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Review by nzakanzaka See Profile

  • Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $33 per month
  • No Cap
Great price for unlimited text, voice and data
Coverage in some areas
Tell me who has a better price for the same service, and I'll switch. None yet.
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I was one of those who signed up early with Wind. Service was terrible in those days, but I'm glad I sat through their troubled days. I got the Super Smart plan for all members of my family, and Wind has always extended it since 2010. I have unlimited data to go with unlimited global texting and 24-hour unlimited voice, voicemail, etc. One of my daughters thought she knew better and went over to one of the big three. She doesn't have half of my package, but she ends up paying up to $85 in some months for sub-par service. I have frequently used my BlackBerry as a modem on the Wind network, and I can't complain about the speed.

The voice quality has seen a fantastic improvement, and the customer service has also improved. For $29 plus tax I'm not complaining.

member for 18 years, 24 visits, last login: 9.6 years ago
lodged 9.6 years ago


Review by nekkidtruth See Profile

  • Location: London, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $44 per month
  • No Cap
Unlimited Calling/Global Texting/Data for $44.07/month taxes in.
WIND Zone expansion slow.
If you live in a WIND Zone and don't leave the zone often, you should be saving yourself $40+/month on WIND.
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I have two lines on WIND. I pay $88.14/month for both lines, taxes included. I was paying $81/month for one line with Rogers. If you live in a city WIND covers and don't leave often, I can't see why you wouldn't want to save yourself 50% compared to the Big/Little 3.

They recently started closing some holes within WIND Zones, but have slowed expansion into other areas. Realistically, I think they should work on enveloping the QEW with service. They also skipped out on the 700MHz spectrum auction. This would have allowed them to deploy LTE so it was a bit of a disappointment.

Some people are adamant that WIND is failing/will fail and will close up shop. Even if that were true, I'll still have saved over 50% for the last few years.

member for 21.8 years, 4822 visits, last login: 352 days ago
lodged 9.7 years ago


Elizabeth w
@199.119.233.x

Elizabeth w

Anon

warnining!!The worrest phone company in history! !!!

I went in the store trying to get my data service finally up and running on one of my phone lines I have with them. Even tho I had the plan with data included on all my lines, this one never worked but I was still being billed the full amount for over a year now. While I was there I asked about including the world wide plan and how much it would save/cost me. The girl at the store opened my account and told me that my plan I had for 4 years already includes worldwide plan and that I was simply unaware of it and should've known better. She pulled out a brochure and told me it would cost me 25 cents per minute to call a country I requested. By the end of the month I received a text from wind specifying my bill is now $546.00 dollars!!! Yap. I called them only to be met with nasty attitude and complete
unprofessionalism. I was told that according to the plan I have, international call costs me 1.75 dollars not 25 cents. They also said it is my responsibility to recognize when told wrong information at the store and that the company will not take any kind of responsibility for any wrong information provided by their staff at any store location. After being transferred from one supervisor to another, the hour long phone call ended with an offer of 8 dollars off if I decided to purchase world wide plan in the future. Eight!! dollars off of my next purchase? ??. What made the whole thing worse is the fact that I have been with this company for years and tolerated soo much including their horrible network connection, being over billed often, being billed for servies i never used or asked to be added, absolutely despicable customer service and so on just to keep my number the same. Not any more, after thousands of dollars drained I'm finally quitting. By the way, don't fall for the "no plan" marketing...it's a scam. They tell you you get your phone on a tab which basically means if you cancel their service, you'd have to pay full amount for the phone. Stay away..

Review by technik0 See Profile

  • Location: Guelph, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $31 per month
Actually offers value for money unlike the Big 3
Nothing really. Coverage is a trade off but it's not bad where I live
Far more enjoyable than the $67 I was spending on Bell
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Update March 2014:

Still enjoying WIND. Prices are great and the service and coverage only seems to improve. Was in the US a few weeks ago and my wife (also on WIND) added $15/month package to her phone for calls/texts/data while there. I believe it was linked up to T-Mobile in the States. Coverage seemed fine as did the speeds. Good value and nice to not have to worry about it costing a fortune.

Apart from a fairly rural area near my home I can drive from Guelph the whole way to Toronto or down to Niagara Falls and be in service pretty much the whole way.

Billing has been accurate and the online account portal is pretty easy to use.

