# Best/Most Affordable iPhone plan?



## sabineandme (Dec 2, 2010)

So, I'm thinking of finally getting an iPhone but I'm not sure which carrier to go with and trying to sift through all the companies' websites is both stressful and confusing.

I'm looking for the most affordable plan that would include unlimited texting, voicemail and caller ID.

What is your plan/how much does it cost?

Oh, and I'm based in Toronto.

Thanks for reading!


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## andreww (Nov 20, 2002)

The biggest piece of the cost of an iPhome plan is generally the data plan, which you are forced to take to qualify for a subsidized phone. You first must decide how much data you will require. Underestimating your usage is very expensive (overages), an over estimating is just as costly (paying for unused data. Once you understand that, know that carriers will promote expensive stock plans, but if pushed, they generally have cheaper options available.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

The best/most affordable plans are going to be retentions plans.

I'm paying $45/month (taxes in) for:

200 weekday/unlimited evenings and weekends from 6PM
Caller ID, Voicemail and 2500 texts
6GB data


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## The G3 Man (Oct 7, 2008)

65$ a month

500 Minutes,
Unlimited Texting
6GB Data
Free after 6/weekends
My5

This is on ROGERS.


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## shazi (Dec 3, 2010)

John Clay said:


> The best/most affordable plans are going to be retentions plans.
> 
> I'm paying $45/month (taxes in) for:
> 
> ...


is it on AT&T . what of gprs charges ?


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## TheBat (Feb 11, 2005)

John Clay said:


> I'm paying $45/month (taxes in) for:
> 
> 200 weekday/unlimited evenings and weekends from 6PM
> Caller ID, Voicemail and 2500 texts
> 6GB data


With which carrier?


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## daniels (Jul 27, 2009)

John Clay said:


> The best/most affordable plans are going to be retentions plans.
> 
> I'm paying $45/month (taxes in) for:
> 
> ...


nice who are u with??


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## DavidH (Jan 4, 2009)

Both Bell and Telus are offering new Student FAB10 Plans at $55/month

200 Voice Minutes Weekday, Unlimited evenings & weekends from 6PM, Unlimited Text and Voice to 10 People "Nationally", and 1 GB Data

DavidH


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## turbomac (Mar 31, 2010)

The G3 Man said:


> 65$ a month
> 
> 500 Minutes,
> Unlimited Texting
> ...


What? How yall get this plan? My wife and I are on a family plan....400 mins and only 1 gb of shared data?


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## a7mc (Dec 30, 2002)

The real tricky part with the retentions plans is getting VISUAL voicemail. You can get a really cheap plan (like John Clay's) if you don't mind the regular voicemail.

My plan on Rogers is $50 a month for 200 Minutes, Unlimited Text and MMS, 500MB Data, Free after 6/weekends, Caller ID, and Visual Voicemail.

A7


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

DavidH said:


> Both Bell and Telus are offering new Student FAB10 Plans at $55/month
> 
> 200 Voice Minutes Weekday, Unlimited evenings & weekends from 6PM, Unlimited Text and Voice to 10 People "Nationally", and 1 GB Data
> 
> DavidH


You didn't mention it, but Telus' includes unlimited texting across the board as well. Bell's may as well - not sure.

If you can't get the student deal or a retentions plan, the regular Telus plans are still quite decent. And until December 31st, all new activations include 6pm evenings. The $50 plan gets you 300mins and 500mb. The $60 ups that to 350mins and 1gb,


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## SD-B (Oct 28, 2009)

Hmmmmm............sounds as if i am paying WAYYYYYYYYY to much on Rogers for mine then, correct?

I pay $80 a month which is really $99.10 per month

I get 700 fee mins per months and unlimited nights and weekends
( great plan but I never use 1/4 of the minutes so dont really need it but too old a plan to change now )
thats about $40 

Then I pay another $40 iPhone Data Value Pack which includes unlimited text, visual voice mail ( which i could care less about )
unlimted mms
umlimited this and that
( unfortunately they put me down on a 3 year plan for that data package without even telling me )


IF i could get it down to a more reasonable $45-$65 a month for both together, Id switch.......

I am with Rogers and i only have, I think it is 500mb data


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## Phat Bastard (Jan 3, 2003)

You guys need to read this thread at Redflagdeals. Lots of tips on how to negotiate with Rogers retentions for a good plan, and it's ALL about dealing with retentions.

Bell and Telus also have retentions departments.

