You might have all read my Mobilicity Review for Vancouver which was over a year ago now. With all the comments on that post I figured it was time to try a cheap network again. I have been with Bell since my terrible experience with Mobilicity but some of you have been telling me how much better they have become. I couldn't face them again but the latest advertising campaign from Wind Mobile in Vancouver made me think that my expensive plan with Bell could be beaten by a $30 plan from Wind and that they were a more robust network. May I start this by saying my attitude was positive and I wanted the best from this experience. I support any efforts by any network to challenge the big 3, and I outline at the end how these networks, Wind and Mobilicity, might work for you.

So, the connection. The experience was good. Although I went into the Willowbrook Mall location in Langley and the first agent was quite rude to another customer as I waited which was disappointing. However, the guy I spoke to was brilliant. Friendly, helpful and he knew his way around my Samsung Galaxy (Vibrant) incredibly well. A good start, I was confident and expectant.

First fail arrived quickly although I was not to learn about it until later. I wanted to run two phones for a month. One for Wind and one for Bell. This way if Wind Mobile let me down I could cancel after a month and stay with Bell. The agent who put in my details said "OK. We won't port your number but I will put it in the system anyway with a fake account number so it won't port but it will be ready to go if you switch". This in turn locked up and technically ported the number anyway. Not very impressed with finding that out 3 weeks later and having to undo it.

Second issue arrived with coverage. I live in a low coverage area right now so I have to say I don't care if my phone switches to Rogers when I can't get a Wind mobile tower signal. I also never use my phone really, just for data. Sadly though the phone still doesn't work on the Canada line and also dropped out in the Massey Tunnel. I personally need to be connected always so any drop outs is not really something I can live with, especially the whole Canada line stretch.

Third fail arrived with cancelling, which is really where I felt let down and this point was where it all felt bitter. Having used the account for 10 days my experiment was over. It just wasn't going to work for me. So I called customer service, got a guy who needed convincing that I didn't need to pay a full $30 as I only had the account for 10 days and had already paid $30 for the SIM card. After 30 minutes on the phone or so he worked out some arbitrary figure for me to pay which I didn't have the patience to dispute. When he tried the payment it failed so he advised that I had to go in store to cancel. I don't live near a store but, OK, I can make the trip to make it go away. So I make a trip to the store in Yaletown that weekend. He clearly said that notes would be on my account with the final amount owing and all I needed to do was pay. On arriving in the Wind store in Yaletown store the staff look at me funny. They looked at my account, told me I needed to pay $30.00 again, which I disputed, again, and so they called Customer Service. We were then on hold for another 15 minutes. 15 minutes is a long time waiting, frustrated, in a Wind store. The result was that I didn't need to come in at all, the account would only be charged the pro-rated amount for the month at the time of billing. Annoyed...yes.

To add to this there was a very very small annoyance in that the cancellation date was then 2 days after when I did cancel it technically on the Friday. So I get charged two days extra because of inefficiency which occurred at the call centre.

Where I think Wind Mobile and Mobilicity works for people:

If you live in a metro Vancouver area
You spend no time underground on the Canada line or other lines into Downtown
Your mobile needs are simple
You have no money
You need to call cross Canada and don't want the big fees.

I know people on Wind Mobile in Vancouver and Mobilicity in Vancouver who think it's fine and have no problems. However, if you need to be on 100% of the time, travel outside the zone then perhaps your patience won't stretch far enough.

Thoughts? Comment below.