iPhone on Telus, Need Advice

[quentinwolf]

Hello there,

Not really sure where to post about this, but I need a little advice...

I've been with Rogers for a LONG time, probably 8+ years, and am fed up. I recently split off a family plan (last fall), they did a credit check, I kept my own number, and I was happy until I got my first solo bill to see that they put me down on a 3 year term, Didn't offer me a new phone, or anything. I called back asking to be put on a month to month term which was what I wanted to begin with. NOPE. We can't do that. I got bounced through 3 reps until I got to someone much higher up the food chain that dropped me down to a 1 year term. Fine, whatever.

Then I heard Telus/Bell will be offering the iPhone.. (At the time, Roger's 3G coverage was ONLY in the major cities) within a month of Telus and Bells announcement, Roger's 3G coverage suddenly expanded. They've had 3G Coverage only in the cities for the past 3 years, yet when Telus announces they will have complete 3G Coverage over their existing network, THEN Rogers decides to get competitive? No thanks.

Anyway, I don't care about cancellation penalties or anything, I'll gladly pay $120 or whatever is needed to get out of my contract... But since I'm in a smaller town, I wasn't sure about the iPhones actual coverage here... I ran into someone that had one, and was with Telus, and they said the coverage is really good.

So here's my question (sorry for the mini rant), I'm going to get an iPhone on Telus right away (Today hopefully, Called the local Telus store, they have a 16GB, Black 3Gs in stock and are holding it for me until I get off work)...

But I'm concerned because Apple has been releasing a new iPhone every summer. I'm willing to sign up with Telus on a 3 year term and get the 16GB 3Gs iPhone for $199... But if a new one comes out this summer that has amazing new features, I'd be willing to sell my current one for something like $499 (give or take what the buying price is at the time), then use that towards paying the $200 difference and just buy the new one without a contract for $699 or whatever it comes out as.

Is this practical? The main reason I want one soon, is I'm going to be taking a mini vacation to Toronto in April, and I'd love to have 3G Access to take pics, upload them, and keep better in contact with people. (My Current European Nokia N95 is a great cell phone, but with no 3G access, and only Edge, its a bit painful speed wise.)


So mainly, would it be possible to buy the current 3Gs on contract, then thus summer buy a new one without a contract, swap the sim cards (would I also have to call and let Telus know I purchased a new one?), then sell the old iPhone?

Is there anything I need to do with the old iPhone in this situation, other than do a complete wipe of it and factory reset...

Thanks in advance!

 

[quentinwolf]

Okay, so I'm definitely going to go switch to Telus today after work... But my question still remains about paying for the new one outright later this summer or fall, and what I need to do to sell the old one.

Guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I'll ask the Telus dealer about it if I don't hear anything back within the next few hours before I leave.

 

[zunairryk]

you dont need to call telus to let them know that you bought a new phone. You can sell your current iphone all you want, and just get a new one and swap simcard. You can backup you old iphone with itunes, and then sync ur new one. When the new iphone comes out, check out kijiji and craigslist, there are always people selling brand new iphones a little cheaper than $699 + tax price. (people who get it at $199, but then sell it at like 600-650 to make some profit) But make sure you get a telus locked iphone.

hope that helps..

 

[zunairryk]

Or you can buy brand new iphone off kijiji right now, (you can easily get one for $550, just have to keep looking lol), and when new iphone comes out, sell this one for $450 on ebay, and then get new one for $199 by signing a 3 years contract.

 

[Doju]

I left Rogers for the same reason, went with the Bell iPhone, but since Bell and Telus have almost identical coverage on the new network, I can practically vouch for Telus'. Not only is it much faster than Rogers, and more abundant, there's much less traffic too.

Anyway, with the new iPhone, that may be difficult. Telus hasn't announced any plans with that, and Rogers last year required a minimum of 6 months (you may just get in, hard to say) in order to upgrade to the new iPhone (needed to add another year and pay $199 or $299 dependent on the model).

Telus may be different, and require you to honour your contract, but who knows, it's hard to say anything at this point. If Telus can lock you into another year AND make you pay the subsidized (read: NOT the full $700 or whatever) again, why not?

But, what you can ALWAYS do, is what I did to get out of my Rogers contract. Downside is you lose your phone number, but it wasn't horrible.

