Taking the Wind Out of Their Sales

So we’ve got telecoms suing each other over their ad claims and trying to block new entrants with lobbying. We’ve got a new entrant that has finally made it to market. And we’ve plenty of new phones and changes to plans happening here in Canada.

What does it all mean?

Sadly, not much!

For all those people who think Wind is going to come in and give away free mobile phone service, like Santa Claus handing out candy-canes at the mall I’ve got a reality check for you. Besides the fact you can only get Wind in Toronto and Calgary at the moment; and as soon as you leave your WIND HOME zone you’re roaming at 25 cents a minute. Not to mention they didn’t manage to buy any spectrum in Quebec (Quebecor/Videotron got it all – unlike what someone people suggest it has nothing to do with racism, check the blog post by Chris at Wind Mobile’s web site).

Bell Nokia N97 Bell LG Xenon Wind HTC Maple
Phone $199.95 $89.95 $300.00
Plan $50.00 $35.00 $35.00
Features $12.00 $15.00 $45.00
Monthly total $62.40 $50.40 $90.00
3-yr total $2,446.35 $1,904.35 $3,540.00

Now it’s obvious the best deal is an LG Xenon from Bell; but why? I mean that’s where the fun comes in, is making the comparisons because everyone packages things slightly differently so you can’t make exact comparisons. For starters, the N97 is only available from Bell and the HTC Maple is only from Wind so if you absolutely have to have either of those phones the choice is already made!

The other big difference in the table above is the phone cost with Bell is for a 3-year contract but Wind doesn’t have contracts so they make you buy the phone outright. With Bell, the no-contract price for an N97 is $599.95, this would add $300 to the cost of the Bell, still no where near what you’d pay Wind after three years.

And as far as I’m concerned there’s nothing wrong with a 3-year commitment if it saves you $300! You’re going to have to get service from someone so why not get a cheaper phone while you’re at it; and if you loose or break your phone you’re going to have to pay full price to replace it whether you’re on contract or not. Besides, my usual impetus for buying a new phone is my wife complaining that I’ve used up all the elastics to hold my phone together!

The other problem with comparing Bell to Wind is how they package their features – even at Bell it’s tough to compare an N97 (smart phone) to a Xenon (regular phone). You could argue I get a lot more value from what I pay Wind but what I’ve selected here is the minimum from each carrier to get me what I need. Since the N97’s plan includes 500 MB of internet data I’ve added Caller ID and 250 text messages; the Xenon’s feature is a Fun 15 pack including Caller ID, 250 text messages, voice mail, and unlimited internet; and the Wind’s features are voice mail, text messaging, and internet.

So print out this article and the next time some clueless moron starts ranting about Robelus raping the population and how Wind is going to save us all you can take your print-out, roll it up, and beat him senseless so at least he shuts-up! You might even consider leaving him a copy of the print-out (use his blood to underline important passages) if you think he can read and might be able to get a clue.

Cross-posted on Cameron-Schultz at Taking the Wind Out of Their Sales

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