The Unofficial 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page 
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9:35 pm
March 31, 2007
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It's been a while since we've had a contest on this site, so this one will have the biggest prize yet: a $75 voucher.
There are quite a few forum regulars who tirelessly answer question after question, often about the same topic, educating people from around the world about cell phones, wireless service in Canada, and so on. I've learned a lot just from casually reading the threads. What have you learned?
How to enter
Write a reply in this thread answering this question:
What have you learned about Canadian wireless service from this site?
Bonus points (OK, not really) if you link to the thread or page that is relevant to your answer.
Contest details
The contest expires on June 4, 2009 at 12:01am PST (basically, the night of Wednesday June 3). The winner will be picked randomly from all entrants and will be e-mailed the voucher number.
The prize is one (1) $75 voucher for airtime on a 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless account.
Note: this contest is not run by anybody affiliated with 7-Eleven nor is it sponsored by 7-Eleven.
11:15 pm
May 4, 2009
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I have learned more from this website than from any other about cellphone companies and the advantages of prepaid service. So much so that I can't wait for my Rogers contract to expire next week so I can activate my Speakout phone. Unfortunately, I bought the phone prematurely as the June promotion is about to start.
9:45 am
November 15, 2008
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The most important thing I leant form this website is: there is an inexpensive way to have a for-emergency phone. I found a link to Unofficial Speak Out Wireless from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.....t_Wireless before this forum started in May 2007. I got my first $100-airtime-free-phone in that month. I now have two SO phone, each costs me only $25/year.
Secondly, this forum is the source to get information about promotions, credit, airtime charge, long distant rate, etc. Back in the times when the official 7-11 site had next to no information, this is the only site provides such info. Even with the now enhanced 7-11 official site, the unofficial site is still the way to go.
These are the thread usefull to see promotions and important info about rates
June 2009 ½ price phone: https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/june-2009-promotion/page-1/
March 2009 not very exciting promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/nokia-1208-march-promo/page-1/
Nov/Dec 2008 $100 free phone promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/november-and-december-2008-promotion/page-1/
Aug/Sept 2008 $100 free phone promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/august-promotion-1/page-1/
$5 free airtime survey https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/free-5-airtime-with-survey-completion-at-speakout7elevenca/page-1/
July 2008 50 minutes bonus promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/july-promotion/page-1/
May 2008 50 minutes bonus promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/may-2008-promotion/page-1/
Feb/Mar 2008 $25 off promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/7-11-feb-1st-to-mar-31st-promo-from-the-horses-mouth/page-1/
Nov/Dec 2007 promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/7-11-november-promotion/page-1/
Sept 2007 $100 free phone promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/free-phone-deal-coming-back/page-1/
May 2007 $100 free phone promotion , see pre-forum comments https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/old-comments
July 1 2008 rate change https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/new-minute-rate/page-1/
On going referral bonus https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/new-speakout-referral-bonus-10/
I'm very thankful to webmaster Peter for setting up such a site, and thank bylo, Big Eng etc, for all you informative posts.
10:17 am
May 31, 2009
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I found this forum site while searching for an inexpensive alternative to my Bell Mobility contract phones. I only need a phone occasionally and Speakout is the perfect solution for me.
Based on the talk time I used with Mobility over the 3 year contract I will save TWO THIRDS if my usage stays the same.
I was about to buy a second phone for my wife when I spotted the post about the June promotion. I am so glad I found this forum!
The posts here also gave me the idea to get a referral code before I activate my wife's phone so we can get the referral bonus too.
I've also sent my comments to Speakout regarding the $15 voucher with the 30 day expiry. The 365 day expiry is what closed the deal for me, I hope they don't change it.
Great forum Peter! Thank you for helping the rest of us frugal souls save money.
12:36 pm
October 14, 2008
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I have learned quite a bit, and am continuing to learn. My first cell phone was back in the 90's. I signed up with a company called Clearnet, who was then bought out by Telus. It was great, and the technology has increased by leaps and bounds since then.
A competitor of Clearnet back then was Cantel, then Cantel AT&T, which is now known as Rogers Wireless. Rogers coverage wasn't as good as Clearnet's especially as soon as you got out of the big cities. Rogers coverage was greatly lacking in the rural areas. Rogers has now invested mightily in their infrastructure, and their coverage is now considerably better than Bell's, especially where I live and have visited all across Ontario.
That's just a couple aspects I have learned. I have also learned what a great informational site this is, with lots of great people. 🙂
1:55 pm
The most important thing I've learned through this forum is that national cellphone providers have been significantly overcharging light users. I used to spend about $70 per month for two phones on Rogers. Two years ago, I stumbled upon Peter's forum and now spend less than $100 per year for exactly the same coverage and service.
Without speakoutwireless.ca, I wouldn't have felt confident enough to purchase a pair of 7-eleven phones - their site simply didn't present enough information to answer all my questions. Luckily, I discovered almost everything I needed right here.
I also appreciate finding out about monthly specials the moment they're announced - it allows me to pick and choose the best time to purchase a top-up. Last year, I took advantage of the $100 airtime + free phone deal by getting two $50 cards and selling the phone/SIM on this site. My wife and I got a year's airtime for $65, and someone else got a low cost phone. Win-win!
Going forward, I think the forums are a great way to build a community to let 7-Eleven know what we want (a great example is the recent $15 voucher and the grassroots movement on the forum to let 7-Eleven know that one year expiry times were absolutely critical for many users). In fact, I asked them about data plans and messaging bundles again last week (their response: Rogers still won't give SpeakOut competitive wholesale rates for data, although there's some sort of bulk messaging bundles in the pipeline for the fall).
