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youngandthrifty’s iPhone 4 Review

young — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 17:47:56 +0000

Yesss! I have finally received my iPhone 4 (just supported the Bay area, Financial Samurai!), and I was able to get it before the September 30 cut off for the free i Phone 4 case. I wanted to hold out on my review until I had a week or two to give it a good go at it. Because I haven’t ever had an iPhone before (I just had an iPod Touch which I felt was invaluable anyway), I am pretty happy to be hooked up 24-7 (now I can tweet more often!).

I did sign up for another three years (yes, ball and chain) with Telus. I had about two months and a bit left on my contract. After using my own blog post on How to Save Money on your Cell Phone Bill as a reference, and numerous calls to Telus (they were obviously getting very tired of me calling),

Here’s what my contract with Telus looks like:

Hope this helps you as fodder for your negotiations with ROBELLUS (Rogers Bell and Telus oligopoly for short).

250 day time minutes
Free evening and weekends beginning from 6pm
unlimited text messages incoming and outgoing
voice mail 3
500MB data
caller ID (it was tough to get this for free but they finally caved)
“New Activation” pricing on iPhone 4

The above is a total of $50+taxes, which brings it to a grand total of $56 a month for me (thanks to HST, which adds another 12%!).

I believe I am getting about $15 worth of bonuses thrown in for free. Normally they would not budget on free caller ID or unlimited text messaging, but persistence is a virtue, especially when it comes to negotiating with the Retentions Department.

At first I really wanted 1GB of data, but I realized that I don’t use it that much. Besides, I use Wifi at home. I’ve been using it for about a week or so already and have only used up 20 MB of data. As long as I don’t do mad downloading or watch a gazillion You Tube videos, I think I should be fine.

I was pretty adamant about not paying more than $60 a month including taxes, so I am glad I was able to stick to this with the new contract. Telus is getting harder and harder to negotiate with. I had to give up a lot of my old loyalty goodies (like 150 minutes nation wide long distance and Telus to Telus) for this iPhone plan.

Anyway, without further dillydallying, here is my review:

iPhone 4 Pros:

I like smaller width (good things do come in..narrow..packages..?)- at first I thought it was awkward looking, but when you turn it sideways to type, it’s much faster and more ergonomic on the hands
Pretty fast (I hear its the same speed as the iPhone 3GS)
The GPS/Map application is great (if you hit the “compass” sign twice, it will really follow like a real GPS, and it changes directions as your car changes directions)
The camera and flash and HD video- 5 megapixel camera, you can zoom, focus.. takes pretty good pictures
You can add play lists manually in the iPhone (instead of going to iTunes on your computer to do it)
They give you a free case worth MRSP of $35 if you request for a free case before September 30! (You know I can’t resist FREE!)

iPhone 4 Cons:

They say the “antenna attenuation issue is even smaller than we originally thought” and only applies to certain iPhone 4′s
Unluckily, mine is one of them!
I have lost about 5 calls (one very important one in which I was talking to a bank and was put on hold while they checked something) which is very frustrating
Often there is only one bar of reception on my phone, if I hold it a certain way (how one would normally hold a phone)
The buttons on the side (to turn the volume up and down etc.) protrude so they seem like they can easily be damaged
The reception really is MUCH better with the case (now I average 3-4 bars instead of 1 bar of reception with the case)
It was so hard to find! Good thing Telus seems to have more supply than the other companies. I ended up fluking out and found a iPhone 4 at one of the Telus dealers.

I wanted to leave you guys with a cute video that I found really funny… I swear, I must have sounded like this guy for the poor customer service reps who were dealing with me. “I don’t care… I want an iPhone 4….”

Next week, I’ll share some of my favourite iPhone apps that I personally love and think is essential for personal finance. Stay tuned!

Readers, are you as crazy about the iPhone 4 as I am? Any die-hard Android or Blackberry fans?

Wind Mobile Lands in Vancouver

young — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 16:33:55 +0000

Sooo Wind Mobile has officially expanded to Vancouver, BC as promised this June. I was really excited to hear about Wind Mobile when it first came out in December of ’09 and even did a pros and cons list on it (you know I love those pros and cons lists!).

