How to get a Phone Contract in Canada

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This has been one of the more awkward things for us, possibly by our own doing. We had a plan on what we wanted to do and get but in practice it was a bit of a pain.

Arriving in Canada

We didn't want to use our UK phone plan in Canada as it didn't come with any decent roaming rates because it was a basic plan. The cost to use data was about £10 per 100 mb, which is very high, and it is capped at £40 so we were at risk of being cut off of data, not good when you're trying to find your way around a new city, in a new country.

To solve this we opted to take out a 30 day plan with Saily. I found this company from a sponsored section in a YouTube videos (Veritasium) and it had a discount code in the video. It isn't the cheapest, but it was convenient and easy to use. We downloaded the app in the UK and bought the plan. It was £25 for 10 gb of data over 30 days. The app created the eSIM for you and helped install it on our phone. The plan activates as soon as you arrive in Canada which was convenient as it meant we would get the full 30 days.

In terms of use, we had great signal and data speeds everywhere we went. The only downside to this approach is you get data only, so no phone number...which would become an issue for us.

Finding a New Provider

There are quite a few options in Canada but most are subsidiaries of sub-carriers of the big three, Bell, Rogers, and Telus. These are comparable to 3, Vodaphone, and EE in the UK. They are fairly pricy but do come with all sorts of extras. Prices were in the range of £40-£80 for 100 gb data, We opted not to use one of these main providers to keep costs down.

The other options are the likes of Chatr, Fido, Freedom, Koodo, and even offerings from the likes of Walmart. Of all the options, I think Freedom came out on top with a plan of 50 gb for $35/month (approx £22). Depending on deals there were some cheaper options too.

The Issue

Freedom Mobile will only allow you to sign up with a bank card registered at the same address as the address you sign up with AND this must be Canadian. We had to wait to get a bank account because we needed to sort out our SIN. In short we needed to get a phone number in the interim to allow us to create accounts such as travel card and also just contact people/businesses in Canada.

To solve this, we bought a simple $20 talk and text only plan from Chatr. We was able to get the SIM card and set it up at London Drugs.

Had we just sorted out SIN and bank account out sooner, we would have spared us the hassle.

Issues With Freedom

We both had issues with Freedom initially, but I would say these are not unique to this carrier.

One issue was that the eSIM just wouldn't activate. We had to go to a Walmart to see a Freedom rep to get it fixed. Thankfully this took 10 mins and was nice and easy.

The second issue was related to my phone number. The number I chose (you get to choose from a long list) was only recently put back in the pool. In Canada phone numbers are released back to the pool after 3 months. This meant that straight away I started getting spam calls and texts. I also changed my number on WhatsApp only to have it download all the original persons conversations. It was a nightmare to sort out. I contacted Freedom and they changed my number free of charge and so far it's been ok.

My Suggestion

My suggestion is simple here. Sort your bank account asap and then go into a store where and ask to set up the phone plan there. It will be a lot simpler than trying to do things online and work it out. Also make sure you have something in place if you can't create your bank account right away.

I'll update this with a review of Freedom once I've had chance to properly use it.

Header Image:

A photograph I took of a traditional sculpture called an Inuksuk which were build by several indigenous peoples of the far north. It serves as a navigational aid and landmark. This one is located on Sunshine Beach in Vancouver.

Created by Niall Bell (niall@niallbell.com)