Anyone use WIND as a carrier for an i phone??

[Yoga Face]

first some terminology

What is an i phone called if not an apple product???? A tablet????


WIND has $30 month plan and unlimited internet

This is less than half their competition so WTF ????

I am guessing their service is lousy



If it works in my house can I connect their phone to my home computer and cancel rogers???


I am a newby on this stuff


thanks

 

[djk]

Unless you live in Toronto, don't bother with Wind.

Horrible service outside of Toronto. In addition, my condolences if you ever have to call in for assistance. All outsourced, poor skill set.

 

[George The Curious]

You mean smart phone or Android.

Wind mobile internet is horribly slow. That is the catch.

 

[goutam55]

Wind mobile internet is actually first. i get 6-10 mbps in Yonge and Eglinton area and 5-8 mbps in Yonge and Eglinton area

 

[Yoga Face]

Wind mobile internet is actually first. i get 6-10 mbps in Yonge and Eglinton area and 5-8 mbps in Yonge and Eglinton area

how fast is 5-10 mbps ??????????????

If that is fast enough for normal use (no heavy gaming as I go not play games) then why is it so much cheaper at $30 unlimited data?????????? they should bury the competition

 

[superstardude]

I have the holiday miracle plan for $40 and it includes unlimited internet etc. I've had it for 2 years however I recently moved (not to far from where I used to live) and now i get very litlle reception in my house or outside it (I get the out of service area when i try to call)

I have to put my phone by a window to hear calls. I've contacted tech support and they tell me that they'll be putting up a tower by the end of the year to solve the problem.

F@#k that. I did some research and I found out the problem in my new area has been ongoing since 2010.

I can't in good conscience recommend wind.The network is very unreliable! (i've had drop outs in other parts of the city as well)


BTW- when they say unlimited interent it actually means up to 5gigs per month (due to the fair usage policy) So if you plan to tether your phone to your computer be aware of that.

 

[Yoga Face]

I have the holiday miracle plan for $40 and it includes unlimited internet etc. I've had it for 2 years however I recently moved (not to far from where I used to live) and now i get very litlle reception in my house or outside it (I get the out of service area when i try to call)

I have to put my phone by a window to hear calls. I've contacted tech support and they tell me that they'll be putting up a tower by the end of the year to solve the problem.

F@#k that. I did some research and I found out the problem in my new area has been ongoing since 2010.

I can't in good conscience recommend wind.The network is very unreliable! (i've had drop outs in other parts of the city as well)


BTW- when they say unlimited interent it actually means up to 5gigs per month (due to the fair usage policy) So if you plan to tether your phone to your computer be aware of that.

I plan to use it in within the 401-DVP-427 area

Does it work within those boundaries ?

Where did you move to where it does not work ? - PM me if you do not want to go public with this info if you are so willing

Once on it is it fast enough for normal internet use? or do you find it too slow ??


The problem is once i buy the plan i am stuck with it

cancel the plan then you must buy the phone

they only allow 30 minutes of use then it is nonreturnable


THX


Good tip on so called "unlimited use" plan

 

[George The Curious]

I had it a year ago in scarborough. Terrible reception, slow to a halt. Maybe if your in downtown toronto its fast.

 

[Smallcock]

WIND works fine in Downtown and Etobicoke (i.e. no difference than any other carrier, there are dead zones here and there).

I did have some intermittent issues in Scarborough once, and I did not get any reception while in Milton.

But I don't frequent beyond Toronto much so paying $46/month instead of $300/month is well worth it.

Mind you, I use my ipad (with Bell as carrier) for most internet related activities. Phones are just too tedious for surfing.

 

[MojoRisin']

Ive been on the wind plan on a smart phone and locally i have no problems. Locally meaning the GTA from Bowmanville to Niagara Falls. Never had a problem calling cross Canada when in a hot spot. Its outside that area where it comes and goes. In larger city centres no problems but in smaller areas in between it roams or no signal. It works great for me. I dont rely on my phone so much for business though. Up north very limited coverage when camping or at cottage. No need for one then anyway really Ive been happy with Wind for the price. Only had to call customer service once to change billing info and had no problem. They also take off $5 of each plan if you have more than one or two i think. For me it works for what I need it for and for the price

 

[superstardude]

I plan to use it in within the 401-DVP-427 area

Does it work within those boundaries ?

Where did you move to where it does not work ? - PM me if you do not want to go public with this info if you are so willing

Once on it is it fast enough for normal internet use? or do you find it too slow ??


The problem is once i buy the plan i am stuck with it

cancel the plan then you must buy the phone

they only allow 30 minutes of use then it is nonreturnable


THX


Good tip on so called "unlimited use" plan

Yoga face,
i'm not sure if it wil work in your area. google wind dead zones and see what comes up.

