New Prepaid Gsm Canada
 

I see both Telus and Bell have prepaid on their new 3g networks. Bell seems to have a 30 cent a minute offer which isn't bad for Canada. They also offer a sim card for $5.

That's local calls only, long distance works out at 70c/min total on both Bell and Telus prepaid. Still, not bad for somebody who makes mainly local calls and just needs a low cost phone, can get as low as $10/mo with a $100 topup on Telus

For a traveller or visitor the eKit Simple Calling is still reasonable, 29c (US) per min + 50c connect charge per call (including international calls to landlines in many countries).

Neither Bell or Telus seem to have any data at all on prepaid, which is odd for 3G.

I don't get how Canada manages to hang on a localized market when they have always had national providers (pretty much from day one) and a very large country. Canada wide plans are expensive and very few Canadians subscribe to them.

I was in Canada over the weekend and noted that my ATT contract phone was roaming on Bell rather than Rogers (which it had traditionally roamed on).

We haven't really had national providers. Even now we don't entirely. I can't get Bell service here in Saskatchewan. (Bell roams on SaskTel for CDMA, and right now has no GSM service here at all.)

Rogers was the first national carrier. Bell and Telus were regional. Gradually Bell has become more national (it recently bought Aliant in Atlantic Canada, but it still doesn't operate in two of the ten provinces). Telus has gradually become national but doesn't have any of its own network coverage in Saskatchewan; it has a roaming agreement with SaskTel. It does sell service here, though.

Canada is big and it costs a lot of money to put up enough towers here to have a good network. Of course I'd like to see long distance included in rates but so far there hasn't been enough competitive pressure to do that.

There are new competitors coming online soon (e.g. DAVE Wireless) but a recent CRTC ruling means that Wind Mobile won't be coming online, so I'm not sure if there will be enough pressure to get rid of tolls. It is likely that DAVE will not charge tolls, but it will take the company a long time to build out a good network.

I think the day will come... but it may be five years. It will not be 2010.

They have data add ons that are very expensive. You can get the "unlimited internet" which isn't, for $10 a month as an add on as well.
I guess for just talking Petro Canada's 20 cents a minute is still the cheapest.

The prepaid winner in Canada is Telus...

For C$7 you get unlimited in/out calls to one local number. A C$100 refill lasts 365 days. Pair that up with an Asterisk box or even PBXs and you get a sweet deal.

Petro-Can hasn't been 20¢/min for at least a year. 7-11 SpeakOut still is if you buy at least $75 of airtime. But even that ends this year.

Currently if you buy $100 airtime from SpeakOut you get a free basic phone. That airtime is 20¢/min and is good for one year. If you use their referral plan both you and the referrer gets a $10 bonus.

If you don't want to spend $100 or need a cell phone in Canada for only a few months Petro-Can offers a basic phone for $30 when you buy $25 in airtime. That airtime is good for 4 months.

For more details see:
Speak Out
The Unofficial 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page
Prepaid Cell Phones — Petro-Canada Mobility Prepaid Cell Phone Plan

As for Telus, they're still CDMA. I'd rather stick with GSM where I can use the same phone.

Does anyone know if SIMple Calling will roam on Bell or Telus when in Canada now that their network is live? Last time I was there (mid-September, Montreal) it could sometimes find 302-880 (Bell/Telus shared) during a scan but never register. This was before the new network(s) launched. If it can roam on the new network, that could mean great news if the coverage mirrors or betters existing CDMA coverage, where Rogers never got around to covering (such as all 3 territories, all of Newfoundland outside the St. John's area, all of Labrador, virtually all of rural Canada, etc.).

Thanks. Bell doesn't seem to have any prepaid data on 3G, but I have now found the $10 offer you mentioned on Telus (but no other data deal). Doesn't allow tethering though.

There`s still Wind in Globalive`s sails ;) See http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/amer...html#post30407

It took me three hours to drive from St. John's to Clarenville and I still had Rogers coverage, so this is a little inaccurate.

