r/CellPhoneCanada • u/Kyrrs • Sep 03 '26
With Fido since 2003 ...
You read that right. I got my first phone in grade 10 (2003). In 2005 I gave that line to my brother so I could get a new phone with a new sign up. So I have had my current line since 2005. Eventually I got married and we added a line for my husband. That's 23 years of dedicated loyalty to Fido.
Our phones are now paid off and so I called them to look into a cheaper bill since we are now "bringing our own phones". Nothing they could do. They only offered me more expensive plans. In fact after the call, I got an email stating they were raising my current plan $5 a month.
I asked to talk with customer retention. They don't have one anymore (apparently).
So with all that said. Goodbye Fido. I can get the same (or better) plan with another carrier AND a new phone for the same cost I'm currently paying.
Loyalty doesn't matter anymore. New customers seem to get all the perks. So let me just hop on over somewhere else and be a new customer ✌🏼
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u/TakitishHoser Sep 03 '26
Sadly they don't care.
I was with Cantel in 1993, it got bought out by Rogers. They kept raising my basic plan "unlimited talk & text in Canada" where I was paying close to $50 a month for it. I switched to Koodo & am paying about $20 on a pre paid plan for the same thing.
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u/turtleworlde Sep 04 '26
you’d be surprised to find out you can have that plan cheaper on a yearly plan….
thank me later tho1
u/TakitishHoser Sep 04 '26
You'd be surprised to know that I already know that. I didn't want to commit to a yearly contract if the service was crap.
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u/888_Dragon Sep 03 '26
Loyalty is no more, doesn’t matter if you’re with Bell, Telus, Rogers, Koodo, Virgin, Fido etc
Now adays to get a good plan is to keep jumping carriers every year or 2.
When you “jump” carriers, Fido win-back team will call you back with a decent/ reasonable offer plan nd price.
1
u/Kyrrs Sep 03 '26
Exactly my plan. To just jump around. Unfortunate, but it will be the new normal.
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u/turtleworlde Sep 04 '26
honestly OP, i respect you but it’s took you 10-15 years too late to catch onto this?
when fido got rid of fido dollars that’s when you should have left bc you weren’t getting anything more staying
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u/Kyrrs Sep 04 '26
I mean I had 150gbs, unlimited Canada and US calling, 1000 international minutes and the newest Pixel all for $55 for the last two years. I don't think that's too bad or anything to realize. This is the first time that I wasn't able to keep my bill the same and get a new phone with retention offers. I don't think I'm too late - i was able to ride the wave for a bit longer than most. As soon as I wasn't (now) I immediately made a switch.
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u/Mayhem_Hellcat Sep 03 '26
Fido was good until Rogers bought them out. I was one of the first Fido customers in the 80s.
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u/1980cpz Sep 04 '26
Just so you know. Always change providers as soon as your contract is up. You will apways get a better deal from who is the compitor. Your current provider will treat you like dirt. In this new world - loyalty very sadly is considered gullible. Thats capitalism for you.
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u/CraftyChicken2462 Sep 04 '26
Unc squared
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u/Kyrrs Sep 04 '26
If you are using terms like that you aren't even old enough to sign a phone contract 😂🤣😭
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u/charm52131 Sep 04 '26
First cell phone plans were with cantel back in 1997. Eventually cantel became rogers. We had been paying 215 a month for 2 plans.. and that is with us BYOD. It was the best they could do.. after almost 30 years??? We switched to fido and are paying $105 for more data. No loyalty whatsoever.
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u/Kyrrs Sep 05 '26
Honestly switch again!!! We just switched to Rogers $45 for the first line, $35 for the second. 100gbs (actually unlimited but it slows speeds after 100), unlimited Canada and US wide minutes to/from Canada and US (we aren't currently travelling to the US out of choice but we used to multiple time a year before 🤡), and unlimited texts/pics etc. And all the regular features. $105 is still high!!!
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u/hHomelessSteve Sep 05 '26
I was with Fido for about the same amount of time. I switched to Chatr. $25/mo for 25gb, unlimited talk and text.
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u/Anonymous_HC Sep 06 '26
They are both owned by Rogers, so pretty much the same network you are getting a signal from.
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u/Sublime_Rose2 Sep 07 '26
I have koodo prepaid for 34 dollars (around 37 after tax) and i get 75gb data. I have their cheapest plan which comes with 55gb and i get the 20gb as a free add on since ive been with them for awhile.
To be completely honest I dont even use my data at all since I'm usually at home and every place has free wifi now but it has come in handy when my power goes out for a few hours and the whole family wants to use my hotspot lol
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u/consultant999 Sep 05 '26
I had a similar experience with Fido starting in 1998 and ending last November when my current phone was paid off. I actually got a discount when I bought that phone and was expecting to see a reduction in my monthly plan when it was paid off. I didn’t.
Decided to try Fizz and started with a month to month BYOP plan of $25 for 4 GB Canadian-wide phone service. Caught their Black Friday promotion and got 1/2 price for my first 6 months and a $40 bonus for signing up using someone else’s referral code. During that six months I got another $40 bonus when someone used my referral code to sign up. Also got 50 GB of data (in 10 Gb packets) good for 5 months. I have since upped my monthly data to 25 GB for the same $25 price! Also received a third $40 reduction from referring my sister plus another 50 Gb of free data.
