Welcome to The Worst Plans On The Planet

[t3xboar]

fyi the urban zone is all of their masked map area. Basically anything written in their city list IS the "urban" zone.

how do i know?

Im on it right now. factual info = best lol.


People get confused because they broke up their urban into 2 areas. montreal area and quebec city area. so starting with those 2 cities as the center point and swing outwards. that is their "urban" zones. it is NOT just 1 city.

I am logged into the system as being in the montreal urban, and i can travel (and i do actually) from tip to tip north to south of the listed masked cities and still be in the videotron (not partener) 3g. If i decide to go to quebec city then i call 611 and ahve them system swap my urban to quebec city zoning and i can travel from tip to tip masked around there and not cause roaming/long distance. and you are allowed to do this 80 times a day if you want.


So as stated before, you get slaughtered a bit for the price due to their boneheaded move to pay more for the spec, yes you are right... but in all honesty ive had not a single problem, dropped call, speed drop, zone issue since they opened. ive even tethered on the move using a program to try and break the 3g downloading speed using a capped torrent to see and it was literally unthrottled full speed for the entire time - while driving - across cities lol. (from south shore to st. therese)

so IMO my 48 bucks with tax a month is well worth it for the abuse i put on my plan. alaways calling, literally 100+ texts a day and decent net usage... with no hiccups. all in all time = money, and so far it's the golden pig. depends on how you want to look at it in the end.

would i like a cheaper price? sure! but common. it's not as horrid as people make it out to be.

[t3xboar]

double post weee =P

--

just noticed they added to their urban's now.

Montréal : Québec : Sherbrooke : Mauricie

you can hot swap from any one of these by calling in and having them edit your account(as many times as you want btw) . anything INSIDE that zone (the cities listed when you click on it) is included, by default, to your urban zoning.

example. if i am in montreal, traveling down to sherbrooke then up to quebec. once i hit the outer reaches of the montreal zoning, i call 611 to swap to sherbrooke, keep driving, call again on it's outer limit to swap to the quebec zone. doing it like this i incur 0 charges for roaming/long distance on any phone calls i place within that zone to the zone.

where as if i leave my zone as montreal or sherbrooke, and once in the quebec zone place a call to a person in quebec city, long distance will apply type thing.

It's a tad confusing the way they did it i admit, but if you take 2min to fully understand how it's setup it's fine. as most people wont be leaving their huge zones very often at all.

[brightlight]

UPDATE: Bell just announced that FibeTV was up and running in my area in Montreal. I transferred from Videotron, and it is insanely fast and comes with amazing features. It makes Videotron look like a Neanderthal in comparison. The resolution is mindblowing. Internet speed is actually working at 26mb/7.5mb.

Sucks that Bell still hasn't developed better mobile plans in Quebec though. The best so far is still Fido. I wish we had access to Wind and Mobilicity!

[brightlight]

Most of the plans in the original post have changed drastically- as Fido/Rogers/Public Mobile/Chatr have come out with competitive offerings that blow Videotron out of the water. (The best plans are unlisted and not advertised.) Unfortunately I can't figure out how to update the post.

If anyone here is looking for a mobile plan with specific needs, please post it here and I will advise how to get the absolute cheapest deal. You'll probably be surprised at how much money you'll save.

[LazyHack]

Alright, here's what I am looking for:

250 min anytime
At least 50 texts included (unlimited a plus, but not necessary, I only want to not get charged when somebody's finger slips or my buddy comes to town from Ontario)
Caller ID, voice messaging
1 Gb data, tethering permitted
Location: Quebec city
Short contract (less than 3 years, ideally none at all)
and I don't care if I have to pay for the phone.

I saw Rogers' MY10-Canada-wide-Messaging-Data for 58$ but My10 is pretty much useless if I have unlimited nights. Anyway, my monthly usage is under 250 mins every month, including nights and weekends.

What do you suggest?

[brightlight]

Alright, here's what I am looking for:

250 min anytime
At least 50 texts included (unlimited a plus, but not necessary, I only want to not get charged when somebody's finger slips or my buddy comes to town from Ontario)
Caller ID, voice messaging
1 Gb data, tethering permitted
Location: Quebec city
Short contract (less than 3 years, ideally none at all)
and I don't care if I have to pay for the phone.

