rawrdeal
Dec 16th, 2008, 12:20 AM
Hi:
Our 3-year contract with Rogers has just expired, and I've come to realize that my wife and I are paying way too much for our usage right now (about 80 min/month each, mostly to each other), and would be better off switching to Pay as You Go.
I called up Rogers, and asked them if we could switch, and they told me it would cost $50 per phone to do this. I even talked to customer retention, and they didn't seem interested in waiving this charge if it meant I might go to a competitor. I would like to stay with Rogers if possible, as my phone is fine, and I have no desire to buy a new one, and copy over my phone book, etc. It also seems like the GSM network is clearer (as the commercials claim). I used to have a Telus phone from work, and the quality was horrible.
Anyway, I've been looking around, and it looks like there might be a way to minimize the cost to switch over. Here are my options:
Option 1: Pay the $100 to Rogers. The earliest they can do it is at the end of the next billing cycle (Jan 14th), so even more money will be wasted. But they said if I cancel my service mid-month, they will prorate the last month.
Option 2: Buy the cheapest Pay as You Go phones ($69.99 for a motorola W370). This includes a $50 activation bonus, plus it appears a $10 credit for activating online. From what I can understand, I can then move my old number over to this new plan... is there a charge for this? If not, this could effectively cost me $9.99 per phone, and we get new phones... but I can always put the new SIMs in the old phones if we don't like the new phones, right?
Option 3: Buy a Pay as You Go SIM from someone online... anyone know more about this? Sounds a bit shady, but apparently a lot cheaper than buying one from direct from Rogers. Same question about the cost of moving my old number applies.
Option 4: Go with Petro Canada or 7-Eleven, or...? It looks like the phones right now are more expensive... hang on, free phone with $100 card from 7-Eleven? Sounds tempting. I know these guys are on the Rogers network, so we should be able to swap SIMs and use our old phones if we want, right?
Option 5: Go with someone on a CDMA network... Vigin, PC Mobile, etc. Can't keep our old phones, and might get stuck with cheapo phones.
Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated. Any gotchas I should know about? Are there any services charges/fees for a leaving a Rogers plan and moving my number I should know about?
Thanks!
Our 3-year contract with Rogers has just expired, and I've come to realize that my wife and I are paying way too much for our usage right now (about 80 min/month each, mostly to each other), and would be better off switching to Pay as You Go.
I called up Rogers, and asked them if we could switch, and they told me it would cost $50 per phone to do this. I even talked to customer retention, and they didn't seem interested in waiving this charge if it meant I might go to a competitor. I would like to stay with Rogers if possible, as my phone is fine, and I have no desire to buy a new one, and copy over my phone book, etc. It also seems like the GSM network is clearer (as the commercials claim). I used to have a Telus phone from work, and the quality was horrible.
Anyway, I've been looking around, and it looks like there might be a way to minimize the cost to switch over. Here are my options:
Option 1: Pay the $100 to Rogers. The earliest they can do it is at the end of the next billing cycle (Jan 14th), so even more money will be wasted. But they said if I cancel my service mid-month, they will prorate the last month.
Option 2: Buy the cheapest Pay as You Go phones ($69.99 for a motorola W370). This includes a $50 activation bonus, plus it appears a $10 credit for activating online. From what I can understand, I can then move my old number over to this new plan... is there a charge for this? If not, this could effectively cost me $9.99 per phone, and we get new phones... but I can always put the new SIMs in the old phones if we don't like the new phones, right?
Option 3: Buy a Pay as You Go SIM from someone online... anyone know more about this? Sounds a bit shady, but apparently a lot cheaper than buying one from direct from Rogers. Same question about the cost of moving my old number applies.
Option 4: Go with Petro Canada or 7-Eleven, or...? It looks like the phones right now are more expensive... hang on, free phone with $100 card from 7-Eleven? Sounds tempting. I know these guys are on the Rogers network, so we should be able to swap SIMs and use our old phones if we want, right?
Option 5: Go with someone on a CDMA network... Vigin, PC Mobile, etc. Can't keep our old phones, and might get stuck with cheapo phones.
Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated. Any gotchas I should know about? Are there any services charges/fees for a leaving a Rogers plan and moving my number I should know about?
Thanks!