What is so bad about a 3 year contract?

[bmw_xperience]

What is so bad about a 3 year contract with the only GSM service provider in Canada?

This is one that I do not get, ppl complaining about a 3 year contract... I mean who would you flock to for your gsm service.

For me I would always stick with rogers cuz of their wide network coverage, I use em cuz I do some traveling from time to time

so what are your thoughts esp. ppl who thinks it is so bad

[aznangel]

i agree with you on the fact that we will be stuck on rogers/fido no matter what since they are the only gsm providers

but regarding 3 yr contract...
not everybody likes to be tied down with the same plan for 3 years...

prices for technology will always be going down as new things come down...
so its just nice to be flexible with what you can get and such

[bmw_xperience]

but ppl can and have already negotiated better deals while they are on a contract thru Roger's retention dept.

[aznangel]

that is a YMMV thing (lol you may end up cancelling your contract by accident xD)

many people would rather have the option of month to month payments instead of being tied down by a yearly contract

i know for a fact that month by month was great for me back in high school especially when i had a vacation in hk for a month or two

[spol]

Next time why don't you asks for a 4 years contract if you love signing the 3 years so much?

[thecharlie]

plans can be changed and negotiated throughout the 3-year contract. There's no worries about that. The contract only states that you need to stay with Rogers for your wireless services for 3 years. The only thing you should be concerned about is the upcoming GSM band auction, where a few US carriers may be entering Canadian borders. They will definitely be bringing more competitive rates.

[Paolo]

AMEN Brother, who says you need to keep the SAME RATE PLAN durring the 3-years contract length? you can easily change to a cheaper plan if u must, also, telis does this too, but they limit the number of price plan changes to 2 per year, way to go Mr. Telus. The future IS very friendly.

[Tijuana]

I would stay with rogers forever, I just dont like hearing contract. It is always in the back of my mind.

[smithfan]

What is so bad about a 3 year contract with the only GSM service provider in Canada?

This is one that I do not get, ppl complaining about a 3 year contract... I mean who would you flock to for your gsm service.

For me I would always stick with rogers cuz of their wide network coverage, I use em cuz I do some traveling from time to time

so what are your thoughts esp. ppl who thinks it is so bad

I dont get people who sign a 3 year contract and complain about others who wont. Whats so bad about wanting a CHOICE?

Like you said, the iphone can only be used with rogers so with that in mind, unless rogers service\billing\customer service etc, really BLOWS why would they insist I sign a 3 year contract? Why not take my $600 bucks for the phone and let me go month to month? Why not offer a more competitively priced data plan? Like the often talked about 3 gigs for 15 bucks?
The only "vote" you have with a private company is your wallet. Ill just get the touch diamond and stick with telus. Haven t had any problems with them yet.

Id rather a company earn my loyalty then demand it.

[TraxApparel]

Next time why don't you asks for a 4 years contract if you love signing the 3 years so much?


LOL HAHAHAHAHAHA, GOOD ONE!

[bmw_xperience]

Next time why don't you asks for a 4 years contract if you love signing the 3 years so much?

ummm cuz they don't have one

[kaiblu]

The contract only states that you need to stay with Rogers for your wireless services for 3 years.

If that's the case, why can't I switch to prepaid? Why the insane $400 cancellation fee? Why do they make you renew your contract everytime you switch phones or provinces? All this to save $200 on a phone that'll be outdated in a month?

3 years is a monopolistic practice, make no mistakes about that. It's about time the CRTC and our elected legislature come to their senses.

[gman]

What is so bad about a 3 year contract with the only GSM service provider in Canada?

This is one that I do not get, ppl complaining about a 3 year contract... I mean who would you flock to for your gsm service.

For me I would always stick with rogers cuz of their wide network coverage, I use em cuz I do some traveling from time to time

so what are your thoughts esp. ppl who thinks it is so bad

It is not bad to have a 3 year contract if the contract is really really good. If the contract is like $10 for unlimited everything, I will do that for 10 years. However, usually this is not case.

Without a contract (or end of contract) gives you weapon to negotiate a better contract. You can use just other non-GSM vendors as bargaining chip although you will never switch to non-GSM. The longer you stay in a contract, the less often you have bargaining power.

If your current deal is way better than anyone can provide up GSM or not, I don't see a problem to have a long term contract and the keyword is 'way better'.

Of course, if you plan to move out of country and you think you can't live that long or you think you won't need a cell for the near future or you think someone such as your company will give you a free phone in the future or whatever reason you think you may not able to stay for 3 year, this kind of long term contract does not fit you well.

[Salinger]

ummm cuz they don't have one

...but you think if you went to them and asked to sign a 4 year contract they wouldn't?????!!

[Coolme]

What is so bad about a 3 year contract with the only GSM service provider in Canada?

