10:39 pm
Well, some good news - as expected, I had no problems switching my Ottawa-bought 7-11 Speakout phone to a local (Halifax, NS in this case) number today. I was worried at first that they could only guarantee a 902 area code (but 902 is used in other maritime provinces as well and doesn't guarantee it will be a local call within metro Halifax where I wanted it to be). They were able to make sure it was a local number within my city of choice (Halifax in this case) and it works great. FYI, my phone did indeed come with the $5 free preload on it as many others are now reporting (and not $10, or less than $5).
Only slight issue was that the lady on the phone said there would be a $4.50 service charge for the change-to-new-areacode service. I argued a bit saying that the cost shouldn't be there (and a prior Speakout rep had in fact told me before that changing the number would be free), but she said I was told wrong. I went ahead anyways and had her switch for a fee, but from what i can tell the fee was never charged as our account balance is still full so all's good so far.
Anyways, just some confirmation for those in Atlantic Canada looking to switch to these great pay-as-you-go 7-11 phone plans...