Canada Black Friday Phone Plans

[2014olympicgold]

So the "discount phone companies" are offering a $34/30gig deal for new customers (Fido, Virgin, Koodo), so as a Fido customer I contacted Fido seeing if I could get that deal.

I'm currently on a $65/60gig plan with a $20credit on it so my plan is $45/month (+tax). They wouldn't offer me the "new customer plan" after a few hours on the online chat system. However, the last guy I talked to on the chat did say "I would recommend you to wait till 24th, Black Friday".

So there are these "new customer" Bring-Your-Own-Device plans out there today, but it sounds like there's going to be other deals on Friday.

So ya, just thought I would toss that out there for people. You can save some money with little effort.

[Belexus75]

Thank you for this, both me and my wife are with Fido on separate accounts. I recently opened new business and was planning to give them a call to put both phones under the business. I guess ill make sure i do it this week!

thank you once again!

[pmorrow]

I have a plan with more gigs than that but for a bit more dough. I might have to consider this. I need a lot of data in the summer.

[pmorrow]

I am curious how long the 34 a month would last. Like are they going to jack up the price after a year or two. I would definitely be interested in something if I knew it was locked in for at least 3 years.

[2014olympicgold]

I am curious how long the 34 a month would last. Like are they going to jack up the price after a year or two. I would definitely be interested in something if I knew it was locked in for at least 3 years.

The way the plan is written for Fido is it's a $54/month plan with a $20 credit. Some people say the credit has no expiration, others have said it's a 2yr long credit.

My plan's $20 credit is 2yrs long (so 1 more) and the way phone bills have gone the last 2-3yrs in Canada, I wouldn't have any major concerns. There will always be a good plan out there (as of now).

The thing that will handcuff most is that the $34/month plan is a Bring-Your-Own-Device plan so in 12months if you decide you want a new phone, you'll need a new plan to get a new device if you want to do a monthly payment.

[pmorrow]

The way the plan is written for Fido is it's a $54/month plan with a $20 credit. Some people say the credit has no expiration, others have said it's a 2yr long credit.

My plan's $20 credit is 2yrs long (so 1 more) and the way phone bills have gone the last 2-3yrs in Canada, I wouldn't have any major concerns. There will always be a good plan out there (as of now).

The thing that will handcuff most is that the $34/month plan is a Bring-Your-Own-Device plan so in 12months if you decide you want a new phone, you'll need a new plan to get a new device if you want to do a monthly payment.

That's how they get ya. Best bet is to buy a lightly used/open box, slightly old phone outright so you can hold the plan. This past spring I bought an Open Box S22 Galaxy which is still a pretty new and high end, but less than what they will charge you for a brand new one - my provider Koodo wouldn't give me any deals on phones to stay with them. Right now I am paying about 55 for 50 gigs a month.

[stevegamer]

To give you guys a bit of a former insider's view - albeit in the US.

There will be deals to be had on phones and plans on Black Friday, moreso on phones. Switching incentives are common, which is the "bring your phone and number" variety. I'm assuming Canada also has local number portability, since our phone networks, especially area codes, are somewhat intertwined. Local number portability means you can take you number when you switch vendors.

In general, bring your own device plans DO NOT require a new plan if you want to get a new phone, as long as you have a physical SIM card, In fact, you can simply swap a SIM card into another compatible phone. For this reason, I would not even consider a phone without a physical sim. I dropped my phone face down on concrete 2 weeks ago. I needed a new phone, and switched the sim card out and kept service with no issue.

I got that new old stock unlocked phone delivered same day via Amazon - that amazed me.

[2014olympicgold]

I bought my S20 Ultra in Jan2020, 1 month before it came out and got like $300 in airmiles, $500 discount, Ear Buds ($200 value) for free and spent like $1,300. Then got on a BYOD and have spent way less than my fiance who has an iPhone on the same plan I have, but $20+/month for the phone or something like that.

The big brands (Bellus/Rogers) are now doing like a car lease system kinda. They will front you what your phone will be worth in 2yrs. So if the S23U is worth $1,500 today, and they expect it to have a trade in value in 2025 of $600, they will take $600 off the monthly bill for 2yrs.

($1,500 - $600)/24 = $37.50/month for 24months.

Then at the end of the 24months you either trade your phone in, or you payout $600. For corporate phone people, this isn't such a bad idea. For the average person, this is not what I would want at all lol.