When I lived in the Royal york and bloor area reception was great. I recently moved to the Oldmill and bloor area and it's shit. Tech support sugeested I get a a new sim card to increase signal strength but nothings changed. The girl in the wind store who gave me the new sim said she gets alot of compalints about my new area. Apparently Queen street is bad as well.

When I was on my way to Niagra on the lake and Niagra falls I got alot of dropouts, so it's touch and go.

I like the no contract thing as well. I'm not sure if mobilicity will be any better as thier on the same frequency spectrum as wind. They may have more towers tho.

I guess you could try it out to see how it works for you just be aware of whats been stated.

Oh the intrnet speeds will fluctuate like a regular service provider. Sometimes it was really fast other times it was slower. I guess it depends on when your were using it.

The Iphone 5 and above works on wind nothing lower.

Good luck

 

[Little Foot]

first some terminology

What is an i phone called if not an apple product???? A tablet????

WIND has $30 month plan and unlimited internet

This is less than half their competition so WTF ????

I am guessing their service is lousy

If it works in my house can I connect their phone to my home computer and cancel rogers???

I am a newby on this stuff

thanks

Yeah like everyone else says wind is Terrible they have a lot of unknown phones and a few androids

My friend has the Internet stick and it totally sucks asses

She gets better internet speed when she tether it to my iPhone 5

If your looking for cheap Internet look into distributel

They have a truly unlimited data plan unlike wind

If your looking for a cheap cell phone provider look into chatr

You won't get the drop calls like you do on wind publicmobille and that other discount carrier

Downfall you only get 100mb of data

 

[MadonnaLove]

Wind is no good for signals up north it works best in Toronto.

 

[DanJ]

I like the no contract thing as well. I'm not sure if mobilicity will be any better as thier on the same frequency spectrum as wind.

I don't think there is any great advantage now with the contract thing. The other companies have adopted the tab thing too. Not sure what Wind's tab paydown rate is now, I know it was 10% of your monthly bill back when I looked at it, so basically $5 a month came off the cost of the phone. So basically, if I had a $300 tab, 35 months into the 36 month contract, it would still cost me $125 to cancel, as opposed to the $40 it would have cost me to walk away from Bell with a month left.

Now with the 2 year contracts at the big companies, your device balance (same as tab) goes down 1/24th per month. That starting balance is determined by the difference in the full retail price of the phone, and what you actually pay for it. Something to look at with these so called "no contract" companies.

 

[Yoga Face]

I don't think there is any great advantage now with the contract thing. The other companies have adopted the tab thing too. Not sure what Wind's tab paydown rate is now, I know it was 10% of your monthly bill back when I looked at it, so basically $5 a month came off the cost of the phone. So basically, if I had a $300 tab, 35 months into the 36 month contract, it would still cost me $125 to cancel, as opposed to the $40 it would have cost me to walk away from Bell with a month left.

Now with the 2 year contracts at the big companies, your device balance (same as tab) goes down 1/24th per month. That starting balance is determined by the difference in the full retail price of the phone, and what you actually pay for it. Something to look at with these so called "no contract" companies.

Wind and MObilcity phones are interchangable

You must use caution I think as not all phones can be used with another carrier so you may not be able to switch

With WIND and other cheap carriers you seem to pay full price for phone around $500


By unlimited they mean you will lose speed after so many gigs so it is not really unlimited like they advertise


Problem is you can test the phone for 30 minutes then you bought it witch is not nearly enough time to test the product so you are taking your chances

 

[IM469]

I plan to use it in within the 401-DVP-427 area

Does it work within those boundaries ?

Where did you move to where it does not work ? - PM me if you do not want to go public with this info if you are so willing

Once on it is it fast enough for normal internet use? or do you find it too slow ??


The problem is once i buy the plan i am stuck with it

cancel the plan then you must buy the phone

they only allow 30 minutes of use then it is nonreturnable


THX


Good tip on so called "unlimited use" plan

I dropped Fido after they robbed me for an urgent US trip of ~ 2 days. I didn't pay the ~ $30 for the general fucking so I got anally raped. ~$ 80 in just text msg,~ $300 + in voice as I was in constant contact with engineers to clear a problem. An independent business friend who travels a lot between Vancouver/ Toronto & occasional US recommended Wind.

If you have the means and money isn't an issue - Wind coverage is not as good as the big three. I leave the roaming on so if the Wind coverage fails, I am on a different carrier for 20 cents a minute. I might get an extra $5 to my bill (even if I'm in the territory because of drop zones) but it's well worth it. Their rates have gone up but last Christmas - I paid a onetime jump fee of $50 to get a Christmas sale special : $40 /month Unlimited Voice (Can territory), Unlimited Data, voice mail, International Call Reduction/Intl Text and $5 for unlimited USA calling with 10 cent/min voice 5 cent/txt, 50 cent/MB roaming rate.

