Wind Mobile – 2.5 Months On

A while ago, I was asked if I could do a review of Wind Mobile a few months on. I feel like I’m now at the stage where I can talk with more confidence on the service.

For the record, I have two packages with Wind Mobile – the $45/month “Always Shout” (unlimited airtime, unlimited long-distance to Canada, unlimited text messages, voice mail, call waiting) along with the $35/month unlimited data/tethering plan. That’s a total of $80/month I pay.

There are a number of things that I like about Wind. First of all, whenever you’re not roaming on a separate network, Wind considers the call local – even if you’re not in your home city. What that means is that even though I have an Ottawa number, if I’m in Toronto where Wind has cell towers, then my calls are considered “local.” I don’t have to pay any roaming/long-distance fees. Compare this with Rogers, which would have charged me for roaming outside my city, and then charged me a second time over for calling long-distance.

This also extends to my data plan – which means that wherever I am in these cities, I have Internet access. No more need to pay fees to use private wifi services. Now if you do roam to another carrier while using your Wind mobile phone, it’s pretty cheap. In fact, it’s cheaper for you to use a Wind phone on the Rogers network than it is to use a Rogers phone on the Rogers network.

The other thing I like is the lack of hidden fees. When I say I pay $80, I pay $80 – that includes taxes. That’s about $69/month before taxes, so keep that in mind when you compare it to plans from other companies (esp. Rogers, Bell and Telus) as they tend not to include taxes when they price their plans.

I didn’t have data with Rogers, and and I had a “$20” talk plan with them. My $45 “Always Shout” plan with Wind turns out to be substantially cheaper. First of all, Rogers has System Access Fees of $7 / month. This is applied to all plans. I can’t emphasize how unethical I consider this practice.

It’s as if you went to a restaurant, bought a $3 burger, and then were charged an additional $2 meal fee that’s applied to all ordered items. It’s a $5 burger not $3, just as much as its a $27 plan and not $20. Rogers received a fair amount of flack for this, and reacted by renaming the System Access Fee to something else – so that they could say they didn’t charge you “System Access Fees.” It’s still there.

That $20 Rogers plan also didn’t include text messaging (additional fees), voice mail (additional fees), or caller ID (additional fees.) In the end, I paid about $65/month with Rogers, assuming if I didn’t go over any limits. If I did, costs would easily double.

There are also no contracts with Wind, and consequently no early termination fees. This comes at the cost of no ultra-cheap or free phones tied to 3 year contracts, such as is the case with other big carriers. To be honest, I prefer Wind’s approach. I don’t like being tied down, nor do I think it should even be an option. That said, Wind does in fact subsidize the cost of their phones… My Samsung Gravity 2, which Wind sells for $130 is worth $299 on Amazon.

As for down sides? Well my phone sometimes switches over to other carriers even when Wind is in the area. I never get charged for it though, and restarting my phone fixes the issue. Customer service was slow – I waited 2 hours when I went to add data to my plan.

Their network is also pretty limited in size for Ottawa, though it covers well my home (south), my workplace (south), my mom’s place (east), and downtown – the four locations I’m most apt to be.

My verdict: it’s great.