Initially the coverage was Toronto & Ottawa, then Calgary & Edmonton, and now coverage is in Vancouver.

They have certainly been doing tons of marketing- I was watching Karate Kid the other day in the movie theatres and they had a huge ad on for Wind Mobile. Ads have been on the free circulating daily newspapers too. And on television. They have really funny and creative ads, I’ll give them that. The hot dog vendor one always cracks me up, no matter how many times I watch it.

Their push for marketing is that Wind Mobile is different from the big three aptly nicknamed ROBELLUS (*ahem* Telus, Bell, and Rogers), they listen, and that what you see is what you get. Side note: Whoever came up with the term Robellus is a genius!!

However, I think there are still a lot of kinks to work out…and I know that they are making a concerted effort to fix them. Despite this, I know there are a lot of happy customers out there.

Like the home zone and the away zones- you are going to get charged for roaming (but only for $0.25 a minute- which is a deal compared to what Robellus gauges you) if you venture out of your city of Vancouver area (like Surrey, which is around 20-25 km away from Vancouver). That being said, it’s only $0.25 a minute to call our friendly neighbours down south, too! (Wind Mobile teamed up with T-Mobile)
The reception I heard isn’t the greatest- apparently many Vancouverites are getting dropped calls

Here’s the “411″ on the latest offerings:

There’s a promotion going on where if you get your friend hooked on Wind Mobile, you get one month free
If you’re an existing customer, until June 30,2010 you can get up to six months free if you refer up to six friends
If you sign up by June 30, 2010, you get get 50% off the plans for six months

For example, the Wind Chat voice plan is only $7.50 for the first 6 months- and you get:

100 anytime minutes
Unlimted 24/7 Wind to Wind calling (guess it pays to get your friends onto Wind)
No activation fee
No system access fee
Free incoming text (they won’t bill you for it like Robellus does)
50 free outgoing text
Free caller ID
Missed call alerts
Call forwarding
You pay $5 for voicemail

For the data plans, the unlimited data is $35 (and you can tether it to your lap top if you wish), and with the 50% off for the first six months, it works out to be $27.50. If you go over 5GB per month, then they will slow your internet speed down, but won’t cap you off.

If you don’t need to use the unlimited data, they do have cheaper alternatives (like 500MB).

My Take?

I’m not a big fan of the $35 data plan, I would rather pay about $15 for 6G of data (my boyfriend has that through Fido- which was bought out by Rogers). I do like how they don’t have activation fees and system access fees! I like the 50% off for the first six months, but after that, the prices might be quite similar to any of the Robellus contracts (if you take the time to be loyal and negotiate, that is). If you’re not into doing that, then Wind Mobile may be for you.

Still have questions about Wind Mobile?

Here are some FAQ’s that I found quite useful on their website

What do you guys think? Any happy Wind Mobilers out there? I think Wind Mobile is going to be ahead of the game come a few years down the road. It might be prudent not to sign another contract with Robellus until you see how Wind Mobile pans out (though I may find that hard to do since I want the iPhone 4 so bad!!)

Negotiating with Rogers Wireless- Head to Head Battle!

young — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:54:07 +0000

In an earlier post this week, I wrote about a step by step guide on how to negotiate with the contract yielding wireless providers. Today I’ll reveal the actual flow of the conversation I had when I called in for my sister.

Here’s the Scoop on my Conversation with Rogers recently:

My sister was paying about $31 a month including tax (from a previously negotiated contract by yours truly two years ago) for:

10 voicemail
200 day time minutes
Rogers to Rogers
Unlimited evening and weekends starting from 6pm

Being the young-un that she is, many of her friends text. As you know, texting can add up! She wanted text messaging included in herr next plan. She was paying an extra $3-5 more a month just for text messages sent and received (texting on the very very low end hence restricting herself from unleashing the texting beast). She had one more week left on her contract.

So I called in to the Retentions Department for her, spoke to Tristan (names have been changed) from the Retentions Department who said that if she added $5, then she can have 250 texts, AND she would have to recommit for another 2 years. (In my head, I was thinking WTF- what kind of deal is that? Pay more??) I firmly but nicely said that she didn’t want to pay any more, and that I am with Telus and I get all the above for LESS per month including 100 long distance minutes per month, web browsing, and 200 incoming and outgoing texts (which is true, by the way).