Basically post on Kijiji or something and say for $50 I'll give you an iPhone 3G S, only catch is you have to take over my contract. Within a few hours, in a small town, I had about four offers. One guy came down within two hours of calling him, and within an hour we had it all set up. I was not at all liable for the contract, paid no termination fees, and I was free, able to go wherever I want.

If this happens with Telus this summer, do the above, and just rejoin back with them. Simple.

Good luck, enjoy the better network, I know I sure am. (Coming from a fellow small-towner, who had like 3 bars of EDGE and had to drive all the way to our province's capital for mere 3.6MBps 3G, when now I have 5 bars of 7.2MBps 3G right here on my couch. Plans are cheaper, internet is faster, I can tether everywhere, customer service has been better, wow, it's been a dream.

Rogers, I'll never sign up with you again. They sit happily on their monopoly then freak out when they realize they actually have to make some upgrades to it. Go Telus and Bell!


EDIT: Or do what the above guys said, which is an option also. Keep your iPhone until the week before WWDC (where they launch the new iPhone) then call Apple and say you have issues with say, the vibrator switch or anything really, Apple will believe anything and send you a new one. They'll send you a new one (op for the $29 they instantly send a new one, instead of having to wait, but complain that you don't want to pay it and they ALWAYS fold easily). Get the new (well, refurbished, but basically new) iPhone 3GS, leave it in the package and sell it on eBay as new and not tied to a contract. Someone buys it (last year I did the same thing and sold my iPhone 3G (8GB) for $450 new) then buy an unsubsidized new phone from Telus for like $700. You lose $250 but it may be worth it to you. $50 more than my option but you're not in a restarted 3 year contract versus like 2.5 that you'd be at then and you keep your number.

 

[quentinwolf]

Thanks everyone! That's extremely helpful to know. Remove Sim Card, and just sell the iPhone.

I left Rogers for the same reason, went with the Bell iPhone, but since Bell and Telus have almost identical coverage on the new network, I can practically vouch for Telus'. Not only is it much faster than Rogers, and more abundant, there's much less traffic too.

Anyway, with the new iPhone, that may be difficult. Telus hasn't announced any plans with that, and Rogers last year required a minimum of 6 months (you may just get in, hard to say) in order to upgrade to the new iPhone (needed to add another year and pay $199 or $299 dependent on the model).

Telus may be different, and require you to honour your contract, but who knows, it's hard to say anything at this point. If Telus can lock you into another year AND make you pay the subsidized (read: NOT the full $700 or whatever) again, why not?

But, what you can ALWAYS do, is what I did to get out of my Rogers contract. Downside is you lose your phone number, but it wasn't horrible.

Basically post on Kijiji or something and say for $50 I'll give you an iPhone 3G S, only catch is you have to take over my contract. Within a few hours, in a small town, I had about four offers. One guy came down within two hours of calling him, and within an hour we had it all set up. I was not at all liable for the contract, paid no termination fees, and I was free, able to go wherever I want.

If this happens with Telus this summer, do the above, and just rejoin back with them. Simple.

Good luck, enjoy the better network, I know I sure am. (Coming from a fellow small-towner, who had like 3 bars of EDGE and had to drive all the way to our province's capital for mere 3.6MBps 3G, when now I have 5 bars of 7.2MBps 3G right here on my couch. Plans are cheaper, internet is faster, I can tether everywhere, customer service has been better, wow, it's been a dream.

Rogers, I'll never sign up with you again. They sit happily on their monopoly then freak out when they realize they actually have to make some upgrades to it. Go Telus and Bell!


EDIT: Or do what the above guys said, which is an option also. Keep your iPhone until the week before WWDC (where they launch the new iPhone) then call Apple and say you have issues with say, the vibrator switch or anything really, Apple will believe anything and send you a new one. They'll send you a new one (op for the $29 they instantly send a new one, instead of having to wait, but complain that you don't want to pay it and they ALWAYS fold easily). Get the new (well, refurbished, but basically new) iPhone 3GS, leave it in the package and sell it on eBay as new and not tied to a contract. Someone buys it (last year I did the same thing and sold my iPhone 3G (8GB) for $450 new) then buy an unsubsidized new phone from Telus for like $700. You lose $250 but it may be worth it to you. $50 more than my option but you're not in a restarted 3 year contract versus like 2.5 that you'd be at then and you keep your number.

