Help me understand how the new prepaid plans work.

[Dro]

I have been using the $20 autosaver all day plan for the past 3 years. I recently added the $7 UL mobile browsing + the $3 text plan half a year ago. I realized that this is not enough for my usage and that these past few months I had to add more money to my account before the end of the month. So this is like $40 a month

I just went to Rogers' website and saw some new pay as you go plans out there but I am not sure what some of the charges mean.

	Monthly 	Daily 	By The Minute
Plan 	MY5 Prepaid 	Call, Text & Click 	Unlimited Evenings & Weekends 	All Day 	1¢ Evenings & Weekends 	Anytime
Minimum Top-Up1 	$40 	$40 	$20 	$20 	$20 	$10
Recurring charges 	$29.00 monthly2 	$29.00 monthly 3 	$1.00 daily5 	Not Applicable 	Not Applicable 	Not Applicable
Weekday 	Includes
unlimited local talk & text to and from 5 selected numbers on any network

Overage minutes (local calls to non-MY5) at 24¢/minute, SMS at $0.15/ea 	Includes unlimited calling from 3pm - 6pm daily, 24 ¢/minute for all other local minutes

2500 Domestic Text Messages

Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing 	24¢/minute 	20¢/minute for first 5 minutes (of each day)

12¢/ minute for all other minutes (that day) 	31¢/minute 	40¢/minute with $10 monthly credit card charge

32¢/minute with minimum $20 monthly credit card charge
Evenings 	Unlimited calling from 6pm - 8am (Mon-Fri) 	1¢ 8pm-8am (Mon-Fri)
Weekend 	Unlimited calling from 6pm Fri - 8am Mon 	1¢ 8pm Fri-8am Mon

(alright, copy and pasting the table doesn't work properly so here's the link http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wi...10=paygo_rates

The Call, Text & Click plan seems to be what I am looking for. But I am not sure what they mean by minimum top up and recurring charges ($29 monthly). What is the difference between the two, and exactly how much will I end up paying each month? I want to spend no more than $30 per month.

Thanks

[E-POTS]

minimum topup is the minimum amount of money you are required to deposit into the account.

recurring charge is a fee that they remove from your balance every month

[Dro]

So that means every month I only have to pay $29? $40 is only when my account runs out of money and I want to add money to my account? So if I'm using the autosaver only $29 is deducted per month?

Also if I call and change now, when will the new plan become effective?

[bhuachua]

So that means every month I only have to pay $29? $40 is only when my account runs out of money and I want to add money to my account? So if I'm using the autosaver only $29 is deducted per month?

Also if I call and change now, when will the new plan become effective?

$40 (+tax) will be deducted from your credit card every month and $29 would be taken out of your balance every month.

Which means you will have $11 extra balance piling up every month.

If you change your plan online or call customer service, the plan should be effective immediately after you pay the topup amount.

[Dro]

Ok i get it. So i will only have 11 left for voice.

[migo]

Do you particularly expect to be calling a lot between 3PM and 6PM?

If not I'd think getting $10 for 2500 SMS, $7 for UMB at $17 and then out of the $40 you'd otherwise be sinking in, you'd have $23 left over.

I just did a quick comparison between the 1c evening & weekends plan and the unlimited evenings & weekends plan, and aside from the 2 hour earlier start time, to make use of the $20 for the unlimited plan you'd have to do over 2000 evening & weekend minutes on the 1c plan. If you're on autosaver (which you might as well be, given you'd already be sinking $17 into the browser and text plan, you get 31c weekday minutes, which isn't much more over the 24c minutes you'd get on the call text and click plan. Overall I'd expect that combo would stretch your dollar further than going for the whole set. The My5 option would be different though, since you can combine it with a call-back service or a dial through option for $4-$5 to get unlimited calling to any number in Canada for a total of $34/month.

[bubble.tea]

Is it just me or is that a CRAP load of money to be dropping into prepaid???