The data from my speed tests usually average ~ 500 k. The highest on my Speed App history was 5.5 MB (once). As I don't watch much streaming media (other than youtube) - I have never had problems with data speed. A trip to the US with Wind cost me ~ $35. For me - the small aggravations I might endure are well worth the savings.

If you do decide on Wind - look to see if they repeat the Christmas special - it is a great package and worth the penalty to jump.

 

[explorerzip]

I'm generally satisfied with Wind since I'm paying about half compared to the other guys. The big problem though is that their phones do not work in the basement, or elevators. That would include shopping malls, parking garages or stores that are below ground. It's a pain, but I live with it since the cost is still less than half. I don't mind a bit of peace and quiet while I'm in the basement. Obviously, not everyone feels that way.

I don't have any problems with Wind most places in the GTA including central Mississauga / Oakville all the way to Markham / Richmond Hill. I travel to these areas regularly so I this is my experience. I went as far as Ancaster and didn't have any problems. There seems to be a dead zone on the 401 near the Islington Avenue area in Etobicoke for some reason.

Since I cannot take calls in the basement I rely on two apps: Skype and MightyText. You can call any phone line using Skype (though you have to pay for that) from your PC. MightyText allows you to see and reply to your text messages sent to your phone from any computer. This means you can leave your phone upstairs and when a call comes in, the MightyText app sends you a notification on your PC in the basement. Not the most elegant solution and Skype adds a bit of cost, but it is still cheaper than the other options. This is the only solution right now until Wind or Mobilcity decide to either improve their network or make signal boosters that work in the basement.

You can connect a smartphone to any device that supports wi-fi. It's sometimes called "tethering" or "hot spot." Technically, tethering is connecting a cable between your phone and your PC. Tethering is typically supported only on laptop or desktop PC's. You can't usually connect a smartphone with a cable to an iPad, another smartphone, or another tablet. I could be wrong on this though. Hot spot is sharing the wireless on your smartphone with any other wireless device. This means you do not need to bring your phone's cable with you. The downside is that it's a drain on the battery.

Either method is still quite slow on Wind or Mobilicity and is only practical for checking e-mail and looking at Facebook. Playing games, uploading photos or videos even watching YouTube can be problematic. I don't know what the experience is with the big 3 phone companies.

Wind and Mobilicity are so much cheaper than everyone else because I think their strategy is to get as many subscribers as possible yet sell the service at a loss to attract a bigger player to buy them up. Almost happened with Telus and Verizon was rumoured to be thinking about buying them. It's well documented that both companies are losing big money so I wouldn't be surprised if that was their actual strategy.

IMO Wind has a stronger offering since they now have a wider selection of phones compared to Mobilicity. For example, you do have the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4, the Note II and the Blackberry Z10 and Q10. Mobilicity's best smartphone right now is the Galaxy S4.

You won't find all of the latest phones including the iPhone 5 on Wind or Mobilicity. An unlocked iPhone 5 would work with Wind though. Unlocking means that you can use it on any carrier and means you have to buy the phone outright. That could set you back $600 - $700 dollars. You can get phones unlocked just about anywhere including some smaller malls like Cloverdale in Etobicoke.

 

[fmahovalich]

You say you wont roam...AND YOU BETTER NOT!!!

But it is very restrictive.

I do know that Winston Churchill Blvd. is the western boundary. It's a pretty tight circle around the GTA. Any calls outside the area and you will leave that $30 rate in your dust.

Which means, if you need a second phone...then get ONE second phone...with way better plans...for far less than the two combined.

 

[explorerzip]

You say you wont roam...AND YOU BETTER NOT!!!

But it is very restrictive.

I do know that Winston Churchill Blvd. is the western boundary. It's a pretty tight circle around the GTA. Any calls outside the area and you will leave that $30 rate in your dust.

Which means, if you need a second phone...then get ONE second phone...with way better plans...for far less than the two combined.

You sure this? I've had signal beyond Winston Churchill many times and well into Oakville. Could be the north west area of the GTA is spotty I.e west Oakville, Milton, etc,

 

[fuji]

You say you wont roam...AND YOU BETTER NOT!!!

But it is very restrictive.

I do know that Winston Churchill Blvd. is the western boundary. It's a pretty tight circle around the GTA. Any calls outside the area and you will leave that $30 rate in your dust.

Which means, if you need a second phone...then get ONE second phone...with way better plans...for far less than the two combined.

The roaming rates on WIND are competitive, at 20c/min. That is competitive with the rates on a basic plan from the big3.

The problem is dead areas inside the wind coverage area. As a hobby phone, not a big deal, but could be an issue if you depend on your phone for work.

Also data on the wind network is very slow, and at peak usage hours sometimes unusable.

At the price they charge, it is a good deal, but you certainly get what you pay for. You will pay twice as much for a worse plan from the big3, but data will be reliable and there will be far fewer dead zones.