I'll probably just sign up for the 3 year term today, get the last 16GB 3Gs they have in stock, then sell it sometime after the new one comes in later this summer or fall.

I'm not too worried about having apple replace it with a refurb, as I take very good care of my stuff. Plus I'll buy a screen protector and case for it to prevent any scratches and scrapes... In the end, I guess I'd rather have a discount now, Then after the new one comes out, I'll give it a month or so for the sales to slow down, then I'll just walk in and buy one outright. (Or if that option pops up, then I'll see about paying a small premium to upgrade.) But knowing there's no issues just pulling the SIM Card out and selling the phone is most excellent.

If there is no upgrade plans, I probably wouldn't mind just paying the $700 then trying to sell my old one... Depending on the new features that might be on the upcoming model will be enough to justify the $200-$300 that I'll loose in the whole process, but that's okay.

Again, Thanks for the quick and helpful replies!

 

[canucksfan88]

well, the reason they didn't offer you a hardware upgrade is because you didn't seem to want one.

from their point of view, all you wanted was to break from the family plan. any time you change plans, it gets bumped to 3 years. (unless you specifically ask them)

the retention department at rogers is pretty good at giving you what you want. 8 years with rogers? i think u had, gives you pretty good perks.

 

[quentinwolf]

well, the reason they didn't offer you a hardware upgrade is because you didn't seem to want one.

from their point of view, all you wanted was to break from the family plan. any time you change plans, it gets bumped to 3 years. (unless you specifically ask them)

the retention department at rogers is pretty good at giving you what you want. 8 years with rogers? i think u had, gives you pretty good perks.

There's one thing they won't be able to give me, and that's 3G Coverage Right now in my area. What really annoyed me was the fact there was 3G coverage in Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Edmonton for the past 3 years or so, yet they waited all the way until right around the time Telus/Bell announced the new network, then they suddenly started expanding. Sure I know it costs money, but for them to be so un-competitive until suddenly there's some competition, then suddenly just update their coverage map practically overnight.

I'm paying $79-$82 a month right now for Rogers, and that's 150 minutes + 500 mb of data. That was the best they could do for me, AND... I get a monthly phone call with a sales rep trying to sell me the 'Rogers Mobile Rocket Stick' as a promotional offer ... ...Which won't work in my area, because there is no 3G Coverage within 75km. I just think I'm done with Rogers... It was good in the beginning, good phones and all, but yeah, The competition is offering better pricing and options. It would be nice to have edge to fall back on, but I'm sure Telus's coverage will be sufficient.

 

[Doju]

I too was afraid of no EDGE to fall back on, but I've not once found a situation where I have no bars. I have once had like one bar, but even then voice was fine as was browsing.

Solid, solid network.

 

[Nermal]

Sure I know it costs money, but for them to be so un-competitive until suddenly there's some competition, then suddenly just update their coverage map practically overnight.

It's not just Canada! We had an almost identical situation here in NZ; Telecom announces that the CDMA network will be complemented with a new nationwide UMTS network. Vodafone suddenly upgrades its big-cities-only UMTS network to nationwide. Sound familiar?

 

[canucksfan88]

There's one thing they won't be able to give me, and that's 3G Coverage Right now in my area. What really annoyed me was the fact there was 3G coverage in Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Edmonton for the past 3 years or so, yet they waited all the way until right around the time Telus/Bell announced the new network, then they suddenly started expanding. Sure I know it costs money, but for them to be so un-competitive until suddenly there's some competition, then suddenly just update their coverage map practically overnight.

I'm paying $79-$82 a month right now for Rogers, and that's 150 minutes + 500 mb of data. That was the best they could do for me, AND... I get a monthly phone call with a sales rep trying to sell me the 'Rogers Mobile Rocket Stick' as a promotional offer ... ...Which won't work in my area, because there is no 3G Coverage within 75km. I just think I'm done with Rogers... It was good in the beginning, good phones and all, but yeah, The competition is offering better pricing and options. It would be nice to have edge to fall back on, but I'm sure Telus's coverage will be sufficient.

Oh damn...crap thats bad. Yea, with a bill like that, I would leave Rogers.
For me they gave me some retention plan and said i could add data for 10 bucks.
3G coverage...iuno how bad they are on that since im only even in Vancouver. But yea..in your case, Rogers doesn't look like your best bet.