WIND Mobile review: somewhat unique, somewhat the same
First published on July 8, 2010
For the first time since possibly Fido (before it was acquired by Rogers), Canada has a new major cellular phone network operator: WIND Mobile. While many new wireless companies have formed over the past decade, such as Virgin Mobile, Koodo Mobile, and Speak Out Wireless, they are all either owned by one of the major operators (Telus, Bell, or Rogers) or they lease the usage of the major operators’ networks. WIND Mobile, on the other hand, actually operates its own network, and thus has the ability to be much more of a so-called game changer.
In many ways, WIND is different, for better or for worse! With WIND’s recent Vancouver launch, my curiosity has been piqued. Here are my thoughts and breakdowns of some of WIND’s major details. My goal is not to give a comprehensive review, but rather to share some details to think about when considering WIND.
No contract, almost
WIND’s offerings are contract-free, so figuring out how much the commitment really costs is straightforward… almost. You can cancel starting the next month and you can move on. And you can choose to go prepaid or post-paid on any of its monthly plans. (But don’t confuse prepaid with a true pay-as-you-go arrangement — WIND’s plans are still monthly plans.)
The catch, at least for now, is that you almost certainly will have to buy a WIND phone, and if you decide to leave WIND, you’ll have to have stuck around for 3 months before the phone is useful on other carriers. More details in the next point…
SIMs and phones
First of all, WIND will sell you a SIM card separately, which you could insert into an unlocked phone. So you can technically bring an unlocked phone to use with WIND. In the future this could be handy, but at the moment it is likely not so useful. Unfortunately, WIND uses the 1700 Mhz frequency band (also referred to as AWS), which is only used by some T-Mobile phones and the smaller Canadian wireless company Mobilicity. Up until now, most unlockable phones in North America are GSM phones, running on the 850 Mhz and/or 1900 Mhz frequency bands.
Once you’ve been with WIND for 6 months, the phone is quite useful because you can ask WIND to help you unlock it for a $10 fee. WIND phones are 5-band phones, supporting the AWS band, the North American GSM bands, and the 900 / 1800 Mhz bands used in many other parts of the world, such as Europe. This is unlike some other Canadian carriers such as Koodo, whose phones will only work when you’re using Koodo, leaving you semi-stuck if you want to leave but don’t want to waste your phone. So the selection of WIND-compatible phones is somewhat limited, but WIND phones are compatible on a lot of other networks (even if they were probably forced to do this even be relevant)!
I’m not an avid cell phone model follower, so I cannot comment on the merits of the phones that WIND offers. You definitely don’t have your choice of all of the latest trends, though.
Yak bundles
WIND’s parent company is Globalive, which also runs Yak. Yak is best known for its long distance plans, but it also offers high speed Internet and home phone service. WIND’s website does not advertise this, but you can bundle some or all of its offerings in what they call Yak Paks. Pricing is competitive, but make sure you research reviews of Yak’s services and also decide whether you really want to put all your eggs in one basket!
Coverage, “zones”, and plans
WIND’s plans are good for the medium-to-heavy talk and text users. If you’re a light user (less than 100 minutes per month) look for something like pay-as-you-go with Speak Out Wireless. Data / web browsing is a standard add-on. It’s great to see that caller ID, call forwarding, call conferencing, and call waiting are included in all plans. Voicemail, though, is an extra $5 per month unless you’re on the highest plan. In keeping with the long-overdue trend in Canada, there are no extra 911 or system access fees with WIND.
An important and unique concept with WIND is the differentiation between a “WIND Zone” (aka local or almost-local) and an “AWAY Zone” (aka roaming). If you’re in one of the cities where WIND has built a network, you’re in a WIND Zone. Depending on your plan, you get province-wide calls from a WIND Zone; plus possibly unlimited incoming calls when in a WIND Zone; all the way up to unlimited Canada-wide calling from any WIND Zone. Because WIND’s network is relatively new (so far they’re in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa), this will be more of a perk as it grows.
AWAY Zone calls, including all incoming calls in an AWAY zone, are extra even on the most expensive plan. Their AWAY zone coverage map in Canada looks like Rogers’ coverage: in other words, coverage is as good as the other wireless providers but it’s obviously costing WIND to use the other networks. Other carriers have the benefit of a bigger network. At least with WIND you know you’re paying for what costs them and not paying so much when it’s cheaper for them… it’s semi-transparent. The within-Canada “roaming” rate actually isn’t bad (25 cents a minute extra for calls), and an unexpected advantage is that the US roaming rates are the same. WIND seems to beat Telus’, Bell’s, and Rogers’ US roaming rates by a large amount.
You can also roam and call internationally, although like any other Canadian carrier, be prepared to pay exorbitant amounts. If you want to make calls when you’re outside of Canada and the US, it’s usually best to get a SIM card from the local area. And if you regularly make calls internationally from Canada or from the US, get a calling card, use a landline, or use Skype or another VoIP option.
There is unlimited WIND-to-WIND calling (when in a WIND Zone) on every plan. This is consistent with WIND’s apparent approach of letting you benefit from their low marginal costs when you’re using their network — artificial charging of intra-network long distance calls is just not as bad with WIND.
Promotions
WIND usually has a promo going on. Some of its promotions have included $150 in credit when porting in a number; a free month of service for every new customer you refer; and 50% off plans for the first 6 months. Unlike the established carriers, these are deals worth being called deals, but remember to consider the regular price of the service once your promo has expired!
Also, if you’re an existing customer of another Canadian wireless company and you’re looking for a good deal, remember to try calling your current carrier’s retentions program!
Community
I can’t speak for WIND’s customer service, but they do have a community section on their website where you can post ideas and grievances, and share stories with other users. It’s one step below an actual forum or more fully-featured message board, which is likely a deliberate marketing move.
No WIND zone in Quebec 
While you can still roam on WIND Mobile in Quebec, WIND won’t have an official presence in that province unless it partners with Videotron in the future.
Conclusion
Combine the fact that there are so many mobile company options these days, with people’s ever-changing and ever-evolving mobile needs, it’s quite tough to give an overall and/or standalone assessment of any company or its individual plans. WIND Mobile certainly has some unique offerings. It’ll be around for a while and needs to grow its network and phone selection, and see how its initial offerings go. And that’s the extent of what I can conclude. An effective search for a new provider starts with defining your own unique needs, and then seeing what’s out there — WIND Mobile is possibly a good option!
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July 31st, 2010 at 12:51 pm
gens says:
Very important point is that the home/away zone is not related to the mapped home/away zone. For example, as Wind Mobile has patchy coverage within their mapped home zone, you may suddenly be flipped onto away network (Rogers) and you will incur away zone charges. I discovered this while using my smartphone to check email and surf the web in downtown Vancouver (sitting outside Starbucks beside Scotiabank Theatre on 900 Burrard St). According to Wind Mobile map, i was dead centre of home zone. However, for some reason, Wind’s coverage on this business core part of Vancouver was non-existent and I got a $10 charge for using away zone data even though I have unlimited data ($35 month). So, be careful Wind Mobile users. You could get big unexpected bills!