[sarcastic rant]Now that you mention it, what's so bad about a dictatorship in Canada? Didn't Stalin's 5 year plans turned the USSR around on a dime? It's not like we'd have to waste time to vote any more. [/sarcastic rant]

People want choices, people don't like to chain their balls to anything for any extended period of time.

[Getripped]

3 year contract isnt that bad, but sometimes u get bored with the phones, this why i went gsm so i can get new phones every couple of months.

[dairymandip]

3 year contract is nothing to me, ive had a 3 year contract with bell a year in got sick of them jus tpaid 400 and cancel now im with fido been 3 years and reupped for another 3 for the iphone maybe in a year i get sick of them ill just ocugh up the 400 and move on

[flexwong]

for someone like me, i didn't mind signing a 3 year deal at the start of university b/c i knew i was going to be using my phone for the next 3 years and ill be staying up as well. however, with my contract running up, i will be hesitant to sign another 3 year deal b/c i don't know where i am going for grad school. if i decide to leave the country, i don't want to be held back by a 3 year deal and then have to cough up $400 for ECF.

i need to call fido at the end of this year and convince them to extend my $10 monthly contract by one more year. i hope they do that.

[zero_2003]

Here's a question for you, OP: What is so good about a 3 year contract?

[Keas]

long term contracts bother the hell out of me and i hate even sighning anything for a year. i do not know where i will be 3 years down the road.

will i move out of the area? will i lose my income? will the company start to suck and the service suffer horribly?

it sucks that 3 years have become the norm for contracts not only on cell phones but on tv and other services.

[zero_2003]

Imagine a service provider in Hong Kong selling 3 year contracts. LOL. GG.

[pgfreak]

Here's a question for you, OP: What is so good about a 3 year contract?

Discounts on phones and huge lee-way to negotiate the rate plans.

[minilarkie]

Just lock it 3 years. There's no 2nd choice for GSM carrier anyways.

[dairymandip]

long term contracts bother the hell out of me and i hate even sighning anything for a year. i do not know where i will be 3 years down the road.

will i move out of the area? will i lose my income? will the company start to suck and the service suffer horribly?

it sucks that 3 years have become the norm for contracts not only on cell phones but on tv and other services.

then you just pay the 400

[Majoram]

What is so bad about a 3 year contract with the only GSM service provider in Canada?

This is one that I do not get, ppl complaining about a 3 year contract... I mean who would you flock to for your gsm service.

For me I would always stick with rogers cuz of their wide network coverage, I use em cuz I do some traveling from time to time

so what are your thoughts esp. ppl who thinks it is so bad

1) The main point of a contract is to lock you in and thus limit your choice.
There is no other purpose. It could be good if you got a good price or bad if you didn't know better.

If you think there is a benefit there, please prove me wrong :)
But I think any point you come up with will always be countered by a Company's motive to limit your choice to them only.

2) Look at all the "Developed" countries with the oldest mobile technologies and the ones with the most advanced tech and most choice.

Which ones offer 3 year contracts and are the most advanced??

3) Yes you can change your plan within a contract but again it comes back to the company deciding if you deserve it or not.
You "THINK" that you have choices and you can get a better plan later on but it's only what they choose for you.

If I tell you that you can only paint your house bright red or dark red.
Is that you choosing the colour of your house?

Once you are in a contract, you can't force a company to compete and that leads to stagnation. It's not like Rogers or Bell is on the verge of Bankruptcy and they need the money. They can afford the competition, they just don't want to.

4) What happens when you sign a 3 year contract and you move somewhere where Rogers service is horrible?
What if you see a phone you like but Rogers doesn't offer it?
What if you got laid off/health emergency/financial loss and can't afford a cellphone anymore? You really think Rogers will care enough to just let you go?

There are more negative reasons for a contract than positive.
Only positive ones I can think of are:
- Locked in price
- Stability
And even those two are countered by the Terms of Service which state they can change the price at any time. Even though you are on a contract.

[shipill]

Here's a question for you, OP: do you work for rogers?

[pgfreak]

They want you to sign a 3 year deal so you can pretty much negotiate the contract exactly how you like with more stuff than you need anyway so you wont need to change it later on.

[Coolme]

for someone like me, i didn't mind signing a 3 year deal at the start of university b/c i knew i was going to be using my phone for the next 3 years and ill be staying up as well. however, with my contract running up, i will be hesitant to sign another 3 year deal b/c i don't know where i am going for grad school. if i decide to leave the country, i don't want to be held back by a 3 year deal and then have to cough up $400 for ECF.

i need to call fido at the end of this year and convince them to extend my $10 monthly contract by one more year. i hope they do that.

After your contract ends, you can still keep your plan and pay by the month. There will be no ECF charge should you decide to stop the service. People usually resign their contracts to purchase a new subsidized phone.

[gman]

After your contract ends, you can still keep your plan and pay by the month. There will be no ECF charge should you decide to stop the service. People usually resign their contracts to purchase a new subsidized phone.

