Why does cell phone service cost so much in Canada? I'd heard that we pay among the highest (if not the highest!) fees in the world but figured an expensive country like Australia, with similar geography, would have to come close.
Nope. I purchased a Samsung Galaxy Mini for $100 (approx.) from Virgin Australia. $29.00 later and I had a GB of data and $450 worth of credit to be used for phone calls, text messages, and any overages on data. The next time I topped up my phone (as long as I did so within 28 days), I received (for the same $29), $500 worth of credit. The third time, I will receive $550 worth of credit. International text messages only cost $0.35.
In Canada, for 1GB of data, 200 anytime minutes, 10 free numbers and unlimited texting - more or less an equivalent plan (for me, at least - I don't make many phone calls), I pay $75.00!!!
And don't get me started on unlocking my phone!! I have 6 months left on my contract with Bell. The iPhone itself was actually paid off as of April 4. I called to unlock my phone on the Wednesday before I left (yes, I left it to the last minute - just call me the Queen of Procrastination!!). What I thought should be a fairly simple process - call up Bell, pay the $75.00, they do their magic and voilà! - turned out to be not so simple.
First of all, because I am still under contract, I would have to pay an additional $70 for a total of $145.00 to unlock my paid-for phone.
Secondly, I would have to wait for a call from the Bell's fraud department and they would unlock the phone.
Thirdly, to finish unlocking an iPhone, you need to return your phone to factory settings and then use the backup stored on your computer to restore the phone. (This is to the best of my knowledge.)
Fourth, add in the fact that as of Friday morning, I had yet to receive the promised phone call and this was becoming way more complicated, frustrating, and expensive than it was worth!
But, I thought it would be more convenient to use my own phone with all the information stored on it and not need to carry around an extra device, so I called Bell again to try and hurry the process along, explaining that there was a time crunch. I was promised a call from the appropriate department within 2 hours. . . .
Well, we've all heard that before! No phone call Friday, no phone call Saturday, no phone call Sunday and Sunday evening I was in the air on my way to Melbourne.
I arrived in Melbourne on July 2 and, after checking into my hotel, promptly went in search of a mobile phone store.
The next day, I finally received a text message from Bell asking me to call to finalize the unlocking of my phone - not that I could do anything about it, even if I wanted to because I left my main laptop with the iPhone backup on it at home.
(I should also point out that Rogers only charges $50 to unlock your iPhone, no matter how long you have left on your contract!)
I'll be looking at getting a new phone in December. I think I'll be looking at a new cell phone provider, too.
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