August 10th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Julia says:
Good to hear a review. I was excited for Wind, but don’t find it significantly better in pricing or service. The network they operate on just doesn’t seem adequate for their ‘home’ area.
October 15th, 2010 at 11:40 am
John says:
Crappy service, waste of time – stay with Rogers or Bell.
Reply from Peter: Can you please elaborate a bit on your experience?
October 19th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Chris says:
Wind is horrible. Their sales people know nothing and when you call the toll free number they know even less! They also do NOT refund your purchase even if you are within their refund period.
The reception was horrible in downtown Edmonton with the blackberry I bought and when I complained about it and asked for my money back, they refused to refund the phone or the rate plan purchase. They did however cancel the plan immediately so I had paid for both the phone and plan and got nothing in the end. My work work phone is with Telus and I’ll be switching my personal from Wind back to Telus because it simply works!
You may save a little money with Wind but you’ll be having every conversation twice because of the dropped calls. If you do decide to try and get your money back, you’re out of luck!
October 22nd, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Greg says:
It is still the best deal in Canada because of 25 cents per minute usage outside of the home zone and also in the US. Rogers, Telus and Bell still want to charge close to $3 per minute for using your phone in the US. Either that or pre-pay and if you don’t use the minutes they are lost. The big issue with WIND is that the coverage is spotty in the home zone, for me Toronto. If it doesn’t get better soon, I will switch. The phone works better in NY when it is on T-Mobile network. The other big advantage is unlimited US long distance for $10 per month. No one else offers this. Roger’s Chatr has a comparable plan with unlimited talk and text for $45 per month, a better network, 25 cents per minute in the US but no unlimited US long distance from the home zone.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Moe says:
Wind Mobile has come like a wind storm and soon will go away and disappear like a storm, and what will be left behind will be lots of cheated customers. For Canadians the most important thing is the quality of the service, something that this company does not have, why the companies such as Costco and Canadian Tire are successful and always getting bigger and bigger, because they have a good warranty and replacement policy!
I bought 2 Chinese brand phones Huawei U7519 and Huawei U8100 from Wind mobile and U7519 was defective right out of the box and the second one U8100 died after a month, I have been getting run around for a replacement for few days and in the Wind Mobile Store, this little sales kid named David E who had entered my address on my account as 123 fake street, acting as corporate spokeskid and after getting in argument with me calls police on me and telling me I will leave criminal record on your file. Do you thing such a company will survive in Canada.
The Egyptian owner of the company Naguib Sawiris had an interview with National post newspaper on Oct 28, 2010 and in between every few word there was a swear word and it clearly shows this man is very low life grown up in sewers of Egypt is an aggressive man who made a lot of money and all he wants is quick profit.
It has been said too good to be true, $ 25/month unlimited call and text across country with call display, voice mail, call waiting and ….., Quebec is smarter and does not allows this kind of winds to penetrate its borders.
November 16th, 2010 at 9:37 am
fred says:
question….why in the world would i look into the cell companies retention program and keep promoting non competition…give my money to some one who has been ripping me off for years and no is force to compete or strategically kill the competition. I would rather give my money to the new company, promote good competition…it is cheaper by a lot compared side by side. Why would i want to propagate a circle of Rip off’s by the big three. Why give money to their retention programs so once they kill the new guy, the will keep on bumping you in the night as always, without kissing you first. This in a way reminds me of Clearnet, it used to be really good and competitive, same with Fido…till the other Rip off artists ATE It. I WILL NEVER USE A RETENTION PROGRAM. I also don’t care if he is Egyptian. He clearly sees through the Canadian lie, and calls it for what it is. Kudos to him.
It took years for the big three to stop their network from dropping calls and that was based on connection fee lies…government fee, ya right. You all should be moving in droves to new companies, to give them the capital to improve their networks, instead of propagating the canadian lie. I don’t care if they are owned by canadians…the call centers are still over seas, and they are still a rip off…they will keep on being such rip of, if you keep supporting them.
November 25th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Michael says:
I’m at a crossroads with our Fido mobile service and was looking at Wind. I have to agree with Fred, that the big 3 are ripping us off… it’s unfortunate that Fido sold-out to Rogers. The only reason Fido’s (Roger’s) "retention" department is offering me a better deal than what I currently have is because of Wind. Fred makes a good point… allowing the retention department to keep you will hurt competition like Wind. And if Wind dies, our leverage to negotiate more sane voice and data rates is lost. Canada pays some of the highest rates in 1st world countries.
Do I committ to another 3 years of being at Roger’s whim because they have better coverage and can offer me an iPhone 4 for free? It feels dirty, but I must admit that stability and a free iPhone sound pretty nice…. even if I’ll have to take a shower afterward.
December 16th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Sylvester says:
Wind support is the worst support ever. Pray nothing is ever wrong with the service. I have been kept waiting for over 1 hour to resolve my data plan issue. I have been trying to get this issue resolved for over 4 days spending on average 1 hr on the phone. Very poor service
December 25th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
KCanada says:
I’m definitely going to be looking into Wind Mobile because I am so darn sick of Fido. Use to be with Rogers, than switched to Fido when it first came out. I’ve been a loyal customer for years and years. About 4 years ago, Fido started to give very poor customer service. Still stuck with them. Now I get dropped calls EVERYDAY! At least 5 or 6 dropped calls a day. It’s outrageous!! What’s up with that?
Time for me to look into Wind Mobile.
Just my 2 cents.
January 18th, 2011 at 9:00 am
Anne says:
Please do not switch to WINDMOBILE. Its customer service is very poor. Everytime I called, I had to wait at least an hour. The WIND home and away zone are very confused. Here is my story:
Last Christmas, I signed up for the Holiday Miracle Plan, which is unlimited talk, text and data in WIND Zone for $40/mth. Unfortunately, my invoice just came yesterday as $180, which I’m charged for away+roaming calls, messages and data regardless I was in the Wind zone. I spoke to a WIND representative, after an hour waiting, he said my invoice will be investigated and WIND will get back to me. He said, however, he was not sure if the charges would be dropped. I wonder how many WIND customers have got charges like this out there. Is it ridiculous when I’m liable for using my cellphone in WIND zone and it picks up other phone carriers’ networks? Please help.
March 9th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Calgary says:
Wind mobile service is very bad. They have a weak signal. Their billing system is very confusing. They charge you for two months, one month behind and one month in advance when the bill only indicated one month. You can’t argue with their customer service because they simply reply "sorry, we can’t change our system and you have to pay your bill regardless".
Just because I have to wait for three month to get my cell phone unlocked, I had to pay my bill. Here is the surprise !!! their online payment service does not work. I tried and tried and tried for several days but their online service was down, then had to go personally to one of their shopping stands to pay the bill. Now more surprise, the bill I had to pay had an amount very different from the bill shown online.
My advice, Never think about using windmobile service. It is a bit cheaper than other companies but will give you real nightmares.
March 15th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Jino says:
Wondering if anyone in the Edmonton area can comment on WIND’s reliability w/ regards to:
*Dropped calls?