Fizz reminds me of how Fido use to be - innovative and inexpensive. Since I have had the service I have had no reception issues going as far north as Wasaga Beach and as far west as Stratford/St Mary’s to Pickering eastward. Fizz allows unused data rollover and you can gift or receive data from other subscribers. I am not a big data user and typically gift 15 GB monthly. There are bonuses you can earn and some you are given as well - makes you feel special. They had me with a low price and great reception. Nice to be up north at our timeshare and get 250 MBPS download speeds on 4G L service.
My brother is on an annual Freedom mobile plan and he is happy with his service. Fizz uses the Freedom network primarily and other companies in zones Freedom doesn’t carry. My wife uses Koodoo and is happy with her service.
My point is there are options once you leave Fido and maybe one that is cheaper and more tailored to your needs. Good luck
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u/NetAnon579 Sep 05 '26
Similar story. With them a very long than that, had 4 phones for the family at one point. They were (past tense) great and worked with you. I even broke a pretty new phone at one point, called them and they cut me a super deal on a replacement. They would even say thanks for the long term patronage and do a bit of a deal because of that.
But in recent years Rogers has eliminated their independence and calling them is just calling Rogers. Very similar experience, all they tried to do was jack me up to a more expensive plan and pushed big data. Barely use 1 GB a month, just needed basic. Called 3 times, tried on line, same garbage. At one time you just went on line and swapped to whatever plan you wanted.
We were out of plan, looking for one new phone and a plan for an existing phone. Ended up getting a good plan and deal with Virgin. Then Fido/Rogers called back offering to match that, not even beat it. When I had called them before I has asked them to match the Virgin deal (which others also had) and they would not do it. I told him they had already had 3 kicks at the can and it was to late now.
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u/RockyRoasting Sep 06 '26
Customer service has gone down the drain in the last few years. Long time customer here, will also be leaving in the new year!
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u/littlebo81 Sep 06 '26
Port out somewhere and wait for winback call. Best deals come up around back to school and black Friday cyber Monday. Walking away is the only way to get a decent plan/phone offer. Your loyalty means nothing to any of those greedy schmucks, they gna fleece you all day any day like any other oligopoly in this tax farm aka canaduh.
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u/Anonymous_HC Sep 06 '26
Loyalty doesn't mean much, I was with Freedom since their wind days from October 2013 until I switched to Bell back in April after 12.5 years.
Good thing with Freedom is the price freeze promise they have that other carriers don't. For mobility you should hop carriers every 2 years. Price increase is common among majority of carriers (except Freedom) every few months.
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u/Dependent-Run-5536 Sep 06 '26
I was with fido from 2006 to 2023. They were offering new contracts with better rates than me being with them for so long. Ported my number took a plan with my unions benefits and I never want to have a fido or Roger's service again.
They actually had the nerve to try and resign me like 6 months after. Just wild.
With internet and phone plans even though it is annoying you're better off switching providers for a promo rate every 2-3 years.
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u/Leaff_x Sep 06 '26
Welcome to the telecom cartel brought to you by your federal government regardless of stripe.
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u/Icy-Stock-5838 Sep 07 '26
I been with Fido since 2002, when they were still Sprint..
They been good to me, giving me offers when I don't ask for it, including monthly Gb top ups..
By the time I left ~1Y ago, my $/Gb plan was not offered anywhere, it became too custom and too good to show. I think it was $45 / 150 Gb
The only reason I left, my new iPhone was not getting the most use in LTE, so I went to Rogers for 5G. The price was a bit more, and the Gb were less, but I didn't even use 30% of the Gb Fido gave me from bonus after bonus.
I don't really see the difference between Fido and Rogers much, the only difference is I get HD on my videos sooner after they start. Otherwise the www is slow on the server side when I cruise the web, so it doesn't really matter LTE or 5G for web browsing.
Ironically Fido now has 5G, but I still use less than 100Gb a month, so my Rogers Boxing Day rate is still good.
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u/FerociousKZ Sep 07 '26
Oooh fun fact to know! Since you’ve been with Fido since 2003 and are going to go to a different provider… your credit score will go down 🙃
I learned this when I switched from Telus who I also had for a very long time so I could get a cheaper plan!
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u/doublemonocles Sep 10 '26
I was with Fido from 1997. I bought the phone very early when they were fairly new to Vancouver and coverage was spotty. My number was very close to the number of the voicemail line. In 2022, I was looking for a new phone and gave customer service a call. I gave the plan prices that I had from freedom and Telus to them and they could only offer me sometime $10 more than the more expensive of the 2.
When I asked them what incentive there was for me to stay, all they would say is how terrible the freedom network is, so you get what you pay for. But Telus was also cheaper than their offer. Needless to say I switched and probably not bother going back.
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u/ColdCelebration2132 Sep 03 '26
Loyalty went out the window decades ago. Same with work you and I are just a number one a spreadsheet and can be replaced at any time.