Cost Cutting
Nothing inspires audible groans in Canadians quite like discussing our monopolized telecommunications market. It’s part of our national identity, like hockey or Quebec’s maple syrup cartel. Yes, we’ve all experienced the gut punch of a truly outrageous cell phone bill, I’d say it’s brought us closer together as a nation.
For some time now it’s been well documented that Canada has some of the highest cell phone rates in the world. Unfortunately, our regulators have done little to address the issue. We actually suck at creating and seeding competition in our mobile service market. The Canadian government has even gone so far as to admit that there aren't enough competitive options for Canadians. And yet, what can be done?
In a sea of overpriced cell phone plans, getting a deal or a discount might seem like a lost cause. Well, I’m here to tell you it isn’t. While there may be the appearance of a lack of options, I’ll break down how to search out and find a deal or two.
What You’re Paying For
Gone are the days of telephones, those sassy little ringing numbers connected to the wall. Sure, some homes and businesses still have (what us old fogies would call) a landline, most have traded their lines and cords in for more portable technology.
In our weird-o reality where mini-computers are found in our pockets, telephones have transformed from wall-connected talk boxes to freeflying detached cellular devices. And while some of us remember when we used to use our cell phones to actually talk to one another, now we mostly crave the anonymity and ease of text, especially in younger generations. In 2024, we increasingly use our cell phones for everything but talking.
From social media and Google maps to Whatsapp and weather apps, we’re obsessed with staying connected to the internet and with each other through it. Arguably, this is what we pay for when we purchase a cell phone plan. Oh yes, we pay for talk and text, but what we really want is the data. Cell phones and internet access are so important to how we move through the world that some have argued they're core to our rights as humans.
Whether you think cell phones, internet, apps or social media are fundamental to the human experience, our social circles, communities and societies are increasingly designed around them. And cell phone companies know it.
Though we’re marketed and sold seemingly necessary plans to stay connected to the world around us, do we ever stop and think about these plans in detail.
Are there actual differences between lower and higher priced plans? Do we know the difference between 5G and 5G+ network access? Or the difference between SD video streaming and HD video streaming? Or the actual difference between 50G, 75G, 100G and 150G worth of data? Do we know how much data we use in our daily lives? Do we know how much data we actually need? Do we know how choosing one of these options over the other would drastically improve our lives?
I sure as hell don’t.
And yet phone companies market these undistinguishable differences as though we would be foolish to forgo the bells and whistles. But if we can’t discern a marked difference between all these options and what real value they bring to our lives, why pay more?
And the same can be said for the hard tech: our cell phones. Every cell phone company comes out with a new version or model every year. The same questions apply to assessing the hardware capability of these products. Does one year’s model drastically make our lives better? Does the advanced camera offer us a new window into our souls? Does the enhanced security make our DNA any less harvestable? Un-bloody-likely. And yet, there we are, lining up around the corner for the newest model.
Unless your livelihood depends on having the most recent cell phone model, do yourself a favor and either buy used or checkout any number of resellers (like Orchard).
The truth is (for the average aging millennial) these slight enhancements in plans and cell phone technology don’t make much of a difference to our daily lives.
Plan Options
Though we as Canadians don’t have a ton of options when it comes to cell phone plans, if you look closely, there are deals to be found.
Lucky for you, I’ve done a bit of the legwork!
In conducting research for this week’s post, I compiled a list of Canadian cell phone plans. There are more providers than what I’ve listed, but past a particular point all plans they offered were essentially the same (Fido, Kodo, Public Mobile, etc.). Below, I’ve listed providers from least to most expensive, and included the plan price if you have your own device versus the cost if you purchase a device with the provider. Suffice it to say, most providers want you to pay the absolute most for their services, it’s a wild market.
Hold onto your socks because here we go.
Freedom Mobile*
Cell phone plan with your own device: $19, $24, $29, $34, $40, $50, $55 and $65 per month.
Cell phone plan with device purchase: The base plan remains the same ($19, $24, $29, $34, $40, $50, $55, $65), and add anywhere from $0 to $45 per month (for 24 months, zero money down) for the hardware.
Least expensive plan with your own device: $19 per month
Most expensive plan with device purchase: $110 per month
Bell Mobility*
Cell phone plan with your own device: $50, $60 and $75 per month.
Cell phone plan with device purchase: The base plan remains the same ($50, $60 and $75), and add anywhere from $0 to $69.54 per month (for 24 months, zero money down) for the hardware.
Least expensive plan with your own device: $50 per month
Most expensive plan with device purchase: $144.54 per month
Telus*
Cell phone plan with your own device: $65, $75 and $90 per month.
Cell phone plan with device purchase: The base plan remains the same ($65, $75 and $90), and add anywhere from $0 to $56.57 per month (for 24 months, zero money down) for the hardware.