*Picking up alternate carrier signals (ie. Saying you’re in the "AWAY" zone when you’re really in the "WIND HOME" zone?)
While I can see that sticking w/ the big-3 mafia will ensure continued non-drop calls, those companies are seriously giving us an ***-reaming and, as a previous post says:
"November 25th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Michael says:
The only reason Fido’s (Roger’s) "retention" department is offering me a better deal than what I currently have is because of Wind. Fred makes a good point… allowing the retention department to keep you will hurt competition like Wind. And if Wind dies, our leverage to negotiate more sane voice and data rates is lost. Canada pays some of the highest rates in 1st world countries."
In places like Costa Rica, or even MEXICO (courtesy of Carlos Slim Helu) you pay $35 USD per month, EVERYTHING is unlimited.
Why is my bill $180/mth and I’ve been w/ "ROBELUS" for 11 YEARS and made them countless THOUSANDS in the process? And their guys at the call center can barely save me more than $20/mnth by restructuring my plan??
Something is seriously wrong here…
Am I nuts to consider switching to WIND or Mobilicity??
April 1st, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Sean says:
I live in a high-rise condo in downtown Edmonton and Wind’s reception is pretty much terrible. I signed up for the Holiday Miracle plan before Christmas (unlimited North America calling and unlimited data for $40/month) and while the price is great, I’m strongly considering getting rid of it and going back to one of the Big 3.
It’s nice when it’s working properly, but I get a LOT of dropped calls, random static noises, network connection errors, etc. I keep my phone in the "Wind Home" only zone, which an employee told me would help reception, but there are times it just won’t work at all. Usually that only lasts a minute or two, but still very annoying if you want to make a call (or are in the middle of one).
While on business in downtown Calgary it seemed better, but that may just be coincidence.
If you go with Wind, I would evaluate how the reception is in your area without going over your 30 mins so you can still return the phone for a refund. I made the mistake of thinking "it’ll get better" but so far it hasn’t. I expect maybe they will get better in time as they add more towers, but for me it’s just not really a reliable phone network now, and I’m glad I have my Telus work cell as a backup!
June 8th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Jerry says:
WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE , Incompetent staff ….I purchased a phone in december at a wind kiosk the phone was priced for $140 … the rep indicated on my invoice under the section "NITTY GRITTY DETAILS" that my wind tab amount would be $98….I was happily suprised. A week later I log into my wind account and noticed the amount on my tab showing $140??? i called the hotline waited 30mins just to hear the rep say that i have to go to the dealer where i bought the phone and they will refund it. I go back to the kiosk spoke to the same rep that sold me the phone/plan he says to me "I can’t do refunds , you gotta call customer service they can refund you". I kept thinking is he being serious. 5 months later I called the hotline AGAIN ….I spoke to a rep for 45mins, he had no clue what I was saying at the end of the conversation and lots of pointless and rude statements on his end he says …"you need to go to the kiosk and demand a refund , they messed up and the have to give you the money , just talk to a manager he will help you." I couldn’t believe it. I am so fed up with there service, i just dont know what to do anymore. They do not value customers.
June 23rd, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Amy says:
Thought I would be open minded and give Wind a consideration despite all the bad reviews. Called up the customer service and the guy said: " For your information miss, all our information are published on the website, and it’s really easy to find!" If they are so offensive even with a potential customer, I can’t imagine what their attitude would be like to a paying customer!
I thank them for putting out a rate plan that I can bargain with my carrier’s retention department about, but I will never use a company that allows its employee to speak ( even insult!) with the customers with such attitude!
June 25th, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Carl says:
Dear all on this review,
I must give some comments. I have been using Telus (previously QuebecTel) back in the day in Québec… for YEARS. I left the country twice for periods of a few years each, and have come back to Telus in Jan 2011. I had been in Toronto for over 2 years until Mar 2009. Then, companies started brightening up with Telus’s Koodo, and Virgin was around also. Koodo’s ads: "no system access" 7$ monthly, I thought "nice, finally a new company with no crap on their billing".
Back then the only thing I had was crappy phones from Telus, the LG Chocolate and LG Venus. Crap phones you say? Hell yeah! My Chocolate (loved the phone) was STILL under warranty, never tried to unlock/hack it or anything. I sent it off under warranty, it came back "warranty voided". ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? It was in a plastic case since I 1st left the store with it. Anyway, I could only reinstate the phone for 75$. I still had 18 months left on my 3-year contract (which I wanted to get out of SOO badly). For this along with OTHER issues, I called Telus. The only thing their complaints department could offer (after 1 hour of complaining nonstop!!!) was apparently a "huge discount" on a LG Venus. But guess what, I need to sign into another 24 month contract to have a proper deal. I thought to myself; "6 more months only, and I’ll have left the country and will need to lower my plan to the lowest until the contract is out". So I went ahead with 2 years. LG Venus? Shittiest phone everrrrr!! Anything else would have been MUCHHH better!
Anyways. I leave Canada, spend 2 years in the UK with a Nokia E71. BEST phone ever! I was told I could use it in Canada, not compatible with Telus’s network, F***. Ok, no probs. I left it to my gf. 6 months before I leave the UK I start shopping, and find that Telus was selling the E72. I arrive in Canada, and start dealing with Telus to have a deal on the E72 for very cheap for 2 years MAX. They NEVER accepted. The phone was about to be discontinued, and Telus, instead of lowering their prices to give the phone for 200$ on a 2-year plan, they said sorry. Start shopping around, and I’m told about Mobilicity and Wind Mobile. A buddy tells me he can call anywhere in Canada for 35$ unlimited and receive calls unlimited? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! That is IMPOSSIBLE! That’s what I thought with my ideology based on Telus’s "standards"… With Telus, to have an equivalent, to talk "unlimited" (or almost), I needed to take an "after 5PM" option for unlimited incoming and outgoing (locally), and my "Fav 5" to call my parents in Quebec unlimited all day. That was an extra cost. Plus caller ID and an SMS option along with 200 day minutes. My bill with taxes was at around 80$ monthly. I had paid that same rough amount from the day I arrived in Toronto until I left (2 years later). I got annoyed and started shopping. I looked into Mobilicity and Wind Mobile. A colleague suggested Wind Mobile as it had a heavy european financial backing (egyptian I know) and probably wouldn’t collapse anytime soon compared to other smaller ones.
I finally walked into a Wind Mobile store, best walk ever! I tried the Alcatel Android (pure crap), then the Nokia 5230. I live in downtown Toronto, and pretty much stay in town. At the time of purchase, I was CLEARLY explained the Wind Tab option (10% of the bill is credited towards the value of the phone), and returns policy (under 30 or 60 minutes of talktime) and xx amount of SMSs and data, I knew what to expect. Soon later I hear that Mobilicity had the Nokia E73. OH YEAHHH baby!!! Look into that option to just buy the phone from their shelves to use with Wind. Happy that I never opted for Mobilicity, they DO NOT have an "unlock" policy. Ask Wind? 3 months, that’s it. And they give you your unlock code, for FREE, and NO hassle (which I have already unlocked, and will work with other Canadian providers and european ones also!!!). I wanted the E73 so badly, that I bought it anyway, but needed a Mobilicity account. So I lost 35$ right upfront. Now I have the E73 sitting on my desk doing nothing, but I’ll be unlocking it tomorrow for 50$. Mobilicity and Wind Mobile have the SAME frequencies, so my phone will be a charm!