[E-POTS]

Is it just me or is that a CRAP load of money to be dropping into prepaid???

prepaid isn't the same anymore, it really has become what postpaid is but for people with bad credit who can't get postpaid

[migo]

well, it depends. With Rogers postpaid you're usually stuck in a 3 year contract, 1 year for some of the not so good plans, and only mtm with the right fit plan (and I know the anytime one comes in too, but there's no good reason to go on it with the right fit plan being available). With that you're still paying $12 extra for CID/VM + SAF/911, which adds up to a nice ugly $19.45/month on post paid which gets you exactly nothing over prepaid. Then throw in the $25/month minimum plan, and you're talking $44.45/month. Compare that to the Autosaver All Day Plan at 20c for the first 5 minutes per day and 12c per minute for everything else. You'd get 150 minutes for $30. The next $14.45 at 12c would amount to 120 minutes. Total talk time you can pull off at the same $44.45 (roughly) is 270 minutes - which is actually more than the 250 offered by the Right Fit Plan, and you use much less money if you're going under that.

Prepaid doesn't look that bad when you look at it that way. I was able to do just fine on the Right Fit Plan a while back (minus 1 bad month), and the All Day plan on autosaver amounts to roughly the same, except I save some money for the months I'd only do 100 minutes.

[migo]

I also just did a quick comparison, the Rogers Prepaid options compare favourably with Koodo's $15 and $20 plans (with $12 CID/VM add on). (Similar to Fido and Solo as well).

The only time they start looking really bad is against stuff like the $17.30 Telus Plan with 5PM E/W and CID thrown in for free, but that's on a 3 year contract. Compare against anything that's only on a month to month term you're looking at over $35/month before it really doesn't make sense to go with prepaid, maybe as high as $40/month depending on your usage.

[Dro]

Do you particularly expect to be calling a lot between 3PM and 6PM?

If not I'd think getting $10 for 2500 SMS, $7 for UMB at $17 and then out of the $40 you'd otherwise be sinking in, you'd have $23 left over.

I just did a quick comparison between the 1c evening & weekends plan and the unlimited evenings & weekends plan, and aside from the 2 hour earlier start time, to make use of the $20 for the unlimited plan you'd have to do over 2000 evening & weekend minutes on the 1c plan. If you're on autosaver (which you might as well be, given you'd already be sinking $17 into the browser and text plan, you get 31c weekday minutes, which isn't much more over the 24c minutes you'd get on the call text and click plan. Overall I'd expect that combo would stretch your dollar further than going for the whole set. The My5 option would be different though, since you can combine it with a call-back service or a dial through option for $4-$5 to get unlimited calling to any number in Canada for a total of $34/month.

Thanks

I think it'll just stick to my all day autosaver plan with $7 UL mobile browsing + $3 text (for receiving incoming text. I can text using the web). I guess I'll spend $30/month to top up from now on. I don't want to spend $40/month because with that amount I can just sign a contract and get a subsidized handset.

[bbb90104]

I do the same thing, auto-saver + all day + $7 unlimited data + $3 text. With this, I pay $20/month and have about $10 a month available for voice.

Yes, I use very little minutes.
/Ken

[smuggler]

prepaid isn't the same anymore, it really has become what postpaid is but for people with bad credit who can't get postpaid

That's a sweeping generalisation!

Our/my credit is fine, thank you very much! However, although my wife & I both use our cell phones, the usage is not enough to warrant a plan where we would pay for time which would never be used. Similarly, I use data only occasionally (when I'm not near a hot spot ). Again, text usage is minimal, so no need for a package. I see no point in giving Rogers/Fido money for something we will not use. Pre-Paid balances/minutes roll over with a re-fill of the account.

[g00gler]

For me, the amount that I would be spending on the SAF would exceed the amount of voice that I use most months (autosaver all day plan)
The cheapest normal plan I can find on rogers is Mega Value $25 + 1000 Messaging with 150 daytime minutes and unlim even and weekends starting at 9pm. Add things like VM, CID, etc (which are included on paygo) and thats probably like another $10 or so. So your looking at least $40 for a basic monthly plan. Compare that to the $10 text messaging plan and about $5-10 worth of airtime used a month, there is a considerable difference.

Its not for everybody, but for a lot of users it the most economical solution

[Derfel]

prepaid isn't the same anymore, it really has become what postpaid is but for people with bad credit who can't get postpaid

Not quite.

I'm lucky to use 10 minutes of calling time a month, but I love having "push" email and web browsing (not to mention using Google Maps and GPSed) on my phone.

So I bought a $100 voucher, good for 365 days. Signed up for the $7/month UMB plan. So for $7.50 a month (50c for 911 charge), I get that unlimited "data" on my WM phone I want, and the ability to send a text or make a short call when needed.

Sure beats paying $40+ a month for a contract, doesn't it?