So then he told me to wait, and then came back after speaking to a supervisor, and said that they can offer her a cheaper package for $3 extra for 100 outgoing texts and unlimited incoming.

(inside voice: DUDE are deaf? Are you NOT listening to me??) But I kept my cool and I said she didn’t want to pay any more than what they are paying now, again. Nicely.

Then he spoke to his supervisor again (another 5 more minutes of waiting), and came back and said that they can offer a $5 credit for 2500 text messages and keep the price of the plan to $31 a month including taxes. I asked him to repeat the above, to see if it included Rogers to Rogers, and he said yes. He said he would note it on the computer.

Then I checked out my fave sites for seeing what other people are getting when they call Retention (Howard Forum aka “HoFo” and the Canadian bargain hunters galore website Red Flag Deals- both forums are great resources to see what other people are getting, but moreso Howard Forums because it is solely dedicated to wireless carriers and phones vs bargain hunting in general for Red Flag Deals) and saw that Rogers had recently eliminated the System Access Fee ($6.95) and now have a very low low priced Government Regulatory Fee (only $2.50 for British Columbia).

The guy I was speaking do didn’t tell me these specifics, so I called back in and spoke to someone else (and mentioned Tristan’s name) just to double check that my sister wasn’t being charged the SAF. She wasn’t, but that other person quoted exactly what was noted on the contract offering, but didn’t mention Rogers to Rogers. I told her that the guy I spoke with earlier said Rogers to Rogers would be carried over and included and that he would note it.

She said that they can’t add Rogers to Rogers for a plan like that, and said it was not possible.

I asked her to check the notes because the guy specifically told me Rogers to Rogers. She checked. Nothing.

I asked her to speak to the manager because of the same reason, so the manager came on after another 5 minutes and said she couldn’t do anything because it was not noted.

After a bit more dialogue (and back and forth placing me on hold), the manager agreed to add Rogers to Rogers (usually costs another $5) because that was what my sister had in the first place. So in the end, this is what she got:

200 day time minutes
unlimited evening and weekends from 6pm
call display
voice mail 10
2500 outgoing messages and unlimited incoming
Rogers to Rogers

All for $27 including tax… but she had to recommit for another 3 years, which she ended up going for.

So the gist of it is to be polite, ask nicely, take the time (I spent 3.5 hours on the phone!) and don’t be afraid to negotiate and ask to speak to the managers if they are trying to low ball you. Play their game. =)

Hope that helps and good luck getting a better deal!

Have you had success with phoning in and negotiating? Please share!

Step-by-step Guide on How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Contract

young — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:42:34 +0000

Here in Canada we are ruled by only a few wireless service carriers. Namely these fall into the “big three” otherwise known as: Rogers (also bought out Fido Mobile), Bell (also in May 2009 bought out Virgin Mobile), and Telus (also carrier of Koodo Mobile)… UH… can you say MONOPOLY?? These guys have been fighting head to head with each other, to keep prices of contracts up. I was paying $40-50 a month for my measly serviced cell phone bill back in 2004 (I was constantly over in talk time, thus getting dinged a 25 cents per minute) until I one day I called in to complain. I think I fluked it by calling when my contract was up (unbeknowst to me at the time, it was when I was un-edumacated in personal finance still).

I called back then and said I didn’t like how much I was paying. The CSR (customer service rep) then told me that they can reduce my bill and increase what I was getting (e.g. minutes, texts, free long distance). I was like “what??” why had I NOT done this earlier?? I could have saved so much cashola! I had reduced my monthly bill (and was getting more bang for my buck) to $28 a month- never over.

Ever since then, I’ve been getting good deals on contracts for mr. youngandthrifty, my mom, my sisters, my friends…you could say that I’m addicted to the art of negotiation (on the phone– not so much in person cus I’m kinda shy).

First of all, you need to decide whether you want to be on a contract. Currently WIND Mobile has come into play and they are straight up no contracts, so you’re not tied down. They have very competitive rates (much to the Big Three’s dismay) without having to negotiate to get something you’re happy with.

If you’re down with signing up for a 1, 2, or 3 year contract then please continue reading.