Anyways back to Wind and Telus; so before I changed to Wind officially, I called Telus asking for a deal on the soon-to-be-defunct E72 for 200$ on 2 years, "no, can’t do it sir. besides you haven’t been with us for a long time sir". ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 15 years isn’t long enough? They didn’t acknowledge the other years due to leaving the company and coming back. Alright, ok, please close my account.
Have since been relying on Wind in downtown Toronto and my vacations in Québec, and I need to say that it was the BEST choice ever. I am not aware of reception issues in other cities and do definitely empathize with peoples’ bad experience with the reception. But in my case, 4 to 5 bars on my phone constantly, except for when taking the TTC when underground
… Which new company doesn’t have issues at their beginning anyways? I remember ads from Rogers stating they had the clearest call quality and least amount of dropped calls, and that was just back in late 2006 or 2007 By then, they had been on the market LONG before that. So is Wind perfect in terms of reception? Probably not. Is it the BEST option for everyone? Maybe not. Is it one of the cheapest and most reliable option out there in terms of pricing and reliability, probably yes.
Customer service with Telus and Wind? When I called Telus, I ALWAYS called the French queue. With some luck, I usually spoke to people in their calling centre in Rimouski (eastern QC, I’m from the Gaspé coast). They were usually VERY competent, understanding, and genuinly friendly. Sorry for people calling the Big 3 and talking to people abroad, that’s why I prefer the French queues
.. before leaving Telus, I asked them if they could AT LEAST meet a similar plan to Wind’s 45$, for 50~65ish$, they couldn’t. The french rep from Montreal I assume told me to have something similar I’d need to pay 110$ roughly. Hahahah right ok, thanks. I did call Wind several times for paying my bills, on the English queues. I never waited 30 to 60 minutes to speak to someone. I did speak to an ignorant non-canadian born bloke about billing I think, and complained and asked to speak to a supervisor right away. Then was it that I had normal service. Other times when I called, the service was "acceptable". I didn’t have to deal with their Customer Service for returns, I would assume it might be somewhat hectic if you’re beyond your minutes (to be within their returning policy). Then again, people who complained in this blog probably busted their minutes hence not being able to return their phones and having bad customer service. Again Wind is a new company, and they need to mature into a fully functional one. Are they perfect? No. Do they have details available for returns and coverage and so on? Yes they do.
Overall, if I’d move back to my hometown, I wouldn’t be able to deal with Videotron or Wind; Telus Virgin or Bell only. Until then, I’m in downtown TO and I usually stay in this area (always in a Wind Zone); for 45$ I have UNLIMITED Canada-wide (USA also I think) calling (incoming and outgoing), UNLIMITED international texting, and UNLIMITED internet. I also bought Wind’s Huawei’s Wifi hotspot with unlimited internet for 25$ (price good for 12 months). Good reception with my phone; added an external antenna to my hotspot for better reception in my apartment building.
Until now, I’m sold to Wind in terms of pricing and reliability, and do NOT intend on switching out at all anytime soon. Their phones work with other providers and not the other way around.
Wind? Thanks for bring a breeze of fresh air into Canadian cell market
Carl
August 21st, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Fed says:
Stay away from WIND, their reception is horrible, it won’t connect to the network when ever you need it, most of the time I couldn’t make a call or receive a call. I ended up returning it with in the week and got my money back and switched back to rogers but lost my phone number and I had to get a new chip with a new number when I switched back to rogers.
August 30th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Brent says:
I dont know what anyone is talking about. Wind reception is fine. I never drop any calls or never get switched onto wind away.
However phone selection and zone restrictions are garbage.
I hope that rogers/bell/telus get their heads out of their asses and start offering unlimited plans like wind sooner rather than later.
I wouldnt even mind a contract if i could get a decent plan.
September 27th, 2011 at 8:29 am
Jack says:
Rogers is the worst, very dishonest and tricky, don’t waste your money with them.
December 9th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Laura says:
I’ve been with Telus, and I’ve been screwed over by Bell. I didn’t want to switch to Rogers/Fido because of such bad things I had heard from friends so when Wind came on the scene I made the switch.
My fiance and I have been with Wind for 14 months now. We live in the Vancouver area and have had only a couple problems with Home vs Away network pockets, though none in the downtown area. I notified them of the problem areas and they’ve since been fixed.
I guess we’ve been lucky–our phones have been working fine. Dropped my Huawei U8100 in a
Hot pedicure bath and it still works perfectly. Go figure!
As for service, I haven’t had to call much so I can’t comment. Honestly, though, even if they turn out to be as bad as the service from the Big 3, I am still happier with Wind. I don’t expect anyone to kiss my feet when it comes to service–you just end up being disappointed.
Over the passed year, in our switch from our Fido and Bell accounts we have saved over $1200 in regular useage fees alone. We signed up on a special plan and, now that has expired, they are letting us switch to the latest promotional plan, so we still get a good deal.
We found it really helpful to start our accounts on Pay Before—–make sure you do this. That way, if you inadvertantly end up in an Away zone, your phone doesn’t let you have service unless you top up.You know exactly how much you are spending.
Amazing plans if you call long distance….none of this ‘free calls after 7′ b.s. No more $5 phone cards, or long distance add-ons that require you to unknowingly renew your 3-year contract.
I am thinking about their internet stick, bc they are giving a free wireless router at the moment. If we bundle our phones and internet, they take $15 off the bill each month, which means only $20/mth for unlimited highspeed without a contract…..seems unbeatable. Still doingbmy research on that one.
Just remember, not one phone company is going to make everyone happy, and it is the unhappy customer that usually writes reviews!
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:36 am
Resonantly says:
I’ve used winds customer service and have found them helpful. I was a Telus customer and found customer service unpleasant to deal with….when I expressed concerns about. Privacy/security I was dismissed! Wind would have to sink low to have customer service as bad as Telus/koodo. I’ve had dropped calls but I think that is more about wind getting fair access to the networks that are controlled by the big three……
April 29th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Wind Mobile Review says:
Wind Mobile is terrible. I live in Vancouver, and I recently moved, and I have almost no reception in my new apartment. I went back, and even though I’ve been having multiple problems with my phone since I got it, they told me that they won’t do anything for me. Also, I did take my phone back within 14 days because of problems, and instead of giving me a new phone, they just switched the SIM card, and by that point, I was close to over the 30 minutes or 14 days they give you (whichever comes first), and so I had no further opportunity to test my phone. The Wind staff seem friendly, but the girl who sold me my phone lied about several important details regarding reception. And nevermind the telephone customer service staff. Anytime you want to call to speak with technical staff, get ready for multiple 1/2 hour conversations before you even get close to a solution, if you ever do. My voicemail service was switched off for 2 and a half months, and they still charged me for it, and couldn’t help me turn it back on.
