OFFICIAL WIND Mobile Discussion Thread

[FerrariEnzo]

plans are no contract.. if you want to get a phone, then your on a TAB system... you can leave anytime with no penalty.. just pay off what you own and be on your way..

but you have a phone, just make sure its AWS HSPA compatible not AWS LTE... lol

[Acura604]

so whats this all mean for WIND?

Wind Mobile written down to $0 by owner Vimpelcom - Business - CBC News

Netherlands-based telecom firm Vimpelcom has written down its investment in Canadian telecom carrier Wind Mobile to zero at the same time it slashed the value of its investment in the Ukraine.

In January, Wind Mobile withdrew from the 700MHz spectrum auction after failing to get backing from its parent company to buy more advanced spectrum.

Vimpelcom had failed to negotiate greater control over its Canadian joint venture with Wind partner Anthony Lacavera, according to Reuters.


Vimpelcom, whose biggest investors are Russia's Alfa Group and Norway's Telenor, took a $2 billion US writedown on its investment in Ukraine, where it holds about 43 per cent market share with 26 million subscribers.

CEO Jo Lunder said the company had changed its expectations of future cashflow out of Ukraine, because of the risks arising from its current political situation. In addition to a tussle with the Russians over control of Crimea, Ukraine has numerous economic problems, including declining personal incomes.

Lunder said Vimpelcom takes a “long-term view” on Ukraine and plans to remain in the market.

It is also under pressure in Russia, where average revenue per user, subscriber base and revenue all fell.

The company took a total writedown of $2.9 billion and reported losses of $2.6 billion for the fourth quarter.

In Canada, Vimpelcom was forced to pull back from buying a bigger stake in Wind Mobile last June.

In its quarterly report on Thursday, it indicated it is “reassessing” continuing involvement in the Canadian market.

"The company fully impaired its assets in Canada, mainly relating to the challenges the company is facing in the country, which resulted in the strategic decision to withdraw from the 700 MHz spectrum auction and the reassessment of the prospects for continuing operations in the country,” Vimpelcom said in the report to shareholders.

The company wrote down the value of its Wind investment by $768 million. That comes after writing it down by $328 million last year.

Wind has 649,000 customers in Canada, Vimpelcom's earnings show.


Three large telecom companies – Bell, Telus and Rogers – dominate the wireless market in Canada and scooped up the bulk of new high-quality spectrum offered in February.

Lacavera still has ambitious plans for Wind in Canada despite the company’s small size.

"We've faced a lot of adversities and challenges since we started up Wind (in Canada) and we're still here... We are going to continue to execute on our business plan," he told Reuters.

[PiuYi]

Originally Posted by Coren

Wind launching new $15 monthly add on for unlimited US roaming on Feb 3rd - includes unlimited data, talk, and text.

WIND Mobile to launch $15/month 'Unlimited U.S. Roaming' add-on, gives unlimited data, talk and text | MobileSyrup.com

for those that have used this, is it LTE while you're in states or still HSPA? and what's the Data Fair Usage Policy? data speed throttled after certain amt? how much?

[invader]

Knowing Wind it's not LTE

The data is so slow you won't want to use it.

[TPMarko]

its HSPA+ according to HOFO

Wind and Unlimited USA Roaming $15.00 Speed! Only 3G! Finding!!

[FerrariEnzo]

Originally Posted by PiuYi

for those that have used this, is it LTE while you're in states or still HSPA? and what's the Data Fair Usage Policy? data speed throttled after certain amt? how much?

Originally Posted by invader

Knowing Wind it's not LTE

The data is so slow you won't want to use it.

Wind is using a few carriers while roaming.. and its H+

[Tr1ll]

How's Winds coverage these days? Are there still dead spots in downtown or at sfu?
Posted via RS Mobile

[CRS]

Originally Posted by Tr1ll

How's Winds coverage these days? Are there still dead spots in downtown or at sfu?
Posted via RS Mobile

SFU is good for the most part unless you get into areas where even the Big 3 have difficulty.