Just recently I renegotiated with Rogers for my sisters. Read this: If they tell you it’s not possible. It isn’t. It can be done- somehow. They’re playing hard to get mind games with you.

Here’s what you do:

Make sure you know where you are “in your contract”. If you have 6 months left in your contract or even better, if you are contract FREE or approaching your contract-free date (you can usually find this information online in your account details or you can call in and ask). Also, if you have many years of loyalty with that provider, then they will be able to offer you more stuff
Make sure you have a pen and paper handy
Dial 611 on your cell phone and say you want to cancel to that automated lady who asked “what can I do for you?”
If they give you to a regular useless Customer Service Rep, hint that you want to speak to the Retention Dept (they’re the ones who have pull to give you the goods) by saying that you’re dissatisfied with your plan and want to cancel
Alternatively, you can dial the retention/ customer relations numbers directly
- Telus (1-877-279-3100 open M-Sat I believe)
- Bell (1-866-313-1086 M-F 8-7:30pm EST)
- Fido (1-888-259-3436 open M-Sat)
- Rogers (1-888-936-7283 8-9pm EST M-Sat)
Be very polite/ friendly to the person you’re speaking with, and note their name down.
Tell them that you’ve been a bit dissatisfied with the service and the price that you’re paying. Say that you have been considering switching to another provider (e.g. if you’re with Rogers, mention Telus)
Tell them that you really want _____ (fill in with want you want: text messages that you’re currently paying an arm and a leg for, more day time minutes, voice mail)
They will likely say that if you add on $10 then you can get a “package” that includes something like that, or they may give you another promotion (e.g. $20 for 200 day time minutes, evening and weekends starting at 6pm) and hint that you should add on the other stuff by paying… don’t give in- say that you don’t want to be paying any extra than you are now.
If it’s not what you want, then bring out the big guns, and mention the other company’s plan and what they are offering you or mention that your sister is with the other wireless provider and she is getting a better plan for only X amount of dollars (these have to be real plans- not made up, okay!?)
Then the rep will offer you something better, if you like it but it’s still not the ideal plan you want, then ask them nicely to please note it down on your account, and that you will think about it. Remember to ask them to repeat exactly what they are offering you, so you can write it down.
Call back a few days to weeks later (but not incessantly or else they will flag your account)
Repeat steps 1-11 until you find something you are happy with (note, you will have to commit for 2-3 years… it’s up to you whether you are a “contract person” or not).

Hope that helps, folks. My next post will be an example of how I negotiated a better cell phone contract for my sister with Rogers Wireless.

Have you tried calling to negotiate in the past too? Do you find yourself drawn to contracts or do you prefer to be a “free agent” like how Wind Mobile allows you to be?

Wind mobile… is it not what it’s cracked up to be?

young — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:21:39 +0000

So Wind Mobile opened it’s doors in Calgary and Toronto already for a few weeks now (as of December 16, 2009). They’re partnering up with Research in Motion (the Canadian golden child and makers of Blackberries) to offer heavily discounted Blackberries.

The Big Three (Telus, Rogers, and Bell) don’t seem too scared yet because Wind Mobile still needs to build their towers and expand their coverage network. What does that mean?

It means that right now if you call from Calgary to Vancouver, you either wouldn’t be able to, or you would get a roaming signal/ roaming fees (25 cents a minute… ouch!). Basically if you’re with Wind, you’re limited to calling people in Toronto or Calgary.

Edit: Jan. 18, 2010: Angry Chinese Driver who has written the motherload-of-all-comments-ever and has firsthand experience with Wind Mobile (he’s been following them from Day One and he’s a happy customer) asked me to edit the above statement to: you can call anyone in Canada (and the US, unlimited with a $10 add-on) as long as you’re calling FROM Toronto or Calgary, though with coverage expansion you will eventually be able to do it FROM Vancouver, Ottawa, Halifax, etc… Same goes for data.

Check out Wind Mobile’s voice plans here

Check out Wind Mobile’s add-ons here (data, voicemail, long distance etc.)