May 14th, 2012 at 10:29 am
tristan says:
I switched to Wind from Rogers twice, and always get back to Rogers. To process the number transfer, it took 24 hours for Wind and a couple of minutes to Rogers. To activate number it took three hours, and a couple of minutes for Rogers. To deal with Tech support at Wind, I wait until they open at 9am. The speaking capacity of Wind CS sometimes are not well understood. Enough of trying to get the cheaper option.
May 22nd, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Wind says:
I cant wait to dump fido by rogers. Fido plans are expensive and they do not even off reasonable data. Fido by rogers offers very damn expensive data thats so slow and unreliable. I love wind and cant wait for them to expand their network ontario wide as we know it the rogers network, bell, and all their own shiity networks are french quebec managed and are not in favour of canadian people. Wind is for Canada and the CRTC is infested by former rogers and bell CEOs and bosses the feds really need to reform crtc into a not for profit organization and ban all former telco bosses from becoming bosses at the CRTC opening the door to professors of major universities so that the CRTC could fair and square.
June 5th, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Matthew says:
I’ve had a terrible experience with Wind.
It started out okay; I live in downtown Toronto, and occasionally while at home, people with whom I was speaking on the phone would complain they couldn’t hear me, but for the past few months, while in my apartment, I regularly have ‘no network’. I need to leave my apartment to get reception.
Another issue is customer service. A few months ago I was charged for some long distance called, which I could not recall making. So I called customer service and was told they have no access to my records and thus cannot tell me exactly what the charges are for. Really missing the rogers bill which details every single charge
Another issue I’ve experienced,l which I’ve seen already mentioned, is that you can be in a geographical ‘Wind Home Zone’ but the phone is registered on Rogers network as ‘Wind Away’, so you might accidentally incur roaming data
charges.
The $29/month seemed attractive at first, but I’d rather over-pay Rogers for a working cellular network.
June 8th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
Sherry says:
Th BAD : Customer service , example : I signed up with them and asked to keep my old pone # they promised 3 to 8 hours transfer , after many calls and angers , managers or supervisors refusing to talk to me and many false promises finally after a week they connected me to my old # causing me lots of $ lost .
Their agents are in Egypt and , when you talk to them most an times you hardly hear them. 2 manager that I got to talk to after many screaming calls were rude and ignorant.
The good : For $40-00 you get great value.
OPINION : If telus or Bell become smart and offer the same value packages for equal monthly payment , WIND will be gone by storm in no time, Canadian cell phone companies must stop stealing their customers by offering them fair priced packages.
July 16th, 2012 at 3:04 am
Michael says:
Wow, there sure seems to be a LOT of negative reviews here for Wind. I would like to share my positive experience. The short review is this: I’ve been happy with Wind. For the first time in my mobile phone usage experiences, I have been given service for a fair price, with good reliability, good service, and a good phone – with an as-expected coverage area.
For more detail…
Keep in mind that I’m not new to the mobile phone scene. I’m 40 years old and my wife and I have been using mobile phones for many years, with several companies. I’ll try to temper my review with facts, and break it down one section at a time. Here is some background:
– I was a Fido customer for 5 years
– I was a Rogers customer for 2 years
– I was a Bell Mobility customer for 2 years
– I was a Telus customer for 1 year
– I was a CanTel customer for 2 years
and I paid a small fortune for each one.
To date, I have been a Wind customer for 1 year and 2 months – and I’m still a happy Wind customer. Sure, price is a big factor in my decision. Service and choice are also big factors. I will call a spade a spade, and I won’t pad my review with unnecessary hype. Here is my breakdown:
—–Price—–
For price, it’s hard (if not impossible) to find a better deal than Wind. In Canada, we pay some of the highest costs for mobile service in the world. That’s just how it is if you’re a Canadian. The "big three" have had the market sewn-up for years, and our own CRTC has been (knowingly or unknowingly) sheltering them effectively.. until recently. With Wind, I have always had a fully unlimited plan. My initial plan was $40 per month and that has now dropped down to $29 per month. It includes unlimited talk, text, AND data. I also get unlimited long distance in Canada for no extra charge. When I’m "out of the area" my account allows me to roam on the Rogers network for about 25cents per minute, plus applicable long-distance charges, and I use that feature fairly regularly when I visit family that live in rural areas. To date, my cost analysis indicates that I have saved about $850 per year. I can have a lot of other fun with that money still in my pocket, so it’s a pretty compelling reason to stick around.
—–Contracts—–
With any mobile company, the biggest, and only reason why a contract exists is to cover the cost of the phone hardware over a time period. If you think you’re getting a free phone, then you better think again. Your monthly bill includes a profit margin for that phone. If you cancel before your contract is up, you’re going to pay for that phone whether you like it or not, with any mobile company. Then, when you’ve paid into it enough to cover the inflated cost of the phone plus the interest, you will keep paying the same amount – they’re not going to reduce it when you’re finally using "service only". You’re going to pay more for your phone on credit than if you buy it outright. So, expect that if you want a "free" phone. Sure, a monthly payment makes it easier – and that’s fine, if you accept it. With Wind, I bought the phones outright from day one. I was happy to do so. With Wind, I like not having a contract. I like that if I decide to leave, I won’t have unexpected costs. If they should go under, I won’t be horribly stuck, I can sign up elsewhere without worry. I’m pretty content being contract-free.
—-Loyalty—–
Does this even still exist in a corporate perspective? I doubt it. That said, I still like to be loyal. I like to establish a long-term relationship with my service providers – mobile phone company or otherwise. I like to give them the chance to keep me as a customer by showing me that my loyalty means something to them. Unfortunately, so far, no other mobile company seemed to care, and in fact, cared less when I said I was thinking about canceling my service. They want to lock me into a contract so that I pay 3x or 4x the cost for my phone. They offer me little, tiny, barely-meaningful perks to try to keep me. But when it comes down to time to choose, there are only half a dozen companies around and sooner or later you’re going to come full-circle, so don’t think that your loyalty is any kind of bargaining chip. Now, specifically for Wind, I don’t have a reason to break my loyalty … yet. They have been interested in having me as a customer and they try to help when I need it. Hopefully it stays that way. As long as they give me what they promised, I’ll be happy to stay loyal.
—–Data—–
To date, no other mobile company offers unlimited data, and to be honest, that’s pathetic. Wind does, though. The small catch is that after I use 5GB of transfer, they throttle the connection speed back "to be fair to others" and, I can respect that. It’s nice of them to offer me unlimited data in the first place. I have been purposely stopping in to see if the other mobile companies offer unlimited data yet – they don’t. If you work on the road, like I do, then that unlimited data is a nice-to-have. It’s not necessary, and it’s not something everyone wants or needs, but it sure is a nice-to-have. I keep my data-roaming turned off, because the cost goes way up, very quickly if I start downloading on an "away" network. Oh well. I can live without that until the network gets larger, and I knew that when I signed up.