---
Original Review:
Was about 1 year into a 3 year contract with Bell paying $67 a month for 200 local minutes, free calls to 10 favourite numbers and 6GB data. Service was fine as was coverage but the price was just too high.

Joining WIND on their $30 plan made sense. Bell charged $420 to buy out the last 2 years of contract but by saving over $30 a month it'll take barely a year to recover that.

Finding WIND great so far. Bought a Huawei Ascend W1 Windows Phone 8. Pretty basic device but the battery life is great - 3 full days easily on a charge.

My wife is also on WIND so we "bundled" and get an extra $5 off a month so my half of the deal actually costs just $27.50. Hard to beat.

I live in the middle of Guelph so get pretty good coverage at 3G or 4G depending on how it's feeling. Most of my travel is around the GTA/Hamilton so I'm rarely without service. Even if I do go into the "Roaming" zone I'm not a massive caller so it might cost a dollar or two for those calls I make. Definitely not making a dent in the big savings I make over Bell. I also get useful features like Caller Display which I didn't get on Bell despite paying a small fortune.

Speeds are not as fast as Bell but that was to be expected. They aren't terrible though. Tend to average out between 3-7Mbit/s download and about 0.5Mbit upload. Perfectly fine for most people.

"Unlimited" data is actually closer to 5GB and then it slows down but I don't think I've ever used that much either on WIND or Bell before that. Probably 2GB tops so it's fine.

Really for the price it's hard to have any complaints. Guys in the kiosk at the local mall are fairly knowledgeable and friendly and service has been reliable in the month since I switched. If you live in a well covered area and don't spend a lot of time travelling in more rural areas there is little reason to stay with the likes of Bell, Rogers or Telus. They are just too expensive in my view. Pretty much 100% across the board. Rated a little lower for "Connection" because coverage isn't as good and I've had one or two dropped calls but it's really rather minor.

member for 16.2 years, 220 visits, last login: 233 days ago
updated 10 years ago


Review by juan65 See Profile

  • Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $45 per month
Price, coverage is improving, price when on international
ABSOLUTE LACK OF COMMUNICATION
They are designed to sell and operate but there is NOT communication with the customer
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I am a happy customer and have been one since 2012. don't get me wrong.

They have customer service on the phone but email... FORGET about it! they have NEVER answer one... there is an APP on the phone to communicate with them... COMPLETELY USELESS, doesn't work, after you write your emeail or SMS you get an error message.

BB 10.2.1 has been released early this week... there is NO information at all about when Wind will have it (for Z10 at least). The customer service person on the phone think you are an idiot and ask you to check on their website for the news about that release... they KNOW WELL there is NO information whatsoever on their website about any update, there is no forum and no communication section in their website... just PHONES, DEVICES and WHY WIND IS THE BEST section.

MESSAGE TO WIND: Try... at least try to make us believe our comments and concerns are valuable and be brave to open a "review" section, a "forum", an "Information" section... try to pretend that you are in communication with your customers... that is communication 101

Other than that I am a happy customer (must of the time) that might not go back to Rogers or Bell... might not.

member for 11.1 years, 3 visits, last login: 10.1 years ago
updated 10.1 years ago


Review by markf See Profile

  • Location: Burlington, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $31 per month
Excellent price and service!
Coverage area limited for travellers
If you're in a Wind Zone most of the time, can't beat the value!
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I've been with Wind for a year and a half. Their service has always been great for me within the Wind Zone. It's a limited area, but I spend pretty much 51 weeks a year inside the Wind Zone, so the savings are well worth the lack of LTE and limited network coverage area. They are expanding their network to cover new areas though.

I rarely have an problems, but again, for just over $30 taxes in (I have two lines on my account, so each is $27.50) any perceived limitations must be understood based on the price. Not worth $20 more per month for any reason for me.

If you have an AWS unlocked phone, it's easy to try them as they have no contracts. SIM cards are expensive at $25, but for most people, I would think Wind's service/price combination will keep you as a customer.

member for 16.1 years, 4122 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 10.2 years ago


UNSATISIFIED
@shawcable.net

UNSATISIFIED

Anon

Never Go with Wind again

Awful customer service! Get charged roaming even in my own home... and my cell doesnt even work at home sometimes!

