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11:18 am
August 21, 2009
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In another thread someone shared an email from SO customer service that said that the free phone promo will be coming back for Christmas. When they had a Christmas promo previously, when did it actually start - in November? December? I'm just debating whether to keep my current cell phone for a couple more months and wait for the Christmas promo, or cancel now and go with the 1/2 off deal currently; whether it is cost effective to cancel now depends on when the Christmas promo will likely start.
12:00 pm
March 15, 2008
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IIRC in past years the Christmas promo started in mid-November and ran until year-end.
5:54 pm
Depending on how much your current service costs you, it might be worth switching now. 7-11 is offering handsets for 50% off when you purchase $100 airtime. That means you'll pay $129.50 for a Nokia 1661 or 1208 with the airtime.
If you're a light phone user (someone who will take most of the year to use the whole $100 credit), the only important question is: "Will my current service cost more than $29.50 by December?" If the answer is "yes," switch. If not, you've got a damn good plan with another provider already.
6:44 pm
August 21, 2009
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After tax, I pay $17.46/mth. currently for a Rogers emergency phone plan which gives me 45 mins./mth. I don't use my phone much at all, so a $100 phone card will easily last me a year and then I will top up with $25 to get another year from it because $125 would probably last me 2 yrs. So the first year I won't save a ton, but will still save some, and after the first year I'll being saving even more $$, it's just a matter of waiting or not for the Christmas promo.
9:16 pm
March 15, 2008
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Note that if you`re on Rogers now, you can use your phone with SO. You`ll just need to buy a SIM from someone here for around $25 plus a minimum $25 airtime voucher. Then if there`s a free phone promo in December you can spend $100 to get a new phone plus $100 airtime and sell the new SIM here for about what you paid for a SIM before. And if there`s no promo or if it`s not as good as the usual one, you don`t have to take it.
10:58 pm
Another option: Buy a $59 Speakout phone + $25 airtime voucher. The phone comes preloaded with $5 airtime, and you can get an additional $10 airtime with by getting a "Pay it forward" referral code from someone on this board (see the referral code thread).
You'll end up paying $84 (plus tax) to get a new phone and $40 airtime good for a year. That's actually what I did to buy our second Speakout phone.
9:05 pm
October 21, 2008
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Emms,
I wouldn't bother waiting for the Christmas promo. If you do that, you would have spent at least $65 plus tax waiting for the promo to start.
Why not buy $100 in airtime, plus $30 for the phone, and start saying money now?
Assuming that the Christmas promo is the old "Buy $100 in airtime and get a free phone" and not a repeat of the current promo, you would be saving $30 compared to buying it now.
Which means, you would be spending $65 over 4 months just to save $30. Doesn't make sense.
Plus, who knows if Speakout will be coming out with the 'Free phone' promo? Also, in past 'Free phone' promos it was difficult to find the phone you wanted, so you might have to drive from one 7-11 to another and then to another just to find the phone.
Buy the phone now and start saving money now.
9:28 pm
August 21, 2009
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I'll probably buy the phone now, even though it will only save me a few bucks. I'm assuming I have to give 30 days notice to Rogers to cancel, which means I'm still going to be billed for this month; so that means I'll save Oct. and Nov.'s billing so when you factor me paying $30+tax for the phone, I'm only going to save a couple dollars. I don't care about what phone I get because I'm just going to put the SIM card into my current phone since I like my current phone 🙂 However, I guess buying the phone now would protect me if they change the 365 day expiry (not likely, but who knows).
9:36 pm
August 21, 2009
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bylo, I thought of the used SIM option but I'm wary of getting a SIM card and it not working out the way it should.
Jamesey, I considered just paying outright for the phone and getting a lower-value airtime card since $25 would probably be plenty with the $10 referral credit I could get here and the incl. time like you said, but then I feel like I'm throwing away the $60 on the phone when I could at least get it for half-price, then maybe even sell it for cheap since I don't need it anyway and only want the SIM.
2:13 pm
August 31, 2009
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emms, your plan makes sense to me and gives you the best bang for your buck. Don't forget to get the $10 referral credit anyway.
Remember that you can port your current number from Rogers. Just give them 30 days notice that you want to cancel your phone and then activate your new Speakout phone a few days before the Rogers # is set to expire. Call Speakout to arrange the port. It only took a few hours to complete when we transferred our numbers from Rogers.
2:57 pm
August 21, 2009
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emms, your plan makes sense to me and gives you the best bang for your buck. Don't forget to get the $10 referral credit anyway.
Remember that you can port your current number from Rogers. Just give them 30 days notice that you want to cancel your phone and then activate your new Speakout phone a few days before the Rogers # is set to expire. Call Speakout to arrange the port. It only took a few hours to complete when we transferred our numbers from Rogers.
I'll definitely still get the $10 referral credit. I didn't even think of porting over my current #, but that would be a good idea, even just to avoid telemarketer calls that some say they are getting on their SO phones. I've never had a problem with unwanted calls on my Rogers phone #. Is it just $10 to port over the #? Also, probably a stupid question, but will I still be able to call anybody in the 519 area code or any of the corresponding area codes on the SO grid and not be charged long-distance as long as my Rogers # is a 519 number? We have relatives that live a couple hours away, but they still have the same area code, so having it included as a local call would be sweet 🙂
5:46 pm
January 4, 2009
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Yes, same area code is a local call, and in fact speakout is pretty generous with its definition of "local". You can look up which area codes count as local on their chart. In addition to all 519/226 numbers, you can also call locally to 416/647 (Toronto) and 905/289 (~GTA). Enjoy!
Personally, I wouldn't count on the Christmas promo coming through exactly as planned. These rumour promo predictions have sometimes been correct, but often they turn out not to happen and leave a lot of people disappointed who decide to "wait it out". Been there, done that! Especially if you like your current Rogers phone, which you can still use, I'd say just get the cheapest current 50% off phone ($30) and be done with it. Plus the $10 referral and you are down to effectively paying just $20 for the phone and SIM. If you planned to get one of the higher end ones to replace your current one, it *might* be worth it, but even then it's just not guaranteed that the promo will be what we current think/hope.
Good luck!
-rrraven
12:37 pm
August 31, 2009
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emms said:
Is it just $10 to port over the #?
I've ported two numbers to speakout without being charged (the first was almost two years ago, the last was switched within the last three months).