—–Coverage—–
Wind is relatively new, so I knew that I couldn’t expect the same level of coverage or call quality as the "big three" – for now. In the 14 months that I have been with Wind, the coverage has been "good" and it’s been improving at an acceptable rate of growth. I clearly remember the low-quality coverage with the other companies when they were new and had fewer towers. So, I’m not going to complain and compare apples to oranges and say that I’m unhappy because I get dropped calls. When I signed up, I understood that they are a growing company and I might have to accept poor coverage in some areas. They have only been doing this for a couple of years, so don’t expect their coverage to be like a company that’s been at it for 10+ years. I have been fairly happy with the call quality; it’s not perfect, but it’s getting better. When I report a dead-zone hole, I’ve seen some improvement over time. Hey, if you don’t report a dead-zone, then there’s no reason for it to be improved.
—–Customer Service—–
To tell you the cold, hard truth: every mobile company has humans to give you good and bad service. They’re people, remember that. I’ve had accounts with several mobile companies, and at some point or another, they have all turned me off or upset me – whether it was my bad day or theirs that made it happen. Take a couple of hours to clear your head, have a refreshment, and then call back to get a different person. That’s not the end of the world. Specifically with Wind, the support team has been generally "good". They help with problems, and they try to fix them. I’m not going to say that they are better, or worse. I see them as I see every support team – they are there to help, and if you’re polite and think things through, you’ll get service. If you’re cranky, rude, or mean, you’ll get brushed off – and that works both ways. I think that’s a universal human-quality.
—–Phones—–
So far, I’ve had 4 phones. Two for me, and two for my wife. We started with very low-end phones. Why pay a lot when you’re not sure if you’re going to stay, right? We both took cheap phones at first, and then upgraded later. That was a choice, not a requirement. We bought all the phones outright. We didn’t use "WindTab" or go on a contract. They gave me a great price on the hardware, both for the "cheap" phones and the "good" phones. So what if I have two older "useless" phones on a shelf? I’ll have a handy backup if I put my phone through the washing machine accidentally until I can get another "good" one. Oh yes, and Wind phones work on networks all over the world, when some of the other guy’s phones do not. I suppose that’s a perk, for some. They might not have the very latest phones, but they have a pretty good selection.
—–Recommendations—–
– if stability and reliability matters most to you, pick a company with a great-big powerful network; and you’re going to pay more for that.
– if you want the latest and greatest phone, pick a company with a huge selection; and you’re going to pay more for that.
– if you want to support competition in the mobile market, and you want Canadians to pay what other countries pay for mobile service, and you can live with some problems due to growth along the way, then pick a newer company like Wind; and you’re going to pay less for that.
—–Conclusion—–
Since a competitive price is important to me, and I can respect that coverage is still growing, and I can appreciate that there are humans in the service department, then I can continue to be happy with Wind. I’m not a "me! me! me!" person with zero patience. Wind seems to be doing their best to keep me happy, and I have been pleased with them. I would like to see them grow and help bring more competition to mobile communication in Canada.
That’s my 2.26 cents.
August 15th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Heavy user… says:
A lot of teething problems are reported here. I was skeptical of switching but finally I did in May of 2012. I am a lawyer with heavy usage.
I must say that I was with Telus for many many years and I am so much happier with Wind, their service is very good (in Toronto, very wide based coverage) all the way to Niagra Falls.
I am very surprised by the quality of the calls, very few dropped calls (eg. spoke for four hours with someone from Edmonton, one dropped call only). The only issue is sometimes when crossing over towers (drops occasionally) but the benefits of unlimited data (to 6 GB), unlimited calls etc., make the occasional dropped calls a minor nuisance.
Bottom line, Wind has come a long way and getting much better. Far better to support them than to be "conned" by the biggies who will simply use that to hit us harder once Wind falls without our support.
I urge all, don’t read OLDER comments when Wind was a baby, she has now grown and becoming very good. Support her, you will find that you don’t have as many friends to talk with after having been with the biggies (due to cost issue, I usually cut off people and now have FREE air time but so many are tied with the costly air time they can’t talk much… pity them, they become stunned when I say I can talk forever…. I bet over time they will come crawling..
August 16th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
James says:
I would not recommend Wind mobile. Its service is very bad, does not care for customers, maybe thinking they are cheap so people are bound to take it. I went to three of its stores with a problem and gave me three different answers. I did not recommend it to my friends who had thought to take it. Being non-cooperative with the customers, how can a business thrive!!!
September 24th, 2012 at 10:49 am
Leana says:
HERE’S WHAT I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT WIND & IT MIGHT BE A BIT LONG. For people living at SE CALGARY, here’s my review:)
I’ve signed up with wind 3 days ago at Sunridge Mall. I got the BB 9790 at windtab for $29 a month – that’s the BTS promo they have: Unlimited local call, text & data.
Customer service was great. The girl who assisted me was very friendly, informative, helpful and all the good things. She answered every question that I have and assisted me with all my concerns. By the way, her name is Vicky. If you’re thinking to get Wind, go to Sunridge mall and look for her!
As far as coverage, when I was inside the Sunridge mall after I got my phone from Wind I couldn’t sign up to twitter, FB and browse the web. So I went back to Vicky to ask why that’s happening. She looked into it and she reset my phone by removing the battery. After that we were able to open google.ca in the browser but still couldn’t connect to FB and twitter. She advised me to call the cust. service for that. When we got home I tried signing up to the 2 social networks and voila! It worked! I didn’t have to call the cust. service. So I thought, either there’s not enough coverage inside the sunridge mall to browse (which I highly doubt because I had full signal bars) or the data is still being initialized at the time I was trying it in the mall. That’s because a few minutes later when I got home I received an email from Wind basically saying that everything is set up and is good to go.
So I think it’s just that I was too excited to try the data few minutes after I bought the phone that maybe it still wasn’t fully set up. Other than that, I have no problems with the signal.
Furthermore, I’m living at SOUTH EAST CALGARY and it’s signal is phenomenal! In our house it’s always full (5 bars). When I’m in the basement I get 3 to 5 bars. It sounds too good to be true, I know. But that’s how the coverage is in our house and I’m very happy!
It’s just that this phone I chose quickly drains its battery. LOL Blackberries. But that doesn’t change the fact that the coverage I’m having is really great.
I only rated 4 out of 5 because I’ve only been with Wind for a few days and so I don’t know, maybe it’s too early to tell Wind’s performance. But then again that’s 4 out of 5 and it says I’m a fan.. So far so good!
Will try to give an update after a couple of weeks
October 14th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Emily says:
This is an older article… Wind supports more frequencies now doesn’t it??
Reply from Peter: Wind’s home band is still the more obscure 1700 Mhz frequency.
October 26th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Leo M. says:
Wind Mobile have overcharged me over $140 for over 2500 txt messages that I did NOT send, while I was away in Europe. First off, the European package that I bought prior leaving to Germany did not work properly. My phone data service stopped after the 1st day abroad. I called Wind multiple times to resolve the issue with no positive outcome.
Upon, returning to Canada after a 10 day trip I received a bill where I accumulated $20 in roaming charges for phone, text and data usage – all of which were valid. BUT, I also received an additional charge over $140 for approximately 2500 text messages that I sent. The charge was under category “Special Text and Voice Service”.