Hmm… since i just LOOOVE Pros and Cons lists, I’ll make one of Wind Mobile:

PROS:

You can buy the cellphones/ smart phones at cost which means….
You’re not locked into a ball and chain two or three year contract
You can have unlimited data for $35 a month
Wind Mobile won’t charge you system access fees
They won’t charge you for the emergency 911 fee, or any incoming text or long distance calls
The first month is free!
Caller ID is included in their plans
They have an unlimited voicemail (unlimited voicemail??) for extra $5 a month
They have an unlimited data plan for $35
50 outgoing texts are included every month (but…50 is a bit chintzy, no?)

CONS:

You’re buying cellphones/ smart phones at cost ($500 for a phone??)
Right now, coverage is only limited to Toronto and Calgary
They only have like.. 4 phones for sale right now (Blackberry Bold 9700, HTC Maple, Samsung Gravity 2, and the Huawei U7519) but I guess you could use your own unlocked phone
The company is growing so fast that there are is not enough employees to keep up with troubleshooting, marketing, sales etc.
Apparantly there are lots of dropped calls (doesn’t surprise me since they don’t have that many towers)
If you call away from your “HOME” area, you’re charged big time (25 cents per minute!)

I think we can just wait and see. My recommendation? Let this company sort out its growing pains, and see in a few months time. I would not recommend jumping ship just yet (at least before you speak to your “BIG THREE” customer service reps!)

I was THISCLOSE to renewing my contract for another three years with Telus to get the iPhone (I was almost going to succumb to paying $399 for it if I didn’t have to be locked down for another three years). When the CSR told me that I would be tied down for another three years, I just decided I would wait another five months to get the promotional pricing and see what my options are then. The Telus CSR I talked to didn’t seem too bothered. The “Big Three” seems to be unfazed. I guess Wind Mobile will really have to revolutionize the market, instead of focusing on marketing.

Who knows, maybe Wind Mobile will “flow with the wind” and land here in Vancouver to further drive the price of data and minutes down…. hopefully Wind Mobile won’t be a sinking ship and be “gone with the wind”…get it?

Sorry, had to throw that in there.

For those of you in Calgary and Toronto, have you been switching over to Wind Mobile?

If you liked this post, please subscribe and/or add me on Twitter.

Check out other posts related to this topic:
Telus, Rogers, and Bell better watch out, Wind Mobile is here

Telus, Rogers, and Bell better watch out! Wind Mobile is Coming to Town!

young — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:18:15 +0000

So apparently effective Wednesday December 16, 2009, Wind Mobile is set to LAUNCH!

I actually had no idea that there was a new wireless network giant lurking about until I was reading the “Bloomberg News” as to why my Telus stock dipped so drastically (yes, I potentially have been living under a rock because I hadn’t heard of them).

Telus, Rogers, Bell are all going to try to sue because Tony Clement (Canadian Cabinet minister) said it was okay to introduce other competitors (Wind Mobile owned by Globalive) to the market. The big three aren’t happy because they say that Wind is not a Canadian based company (the Globalive company’s major shareholder is based in Egypt).

Ho ho ho indeed! They’re not going to be happy because I’m sure Wind will be charging much less than the monopoly “the big three” currently are charging now. Wind Mobile has some pretty hilarious ads going on too! (check it out below on youtube). Did you know that Canada currently pays the 3rd most expensive rates for cell phone plans??

What is Wind Mobile, you ask?

“Wind is going to change the shape of the wireless industry” per Tony Clement.

Well they are a mobile company that aims to provide more “pay for what you get” plans. They don’t charge a system access fee. Also, they plan to be the first carrier to offer Blackberry Bold 9700 without having to be ball-and-chained to a contract. They plan to have stores within Blockbuster. The first Wind Mobile stores are going to open Toronto (13 of them) and in Calgary (3 of them).

How much are you currently paying for your cell phone plan?

Do you think Wind is going to be a good thing or a bad thing?

I’m curious to know what their rate plans are like. I hear that Quebec residents won’t have access to Wind. I’m not sure how their wireless coverage will be like. Let’s wait and see…

All I have to say is: Telus, I appreciate that you now have the iPhone. But I wasn’t very happy that you wanted me to pay $400 for it just because I had eleven months and 25 days left on my contract. I’m a good customer. I pay my bills. I have been loyal since 2002. Maybe you will soon be coming to me and begging me to sign another three years with you, now that Wind Mobile is here… (evil laughter)