybe 5 years ago, we went from getting fucked by the Big 3 so hard and now -- with all the competition offering smarter choices and what people actually want -- the Big 3 think they can still, for the most part, get away with it.
I was checking to see if Telus has tried to match what everyone else is doing (hell, even Rogers has a $60 "unlimited" plan, IIRC) but they're not. Clear Choice still doesn't mean jack to me because you still need to tack so much crap on to make it a functional plan for someone who isn't a bare minimum user. And then you're right back to spending $80 a month.
They can for the most part. People don't want to switch, or it's 'part of their package' is a common excuse. Or they abuse retentions so badly they end up with better deals. Quite a shame.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
It's kind of funny that you need a degree from RFD University to get a deal on a phone plan anyway.
This is what I originally did because I felt forced to, 2 years ago -- Virgin/Koodo/et al. didn't seem worth it then. I don't want to have to appear to get angry with someone on the phone to get what feels like a proper deal any more. I'm not a mean person and I don't think being a jerk to some poor customer service agent is nice in order to gain the audience of a loyalty/retention manager.
It's shitty. I'm tired of it. The people working at Telus are way too nice to deserve that kind of treatment on a day-to-day basis.
I don't want to pay for special groupon offers that I'll never use. I don't want to pay for slick commercials with cute animals that play before my movies. I just want a good deal on my phone.
- Status