What phone do you use and with which provider?

[Cocoon]

Hello everyone,

I'm thinking of buying a mobile phone and a plan but don't know which one to go with. Hubby is with Rogers and he and couple of people said Rogers is expensive.

At this point I mainly need to receive calls and send few texts that's all. Basically, I will use it only for business purpose as I have a land line to make personal calls. I've checked Rogers and the cheapest plan without the phone is $25 and with the phone(Blackberry) $35 and if I want a caller ID I need to pay $6 extra. I'm actually very! surprised and annoyed that I need to pay extra to get a caller ID. I never heard that you need to pay extra to get a caller ID! I think phone companies here are just finding reasons to charge more from their customers. Pathetic!

So my question to you all is what provider are you with and what phone do you use? And if you don't mind me asking how much do you pay for your phone contract?

Thanks in advance.
Cocoon

[Inspired by Reggio]

I hear ya - it took me a while to get on the 'cell phone' bandwagon .., but with field trips and outings for business I felt I needed one to call 911 in an emergency and contact parents in an emergency and so forth.

I started with your basic 'free phone' ... it was not a 'smart phone' but it had a camera and music option with it and than I had the bare bones package with Rogers cause we 'bundle' and have our internet and cable with them so the 3rd bundle got us an additional 10% off our bill ... it had unlimited 'incoming' anytime minutes so people could call ME and it did not cost me anything and I had 500 outgoing minutes and long distance was 'extra' cause I did not want a long distance bundle and I would not be using it 'long distance' - it had no texting option or data plan or anything 'extra' but I did upgrade to the add on package that gave me caller ID and Call answer and Call forward so if I was busy parents could leave a message on it - never used the call forward but the 3 came together in the bundle ... I barely used that phone at all it was a glorified MP3 player cause the photos on it were not great quality.

However do not be deceived by the $25 bundle price ... cause by the time you added the HST, the government regulatory fee, and all the other 'charges' and so forth the $25 bare bones cell package with the $8 ID package added cost me $45 and change monthly

This past Xmas I upgraded because they had a friends and family deal going on - I upgraded my old phone to an Iphone for $50 and my spouse got a FREE LG smartphone and my stepson got my old phone ... we each have the MY 10 package which gives us each 10 numbers within Canada that we can call / text calls from unlimited plus free between our three phones and we share 400 daytime minutes for other numbers plus unlimited evening and weekend minutes than we shared 2 GB of data plan for surfing online and so forth.

I did not get any 'service package' with the plan like call answer or ID because with the Smartphones if you program your contact list with the names and numbers of everyone you know it shows you for FREE ... the only time it shows up unknown if it is someone calling who is not in your contact list in which case I generally just do not answer it - if it is someone who KNOWS me they will text me instead

Our contract for the 3 phones with the My 10 package costs us by the time you add the regulatory fees and taxes it costs us $115 a month!

My new phone can now do so much more than it did before which I love

First the photos are high quality and it will take awesome VIDEO as well - so it replaces carrying a camera around for my documentation of the program.

The Iphone easily uploads my music from I Tunes in SECONDS - unlike the old phone which was slow .... so we have a much larger selection of children's music for at the parks and grooving to on walks ... it is way more friendly for creating playlists and so forth so we do not accidentally get some 'adult music'

I can now email photos to clients while we are 'out and about' if desired instead of waiting until nap time and having to upload to the computer and than email them - which is handy specially with a 'newbie' to say 'hey I know you must be missing him so just wanted you to see he is having fun at the park'!

Plus the 'contact list' has more options so that I can store ALL their emergency contact info - parents numbers, child's health card number and Dr, Dentist, Emergency contacts and so forth on the PHONE so I do not have to carry the forms around with me anymore which is a huge convenience.

It was definitely worth the investment ... and I too rarely use the cell phone for personal use - and to be honest my spouse only uses it for 'emergency' calls like I am going to be late do not worry .... we never go anywhere near our 'max' usage of either minutes or data!

[Sandbox Sally]

Rogers sucks, but we are halfway through a 2 year contract with them. It was INSANELY expensive at first, but once we found a plan that works for us, it's fine. We have three smart phones, and with unlimited texting and a good chunk of data, we pay around 260 a month.

I can't say enough about my iPhone. I hated my blackberry. Hated it. I kid you not, I have had an iPhone for 3 years now. There are other large touch screen smart phones, but I haven't met one yet that I love as much as my iPhone.

[Cocoon]

Argg don't get me started on getting charged when receiving calls. Why should I be paying for that? I don't get it. It's like calling overseas but I'm not calling overseas.

I have a phone and it is still active. I mean I can call 911 in an emergency but I won't be able to make/receive calls to parents with that number as I've cancelled my contract and it is not a Canada number.

I just don't wanna pay for stupid stuff! The $25 plan does not include phone and if I want to get a caller ID I need to pay $6 extra plus if i want to listen messages I need to pay for that too. So basic plan will cost me just under $40 and that is without the phone!

Now I'm questioning myself "do I need/want it?" I'm sure I can manage without it.

[Cocoon]

Alphaghetti, for me Iphone is bulky and I heard the battery life isn't great especially if you use all the applications. I need a phone where I don't have to charge everyday and has a good picture quality. I have a SE C902 and I love it. I have been using it for over 3 years maybe even 4 and still working great. It is an excellent phone.

[Lou]

I'm looking for a new phone too! My contract is up in June...right now it's just your basic talk and text phone (I do wayyyy more texting than talking), and I'm looking to upgrade to a smartphone with a data plan for the first time and am weighing my options. I'm not a huge 'app' person, and don't play any games period. So I'm not sure if forking out a ton of $$ for an iphone is right for me, however the itunes option sounds awesome. Right now at the top of my list is the Samsung Galaxy 2 or the Blackberry Bold. It's a tough choice because you have to commit!

[Crayola kiddies]

I have an iPhone and love it ....it's in my picket at all times Unless it's being charged.... I don't play a lot of games on it ..... But I do have sesame street podcasts on it and it a great way to occupy the kids ( my own not daycare) for 6-7 minutes if i need to do something and they are driving me crazy. I do way more texting then talking.....but I do my banking on it ... Check the weather report, read the local paper, check flyers, ect .... I'm with bell and I pay about $60/month but we have it bundled with hone phone, Internet, and hubbys phone.

[Cocoon]

Maybe I should look into bundling. I'm not sure which TV. company we are with but will investigate. I just don't want to pay more then $20 for a basic plan/phone.

Thank you ladies.

[Lou]

For what you're looking for, have you looked into President's Choice pay as you go? You can get a phone right at Loblaws, Superstore etc, and I used to by $15 cards to use for the month.