I called Wind multiple times to resolve the issue, but each time a person would give me a standard answer “There is noting wrong with your bill” – oh yeah, then show me when did I sent the 2,500 txt messages and to which numbers? A case was opened and two WEEKs later I received a call for Wind back office. The lady told me AGAIN that “all charges on my bill were valid”! So I confronted her again with proof – she told me she will check and will call me later that day. Later that day I received a call from another back office worker who told me that I did in fact sent those messages and told me that I can see txt service history online for my account to verify this. So, I went online while being on the phone with him and found no such text messages. I confronted him with proof again. He started saying “thank your for choosing Wind mobile and have a great day” and hung up !!!
In summary, I had bogus charges on my bill, and at least 5 people working for Wind Mobile lied to me on the phone and did not even try to look into issue.
Blatant and ridiculous scam!!! Wind Mobile = SCAM!!!
I am filing complaint with CCTS
See details here:
https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/en/complaints/guide
October 27th, 2012 at 11:09 am
passingwind says:
I used to unreservedly recommend Wind. No longer. Their new "fair use" policy for data is terrible. They advertise what is supposed to be unlimited data. It used to be that after 5 GB of use, they’d slow you down to a 512 kbps transfer speed, which is still quite usable. Now, however, after 5 GB they slow you down to 256 kbps (marginally usable), and almost immediately declare you an excessive user and slow even further to 32 kbps (slower than dial-up!).
They also seem to decide to slow you down based on current usage, rather than actual use. So, at the beginning of your billing period, when you’re nowhere close to 5 GB, if you decide to download a movie chances are that they’ll slow you down based on a projection that you’ll exceed 5 GB. So essentially you’re not even getting your 5 GB at full speed.
Of course, at the same time that they’re providing you with terrible service on the data plan you’ve paid for, they’re trying to upsell you another $10 to their "Premium" data plan. As if a terrible experience with their basic plan (which is supposed to be unlimited!) is going to make me want to give them more money!
Wind used to be good. Now it blows.
October 29th, 2012 at 7:24 am
Fazadin says:
I’m actually pretty happy with my wind service.
I was paying something like 65 dollars a month on a 3 year contract with rogers that offered less than the wind 29 plan I’m currently on.
If you dont want to incur roaming charges, do what I did, turn off roaming, until you do indeed want to roam.
Also, switch to prepaid. That way, you can’t be charged more, and you’ll be paying for a flat rate every month with no incurred charges.
November 7th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
Richard says:
Customer service and tech support are RUDE, INSULTING, they hang up all the time and never call back. They are dismissive, incompetent morons who have no idea what they are doing. All intentional, to cover the garbage they call windmobil, all done with blessing of the greedy imports who have no respect for anyone or anything. The used car sales people of wireless. Can’t even begin to tell you how BAD they are. WORST VERE IN THE PAST 40 YEARS.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Dave Freeman says:
Windmobil Once again you have managed to lower the bar for your so called customer service.
C11213603, case#. I have called six times to day, I was sent to the store to get a new sim card, got two, still not solved the slow data problem, but managed to kill my caller ID. Called three times dropped out!!! No call back.
Now tech support doesn’t even take the calls they ask so called customer service to stall and get rid of the client. This is the worst service I have ever seen in my life. Is there no end to Wind’s incompetence and moronic behavior? Apparently not.
Irate customer
December 1st, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Elaine Evans says:
Three Cheers for Wind and Huawei,
My customer service has been extraordinary.
Listening to the ongoing complaints
of other servers etc. it is reassuring
to have had the privilege
of doing business with them.
Sincerely E
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:46 pm
rayad says:
Customer service is pretty much non existent with Wind. Its all out sourced to incompetent agents either in the phillipines or egypt.
I moved from Toronto to Calgary. Since my move, my service has been pretty much garbage especially where I live. 23 ave and 14th street. I called them over 6 times and waited for a month to see if they would service the tower that they said needs to be serviced.
I request that I be refunded for the whole month that I was unable to use my phone. They refused to give me any refund and told me that they were sorry about the situation and that there is nothing they can do
I will never use Wind anymore. Its better to pay a bit extra with virgin mobile, fido etc and actually get service that you paid for.
January 10th, 2013 at 9:16 pm
wastedtime says:
Purchased $99 Huawei WINDspeed™ Pocket Hotspot E586E on a Wintab.
Positive
1. Took advantage of boxing day discount rate of $25 for unlimited data. This is normally more expensive. Really optimal deal.
2. Salesperson in Richmond Hill mall was friendly and knowledgeable (but provided incorrect information and furnished a defective/used hotspot.)
3. Customer service from Canada (Mississauga) & Philippine (Manila) call centers were polite & friendly. Took 5-15 minutes to get a live agent but then they were limited in their assistance.
4. The 2nd unit purchased from the Wind Repair center in Vaughn has worked flawlessly and consistently. Service at the store was above average. All the staff was willing to help.
Negative
1. Read the Fine Print & purchase it from a convenient location. Store failed to disclose that returns and exchanges required you to return to point of purchase. (kindly note this is clearly listed on the receipt in the fine print) I note this as it could have saved me time calling their call center to arrange a return and avoid a trip to the Eaton center who refused to return a defective (used hotspot). This resulted in multiple trips to return the unit. The store closed their cash when we had arrived (our bad – we went too late in the day) necessitating a return the following day.
2. Avoid the Wind call center in Egypt. Customer service from Egypt call center was well below par. If you call there do not expect a North American call center experience. The Egyptian ladies who speak perfect English however they are intentionally rude from the moment you speak to them (we spoke to Judy). They are fully capable and trained but exhibit a poor customer service attitude and disposition.
3. Wind Management is asleep at the wheel. Escalations to management for service will go unanswered. Do not expect a Management call back. The Egyptian call center promised a 2hr window for a call back. Never happened. The Philippines call center promised a technical support rep would call back in 24-48hrs. They called the wrong number 72hrs later and left a message on a friends voicemail. What good is that?
4. Customer service needs significant improvement. Customer service fails from all three (3) call centers – due diligence, follow up, truthfulness are lacking. Wind is a immature organization (think Fido back in 1998 or Clearnet in 1999). Still in start up mode. Customer reps will tell you they are documenting the account and choose to do otherwise.
5. Watch out for used/returned equipment. The first hotspot device was apparently already used and had been returned. When we activated the unit in the store and brought it home it apparently had data usage (44MB). When the device failed to work correctly I ran a speed test and it timed out. (In ten years of using Speedtest.net I have never had this happen. The 2nd test the following day resulted in very low results 57ms ping, Download 0.91 Mbps, Upload 0.06 Mbps. This is no where close to the advertised potential of the device. Up to 21.1 Mbps download and 5.76 Mbps upload speeds. Also the unit could not function with more than one device paired to it without incapacitating the web browsing experience. (think netscape dial up speeds slow)
6. Wind network is still immature. Coverage in Markham and Toronto is hit or miss. Sometimes it works sometimes it is unusable. Even downtown near the Wind HQ in Toronto the coverage footprint appears to be ok but the speeds are lackluster.
