Best Prepaid Cell Option with Voicemail?

[Cheap_Scotsman]

Hey there,

I am in the market for a prepaid or very simple monthly plan cell carrier and am getting lost in the options. I have been with Telus pay and talk for over a year and while the free voicemail/call waiting are essential for me the 25 cents a minute rate isn't exactly great. I have looked into Virgin and Fido as possible alternatives but the Virgin rates confuse me and Fido seems to have an activation fee.

Any suggestions from those in the "basic camp"?

Thanks,
-CS

[bylo]

SpeakOut or Petro Canada Mobility.

[Cheap_Scotsman]

Thanks, I hadn't heard of Petro.

Does anyone use Virgin prepaid?

[shivash39]

www.koodomobile.com

[apn64]

Does anyone use Virgin prepaid?

Yep, we have one of those, but who knows how long it will last since Bell recently bought out the balance of ownership. IMHO, they're unlikely to offer Virgin AND Solo pre-paid services in parallel = convergence.

Virgin works well, but it's CDMA and does not offer out of country roaming. We use the $100 top-up, good for a year. It's nice to have the automatic top-up via your credit card.

If I were to choose again, I'd probably go 711 Speak-Out (note: Ztar mobile operates both the 711 and Petro-Canada services on the Rogers network).

711 is the better choice, since their $25 card is good for a year expiry (vs. $100 on Rogers and Virgin). They recently also added online top-up capability, instead of having to hike to a store to buy a phone card. Airtime rates are also better @ 20 cents/min vs. 25 cents on Virgin.

Another advantage of GSM (Rogers) is that despite the lack of a roaming agreement on the reseller plans, you can buy a cheap pre-paid SIM card if you plan on being out of the country for a while.

Since these comparisons ultimately boil-down to the of Bell/Telus vs. Rogers networks, I wouldn't think you'd find much difference in the domestic coverage area.

Finally, last time I checked, 711/Petro were selling unlocked GSM phones. Note that you MUST buy their phone to get a SIM card, but there's nothing stopping you moving that SIM card to another phone later on.

The bottom line is that Virgin works well in Canada, the rates are competitive and you have a nice automatic top-up option. However, 711 has better rates and you have a lot more flexibility on the GSM network.

Full disclosure: we have two prepaid phones on the Rogers (native) and Virgin plans respectively.

[bylo]

711 is the better choice, since their $25 card is good for a year expiry (vs. $100 on Rogers and Virgin). They recently also added online top-up capability, instead of having to hike to a store to buy a phone card.

Nope, not 7-11 SpeakOut. You still need to buy airtime at a store. (Petro-Canada Mobility now offers this so maybe it's coming soon to 7-11. PCM however doesn't offer 1 year expiry on less than $100 airtime like SO does.)

Another advantage of GSM (Rogers) is that despite the lack of a roaming agreement on the reseller plans, you can buy a cheap pre-paid SIM card if you plan on being out of the country for a while.

That's true if you're going to the US but you need a quadband phone if you go overseas.

Finally, last time I checked, 711/Petro were selling unlocked GSM phones.

Actually all of their recently-introduced phones are now locked. Nevertheless you can buy unlocked GSM phones much more readily and cheaply than CDMA ones at places like puremobile, newegg, tiger direct, factory direct, etc.

Note that you MUST buy their phone to get a SIM card, but there's nothing stopping you moving that SIM card to another phone later on.

You can buy SO SIMs on http://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/ and eBay et al. Or you can buy phone/SIM from 7-11 then flog the phone at the same places.

[apn64]

Thanks for the updates, bylo.

One more thing to add is that 711 occasionally runs promotions when you buy $100 airtime card, you get the phone free.

BTW, the official policy remains that unless it's a replacement, you must buy a phone to get a SIM card;

http://speakout7eleven.ca/pages/faq/

[Billa-786]

pc mobile

[bylo]

One more thing to add is that 711 occasionally runs promotions when you buy $100 airtime card, you get the phone free.

That may be coming to an end. For the past several years they ran that promo in Aug/Sep for the back-to-school crowd. This year it's only 50% off on the phone when you buy $100 airtime. We'll see what they do at Christmas time.

BTW, the official policy remains that unless it's a replacement, you must buy a phone to get a SIM card

I realize the official policy hasn't changed. I was simply providing options for people who want to buy just a SIM.

BTW it doesn't matter what phone number (i.e. area code) is associated with the SIM. You can call SO CS, tell them you've moved, and they'll give you a new phone number that's local to where you live. So when you're looking for a SIM it doesn't matter where in Canada the seller is located.