Review by frankhomeand See Profile

  • Location: Oakland, Alameda, CA, USA
  • Cost: $30 per month
  • Caps of 5 gigabytes/month
Features, features and did I say features?
Dropouts at some areas.
Good if you don't need a high priority line.
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For somebody like myself I personally don't need the fancy signal that everybody has all the time. I feel I get what I pay for and I can't complain one bit. For the $30 bucks a month I get Unlimited Province Wide, Unlimited Text, and 5GB of DATA. Thats what I think phone plans in Canada cost without Robellus.

Data can be hit or miss with 400kbps upload, and abysmal service on data at some areas. Signal overall is bearable, and works for me.

member for 19.3 years, 1194 visits, last login: 353 days ago
lodged 10.4 years ago


Review by nsts See Profile

  • Location: undisclosed location
  • Cost: $33 per month
Super cheap (HALF the cost of my Rogers phone, and I have more features w/ Wind!), great reliability, friendly staff
A few dead zones, sometimes slow internet
Thank you for saving me from Rogers, Wind
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I've been wanting to move from Rogers to Wind for several years now. When the end of my Rogers contract finally came, I researched Wind (and other 'cheap/low-budget providers -- I was shocked to learn Fido = Rogers, Koodo = Telus and Virgin = Bell) -- Wind and Mobilicity are the only low-cost providers that (currently) aren't a part of "the big 3" it seems!

I was aware a big complaint people have with Wind, is their roaming. So I immediately messaged Wind's official facebook profile (supplied my phone # and pin) and requested a cancellation on roaming/away capabilities so I do not get hit with roaming. When I hit a dead zone, my phone simply goes into SOS mode until I reach the nearest Wind zone again. I highlight this point as being imperative if you don't want any 'unexpected' charges!

People's 2nd biggest complaint, is the dead zones. I expected a lot more of these than I found. I live in Cambridge, work in Toronto and frequent the Niagara Falls/Buffalo area. The only dead zones I've spotted (so far) are along Milton/Campbellville on the 401 and a short stretch of the highway just leaving Niagara Falls en route to Toronto. (Dead zones = are because I disabled roaming. Rogers/Bell/Telus all enable roaming by default too.. this is where a lot of the 'unexpected' charges come from if you frequently travel the province)

I've read that Wind are expanding their towers, so I hope these dead zones get addressed so they can become even bigger competition for Rogers, Bell and Telus. The 'Network Builder' on their site is pretty handy and addresses these dead zones, by allowing you to report them: »care.windmobile.ca/Suppo ··· ult.aspx

My only real complaint is retail staff seem a bit flustered at times and can goof up on your requested plan, so make sure you double-check your plan before you leave the store (and not in the car like I did).

Positive: I dealt with Wind over Facebook, email and phone support. Email support takes about 2-3 days for a reply, phone support I've always had them call me back.. even when I wasn't expecting it! (Follow-up calls to Facebook messages I've sent them) -- and each and every time I've dealt with friendly and helpful staff. By far, my favorite method of contacting them is Facebook. To-date, I get replies within the hour (or less) usually. I haven't had to bug them much since my services are currently perfected to my liking, so time waits may have changed depending on the volume of messages they receive.

The internet speed is a bit iffy.. at times, it's ultra quick.. other times, it's like dialup. I'm not sure what causes the difference but I'd like a steady speed at all times.

Wind saved my butt after being screwed over from Rogers.. Wind's generous unlimited data means I can plug my Blackberry into my computer and surf the web uninhibited, without worrying about going over my limit.. when my primary internet connection is down... (migrating from Rogers to a 3rd party ISP like Teksavvy or start.ca is fraught with difficulties as of late): »[Ultra/Lite] Rogers Bullies when cancelling or »Is Rogers Slowly Crushing Indie ISP TekSavvy Through Inaction? [73] comments

Caveat: Unlimited data means you won't be charged if you go over the 'fairness usage' limit of 5-10gb.. I've read complaints on Wind's facebook where people complain they get throttled, which I don't have a beef with as I use my (phone) connection to picture text, surf the web and use Blackberry messenger.. users that abuse it by downloading movies and albums/other massive files should be throttled in my opinion, as long as that means *I* don't have to have a cap! ..(I use my home connection to download large files)

Another caveat: Wind isn't in all areas (yet), check to be sure your area(s) of work/home are available before you sign up: »www.windmobile.ca/en/Sup ··· age.aspx - if you post on Wind's facebook, they're generally very good about replying to inform people whether or not Wind is in their area yet. Some parts of Toronto allegedly have spotty coverage, but in my experience of navigating the city I've not hit any dead zones to-date.

