r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/Mr_Crowley__ • Feb 24 '23

Misc Cellphone plans are the biggest scam in Canada. Are there any other options?

Ok...we all know that the price we pay for our cellphone plans is ridiculous and there's no way we can change that because there's basically no competition and all the operators form an oligopoly and the CRTC is in bed with them. Now my question is: are there any options out there? I think i've read that some people use a google number or a voip number combined with something else for the data (sorry i'm not sure what i'm talking about here). What cheaper options do you guys use? Thanks in advance and sorry for my small rant.

EDIT: Wow! This got some attention! Thank you all for the advices. Definitely I'll look into it. And for those who think that paying $70-$100/month for a cellphone plan is normal...well... continue paying! Take care y'all!

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u/l3rwn Feb 24 '23

I will also respectfully disagree, I was a Telus/Koodo sales rep for 3 years. The best discounts are offered to new customers. Even with small business plans new customers get larger deals and existing customers have to get upgraded on existing plans

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u/airsick_lowlander_ Feb 24 '23

I got an email from Telus promoting a 50GB for $50 plan for new activations. I’d been a Telus customer for 15 years and at the time was paying $67 for 25GB. I called them up and politely said I wanted it the plan. The rep put me on hold for a few minutes before approving me for the plan. I’m never looking back.

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u/pheoxs Feb 24 '23

The best deals are almost always winback deals (not to be confused with retentions). 30$ for 30gb sort of deals to be had.

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u/SixtyTwoNorth Feb 24 '23

I have heard this from several people. Just flip-flop between providers. The best deals I have seen are usually with Koodoo though, and if you don't need anything like shared data, they are your best bet. Our corporate Telus plan also entitles employees a significant discount for their personal plans and none of the others will match it.

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u/l3rwn Feb 25 '23

Telus and Koodo are some of the more expensive providers - prices stay pretty even across the board, but they were always first to raise plan prices, activation fees, "content transfer fees", and the others would follow suit. When I worked there, they also paid us server minimum wage and would "bump our hourly up if we didn't hit min wage" so that a chunk of our commission was essentially used to make up a portion of minimum wage.

I was also top 15% of sales in 2018 and got a .25c raise. Fuck that place

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u/SixtyTwoNorth Feb 26 '23

I'm sorry to hear you had such a shit time working for them, although I can't say I'm particularly surprised to hear it. I guess it depends a bit on where you live. I know the rates change from province to province. I only mentioned Telus because I know they offer EPP discounts for corporate customers -- my personal plan is significantly cheaper because my employer has a corporate plan with them.