7. Wind does not have a 4G service. It is currently deploying 4G but at present its devices operate in the 3G or 2G mode. Be warned that you need to monitor the device for Roaming or disable it within the admin mode. (I learned this from the 2nd device as the 1st one did not have the manual with the box). (Here is the quickstart guide that was missing – http://images.wirelessdealer.ca/images/phones/userguide3352.pdf) If you leave this on and roam on another carrier’s data network expect mega charges on your bill.
8. Wind failed on its billing. The first device was defective. When I called the call center in Mississauga and spoke to Mark – I was advised that the 1st week of data would be credited due to the ongoing problems, failed tech support followup and used device. When I purchased the replacement I was advised to call the Wind customer service in order to get the original deal for data. They originally refused but after a management call back they put the plan back on the new device. The problem was they changed the plan from Tab to full payment including data which was to have been credited. Another call back to customer service resulted in Windtab being applied. Data credited but much wasted time.
January 20th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
milad mj says:
Are you insane? Wind is the best!!!!!!!! I haven’t no issues with their signal that every idiot seems to bed talking about, and let’s not forget what bullies are companies like Rogers, fido, telus, and bell. Zero control on your Bill and before wind no one offer Internet for unlimited, I was with all those companies and I would be billed two to sometimes 3 times a month, which some hidden fees, I don’t make a lot on money and it wasn’t harder for me to pay those bills. It wasn’t becoming more stressful then paying my rent, I hope Rogers goes bankrupt!! As long as I would be living in wind cover I will never change companies even though I can leave anything I pay 40 amonth I get my free music radio 24-7 without worrying about going overheard board, andfree calling my friends in Toronto from Calgary without crying for my of month Bill. My Bill never went up a penny, love u guys the best!!!! The best!!! Some ppl enjoy getting raped with bills. If wind had iPhones Rogers would of been long bankrupt, and I’d laugh.
February 26th, 2013 at 12:04 am
Jim Hilton says:
I had been on Robbers for ghod knows how long. I use to live in Victoria and there were no real options but the big 3.
Then I moved to Van. In the first few months my bill went from 60odd dollars to avg 200 / month! Yes, there was some on LD on it, but what finally made me snap was "Out of area" charges.
WTF?? Robbers network is so vast how can I be out of area?? Anyhow, the first month they waived it, but the second time nuh unh, I had to pay it (50 bux (45 cents per incoming call that is "out of area"))
Nope, done, fin END! I went to WIND up on Fraser, bought a S3 and the 45 dollar plan. I have never had an issue with a dropped call, but have run into not being able to get service. No biggie really tho, it’s like living in the old days, just move the aerial haha. I talk to my mom and a friend of mine a couple times a month easily hitting 2 hours / call – never dropped.
Wind is awesome! If you live in their service area, you’ll be just fine.
To the people who have roaming issues, I too was worried about this, called Wind and they told me how to shut it off – how easy was that??
Never a surprise – 46 bux a month, period! And a decent LD rate to the states too!
I also love the fact that these guys area changing the game, F U big 3, there’s a new kid on the block!
March 4th, 2013 at 12:18 am
AntiWindMobile says:
Wind Mobile is deceiving new and existing customers by falsely advertising areas of cellular service, and provide poor quality customer service. We have gone back and forth with Wind Mobile about dropped calls and no cellular coverage for our phone at our house as well as my father’s work place in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (both of these areas show full coverage on Wind Mobile coverage Maps).
We have followed all instructions from resetting the phone, calling customer service, and contacting CCTS. It’s been over a month and we have not had a reasonable resolution in this matter. We have been getting a run around and feel Wind Mobile is following unethical and unfair business practices.
Wind Mobile is not returning our hardware nor allowing us to exchange it for a phone that may work. They should update their service coverage maps to reflect the actual service coverage, and also refund all their existing customers costs of their hardware and subscriptions who are also victims of false advertising. They should also re-visit their customer service policies, processes, and get new agents that can communicate in English more than just two or three sentences.
The only points Wind Mobile receives is for great cell packages but that is useless if your phone won’t work half the time. Even if that works, it’s not worth the hassle one will have to go through in case one has hardware, service, or billing issues
March 19th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
olenaaa says:
/alright hello. so I live in Toronto and I was thinking of switching to Wind from Bell but Im not sure…. I would go on their 30$ monthly plan and buy the blackberry 9900. I dont really call all that much Im just looking for texting and data..(BBM) honeslty there are so many bad reviews and Im hoping someone can reasure me. So Im basically asking hows the service in Toronto????
March 20th, 2013 at 2:09 pm
Wakewakesubscriber says:
I had over 15$ on my account (pay as you go wind). Suddenly, I got a txt saying that Wind deducted 15 and now I am subscribed to 100 Canada wide minutes. I did NOT subscribe to anything and did NOT ask to deduct money for the ad feature. Then, I called to Wind and asked money back and unsubscribe. So they did return money, however in less than a minute I got another text that they deducted 15$ and I am subscribed to their 100 Canada minutes. I called back and said to return the money back. They said ok, but I did not get my refund back. I called the next day, Wind said that since it was not canceled, they cannot refund the money. Bull’s shit!!! How I would cancel it, if I did not subscribe to it! After a high raised voice talk they agreed to refund. How much stress it took me to refund the money for NOT subscribing to the feature. They are stealers!!! I have no other way to call them. Yes, they do provide more or less fair prices, but they are crooked as well. Be careful, subscriber. Check your balance regularly and do not deposit a lot of money. It might be a pain if they STEAL your money.
August 24th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
David says:
Wind customer service is lacking and needs improvement. However, everyone who complains about their infrastructure, dropped calls, and reception, and compares them to the big three needs to learn about spectrum and understand that it isn’t winds fault. It is our government that created this mess. They had no option to buy good spectrum. Guess who got the good stuff? The big three. Guess who denies the little guys access to lease towers that the big three get to lease? Our government. If they get 700mhz spectrum in the upcoming auction, their signal will be just as rock solid as the big guys. Now Verizon is interested, and the big three are scared and publishing lots of lies and manipulated studies. U.S.A. pays 40% more than Canadians? Of course they do when you do a study like that. Comparing only the most expensive USA companies with wind and public in Canada. We are middle of the group in costs? Of course when you compare only the 6 most expensive companies of the world. The same six taking the worst and most expensive in the neutral oced study of 35 countries. The executive claiming its not fair on the radio makes $200,000 a year by bleeding Canadians dry. Now they whine like little babies when they might have to compete? Hah.
June 6th, 2014 at 10:45 am
SCAMMMM says:
What a SCAM — wind offers a plan with unlimited internet .. WRONG
The salesman said you get 5 gigs of high speed and then it will slow down a little .. WRONG
You barely gt 5 gigs then is SLOWSSS so much you cant even open google page..
It takes one hour to try to gt to gmail ..
AWFULLLLL SERVICE – the rep at their office said they cant do anything they have NO
control over it – REALLY well who does ..
FALSE ADVERTISING … SCAMMMMM