Rogers vs. Bell

[trepex]

Hello. I have been with Rogers for 3 years and have been quite happy, for the most part. I have a great plan for which I pay $20/month (+SAF) and get 225mins, unlimited eves/weekends (8pm). I recently renewed and got the Razr V3.

Because I now work for the Federal Govt, here in Ottawa, Bell is offering a plan that is quite a bit better, for $30, all-inclusive, including the system access fee. It will give me 200mins, unlimited early (6pm) evening and weekends, 100mins long distance, free caller ID, free message center (the full one not the lite version), and what's more, they seem to offer very reasonable unlimited data/text/MMS plans which I can add-on.

Is there any MAJOR reason why I don't want to switch? I have found someone willing to take over my Rogers contract.

I KNOW there are a lot of posts here from people hating Bell, but I do know of ppl who love them and who claim the service is excellent and they find it better than with Rogers. As I said, I am in Ottawa, Ontario.

I do NOT plan to travel overseas or even in the US very often and I am mainly looking for a phone to use HERE, in Ottawa.

Is the V3C (CDMA) comparable/surperior/inferior to the V3R (GSM) in terms of voice quality/data? I know it has a better camera than the V3R.

From reading, I constantly see ppl here who claim to be experts and insist the GSM quality is better than CDMA, but to be honest, I had always found my Motorola Timeport CDMA phone to have much better voice quality than my Motorola T720 GSM phone had, when I switched to Rogers, from Aliant back in halifax (Bell's equivalent).

Anyway, long winded I know. But I'm looking for some help in deciding what I should do. Everywhere that I read on the net, I hear contradicting info. Some day CDMA sounds better and is almost like a landline but gets crappier if the network gets congested, others say GSM is always surperior in a network of comparable size.

Help me!!! Thanks

 

[nitzomoe]

quality wise the V3c and the rogers V3 are same build, call clarity and reception.

In terms of functions Bell has crippled the phone extensively so you wont have access to a lot of the V3c's superior features. The V3c is supposed to have 3G wireless data support which means you can view webapges at very fast speeds(300 kilobytes per second highest). bell has cut the V3c from this service so you have to use their regular data service which is incredibly slow (around 12.5 Kilobytes per second is its highest rate). Bell has also limited functionality of its bluetooth so you can only use it for headsets and car adapters not for file transfers between your computer or another phone to the V3c. The only thing that bell hasnt crippled is the 1.3 Megapixel camera which is better than the current rogers 0.3 megapixel camera

Reception really depends on where you live, some places rogers will be better some places bell will be better. ottawa coverage for Rogers and Bell is similar and only marginal differences here and there.

To be quite honest why go with Bell? sure your getting a good deal but it is afterall considered the worst customer service in the entire industry, has poor handsets and tons of hidden fees for adding stuff to your plan changing rate plans etc. Mind you Bell's customer service is not open 24/7 their billing for instance closes at 7 pm in toronto, so if you have an error on your bill you'll hafta call during your work.

Consider whether you are actually going over your rogers plan, if not why bother to make the change. Is the number important to you? if so there is no number portability so you'd hafta tell everyone your new number.

If you still want the V3c but you want all the features why not go with telus? they give you access to their 3G service and you can get unlimited wap for $5.00

 

[trepex]

Thanks so much for your advice! You brought up a lot of good points and I think I will either stick to Rogers or else possibly consider Telus. Actually I doubt Telus will give me the same plan that Bell was trying to push me, so I think I'll just stay where I am and call it a day!

 

[nitzomoe]

you could always call up rogers and ask to speak to retention department, tell them your situation and see what they can offer. They've been quite negotiable during xmas thats how I got my current plan!

 

[pttwls]

Spoken like a true Rogers rep. Just as normal, full of lies.:angryfire: There never was any such limitation as was portrayed. by the time your original post was made, Bell had already deployed the EvDO network, which was 6 times faster than Rogers' Edge network, and there were a whole host of other reasons why Bell would have been a superior choice.

As far as customer service is concerned. I have a recording of what experience shows me is typical customer service from Rogers. The worst and FULL of lies. The agent even tried to convince the intended 'victim' that Rogers phones roamed on the Bell and Telus network :lol:.

I could go on, but if you would ever like a true and honest, 3 way comparison (Rogers, Bell and Telus), post the request here. I'd be only too happy to oblige.

 

[blackeagle]

I totally disagree about the custumer service aligation made about Bell.
Bell custumer service it's awesome....I have been with both Rogers and Bell ....
I am currently with Rogers....the only reason was bc I was offered a better plan

sometimes Bell has better plan too...depends on the time of year

 

[cdn_bc_ca]

My first phone, I was on Rogers, then I went to Telus because of it's supposedly superior CDMA technology (same as what Bell uses). However, I switched back to Rogers because of the following:

1. Telus reduced the call quality to fit more calls on a given frequency. Hence, the quality is no better than Rogers. But when you call Telus support, you get the highest quality call... I suspect that Bell did the same thing.

2. You cannot switch phones whenever you want. Because CDMA phones do not use SIM cards, your phone is locked to that carrier. If you get a new CDMA phone, you need to call your carrier to deactivate your old one and active the new one. What's worse, if you travel abroad and you use your phone, you will pay roaming plus long distance charges. With a GSM network, it's basically your SIM card that matters. You plug that into any GSM phone and that becomes your phone. You bought an unlocked phone off the Internet retailer? Easy, take the sim card out of your old phone and put that in your new phone and that becomes your phone. If you travel abroad, you can get a prepaid sim card from that country and stick that in your phone and now you can make local calls... no roaming or anything (this is assuming you got an unlocked phone... because Rogers locks their phones so tight you thought you were on a high-carb diet).

3. the only downside is that the GSM network is controlled by Rogers... and you probably figured out that their plans really, really suck.

If you don't care about the phone, you might want to check out Presidents Choice Telecom and/or Virgin Mobile. No system access fee, free voicemail, free call waiting, unlimited data options, no 911 fee, no activation fee etc. I can't comment on the customer service though.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I have Bell because of a plan at work. Looks like your company negotiated a better deal.

Have had a couple of issues but they were able to resolve them eventually without incident.

When choosing, Rogers had a comparible plan but they couldn't do the employee plan because I already had cable or some other such nonsence. I think they were trying to get me to pay more. So I went with Bell and have had no complaints.