Bell Mobility and the iPhone.

[r_s426]

Has anyone had any luck affordably switching to the iPhone as an EXISTING Bell Mobility client?

As it now stands, it's cheaper to pay $400 to break my contract and then get an iPhone as a new client elsewhere than it is to pay the full price of an iPhone with Bell.

Also, from a bit of research on-line I've found out that Bell isn't letting people take their existing voice/data plans to the iPhone. You apparently have to switch to one of the iPhone plans.

I currently have a BB Storm which I would love to smash to pieces. Even with the firmware upgrade it sucks. The OS is slow and clunky, and it will often only alert me to incoming calls when it is too late for me to pick up before the call goes to voice mail (this happens in areas where I have a strong signal-- so the phone is the problem).

I have an iPod Touch that I always have with me anyway. I love the Apps. Blackberry has totally missed the boat with their own App store. BB also can't compete with the iPod in terms of media management.

Instead of carrying around a BB and an iPod, it would be nice to get an iPhone. The Storm has to go one way or another.

Failing an affordable iPhone option, does anyone have any advice about how to properly bitch to Bell to get a decent BB replacement for my Storm?

Cheers.

 

[Bone]

Migrate your Bell number over to Rogers & sign on for a new plan with the iPhone. You'll get the iPhone for $199. That's what I'm doing

 

[djk]

Has anyone had any luck affordably switching to the iPhone as an EXISTING Bell Mobility client?

As it now stands, it's cheaper to pay $400 to break my contract and then get an iPhone as a new client elsewhere than it is to pay the full price of an iPhone with Bell.

Also, from a bit of research on-line I've found out that Bell isn't letting people take their existing voice/data plans to the iPhone. You apparently have to switch to one of the iPhone plans.

I currently have a BB Storm which I would love to smash to pieces. Even with the firmware upgrade it sucks. The OS is slow and clunky, and it will often only alert me to incoming calls when it is too late for me to pick up before the call goes to voice mail (this happens in areas where I have a strong signal-- so the phone is the problem).

I have an iPod Touch that I always have with me anyway. I love the Apps. Blackberry has totally missed the boat with their own App store. BB also can't compete with the iPod in terms of media management.

Instead of carrying around a BB and an iPod, it would be nice to get an iPhone. The Storm has to go one way or another.

Failing an affordable iPhone option, does anyone have any advice about how to properly bitch to Bell to get a decent BB replacement for my Storm?

Cheers.

Have you tried putting 5.0.x on your Storm? Huge improvement.

http://crackberry.com/tired-waiting...d-os-5-0-0-327-and-5-0-0-328-blackberry-storm

 

[5hummer]

What about Telus or Virgin (who are getting the iPhone in January)?
They use Bell's network I believe?

 

[Goomer]

Telus and Bell built the new network together. Telus has the iPhone now. I know this for a fact because I got my 3GS with Telus a few weeks ago.

 

[r_s426]

Have you tried putting 5.0.x on your Storm? Huge improvement.

http://crackberry.com/tired-waiting...d-os-5-0-0-327-and-5-0-0-328-blackberry-storm

Thanks for the link. I installed it, and the difference is like night and day. I had been waiting for Bell to push out the upgrade, but they seem to be dragging their feet.

I'd still prefer an iPhone, but at least my Storm is actually usable now.

I have no clue why Bell won't let me migrate my $25 voice plan (250 day minutes, free evenings and weekends starting at 6pm, unlimited text, enhanced voice mail, call display, call forward, etc, etc, etc all inclusive) to an iPhone and just add a data plan. If I could do that, I wouldn't even mind paying full price for an iPhone.

Telus is willing to offer me free calling features on top of an existing iPhone plan if I switch, but Bell won't do much to help me stay.

Hopefully the arrival of the new carriers here will bring some real competitive change to the Canadian market.

 

[tboy]

Migrate your Bell number over to Rogers & sign on for a new plan with the iPhone. You'll get the iPhone for $199. That's what I'm doing

from my understanding you have to sign on for the $65.00 plan for 3 yrs to get the phone at that price......think about it: that's $2340.00 you are on the hook for when you sign up......(and that's a minimum).