Least expensive plan with your own device: $65 per month
Most expensive plan with device purchase: $146.67 per month
Rogers*
Cell phone plan with your own device: $50, $60 and $75 per month.
Cell phone plan with device purchase: The base plan remains the same ($50, $60 and $75), and add anywhere from $5 to $43.96 per month (for 24 months, with anywhere between zero to $840 down) for the hardware.
Least expensive plan with your own device: $50 per month
Most expensive plan with device purchase: $153.96 per month
Virgin Mobile*
Cell phone plan with your own device: $34, $75 and $90 per month.
Cell phone plan with device purchase: The base plan remains the same ($34, $75 and $90), and add anywhere from $0 to $33.35 per month (for 24 months, with anywhere between zero to $850 down) for the hardware.
Least expensive plan with your own device: $34 per month
Most expensive plan with device purchase: $158.76 per month
Overall, he least expensive mobile phone plan and hardware I could find is offered through Freedom Mobile with the most expensive being offered through Virgin Mobile. $19 versus $158.76, that’s a 735% difference. Yikes! That’s a lot of potential sweaty cash wasted.
Now you might be sitting there thinking - wait a second, I have X service and I pay less than what’s shown here, what gives?! Each provider offers various rebates, bundling, discounts and deals over the course of the year. The rates listed above are what’s listed on the respective companies' websites today, including whatever promotions I could find. Currently, a lot of providers are offering $34 per month for 10G or 20G of data or more.
In addition, a few of the more expensive carriers offer talk and text plans without data for around $35 per month. Since we primarily use our phones for data and with cheaper options offered through Freedom that include data, I decided to keep the $35 talk and text “deals” off the list.
So What?
Yes, cell phone plans are expensive. The Big Three carriers are clearly crushing us with overpriced plans. And yet here’s the thing, discounted providers do in fact exist. There is hope!
We all have overpriced cell phone plans which may or may not be bundled with our cable, internet, and/or our souls. It’s easy to think that we’re saving money this way, and that it would be too difficult to figure out how to unbundle and find deals. But this is a rather lazy perspective to take.
The fact of the matter is that if you put in a little elbow grease and do some research into cheaper alternatives, you will find them and you will save money.
How much money? Well…
The Switch
Many years ago, when Wind Mobile first launched (now known as Freedom Mobile), I switched my $75 per month Bell Mobility plan to Wind as soon as the service became available in Kitchener-Waterloo.
I remember the call I made to cancel my Bell plan quite clearly. During this call, I told the customer service rep that I was closing my account. I said I would stay with Bell if they could match the $40 plan offered by a competitor. The rep assured me that they couldn’t match that rate, and $60 was the lowest they were willing to offer. As a result I told them that they lost my business. For reporting purposes, the rep asked which carrier I was switching to, and when I told them Wind Mobile, the rep laughed so hard for so long I hung up on him.
This was a horrible customer service experience. But I had done something the customer service rep didn’t anticipate. I had done my research.
I knew that Freedom was building their network and had the kind of coverage I needed. I also researched the company's plans for expansion. Sure I took a gamble on a new company as a starry-eyed 28 year old, but I knew my cell service likely wouldn’t suffer and would only improve as the company grew. Since the day I joined more than 10 years ago, I’ve never had an issue with my Freedom service.
What this experience taught me is that the product - the plan, the phone, the internet access - is the same across the board, it’s just packaged differently, with different marketing, at different price points. We’re effectively buying the same thing.
Having made the switch to Freedom Mobile more than 10 years ago, I estimate that I’ve saved about $4,200. Combine this with the fact I haven’t bought a new cell phone in about 5 years (my Samsung S19 still works great), I’ve definitely saved far more as a result.
Though we’ve been conditioned to believe that phone carriers dictate the terms, if your goal is to find a cheaper carrier, it can be done, and you don’t need to sacrifice service. In fact, the only thing you have to lose is potentially thousands of dollars.
Remember, as always, we’ve got this!
A special thank you to those who contributed to my Buy Me A Coffee or shared a post! Your support means the world to me - truly.
For those with a dollar to spare, I’ve set up a Buy Me A Coffee account for folks to contribute to here and there. For those frugally focused, I would be incredibly grateful if you were to share my work with your networks and folks you think would enjoy my journey (via email, social media, or homing pigeon).
Your readership means everything to me. Whether you're able to contribute or not, I’m so glad you’ve joined me on this journey!
We switched to Freedom recently and actually went with an even cheaper option - a pay-up-front yearly rate for a certain amount of data (15G or 30G). I suspect that amount of data for one year may not appeal to most people but both my spouse and I were only using about 1G/month anyway so it works well for us and saves us a ton compared to our old plan.
Negative nation building and 'maple syrup cartels' you had me at the first paragraph, great column.