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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / Fido / May 2004city fido vs $40 plan
I see that the cityfido for $45 includes the system "fee" of $6.95. Currently am on the 400/$400 plus the $6.95. Is there any reason not to switch from a 400 minute account to an unlimited account for virtually the same monthly charge? typo its 400/$40.00 !!!! > I see that the cityfido for $45 includes the system "fee" of $6.95. > > Currently am on the 400/$400 plus the $6.95. > > Is there any reason not to switch from a 400 minute account to an unlimited > account for virtually the same monthly charge? > Is there any reason not to switch from a 400 minute account to an unlimited > account for virtually the same monthly charge? Switching from the 400/$47 fee to the 5000/$45 fee will remove you ability to roam "freely" in Canada as every minute outside your home city's local calling area will be billed at $0.20 per minute. So if you travel a lot to the outskirts of the city or to other cities, then you will have to pay those extra airtime minutes that won't come out of your 5000 minute bank. On the $47 dollar plan, those minutes are usable everywhere in Canada. Also, the term "unlimited" is used loosely since it is called at 5000 minutes for the month. (it is for practical purposes unlimited, but legally isn't). I believe the 5000 minute cap has been lifted - based on an article in the Vancouver Sun. Fido spokesman was quoted in a Vancouver newspaper as saying that for CityFido they already used the 5000 min cap as a soft cap - not usually enforced, but available if somebody was abusing the system, but that they had removed it. I am going by memory, sorry, I did not keep a copy. Andrew >>Is there any reason not to switch from a 400 minute account to an unlimited >>account for virtually the same monthly charge? [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Also, the term "unlimited" is used loosely since it is called at 5000 minutes > for the month. (it is for practical purposes unlimited, but legally isn't). > Fido spokesman was quoted in a Vancouver newspaper as saying that for > CityFido they already used the 5000 min cap as a soft cap - not usually > enforced, but available if somebody was abusing the system, but that > they had removed it. A month or two ago. FIDO sent a pamphlet with its bills detailing exactly what its "unlimited" plans really meant. I have not received anything on written form to advise this had changed. Whether Fido actually enforces those limits or not is a different question. Fact is that if the fine print in the contract says there is a limit of 5000 minutes with undetermined action if you exceed them, you should not plan on using more than 5000 minutes, especially since you don't know what Fido would do (if it does something). In reality though, 5000 minutes is a lot of airtime so normal people wouldn't normally exceed that limit. But if you have special needs, then you should not be deceived by the "unlimited" woprd sicne it is in fact limited to 5000 minutes. The softcap is now 10,000 minutes per month on CityFido in Vancouver & Toronto. > > Fido spokesman was quoted in a Vancouver newspaper as saying that for > > CityFido they already used the 5000 min cap as a soft cap - not usually [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > normally exceed that limit. But if you have special needs, then you should > not be deceived by the "unlimited" woprd sicne it is in fact limited to 5000 minutes. In reality no normal person has anything to worry about. It would actually be very hard to exceed 5000 minutes, unless you were usuing it as your primary buisness phone, which you shouldn't be doing anyway. 5000 minutes per month allows you to make 16 ten minute phone calls every day. Or 8 twenty minute phone calls. Or 30 five minute phone calls. or 75 two minute calls. It gives you more than 160 minutes for every day of the month. Some people might talk on the phone for 2 hours and 40 minutes a day on a few days out of the month, but the chnaces of doing that every single day? Some days a person might only use their phone for five minutes. If the cap has indeed been doubled to 10,000, then all the better. That's over five hours a day of talk time folks! As a final note, I think that if a person did exceed the so called "soft-cap" on month out of five, Fido would most likely not take any action at all. > The softcap is now 10,000 minutes per month on CityFido in Vancouver & > Toronto. [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > not be deceived by the "unlimited" woprd sicne it is in fact limited to > 5000 minutes. > In reality no normal person has anything to worry about. It would actually > be very hard to exceed 5000 minutes, unless you were usuing it as your > primary buisness phone, which you shouldn't be doing anyway. > 5000 minutes per month allows you to make 16 ten minute phone calls every > day. Or 8 twenty minute phone calls. Or 30 five minute phone calls. or 75 > two minute calls. It gives you more than 160 minutes for every day of the > month. Some people might talk on the phone for 2 hours and 40 minutes a day > on a few days out of the month, but the chnaces of doing that every single > day? Some days a person might only use their phone for five minutes. It's only like 83 hours...Yes that'a a lot for even perhaps the gabby averege user and ceartainly normal users, but I had an unlimited plan on verizon and had a month of long talks with my girlfriemd while on the rocks and i used 9000 minutes that month and at the time i avereged 6000. But yes I'm the exception, not the rule. I'll but out now.:) Verizon later put a 3,000 minute cap on it but it was unlimited until my 3 year contract expired. They haven't lost their mind again since...lol > The softcap is now 10,000 minutes per month on CityFido in Vancouver & > Toronto. How is this information being disseminated ? Are they also increasing the "unlimited" long distance in certain packages such as fido-to-fido which had been set to 2500 minutes ? I find it odd that they would have gone through the trouble of sending pamphlets to all customers detailing those limits and then raise such limits not long after, especially since it changes nothing to the fact that a customer still has no idea on what sort of "appropriate" actions Fido takes when a customer exceeds said limit. Yes, I know that Fido does not currently strictly enforce those limits, but that could change tomorrow if they decided to. So customers have to be weary of such schemes. Even at 5000 minutes, it is still a very good deal. Fido use to pride itself about its simple and honest plans. (back in the early days). But now, they are just as guilty as the others. Advertising a $20 plan that really costs $26.95 is dishonest in my opinion. Advertising "unlimited" when there are limits (soft or not) is also dishonest. I guess when your prices and tactics arte no longer so different from your competitors, you also have to resort to advertising tricks to attract customers. back in the good old days of a baby Fido, it had clear and undeniable advantages and it didn't need any tricks to convince customers, it just used "cute and catchy" advertising and no need to use tricky stuff like "unlimted". The "hidden" $6.95 is especially bad because now , some Fido plans include that fee and others don't. So it makes it harder to compare the plans to see which one fits you better. > > The softcap is now 10,000 minutes per month on CityFido in Vancouver & > > Toronto. [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > that fee and others don't. So it makes it harder to compare the plans to see > which one fits you better. JF Mezei, shut up. The pamphlets were sent out about two months before they change the policy on the limits, and it's not dishonest, people do abuse things you know. Why they sent out pamphlets before? It was because of some analog roaming thing, that TELUS was bitching about, so it was actually modified..then two months later they modify something else, their limit on "Unlimited", because of the response from the users. It's as simple as that. > > The softcap is now 10,000 minutes per month on CityFido in Vancouver & > > Toronto. [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > that fee and others don't. So it makes it harder to compare the plans to see > which one fits you better. You want bad, try Rogers Cable Internet. They have a bandwidth limit that gets you account suspended. What's the limit? It depends on your area, the time of day, how many fish you throw at the moon and the size of the 423rd leaf to grow on the tree in your front yard.... well, maybe not those last too. The point is you will never be told the limit, you'll only know you've breached the limit when they suspend you account. Makes Fido's "unlimited" situation far less imposing... > You want bad, try Rogers Cable Internet. They have a bandwidth limit > that gets you account suspended. What's the limit? It depends on your area, [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > you've breached the limit when they suspend you account. Makes Fido's > "unlimited" situation far less imposing... Agreed. Roger's virtual caps are a PR nightmare. Assuming Rogers has brains, it must have been designed to get rid of customers who hog the line and this negatively impact the neighbourhood. They may have figured it is cheaper to lose a couple customers per neighbourhood compared to splitting cells to increase capacity in so many neighbouhoods. However, most people hold Fido to much higher standards than Rogers which is almost as low as Videotron. If Fido changes the caps at will, then it isn't all that great either. In the case of Rogers, they probably always had the fine print in their service agreement that allowed them to take "appropriate" action in case of abuse. Carte Blanche. So some day, they decide to make use of that fine print and piss off certain customers by cutting them off "randomly". As long as Fido keeps its "carte blanche" inactive, then it is fine. But they, like Rogers, have the right to impose "random sanctions" anytime they want. That is the danger of such vague fine print. Consider that if CityFido takes off in a big way and Fido has capacity problems in Toronto, it will be *very* tempted to dissuade users of a lot of minutes, the same way Rogers now tries to get rid of users who use a lot of bandwidth. Consider this: right now, Fido is still Fido and is being a nice puppy and just monitors any usage above 5000 (or whatever the limit is this week), with perhaps a gentle warning to those who clearly abuse. But when Telus takes over, do you really think they will continue to be so nice ? They'll see the vague fine print and realise that they could increase revenues or decrease load on the network and act like Rogers did on cable. Come on, the guy is on 400/400 now so the 5000 minutes is not a criteria for him. If he use almost all his minutes in the local zone, is better to him to change plan. > > Fido spokesman was quoted in a Vancouver newspaper as saying that for > > CityFido they already used the 5000 min cap as a soft cap - not usually [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > normally exceed that limit. But if you have special needs, then you should > not be deceived by the "unlimited" woprd sicne it is in fact limited to 5000 minutes. > Come on, the guy is on 400/400 now so the 5000 minutes is not a criteria for > him. If he use almost all his minutes in the local zone, is better to him > to change plan. Well, he asked for the differences. The cityfido can't be beaten in the per minute charge compared to the 400/$47 plan. But if you travel a lot in canada, then it can make a difference. As has been said many times, each individual must look at his/her/its personal use of a mobile phone to see what plan best fits him. |
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