[tomatogunk]

WIND is currently having a promotion for $39 which includes the following features:

Up to $150 in WINDtab
Unlimited US Roaming (Data, Talk and Text)
Unlimited Canada-wide Calling
Unlimited Canada-wide Texting
Unlimited Canada/US wide Picture/Video Messaging
Unlimited Data (Fair Usage Policy Applies)
Call Control (Caller ID, Missed Call Alerts, Conference Calling, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting)
No Hidden Fees, System Access Fees or Activation Fees
Use your features anywhere on our network

[TypeRNammer]

Is the Wind network down right now?

EDIT:

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...down-in-Milton

Turns out it's a Canada wide outage.

[dub.g]

Made the announcement yesterday that Videotron officially now has plans to roll out across Canada and is willing to partner up or acquire one of the new entrants to double their subscription based.. make sense to go with Wind since they already have 750 000 subscribers and Videotron has 500 000 within quebec

Vidéotron hints at national wireless rollout, launches Wireless For Less portal

Vidéotron lobbed a bomb at the incumbent wireless carriers today, launching a new portal called Wireless For Less and hinting at a possible expansion of its wireless network to provinces like Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, in which it owns premium 700Mhz spectrum.

Newly-minted Quebecor CEO, Pierre Dion, took the stage at the final keynote of the Canadian Telecom Summit to reinforce many of the points made yesterday by Wind Mobile chairman, Tony Lacavera: mobile data in Canada is too expensive, and our productivity suffers as a result.

Dion shocked the audience by announcing his company is “contemplating the possibility of consolidation with one or two of the undercapitalized new wireless entrants,” hinting at an acquisition or merger of Wind or Mobilicity. “If completed, this would allow us to almost triple our customer base,” he said. “Under the right conditions we are ready, willing and able
to become Canada’s fourth wireless competitor,” and denounced the current state of mobile in Canada.

“We are uniquely positioned to provide highly-attractive wireless plans to Canadians looking for top-quality service at very competitive prices,” citing investment of $1.6 billion in towers and spectrum, which includes the $233 million spent on 700Mhz blocks earlier this year.

“Vidéotron’s plan is based upon achieving meaningful market penetration through offering Canadians outside Quebec the country’s
best low-cost subscriber plans. The major investments we have made and intend to make in spectrum, expanded network and consolidation with willing partners, would enable us to deliver genuinely competitive, low cost, high quality wireless services to consumers.”



Dion said that most incumbents justify their higher prices by placing them against those from AT&T and Verizon, but that is not a fair comparison: North Americans typically pay 50% more for the same data pool as those in Europe.

He also decried the cost of domestic roaming, which the government is set to regulate later this year. Being able to connect, affordably, to a competitor’s tower, is one way that will allow new entrants to offer national without having to build out thousands of cell sites. Dion pointed out that tower sharing is also prohibitively expensive for new entrants, as incumbents are not forced to offer access leased or rented towers.

Dion said his company’s move to become a fourth national carrier hinges on the government’s next steps towards regulating domestic roaming, but it’s clear the potential to begin offering substantially discounted service — and potentially LTE services, to boot — is quite real.

Videotron hints at national wireless rollout, launches Wireless For Less portal | MobileSyrup.com

and their website

Reducing Wireless Costs is everyone's call. Videotron mobile plan.

[Gucci Mane]

has anyone gone down to the states so far with the data roaming package? if its running H+ thats not so bad.

[Graeme S]

I went down to Oregon with the roaming package, and found it to be pretty decent whenever I was in an urban area. Remember that you're roaming with tmobile, and they're basically the American Wind (Good prices, decent service in cities, but when you leave them much less so). I had a Freedompop hotspot as a backup just in case I needed data somewhere that Tmobile didn't have service (the freedompop uses sprint) or in case my friends wanted to connect and we split up.

