Looking for a $20 talk & text plan for Ontario

It's possible to physically cut larger SIMs down to their smaller sizes. See https://gosoftworks.com/apps/nanosim for a template.

The three robbers have agreed that the minimum price for unlimited talk and text is $25.

Freedom Mobile (AKA poor signal in most places) is the only provider I'm aware of that offers unlimited talk and text for less than $25. Their going rate, for prepaid service, is $14.

The final choice at $20/month are the 200minutes/month plans from PetroCan and SpeakOut.

Middle has some good suggestions. At that price point there are going to be some compromises.

Another option is Public Mobile for $15/mo. Signal coverage is excellent with unlimited texting but callers need to call him (free unlimited incoming calls) as he only gets 100 outgoing minutes.

Or just gift your father $60 every year to cover the gap .

Isn’t Freedom 100/yr?

Freedom coverage is extremely spotty, both because they have fewer cell sites than the Rogers and Bell/Telus networks and because Freedom/Shaw doesn't own the rights to much low frequency spectrum.

Freedom uses 3G band 4 (1700MHz) for voice calls from non-VoLTE devices, and most of Freedom's LTE network uses the LTE B4, B7 and B66 bands. All of these bands have poor obstacle penetration and work very badly indoors. Freedom, however, is slowly rolling out LTE band 13 (700MHz), which does have good obstacle penetration and indoor performance.

If you're in an area with LTE band 13 service and have a phone that works with VoLTE, then Freedom coverage should be decent. If not, then coverage will be hit-and-miss.

Note that you can use WiFi calling if you buy a phone through Freedom (it's not allowed for BYOD) if you can't get good coverage in your own home.

Freedom network coverage is very much a case of your mileage may vary.

Zoomer has $22.50 unlimited talk and text plan with a $50 activation credit. They use Rogers infrastructure.

Link

Chatr has 100 mins talk and unlimited incoming and unlimited international text for $15
https://www.chatrwireless.com/plans

middleofnowhere wrote: ↑ It's possible to physically cut larger SIMs down to their smaller sizes. See https://gosoftworks.com/apps/nanosim for a template.

The three robbers have agreed that the minimum price for unlimited talk and text is $25.

Freedom Mobile (AKA poor signal in most places) is the only provider I'm aware of that offers unlimited talk and text for less than $25. Their going rate, for prepaid service, is $14.

The final choice at $20/month are the 200minutes/month plans from PetroCan and SpeakOut.

I used to work for Rogers years ago and I had people try to cut their sims. I'm sure many succeeded but I only ever got people come in for new sims cause their attempt failed and they couldn't use that sim anymore.
I'm worried that if I fail, the Sim with be dead and since I can't change his Sim, he'll be stuck.

drb789 wrote: ↑ Zoomer has $22.50 unlimited talk and text plan with a $50 activation credit. They use Rogers infrastructure.

Link

This is something to consider! Thanks

at1234567890 wrote: ↑ I used to work for Rogers years ago and I had people try to cut their sims. I'm sure many succeeded but I only ever got people come in for new sims cause their attempt failed and they couldn't use that sim anymore.
I'm worried that if I fail, the Sim with be dead and since I can't change his Sim, he'll be stuck.

It wasn't that difficult to cut standard size SIMs down to micro SIM. There were tools that did it. Some cellphone stores would even do it for free.

But it's a lot harder to cut a SIM down to nano size, especially older SIMs with larger contact pads, without risking permanent damage. If the SIM your dad has is "really old" then it's likely one of those. Trying to cut it down to size is almost guaranteed to fail.

Others have suggested plans that offer limited talk time, e.g. 100 to 200 minutes per month. It's worth asking your dad if he really does spend 1½ or 3 hours a month on the phone.

I got Public Mobile for my Dad. Unlimited texts. 100 min Canada-wide minutes. 250 Data. Unlimited INcoming calls. $15/month. If you sign up for auto- pay you save $2 per month which brings it down to $13 per month. For him, there is no better plan. I also got the SIM card for $5.

Right now they are gifting all of their customers FREE 2 GB Data and 500 minutes Canada/International long distance. Those gifts are in his back-up account and they roll over until used up. It's on a Telus network so coverage has been excellent.

For anyone else trying to help senior parents navigate a cell phone... I got him an Easyfone and he loves it. Very simple flip phone.

Edit: PM is offering second month free right now. If your dad needs more Canada-wide minutes, you can buy 500 minutes for $5. Again, those minutes roll over until used up. Hope that helps

bylo wrote: ↑Others have suggested plans that offer limited talk time, e.g. 100 to 200 minutes per month. It's worth asking your dad if he really does spend 1½ or 3 hours a month on the phone.

The trouble with 100 minute plans is that they're good enough until the month you have to spend a few hours. being lied to that 'your business is important to us,' while waiting in a call center's hold queue. Voice overage rates being what they are, one incident of 'your business is important to us' will wipe out the cost savings of a limited talk time plan for several months.

Freedom still has their $99 unlimited talk and text promo going still otherwise normally it is $129. You have to prepay for the year but works out to be $9.32/month @ $99/year. I never used Freedom before but a few of my friends are on it and no complaints. I guess it depends where you live and how far away from home you go.

So I called Rogers to see if they would match Zoomer's 22.50 plan or do better and the agent I got managed to actually solve my problem. He actually found that my dad was on a $30 plan with a $10 discount that has no expiration date. He then said he can send us a new sim and activate it for us without affecting anything. I appreciate all the help guys. Hope others can also use this thread for themselves.

Update: So the sim card finally arrived. I called in as directed with the last agent I spoke with and tried to change the sim but the agent this time said they can't change the sim cards over the phone. It can only be done online or in-store (which ties back to the block on the account). After some talks, they were only able to offer as low as $25/month (regular lowest is $35). We're now going to switch to Zoomer as someone else had suggested. Looks like $22.50 is the best that can be found on the market right now.

I'm honestly not surprised that this happened with Rogers. I've worked in a store before and have seen so much BS that happens when people call in and then come to the store for help. I've had people promised lies from 3rd party sellers that contact you by phone, agents promising customers things that can't be honored or is not possible, etc.

Are you sure you can’t do the sim switch online?

I would try it first before going the zoomer route.

The $20 talk n txt plans aren’t that rare anymore...

Public mobile also has some sub $30 plans with talk n txt n a little bit of data.

Referrals & autopays bring it down even more. Another option!

ji2o0k wrote: ↑ Are you sure you can’t do the sim switch online?

I would try it first before going the zoomer route.

The $20 talk n txt plans aren’t that rare anymore...

Public mobile also has some sub $30 plans with talk n txt n a little bit of data.

Referrals & autopays bring it down even more. Another option!

Yea. I tried in store last year and then online. That's when I encountered the error and called in. I've encountered the block before when I used to change Sim cards for people in the store. No way around it except to validate you're an employee still.