# Bell, Rogers Vs Wind



## MacUnited (Nov 1, 2009)

Hello Folks,
As a part of my new year's resolution, I've been looking at my budget and plugging in all the small holes that keep leaking cash, You won't believe the cash I'm saving btw!!
Anyway, I was looking at wind mobile for a while now and considering the switch looking at their unlimited everything at $30 comparing it to my "great corporate deal" with Bell, 
I have 200 mins, unlimited bell-bell, the usual unlimited evening and weekends, caller id and forwarding, and 6GB for 57+tax

so I put in the number and even including the 300 dollars fee that bell will charge me, I'm still better off from day 1!

The question now, anybody here have any experience good or bad with their iPhones on Wind? how's their LTE speeds? most of my friends are android holders and I don't think it will be the same with iPhone..
Any Feedback is very much appreciated...


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## Dr_AL (Apr 29, 2007)

Wind doesn't have LTE, they only have 3G which I usually get decent speeds.

The main catch is that wind's unlimited service is only when you are in a wind zone (ie on their network) which has limited coverage. Check the coverage maps to see where you are and where you go. Outside of the wind zones you still get service but it is charged at a per minute fee.

Online you can toggle most settings for your account including if you want to turn on and off roaming services. 

The service in Ottawa is pretty good but the AWS frequency bands they use don't penetrate through buildings as well so loosing service even in downtown Ottawa is common in a concrete basement.

Overall I've been happy with their service though.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

No LTE on wind unfortunately. Just 3G.


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## MacUnited (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks for the input.. 
I live in Toronto and the furthest I go is niagara.. So I'm well within the zone.

I stand to save 500 dollars a year for my wife's and my plans.. Suppose the question is, is LTE worth the extra cost?


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

Before I had LTE I'd have said no. I settled with Koodo and get less hosed than I did with Rogers. I'd consider wind but between trips to the cottage and the confusing nature of wind zones provincial vs Canada wide, I'd rather have a simple plan that has me covered everywhere. Apparently, from what I've read on red flag deals, the 3G on wind can be quite slow. You could always just try it and find a backup plan elsewhere to switch to if it doesn't work out? Good luck!


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## Rps (May 2, 2009)

My two cents worth, and I will preface this with I do not have Wind. I, too, was thinking of Wind to save money here in Windsor. I did some research and found that their customer service was clearly inferior to Rogers or Ma Bell. Also the most common complaint was billing within their zones, even though they say it is free, many people I talked to got billed in free zones and it took forever to get resolution. But more importantly, if you own your phone you can bargain with any carrier....it might be cheaper to buy the phone separate from the contract. Also, you might not think LTE is no big deal now but you may find yourself technologically ghettoized if you do not get it. Like buying a computer determine what you want it to, what apps will get the job done, then buy the most technology you can afford.....it is the same with phone carriers. Just saying.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

For what it's worth, I switched to WIND in November after being with Rogers for over a decade. I was tired of playing the cancellation game, and just wanted up-front pricing that was agreeable.

I wasn't happy paying $70 to Rogers, and they staunchly refused to give me any discounts. WIND's pricing is simple (not sure what jawknee found confusing), and I know what my bill will be every month. Data is usually fine for email/browsing, but streaming video can sometimes choke up. Roaming into WIND Away zones (Rogers EDGE) works smoothly, and without issue.

I haven't had any billing issues. I'm pre-paid, with my VISA being debited the monthly amount a few days before due.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

John Clay said:


> For what it's worth, I switched to WIND in November after being with Rogers for over a decade. I was tired of playing the cancellation game, and just wanted up-front pricing that was agreeable.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I agree about dealing with Rogers. Their billing practices are opportunistic at best. 

Perhaps "confusing" is the wrong word. I was just unimpressed with the geo coverage tiers (local, prov, canada) and addons you'd need on top of the base price for the plans I was looking at. I would still consider wind over Rogers, but am really happy with my current service (contract-free)


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

I've been with WIND since early 2010, about a month after they started. I've been very happy. My experience with their customer service has been very good so far--there were some problems in the very early days now, it's been fine. Basements are still a bit of a problem for WIND, but I'm okay with that.

I use a Blackberry (and like it!) and haven't had problems with data speeds. Mind you, I didn't start using data until recently, so I have no basis for comparison.

I live in downtown Toronto and my office is in North York, so I am rarely at fringes of a WIND zone. (Heck, I'm rarely north of the 401.) I go to Vancouver for about 2 weeks out of the year, but I'm on UBC's campus for almost the entire time. Billing errors have never been an issue.

Roaming on WIND is very good--possible even better than regular service since their roaming partners are usually more established. Their US carrier is T-Mobile... have used WIND in Boston, Seattle and San Francisco with no problems. I've also used my WIND phone in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Spain, Croatia) and (for texting) in India, and it's worked very well.


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## jef (Dec 9, 2007)

Switching my family (4 phones) from Rogers to Wind in 2010 was huge. Lowered my monthly bills from $600.00+ (and the occasional Rogers 'surprise') to $120.00 with Wind. 

Best move ever. 

Unlimited data actually means my family and I can use our phones stress free. I used to stress every time one of my kids started texting when we were with Rogers - who would guess your kid could easily type over 1000 texts/month until you get hit with that bill?? 

On cottage/ski weekends, the small roaming/data extra charges are minimal and don't come anywhere close to justifying Bell or Rogers charges. Friendly customer service and now (finally!) iPhones are possible.


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## Dr_AL (Apr 29, 2007)

My iPhone has the wind network chosen manually so it won't even connect to the wind away network. I think what happens with surprised roaming charges is that the device connects to the strongest network and in some cases that might be the Wind Away network which is just Rogers. 

I've actually be happy with the wind 3G speeds in Ottawa. Better than my Koodo 3G speeds that I had before and it's a mobile device do we really need LTE speeds (okay don't answer that cause I'm sure there are lots of people that feel they do). Speed tests of the 3G network come back as fast as my home network which I guess would deem it to be slow but whatever satisfies my needs. 

Unlimited data is great, at 5 GB they will just throttle you which is reasonable so it is still unlimited. And I find network traffic is lower cause at lunch time I get the same speed where as koodo, downtown Ottawa at lunch was painful.

Saved $18/month going to wind and since I brought a device I figured if it sucked I could go back to koodo for the same price that I had her paying. Have no plans on leaving wind and plan on moving the wife over now too.


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## MacUnited (Nov 1, 2009)

Oddly enough I just read that wind has withdrawn from the new spectrum auction.. looks like no hope for LTE anytime soon there.

the only thing that's keep me from trying them out is that I have a pretty good discount with bell, that I probably won't be able to get back and also will cost me $300 to close the contract.. 
so either I get a new number with wind and try it out.. or just wait until my contract expires with bell them i'm free to try whoever.


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