Wind Mobile Costs

WIND Mobile declared a new day for wireless in Canada today. They aim to lower user costs, get rid of useless access fees, and be the most unforgettably positive customer experience in Canada.

WIND is looking to be a more reasonably priced mobile provider in Canada. With their analogy of tolling sidewalk users, WIND is emphasizing the illegitimate charges companies, such as rogers and bell, charge their customers. These charges of course being system access fees, system activation fees, etc..

They haven’t exactly posted their plan rates just yet but according to insiders, pricing can be expected to fall around $53 dollars for a gig of data and 300 minutes, which would cost $72 dollars with Rogers.

In order for WIND to beable to offer these expected lower charges, they need in the words of Anthony Lacavera (CEO of Globalive), ""that kind of scale behind us to compete...and we plan on growing and providing such networks." He's speaking of course of the joint network upgrade that Bell and Telus have spent more than $1-billion on.

Partnering with Orascom will give Globalive substantial advantages that Rogers, Bell, Telus, nor other new entrants such as Public Mobile and DAVE Wireless can procure. Wealth strength to combat against Rogers, Bell, and Telus is one. It is suggested that Globalive (WIND) procures multiple.

Those advantages will help Globalive offer voice and mobile data services that are significantly cheaper than what the average monthly bill consumers now see.

David Lambert, an analyst at Canaccord Adams estimates that, "Wind could offer prepaid and postpaid plans that include an unlimited voice plan with 1 [gigabyte] of data for approximately 30% less than the basic plans by the incumbents." It is expected that a regular $80 monthly plan used by Rogers, Bell and Telus for the iPhone could cost under $60 with Wind.

Here are some specific expected prices with WIND mobile.

Posted by Windsider (who claims to work for WIND in Canada) on a cellular forum:

(It is difficult to tell if this is some kind of astroturf viral marketing campaign, a complete fabrication, or reality)

Chat: $15 per month
Unlimited WIND to WIND calling (Canada wide)
Unlimited incoming text
100 province-wide voice minutes
50 text messages

Always Talk: $35 per month
Unlimited WIND to WIND calling (Canada wide)
Unlimited province-wide calling
Unlimited incoming text
50 outgoing text messages

Always Shout: $45 per month
Unlimited Canada-wide calling
Unlimited incoming /outgoing text messages
Voicemail

Data Plans
Infinite Mobile: $35 per month (used with any voice plan)
Unlimited internet for phones (tethering too)

Infinite Laptop: $45 per month
Unlimited internet for USB data sticks

Possibly there will be a web on your phone only type data plan for $10/mn.

BlackBerry data plans
Social BlackBerry: $10 per month
Unlimited instant messaging, Facebook and MySpace.

Infinite BlackBerry: $35 per month (used with any voice plan)
Unlimited internet for BlackBerry

Addons:
Voice: 10c Per Minute with the $15 plan
SMS: 10c each
MMS: 20c each
Voicemail: $5

Long Distance:
$20 for unlimited North America

Stores should open within a week.

Edit: All plans include Caller's ID, Call Forwarding and Call Waiting.

Edit: Voice roaming on Rogers (Wind's Roaming Partner): $0.25/min.
There will be some other addons.

According to Migo in a separate post:

WIND $15 Chat (100 minutes, UW2W, 50 text, Caller ID)
vs Koodo 50 minutes, 50 text, $21 w/ CID
vs Virgin 50 minutes, 50 text, $22 w/ CID
vs Fido 50 minutes, 50 text, $22 w/ CID
vs Solo 50 minutes, 50 text, $21 w/ CID

WIND $35 Always Talk (Unlimited province wide minutes, UW2W, 50 text, Caller ID)
vs Koodo 150 minutes, unlimited incoming, UEW@7, 50 text, Caller ID $36
vs Virgin 450 minutes, UEW@7, Caller ID, VM, $35
vs Fido 100 minutes, UEW@7, unlimited text, Caller ID $32
vs Solo 200 minutes, UEW@7, unlimited text, Caller ID $36
vs MiKe 200 minutes, UEW@9, Caller ID, VM, $30
vs Bell 150 minutes, UEW@9, Unlimited Fab 5, Caller ID, $37

WIND $45 Always Shout (Unlimited nationwide, unlimited text, Caller ID, VM)
vs Koodo 300 minutes, UEW@5, unlimited text, UK2K, CID, VM, $47
vs Virgin 450 minutes, UEW@7, unlimited messaging, CID, VM, $45
vs Fido 350 minutes, UEW@7, unlimited text, CID, VM, $45
vs Solo 2250 minutes, unlimited text, CID, VM, $50
vs MiKe 250 minutes, unlimited incoming, UEW@9, CID, VM, $40
vs Rogers 150 minutes, UEW@9, 1000 messages, unlimited browser, unlimited My5 Local, CID, VM, $48
vs Telus 150 minutes, UEW@6, unlimited text, unlimited 5 favourite local, Caller ID, VM, $45
vs Bell 150 minutes, UEW@9, 250 text, unlimited fab 5 local, CID, VM, $45

WIND is the expected lowest monthly cost, except for the 35$ comparison . In my oppinion though these expected costs for WIND are inflated.

Also this comparison does not account for province to province long distance. This can change the price plan when considering those who do alot of Canada wide calling and do not have free long distance to certain Canada wide numbers. Rogers, Bell, Telus, Koodo, Virgin, etc., charge 30 cents a minute for long distance within Canada. It is when one looks at these little upsides that one trully see's the benefits of having WIND as a possibility.

A $25 monthly cost with 200 minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends starting at 6pm, unlimited text and caller ID would be ideal. Virgin is the only provider that comes close. To some extent WIND fails to provide a lower cost when specifically looking at that contract style, but at the same time when it's only Virgin out of all the competitors that offers something really compelling in that department, it's not that detrimental for WIND not to provide a lower price. It does look like Wind has done their research. How not surprising. Again this is assuming these are official prices.

Of course these are just speculation and provide limited examples of possible contracts. They cannot be used to completely judge their price plans, but at least it gives the user an idea where they will fall when it comes to a common data plan.