4:03 pm
I learned about the differences between CDMA and GSM, about MVNOs, and that SpeakOut Wireless is the best first phone and emergency phone you could get.
4:42 pm
May 31, 2009
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To be honest, this site/forum has taught me more about the Speakout service than about the mobile industry in Canada. Although, I must admit that I have no real interest in the latter but have enjoyed the information I have gained from this website. I am just glad that i am no longer at the mercy of Fido and for that, I am forever grateful.
I had heard about Speakout from a friend but did not learn a thing about it until I visited this page, https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/sim-card-guide/ and the followed the links on this page such as the FAQ section. From reading those guides, you can gather your own thoughts about the Canadian wireless industry and how badly we seem to be behind other countries in you've ever used a mobile service outside of Canada.
Since, I have not really answered the question of "What have you learned about Canadian wireless service from this site?" yet... I must say that what I have learned about the Canadian wireless service are from the people asking the questions of how to escape from their current providers.
It seems that we as consumers in Canada are sold the idea that there are only a few major players in the mobile business here and we are putting money in their pockets whether we know about it, like it or not. By that I mean by switching to alternatives such as Solo and Koodo, when they are actually owned by the big players that we are trying to run away from in the first place. I guess when you look hard enough and are open to switching, there is a knight in shining armour to save the day in the drama free service of Speakout Wireless.
4:42 pm
May 31, 2009
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the most important thing I've learned from this site is that there ARE much better options for users, especially people with light usage needs, than with the big networks. without stumbling on this site a few months ago I would have never realized 7-11 had a reasonably priced alternative, especially with their 1yr expiry on airtime vouchers. I've been a Rogers customer for far too many years overpaying for service! (since back when it used to be Cantel AT&T) The next phone for my family will be from SO.
I must thank Peter for maintaining this excellent site and source of info. It has made it SO easy to understand the 7-11 prepaid offerings. If only Rogers and the others had such good, easy to understand info about their service on their website! but then again, I suppose their goal is to confuse everyone... (and their website succeeds in doing that)
for the bonus point question, I can simply refer to the main page of this site, it leads you to everything you need to know!
https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/
thanks again for the great info on this site
11:22 pm
i've learned that speakout's the best. used to be on plan w/telus but had to switch because i couldn't afford it anymore.
11:23 pm
May 31, 2009
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The only reason that I own a cellphone is due to this website and all the generous people that contribute invaluable information.
I value my privacy and am unwilling to share my personal information and unwilling to share my money with greedy communication companies
After reading the numerous postings throughout this website I realized that it was possible to own a cellphone without selling my soul.
Extremely helpful , detailed instructions regarding the correct manner to purchase a phone, instructions regarding setting up the phone and userfriendly advise
I would like to convey my gratitude to all contributors of this website from a electronic/gadget challenged person
As per : September 2007 promotion https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/speak/7-eleven-rates-and-plans/page-19/
Thank you
12:22 am
What I learned about Canadian wireless services from this website is that there are better options available for my needs than what is aggressively advertised by the likes of Rogers/Fido, Telus, and Bell. With the power of community, I was able to obtain the information that I needed to make an informed decision, which I otherwise could not have made due to the lackluster website provided by 7-11. Thank you for this website admins!
3:56 am
This site basically helped me answer questions about the 7-11 Canadian wireless carrier. For example, from this site I recently learned that you can call a toll free number to check VM instead of using up minutes dialing from your cell. Also I learned that it is not possible at this time to have VM be forwarded to your email. Although there's a thread here that says you can send a text to an email account, but there's no guarantees that it works. Just do a search on this site to find out more.
4:06 am
January 18, 2009
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I learned that I could get cell phones for light use for cheaper than Telus "president's special" rate I had.
I learned that there was a sale on that made it really cheap the first year when the deal $75 toward a Nokia 2760 with the purchase of a $100 voucher was on.
I learned that I could get cheap US service just by buying a T-mobile sim card since SO 2760's were unlocked and since then I purchased one sim card for $6.99 which included $40 of air time and another card for about $10 which included $30 of air time.
Thank you thank you than you!
8:48 am
I learned that I have more options than I thought I had when I was a Telus Customer.
I learned that I can have a fully functioning phone for less than $10/mth with light use.
I learned about 365 day expiry times, how to call voice mail at no cost, and how to top up minutes when necessary and get the best deals on all things cell plans.
Thanks for the work you do in maintaining and providing this service.
11:02 am
April 28, 2009
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this site and forum has been my eye-opener regards to Canadian wireless market. After reading advice and reviews from this site, I switched my cell phone provider from Telus to 7-11 SO and save a lot.
Not only that, this site was up even before 7-11 official site. And always update with the new promotions and events. I was able to take advantage of some of them, e.g., free phone buy $100 airtime and pay it forward referral.
keep up good work
1:23 pm
May 13, 2009
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I don't even have a cel phone and I read this site. I'm looking into buying one and reading this site has been very eye opening. I am thankful for not only the help but the sharing of the pit falls of those that have txt before me.
7:29 pm
This site was critical to my decision to purchase the phone. All 32 points in the unofficial FAQ were useful. Most of the info was not available from 7-eleven or in the owners manual. Thank you for a great site - hope I win the Voucher 🙂
7:47 pm
The most important things I learned from this site are
- when the next free phone promotions will be
- I was informed that the $25 and $50 refills are now $0.25/minute instead of $0.20/min
- what the exact details of the speakout wireless deal was all about. This was more important back then especially since 7-eleven has almost no info on their speakout wireless product
- informed that I can use my rogers phone with the simcard so I can sell the free phone