Now, mind, 10 minutes north of Clarenville I did lose signal. :) But Rogers covers the Avalon Peninsula quite well and then west and north to Clarenville. More is needed, I agree.

Oh I didn't know Clarenville was that far from St. John's. I did see the place on a Canadian tower map a while ago and based what I wrote earlier on the drivable distance from the North Sydney ferry that runs year-round. The majority of that distance (905 km, plus the ferry ride from North Sydney, Nova Scotia) Rogers users are without service. Most of the Newfoundland still doesn't have Rogers coverage.

Canadian Operators
 

In the space of 2 months Canada has gone from 1 GSM provider to 4 and another in the wings. Let's see what it does to prices in the next couple of months.

I don't expect Bell and Telus having adopted 3G GSM will make much of a difference. Most customers don't care what technology the network uses as long as it does what they want. EvDO or HSPA, they generally don't care (unless they are on the former network and go to London and discover they have no service).

Now Wind/Globalive and DAVE Wireless will change things very much over time. Wind could be online this week.

I updated the Canadian pages here:
PrePaidGSM: Canada
please let me know any corrections and/or updates, thanks. :)

Re 7-11 SpeakOut, some recent changes:

1. Outgoing SMS is 10¢. There doesn`t seem to be a surcharge for foreign SMS, but I haven`t confirmed it.

2. "you always pay incoming SMS too at the same rate as outgoing ones" Incoming SMS is now free.

3. "When you refill with CA$ 75 or 100 you get lower per minute rates at CA$ 0.20/min - € 0.13/min." This offer ends 31Dec09.

4. Data (not 3G!) is now available at $10/mon, ($7 until 31Jan10.)

5. "On the first day of each month, a CA$ 0.99 fee will be deducted..." Actually this happens on the anniversary of when the SIM was first used, e.g. if you started in 12Feb06 then the 911 fee is deducted on the 12th of each month.

Also, local calls on Petro-Canada are 25¢/min plus 20¢/min extra for LD.

Also, it`s not yet clear if the new entrants, DAVE and Wind, will offer prepaid service, at least initially. They seem to want to target mid and high-end users, e.g. those with BlackBerrys and iPhones with data plans. Neither has yet made any official announcements about their rates.

Thanks for doing a fine job with the thankless task of keeping all these minute (sorry for the pun) details up to date.

Thanks to you for your precious help.
I updated the 2 MVNO pages. So today I didn't change just Rogers and Fido pages: are they still up to date?
If that's all let's wait to see if Wind and DAVE will offer something interesting for prepaid users too...

Telus prepaid HSPA activation is C$59.99 ($9.99 for the SIM card and $50 for the prepaid activation kit). The initial credit is $50. There also a $35 activation fee (deducted from the intial credit) for phone or in-store activations. Online activations are free.

Telus coverage can be found at: Our new network*|* network*|* TELUS Mobility

Bell HSPA coverage map can be found at: Coverage and Travel- bell.ca Select HSPA/HSPA+ under coverage type.

The first Bell HSPA MVNO is Solo Mobile. The activation cost is $35 plus tax with no included credit. Prepaid plans are identical to the post paid ones.
Solo prepaid plans: http://www.solomobile.ca/Plans_Rates...ble/Rates.aspx
Solo prepaid: http://www.solomobile.ca/Plans_Rates...ute/Rates.aspx

Virgin Mobile Canada, another Bell MVNO is scheduled to start offering HSPA services Q1 2010.

on their website they write:
Who is right? :D

The Solo SIM card is $35 with no credit included. I take it they also ask for an initial $25 credit for prepaid activations.

Ok, I updated the pages, thanks! ;)

Does the Telus deal work even when you are out of your region when you are calling your one FAV?

I don't think so... The terms of the option are:

Your favourite number must have Canadian domestic numbers in your local calling area and cannot include your own TELUS mobile phone number, your voice mail retrieval number, or toll-free/900 numbers. Calls are subject to additional roaming, and/or long distance charges.