All in all, I can't say I was dissatisfied, I found a very similar speed to what we have here at home, but whenever I was driving between cities, I couldn't load new maps or search for food/gas nearby with google maps because there's no roaming agreement with anyone but tmobile. Also, on that vein, make sure that when you enter an area that has tmobile service you turn your phone's radio off and on again. Otherwise, you'll stay locked to the provider you got when you were between cities.

When I came back, I tried to turn off roaming using the USSD code, but the only thing you can do there is activate it. If you want to turn it off, you have to go to the site or call in. I don't have preauthorised payments, so I top my phone up monthly whenever I feel like it. Because I hadn't cancelled roaming, I topped up enough to pay my bill, but not enough to redo the roaming (got a bunch of 'oops, you don't have enough to do US roaming!' texts). HOWEVER. After three months, and topping my phone up for about $10 more than my monthly bill...I got a text saying US roaming has been activated. But it only cost me $5.

So if you're planning on heading to the states regularly, you may just want to add that on and leave it on, because it seems like after three months, they'll chop the price down from $15 to $5...which is just beyond insane.


Honestly, I really hope Videotron picks up Wind and keeps their brand and pricing. It'd be fantastic.

[Coren]

You will roam on at&t when there is no T-Mobile reception. It is part of their roaming agreement. It will always choose T-Mobile first when both are available but I have read stories of people being able to force themselves onto the at&t network.

[willystyle]

There is pretty much ZERO reception in the Killarney area, as a matter of fact, you can't even connect to the WIND network there. The dead spot is fairly huge as well. I am pretty disappointed.

[JDMDreams]

I'm having the same issue. Lots of places where moblicity will have decent reception but wind barely connects to the network

[Heroo]

Hey guys i was wondering if wind charges for a Simcard swap?i tried cutting my old one to fit my blackberry10,it didnt work

[FB6]

Originally Posted by Heroo

Hey guys i was wondering if wind charges for a Simcard swap?i tried cutting my old one to fit my blackberry10,it didnt work

I think it depends on the store/person working, when I had to switch my sim to a micro sim last year, I went to the Queensborough Wind store and they didn't charge me.

[willystyle]

Go to a corporate store like the one on Alberni for all your service needs. I would stay far away from all the resellers. They are only in it for sales and not customer service.

[RE-Jo]

I just got the wind 39 plan. What do I need to do to actually use my phone while in the states?

I was in the state this past weekend, and I thought it would automatically work as soon as I am in the states... Then I tried turning on Roaming on my phone (Galaxy Nexus), but I still had no data...

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by RE-Jo

I just got the wind 39 plan. What do I need to do to actually use my phone while in the states?

I was in the state this past weekend, and I thought it would automatically work as soon as I am in the states... Then I tried turning on Roaming on my phone (Galaxy Nexus), but I still had no data...

I had that problem when I first went travelling with my wind phone and I had to call WIND for them to turn something on on their end for data to work internationally

[Psykopathik]

guys on the roaming plan beware, its not really unlimited. there is an actual cap that is NOT stated anywhere.

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/wind-...mited-1502689/

mind you this guy clocked 5000 minutes on long drives. who the fuck would talk to this guy for hours at a time every fucking day. I speak to my wife less than an hour a day and i live with her.

[Graeme S]

Wind, even here, has always had a 'fair use' policy capping speed after 5 gigs. Iunno about the rest of you, but I don't think I've gone over two gigs before.

[StylinRed]

the connection has always been too slow for me to even bother trying to DL anything substantial, I find I rarely break 1gb

[Psykopathik]

Originally Posted by Graeme S

Wind, even here, has always had a 'fair use' policy capping speed after 5 gigs. Iunno about the rest of you, but I don't think I've gone over two gigs before.

Originally Posted by StylinRed

the connection has always been too slow for me to even bother trying to DL anything substantial, I find I rarely break 1gb

I blow through 5 GB every month, that said 5000 minutes is excessive at any rate.

however a simple warning should have been prefferable than outright account suspension.