Freedom Mobile, 1.5 GB Data + unlimited talk, text, $19/month

[ssfc72]

The Lindsay Freedom Mobile store has had this Flash Sale for the last week.  The deal is for a 12 month term. 
It is tempting me.  I could go with this wireless provider for the Data and for areas the Freedom doesn't cover I could just use my 711 Speakout phone when necessary and the prepaid service only costs $25/year. My balance with  Speakout is currently around $40.

https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/special-offers

[Jason]

That is a really good deal. I'm paying $20/month for my Freedom plan right now and I get only 100 minutes of calls out to Canada (unlimited in) and 250 GB of data with unlimited Canada/US messaging.

Make sure your phone is compatible before you sign the deal though. Freedom uses a different LTE network than the rest.

[fox]

Wow, that really is good. I would say it's better than my Koodo prepaid, which works out to about $22/month with the non-expiring data and phone boosters I buy. Problem is their coverage is almost entirely urban and largely lacking outside of the major cities of Ontario, Alberta and B.C. I travel a lot and wouldn't switch for that reason.

[ssfc72]

Thanks for the tip about phone compatibility, Jason. I checked my new LG phone on the Link you provided and the LG phone is good to go.

That is a really good deal. I'm paying $20/month for my Freedom plan right now and I get only 100 minutes of calls out to Canada (unlimited in) and 250 GB of data with unlimited Canada/US messaging.

Make sure your phone is compatible before you sign the deal though. Freedom uses a different LTE network than the rest.

[ssfc72]

Yes, the service area of Freedom is somewhat limited. That is why I mentioned the 711 Speakout option. If a person has a second phone, then for $25/year you can get a Speakout prepaid service which uses the Rogers cell network.  As long as you don't make a ton of calls when you are not in Freedom's coverage, then the Speakout service would fill in the gap that Freedom Mobile has.

Wow, that really is good. I would say it's better than my Koodo prepaid, which works out to about $22/month with the non-expiring data and phone boosters I buy. Problem is their coverage is almost entirely urban and largely lacking outside of the major cities of Ontario, Alberta and B.C. I travel a lot and wouldn't switch for that reason.

[Jason]

Although the service area is limited as noted, the roaming cost is only $0.15-$0.25/minutes I believe which is probably what Speakout charges for their minutes. I noticed you said you have 40 minute left so obviously you'd use those first. On my very-limited $20/month plan, it's $0.15 for extra minutes in the Freedom network and outside it for any minutes and I think you still get unlimited inbound calling. That last point I'm not certain about, but it mentions it in my plan and doesn't say it's only the Freedom network.

They also support wifi calling if your phone does which probably isn't that useful but I thought I'd mention it.

[William]

What do you think of www.chatrwireless.com?  Their cheapest "auto-pay" plans is $15/month for 250MB data and 100 Canada-wide talk.

[Jason]

What do you think of www.chatrwireless.com?  Their cheapest "auto-pay" plans is $15/month for 250MB data and 100 Canada-wide talk.

A bit cheaper for me but I think Bill wants the 1.5 GB data. However, there a few problems I see with Chatr, at least they're deal-breakers for me:

   
• Data is at 3G speed - I remember 3G speeds but I don't want to
• Voicemail at $0.40/minute - voicemail should be included in the minutes, who does this?

The higher-tier plans look much more competitive than other providers but still at 3G? Whose network are they using that limits them to 3G? Doesn't every network near urban centres have LTE/4G?

On the other hand, network speed isn't a huge problem for my phone because I have a tablet that has 4 GB/month of data on a $15/month plan. I watch Netflix at the gym, read Pocket and news daily, and have never had it even get close to using it. When I go over my 250 MB on my phone, Freedom throttles my network speed (not sure if it's to 3G speeds) and it's painful, even for fairly basic websites like weather.ca. But still, I don't have to pay anything - I don't think you get that with Chatr, at least not in the lower-tier plans.

[Jason]

Wow, that really is good. I would say it's better than my Koodo prepaid, which works out to about $22/month with the non-expiring data and phone boosters I buy. Problem is their coverage is almost entirely urban and largely lacking outside of the major cities of Ontario, Alberta and B.C. I travel a lot and wouldn't switch for that reason.

I just recently looked at this topic to check out William's comments about Chatr and I just noticed something about Fox's post that I should have commented on. You *can* make and receive phone calls outside of Freedom's network, it just uses a partner's network and costs extra. For example, I'm on a $20/month plan and if I went outside the network, calls would be $0.15/minute. That might be prohibitive depending on how much calling you do outside of Freedom's network, but I just wanted to note that it is something you can do.


I can't speak to USA roaming costs. I'm not sure if it's $0.15/minute or another rate.