All in all: I recommend Wind to everyone I know. It's refreshing to be treated as a customer rather than a bottom-feeder, like Rogers treats their customers. I hope Wind grows into even bigger competition for the big 3 and drives the mobile and internet prices down even more!

If Wind wasn't an option in Ontario, I'd of likely gone full circle.. I've already had mobile service from Telus -> Bell -> Rogers. So far, none are even close to my satisfaction with Wind.

member for 10.5 years, 28 visits, last login: 10.4 years ago
lodged 10.4 years ago


vp
@acanac.net

vp

Anon

wind mobile service/phones

SAVE YOURSELF THE AGGRIVATION - DO NOT DEAL WITH WIND
THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
nsts
join:2013-09-02

nsts

Member

Re: wind mobile service/phones

Why did you respond to my review with this? Write your own review! So far, I've had nothing but good experiences dealing with wind support. And even if I do one day have a bad experience with support, it still won't be half as bad to the experiences I've had with Rogers!!

Review by oldsam See Profile

  • Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $40 per month
Much cheaper than the big 3, unlimited everything, no hidden charges and no hefty cancellation fees.
Data speeds could be better. Many dead and weak zones, limited coverage (although enough for most users 90% of the time.
Good provider for most users living in metro areas. Unlimited everything means no overages and very consistent bills.
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I've been with Wind exactly one year today. I got an LG P999 on a windtab+ during last year's $29 promotion. For the longest time, I couldn't make my mind up as to whether Wind service is good or bad. In many areas, including my home, I get no reception indoors whatsoever. Since they operate on the 1700mhz band, building penetration in most areas is very weak. Don't expect coverage in building parkings, mall cores, and sometimes ever your basement. I live in Mississauga, right next to square one, which should have exceptional coverage seeing that its the downtown of Mississauga, but for some reason, my neighborhood gets 2 bars on the best of days, and indoor reception is out of the question. Even busy shopping centres like Dixie Mall and Square one suffer massive dead zones. Why indoor antennas haven't been installed in these locations yet is beyond my understanding. Customer agents' excuse was always "we're a growing company" I fully respect that, but Building smaller, and stronger networks is more important than expanding to new areas while ignoring existing dead spots in their old networks. That's just my opinion.

Another issue is data speeds. Although download is acceptable (usually 1.5+ mbps), upload is very miserable (usually 0.09mbps). It has been getting better in many areas, but there's still a lot more work to be done. I found that their network in downtown Toronto is very good compared to other areas like Mississauga, with strong reception and acceptable data speeds in almost everywhere.

My last concern is their subpar customer service. Agents are mostly based in Egypt, and while their english is very good, they're usually as good as a google search. Forget about actually getting anything resolved on the phone.

All in all, I would recommend it to my friends, although I would warn them of the cons of being with Wind. A company that stimulates competition in a stale market and provides acceptable service with very good value deserves my money over the big 3 any day.

member for 12.8 years, 1085 visits, last login: 258 days ago
updated 11.3 years ago


Review by BliZZardX See Profile

  • Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $35 per month
Unbeatable value
No iPhone, doesn't work in most of rural Canada or Quebec
You have to try it
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My Other Reviews

·Bell Fibe Internet
The bottom line is Wind saves us a lot of money. The network can be flaky at times and I wish they had better phone selection but they are limited by AWS and there's no sight of anything better until after the 700MHz LTE auction in 2013.

member for 21.6 years, 7495 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 11.4 years ago







Review by spartan002 See Profile

  • Location: Brampton, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $30 per month
fast data speeds, good voice quality and unlimited everything for 30 bucks
still has dead spots in there network area, calls and texts are dropped sometimes due to congestion.
the savings far outweigh negative of wind mobile
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Probably the better of the new wireless phone service providers. data speeds are fast for a unlimited plan, but you're throttled after 5gig(can be increased with premium data option to 10gigs). voice quality is great, with hd voice coming soon. texting is also okay. wind however still doesn't have the network same as robellus.

member for 15.2 years, 1303 visits, last login: 30 days ago
lodged 11.4 years ago