Btw my massively negotiated iPhone plan on Rogers is:
250 minutes
My5 local
Unlimited evenings @ 6 + weekends
2500 texts, regular voicemail, call display
100 free long distance minutes
6 GB data
...$36.65 all in.


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## The G3 Man (Oct 7, 2008)

turbomac said:


> What? How yall get this plan? My wife and I are on a family plan....400 mins and only 1 gb of shared data?


Old plan. Had it for a long time + the fact it's on a small business plan.

-Morgan


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## Andrew Pratt (Feb 16, 2007)

I got on the float rate data plan with Fido so i only pay $10 a month for the first 100 meg and then it jumps to $15 and 20 etc if i use more...which i rarely do since I'm in wi-fi at home and work most of my days. That combined with a simple voice plan and value pack means my total bill is typically $60ish


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Phat Bastard said:


> You guys need to read this thread at Redflagdeals. Lots of tips on how to negotiate with Rogers retentions for a good plan, and it's ALL about dealing with retentions.
> 
> Bell and Telus also have retentions departments.
> 
> ...


Now that's impressive. How long did that take you?


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## Phat Bastard (Jan 3, 2003)

John Clay said:


> Now that's impressive. How long did that take you?


A while! First negotiation was January 2010, last one was August 2010. About 15 calls I'd say. Considering my plan started from about $80, saving almost $500 a year made it worth it.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

SD-B said:


> Hmmmmm............sounds as if i am paying WAYYYYYYYYY to much on Rogers for mine then, correct?



If you're paying retail price for any cell service, you're paying far too much.


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## SD-B (Oct 28, 2009)

John Clay said:


> If you're paying retail price for any cell service, you're paying far too much.




Any tips you wish to give me i am all ears 

if i am already signed, i cant imagine how they are going to lower my rates for m?


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## SD-B (Oct 28, 2009)

Phat Bastard said:


> A while! First negotiation was January 2010, last one was August 2010. About 15 calls I'd say. Considering my plan started from about $80, saving almost $500 a year made it worth it.




I am with Rogers and I wold be really interested in hearing HOW you did that, along the lines of what stories did you give them in order to have it lowered.
Even if you dont wish to place that information here on a page, Id love to know, by PM, cuz i am paying $99 and i barely even use the phone so its a lot of money and if i could lower it id be extremely happy


its one thing for people to say, go deal with retentions, but what does one say to them?
those are the hints i need



/scadaddles off to read that thread u posted


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Half of it is just asking for a discount, and the other half is how long you've been with them, and how persuasive you are. I've had a Rogers account for 10 years now, which really helps with negotiations.


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## Corbeau (Apr 25, 2008)

DavidH said:


> Both Bell and Telus are offering new Student FAB10 Plans at $55/month
> 
> 200 Voice Minutes Weekday, Unlimited evenings & weekends from 6PM, Unlimited Text and Voice to 10 People "Nationally", and 1 GB Data
> 
> DavidH


That's the Bell plan I have on the iPhone4 I got for Christmas. (a gift from me to me...)
You forgot to add free social networking on FB, Twitter, a big plus for me. As far as I can see, web pages loaded through a FB or Twitter link don't count as data usage.

OK, it's missing voice mail and caller ID, but I can do w/o that feature and that gimmick, respectively.


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## edmondk (Jul 14, 2008)

*student plan plus palm pre discount*

I have the student plan with Bell but it only has 500mb of data so its $50 dollars instead of $55. I signed up for a palm pre in the summer. They were giving away palm pres and giving a $15 discount on the monthly plan for the 3 year contract. I used the Pre for a little while. WebOS is nice in many ways but the Pre was terrible. I had to send it off for repairs two weeks after getting it as did my wife with hers. she needs hers repaired again because the screen is cracking. 
I decided to buy an iphone off of Kijiji. When I switched the phones the rep. kept my discount so now my monthly plan for an iphone is $35. the only downside is that I don't have voicemail or caller ID. I will add it eventually but see if I can negotiate 1 gig of data when I do.


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## daniels (Jul 27, 2009)

edmondk said:


> I have the student plan with Bell but it only has 500mb of data so its $50 dollars instead of $55. I signed up for a palm pre in the summer. They were giving away palm pres and giving a $15 discount on the monthly plan for the 3 year contract. I used the Pre for a little while. WebOS is nice in many ways but the Pre was terrible. I had to send it off for repairs two weeks after getting it as did my wife with hers. she needs hers repaired again because the screen is cracking.
> I decided to buy an iphone off of Kijiji. When I switched the phones the rep. kept my discount so now my monthly plan for an iphone is $35. the only downside is that I don't have voicemail or caller ID. I will add it eventually but see if I can negotiate 1 gig of data when I do.


wow thats a really good deal!