 

[tboy]

Thanks for the link. I installed it, and the difference is like night and day. I had been waiting for Bell to push out the upgrade, but they seem to be dragging their feet.

I'd still prefer an iPhone, but at least my Storm is actually usable now.

I have no clue why Bell won't let me migrate my $25 voice plan (250 day minutes, free evenings and weekends starting at 6pm, unlimited text, enhanced voice mail, call display, call forward, etc, etc, etc all inclusive) to an iPhone and just add a data plan. If I could do that, I wouldn't even mind paying full price for an iPhone.

Telus is willing to offer me free calling features on top of an existing iPhone plan if I switch, but Bell won't do much to help me stay.

Hopefully the arrival of the new carriers here will bring some real competitive change to the Canadian market.

I believe (and I am just learning about data networks) is that the Iphone operates on the 3G network and the storm isn't. Plus I think the three main Iphone carriers have set a minimum price in order to maintain a monopoly on the Iphone plans.

You're right: when the US carriers come up here the big cell providers are in for a rude awakening (and I spoke to a rogers rep and they are shaking in their boots).....That is why you're seeing a push on signing people on for long contracts because when the influx of carriers arrive, anyone who signed on is screwed for 3 years......

 

[r_s426]

I believe (and I am just learning about data networks) is that the Iphone operates on the 3G network and the storm isn't. Plus I think the three main Iphone carriers have set a minimum price in order to maintain a monopoly on the Iphone plans.

You're right: when the US carriers come up here the big cell providers are in for a rude awakening (and I spoke to a rogers rep and they are shaking in their boots).....That is why you're seeing a push on signing people on for long contracts because when the influx of carriers arrive, anyone who signed on is screwed for 3 years......

I was just in the US for a couple of weeks, and I stopped looking at the cell phone plans because it was just making me angry how cheap they are.

I can understand to a point that the Canadian companies have higher operating costs, but we are still totally getting screwed. There is simply no notion of providing a good service for a fair price to make a fair profit.

The thing with the long term contracts is that they may not totally protect the existing Canadian carriers. The maximum penalty for early cancellation is $400.

My used Storm would get me at least $200 on eBay. That mitigates the cancellation fee by half.

At the moment I have two years left on my contract. After selling my old phone, I would only need to find a new plan with another carrier that saved me $8.33 per month compared to my old plan to break even on the cancellation fee over the two years.

Sometimes it can pay to buy your way out of a bad contract.

 

[tboy]

Oh don't get me started on US plans. I knew a woman I met while in California on business and when I was back here, she called me up one friday afternoon (around 2).

So she's gabbing away and I asked her where she was going? She said Seattle. I said: from where? San Fran....we talked just about the whole way.

She told me she had an Unlimited daily minutes, Unlimited evenings and weekends, Unlimited roaming and unlimited north american long distance for $25.00 a month all in.

 

[djk]

Thanks for the link. I installed it, and the difference is like night and day. I had been waiting for Bell to push out the upgrade, but they seem to be dragging their feet.

I'd still prefer an iPhone, but at least my Storm is actually usable now.

I have no clue why Bell won't let me migrate my $25 voice plan (250 day minutes, free evenings and weekends starting at 6pm, unlimited text, enhanced voice mail, call display, call forward, etc, etc, etc all inclusive) to an iPhone and just add a data plan. If I could do that, I wouldn't even mind paying full price for an iPhone.

Telus is willing to offer me free calling features on top of an existing iPhone plan if I switch, but Bell won't do much to help me stay.

Hopefully the arrival of the new carriers here will bring some real competitive change to the Canadian market.

Good to hear your Storm's performance has improved. The 5.0.x OS is a gem.

Sounds like you have a grandfathered price plan. It's a de facto standard practice with mobile carriers to get you to change your price plan when purchasing a new phone.

That being said, I'm pretty sure Bell has a iPhone data feature you can add to your account. Ask on HowardForums to clarify.

As well, be sure to give Bell's retention a fair shake. Just be firm but respectful. If you get a rep that you can tell doesn't give a shit, just say you gotta go and call back in 10 minutes. You will eventually get a rep that will be willing to help you out.