What do you suggest?

The best plans in Quebec are Fido's unpublished Retention plans- so the trick is to become eligible for them. Can you survive without the data for 3 months? If so, then do this:

1. Call Fido and get this:

$30: 2000 minutes, UL international txts
$10: Value Pack (CID/VM)

You can add a data option for 1gb for $30, but it is kind of expensive - as it will bring up your temporary plan cost to $70.

2. After three months, call to cancel. You will speak to Retention. (Retention plans are only available to customers who have been with Fido for at least three months.) Say that you are not happy with the pricing and would like to cancel.

At this point you can get access to Retention plans. This is what you can negotiate:

Choice #1:
$35 Retention Plan: 4000 outgoing min. (zoned); unlimited incoming; F2F/R; 50 Cdn/US SMS; CID.
-$10: monthly credit on voice plan
$0: throw in free voicemail
$10: Retention Flex Data ($10 <100MB; $15 100-150MB; $20 150-500 MB; $25 500-1GB).

Total: $35 (I have this plan on one of my lines) The same plan would cost you $62 on Videotron and would require you to have 3 other services with them.

Choice #2:

$17.50 Retention Plan: 200 Daytime; unlimited E+W@5pm-8am (includes a $7 credit)
$10 Retention VP: CID/VM/2500txt
-$10 credit for VP
$10 Retention Flex Data

Total: $27.50

It's too bad you're in Quebec City- Chatr Wireless (Rogers network) has an unlimited all-inclusive plan for $15 for the first six months (no data yet- but it's coming!)

Newer and better plans keep popping up, so the best idea is to check here when your 3 months is almost up: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/fido-.../#post10978753 or you can write here for my input.

[t3xboar]

Honestly, any plan with minutes on it now days is just a scam.

If it isnt already unlimited, why bother jumping through hoops. its the new standard. the faster companies wake up to this, the easier the pain will be for everyone.

you going to signup for anything else other than unlimited just makes them keep selling the plans. im all for any company (not just videotron) offering unlimited. dont care as long as its true. so far its the data that is slaughtering everyone though.

it doesnt cost 60$ a month for 1 gb of data. wth were they smoking.

[LazyHack]

Retention "deals" are not interesting for me for 2 good reasons:
1) the deal may or may not exist in three months, or for that matter tomorrow
2) I never seem to get anything when I call to negociate (and no, I am not a pushover or abusive)

t3xboar, I agree. Part of the reason I don't want a contract is to remain able to jump if the competition becomes better. Also, "take it and shove it, you're on contract" is the attitude regarding changes and bogus new fees.

Data is the new SMS: an easy way to get free profit. In the US, unlimited data is coming of age, while here we get to pay fortunes to go over 1Gb.

[brightlight]

Honestly, any plan with minutes on it now days is just a scam

This is not necessarily true. 4000 outgoing min. (zoned); unlimited incoming; F2F/R; etc is essentially the equivalent to unlimited local. The reason why they market it is because Fido/Rogers mgmt have barred retention credits on unlimited plans across Canada. However, because of the different competitive climate in Quebec, they introduced a plan with an obscene amount of minutes- and because it is technically not unlimited, they can discount it like mad.

Check out my signature for a plan I negotiated just last week- no contract.

You have to keep things in context. Quebec is a completely different market than Ontario. There is no Wind or Mobilicity here and no competition on the unlimited data side. Videotron paid $555 million to control the entire spectrum for Quebec alone and block out Wind/Mobilicity. Wind paid the same amount to get the spectrum for all the other eleven provinces! Videotron needs to recoup their investment and it's never going to happen if they lower their prices.

Retention "deals" are not interesting for me for 2 good reasons:
1) the deal may or may not exist in three months, or for that matter tomorrow
2) I never seem to get anything when I call to negociate (and no, I am not a pushover or abusive)

t3xboar, I agree. Part of the reason I don't want a contract is to remain able to jump if the competition becomes better. Also, "take it and shove it, you're on contract" is the attitude regarding changes and bogus new fees.