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## da_jonesy (Jun 26, 2003)

I recently signed up for a retention plan on Fido, 3 year contract

Unlimited minutes in Canada
Unlimited Long Distance in Canada and to the US
Unlimited Texting in Canada and to the US
Voicemail
Call Display
6GB of Data

All in for $80

I think that is a great deal. The only issue is that Fido has no options for roaming in the US or abroad that won't hose you.


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## Rounder (Aug 9, 2008)

da_jonesy said:


> I recently signed up for a retention plan on Fido, 3 year contract
> 
> Unlimited minutes in Canada
> Unlimited Long Distance in Canada and to the US
> ...


Not a bad plan if you do extensive talking. 

I'm not too keen on startup iPhone plans as I find they are all costly. I've been fortunate enough to negotiate my deal with retentions. While it did take a few months to get everything I wanted, I'm definitely pleased with the deal I have.

200 Weekday + Unl Eve/Weekends @ 6pm
100 LD Minutes
6GB Data
2500 Txt/Unl Incoming
Call Display / Voicemail

and I pay 37.50 plus tax = $43 bucks


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## Elric (Jul 30, 2005)

The G3 Man said:


> 65$ a month
> 
> 500 Minutes,
> Unlimited Texting
> ...


This is the same as mine but only 200 minutes add Rogers Network calling (Cell and Landlines are "free") and that 6GB is shared between my phone and iPad.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

> Smartphone Combo
> $55/MO
> Limited Time Offer: Evening calling starting at 6pm
> 200 anytime minutes
> ...


This is the plan I was supposed to be getting from Virgin Canada and my new iPhone 4
But then they told me that it didn't exist and yet it does

It's on their website


(Edited out the website address)

I've sent in a complaint to Virgin about it.

They did a "Bait and Switch" on me and I was forced to get another plan with less features.

I'm definitely not happy today, But I do intend to pursue this.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

dolawren said:


> This is the plan I was supposed to be getting from Virgin Canada and my new iPhone 4
> But then they told me that it didn't exist and yet it does
> 
> It's on their website:
> ...


Just got an email reply, Now they are saying that that is a student plan,
Does anyone see "Student Plan" in that link to the Virgin Website?

I must be going mad, Cause, I just can't see that.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Just got another email from Virgin, They are giving me the plan I wanted,
Seems that the screenshot I sent them cleared up the problem and I was right.

So, Sorry guys, I had to edit my previous posts,
Virgin came through for me, So I thought I should be a nice guy and edit my posts.

Their webmaster is going to change the plan that I found,
Apparently, Even Virgin couldn't find it until I sent them a screenshot and the url.


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## molasses (Dec 12, 2009)

I have 2:

$55 Smartphone Student Plan
MY10 Canada 
300 daytime (200+100 bonus)
6pm Unlimited Eve/Wknd Minutes
1000 CDN LD
Unlimited Incoming Calls
Unltd Network Calling + LD
500MB Data
Ret VP 
Network Features
Call manager
$53.77 all in


$35 MY10 Canada
250 daytime (150+100 bonus)
6pm evenings/weekends
1000 CDN LD
Unlimited Incoming Calls
Unltd Network Calling + LD
Unlimited Extreme SMS+MMS+Video Messaging+IM
Unlimited MobileMail Email
CID+EVM
6gb Data
Network Features
Call manager/WhoCalled
$65-ish


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## The Great Waka (Nov 26, 2002)

I'm planning on picking up an iPhone 4 in the near future, as my contract with Telus is up in February. This will be my first time with a data plan, but I'm pretty happy with my voice plan as it is:

Unlimited incoming
200 mins day
Unlimited eve/weekends (I think? Never ran into a cap)
Fav 5
250 texts
Voicemail
Caller ID

Which is costing my $40 + fees and tax = $53 / month. 

I'm quite happy with that, and I just want to tack on maybe 1GB of data, but not at list prices.

Thing is, I don't want to sign another contract (not sure if I'll be here for another 3 years), and I'm buying the iPhone unlocked from Apple. Any thoughts on if I can get a discount, considering I won't really be talking to L&R without another contract?


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