Not exactly. There is a bonus portion of the contract. That is you only get that if you are in contract. For example, bonus minutes.

When I was in contract, I had 100 extra day time bonus minutes (total 200 minutes) and 1000 minutes to call between family cell phone (I have a family plan).

After the contract ended 2 years ago and I did not resign and left the plan as is. I loss that 100 bonus minutes and has 500 minutes to call between family cell phone.

[dre145]

I have 20 bucks in monthly credits that i will lose when my contract ends not to mention the fact that Imight not even be able to get the same kind of plan when i need to resign.

And the people that cancel their phones when their contract ends and then resign just to get a phone as a new customer are stupid.
They are giving up their phoen number, their account history(rep) just to save a few bucks on the phone...
You can most likely get the same price for the phone from the retentions dept and at the same time renegotiate an amazing plan which will save you from $5-$20 a month.

[gman]

I have 20 bucks in monthly credits that i will lose when my contract ends not to mention the fact that Imight not even be able to get the same kind of plan when i need to resign.

And the people that cancel their phones when their contract ends and then resign just to get a phone as a new customer are stupid.
They are giving up their phoen number, their account history(rep) just to save a few bucks on the phone...
You can most likely get the same price for the phone from the retentions dept and at the same time renegotiate an amazing plan which will save you from $5-$20 a month.

Not necessary. It depends on where the credit ties to. If it is tied to the plan, you will still have that. If it is tied to the contract, that may be gone. For example, I have not had contract for 2 years. My monthly $10 credit still applies. Only the bonus minutes are gone.

[dairymandip]

1) The main point of a contract is to lock you in and thus limit your choice.
There is no other purpose. It could be good if you got a good price or bad if you didn't know better.

If you think there is a benefit there, please prove me wrong :)
But I think any point you come up with will always be countered by a Company's motive to limit your choice to them only.

2) Look at all the "Developed" countries with the oldest mobile technologies and the ones with the most advanced tech and most choice.

Which ones offer 3 year contracts and are the most advanced??

3) Yes you can change your plan within a contract but again it comes back to the company deciding if you deserve it or not.
You "THINK" that you have choices and you can get a better plan later on but it's only what they choose for you.

If I tell you that you can only paint your house bright red or dark red.
Is that you choosing the colour of your house?

Once you are in a contract, you can't force a company to compete and that leads to stagnation. It's not like Rogers or Bell is on the verge of Bankruptcy and they need the money. They can afford the competition, they just don't want to.

4) What happens when you sign a 3 year contract and you move somewhere where Rogers service is horrible?
What if you see a phone you like but Rogers doesn't offer it?
What if you got laid off/health emergency/financial loss and can't afford a cellphone anymore? You really think Rogers will care enough to just let you go?

There are more negative reasons for a contract than positive.
Only positive ones I can think of are:
- Locked in price
- Stability
And even those two are countered by the Terms of Service which state they can change the price at any time. Even though you are on a contract.


you can use any unlock phone on rogers/fido
health emergency financial loss, laid off samething happens if i lease a car for 3 years, or lease a house or a apt

[Keas]

you can use any unlock phone on rogers/fido
health emergency financial loss, laid off samething happens if i lease a car for 3 years, or lease a house or a apt

true but there is a big difference between leasing a car/house/apt and a phone.
the terms cant be changed by owner for one thing during those leases as can the phone provider.
also at least in the case of housing and apartment leases there is conditions that both sides must meet over the duration and if the landlord breaks them you can leave the lease.

besides i don't know anyone that has signed a 3 year lease on an apt.

[Aznkid2000]

plans can be changed and negotiated throughout the 3-year contract. There's no worries about that. The contract only states that you need to stay with Rogers for your wireless services for 3 years. The only thing you should be concerned about is the upcoming GSM band auction, where a few US carriers may be entering Canadian borders. They will definitely be bringing more competitive rates.

when is the GSM band auction happening????

[Tijuana]

plans can be changed and negotiated throughout the 3-year contract. There's no worries about that. The contract only states that you need to stay with Rogers for your wireless services for 3 years. The only thing you should be concerned about is the upcoming GSM band auction, where a few US carriers may be entering Canadian borders. They will definitely be bringing more competitive rates.

Yes, but Rogers will also offer competitive rates, its not like their just gonna offer the same stuff as now

[gman]

besides i don't know anyone that has signed a 3 year lease on an apt.

Usually, it is the owner who does not want that. They are the one mostly doesn't want to stuck in the '3 year contract'.

[JTF]

As long as you fully understand them there are just fine.

[bmw_xperience]

Here's a question for you, OP: do you work for rogers?

nope! oh god no.. I just have a great plan.. (18$) so I don't mind being in a 3 year contract with em to get an iPhone

[bmw_xperience]

Here's a question for you, OP: What is so good about a 3 year contract?

so I can have my $18 plan for another 3 years and not have to pay 20-30$ that some ppl are paying for the same thing