Data is the new SMS: an easy way to get free profit. In the US, unlimited data is coming of age, while here we get to pay fortunes to go over 1Gb.

Confused here- are you talking about Videotron retention? Retention deals for Videtron, Telus and Bell are almost non-existent --I've tried and I'm one of the best negotiators I know. Whenever anyone talks about retention deals, they are talking about Fido/Rogers. Check out the retention threads for each of the providers in HF- and you will understand how drastically the retention deals differ. I've been following them for the last 5 years.

These days with Fido/Rogers, it shouldn't make a difference to you whether a specific deal may or may not exist in 3 months. Retention deals generally get better over time- especially in this competitive climate. Whatever you get will be exponentially better than anything else you will get outside of retention.

As for data, the best I've seen in Quebec is $15-$20 for 6gb. They've stopped issuing retention credits on the $30/6gb plan, but they always come back whenever a new iphone or blackberry comes out...

[t3xboar]

dude really? 4k minutes is high for you? lol...

I use my phone for everything. buisness included. anytime anywhere i need it. regardless of day/night/weekend etc. my billing says im busting the 7k minutes a month range. so that means yeah... i jump through hoops for 3 months, pay 3k minute overchagres on my bill until i can renegotiate...yeah. sounds awesome.


I'm not retarded and can see where you are coming from when saying 4k is nearly unlimited. to half the population they wont even tickle that. But you know that the only reason they put a "high" number on the sheet is to have a fallback on someone leaving their phone on 24/7 etc..

In the end, I'll stick by my original statement. any plan now days that has minutes, is a scam and a money grab. the bar has been set at unlimited minutes - there is no other compromise. Now data... that leaves a lot to be desired... but most good phones have wifi now days so that generally mitigates the pain of out-the-***-data-charges.

[brightlight]

dude really? 4k minutes is high for you? lol...

I use my phone for everything. buisness included. anytime anywhere i need it. regardless of day/night/weekend etc. my billing says im busting the 7k minutes a month range. so that means yeah... i jump through hoops for 3 months, pay 3k minute overchagres on my bill until i can renegotiate...yeah. sounds awesome.

Dude...you are a cellular demon . I hope you use a Bluetooth headset with that amount of use. Safer on the brain...

Does your example include incoming AND outgoing? Just to clarify the plan i got for $25 was: 4000 min outgoing, UNLIMITED incoming, UNLIMITED F2F, UNLIMITED F2R, CID/VM, 50sms, 3000 call forwarding minutes. If that isn't the closest thing to unlimited minutes without being called "unlimited", i don't know what is. But...as you are a superuser, you could just get the unlimited city fido instead.

You don't have to jump through huge hoops to become eligible for Retention. You can easily register for the unlimited city fido instead for 3 months or get a $10-$15 plan and not use it for 3 months. To be honest, that's what i did (the $10x3).

What you're saying about unlimited makes sense, but CONTEXT is important. You can get unlimited at many providers in Quebec, but PRICE is the defining issue. Videotron has unlimited plans, but they cost much more than any other provider. Even their bundle rates are higher than no-contract rates elsewhere.

[brightlight]

Has anyone gotten the new winback offers from Bell to Videotron clients? They are up to 40% cheaper than Videotron prices, and it is incredible what you get. Their new Fibe system is lightyears ahead of Videotron, easier and lightning fast interface, you can get movies on demand and forward and rewind. No lags, no system reboots, no damn illico. The interface is absolutely gorgeous!

I'm just curious about how Videotron will survive...

[CDN Insider]

Did any one notice Videotron is claiming 4G HSPA+ service eveywhere including Ontario even when they are really roaming on the Rogers 3GPP / 2G network. It's all smoke and mirrors on thier part by requesting all hardware vendors to change thier 3G icon to only show 4G on all the 4G capable devices they sell.

[cmstlist]

Well, some of their devices (not all) *can* access Rogers HSPA+ even if it comes out to roaming.

Also, Videotron does own spectrum in southern Ontario, although I doubt they have deployed it.