There is probably someone, in the most awkward and isolated part of the world, who has a cell phone.

I'm probably one of the few people left on the planet who doesn't.

You and me both Inanna!

Mine's with Rogers and, contrary to what I've heard others say about them, I've had very little trouble and what Iittle I've had has been easily straightened out.

Having said that, I'm seriously thinking about giving up my cell phone. It's not really a need and it's budget crunch time.

Mine's with Rogers as well, I have had no problems with thrm either.  It too is a bit of a luxury (could likely have fulfilled my 'need' with a pay-as-you-go plan and a more basic phone) but it's also come in handy for the odd snapshot and keeping up with my FB page away from home.  Could I live wiothout it?  Yes.  Would I give it up?  Well.....

I'm with Telus "pay as you go". I pay $25.00 a month, put $15.00 into the unlimited texting option and keep $10.00 on the "talking" part, for emergencies only. Most of my family and friends now know that if they want to reach me by cell to text me. If someone does happen to "phone" me, I let them leave a message and text them back.

$15.00 a month for texting as often as you want, that's all I need.

Also when I switched from Fido about 8 years ago, Telus gave me a free phone. My accumalated "points" from this has also allowed me to upgrade my phones twice, through Telus, for free.

I'm with Rogers - my sweetheart created the deal with his work connection so it apparently is a good deal, but it seems like tons to me.  We have 2 smartphones, 1 regular cellphone /house phone/internet on one package - so its pricey I guess, but he seems confident its an ok deal.  Waterfall - your plan is tempting though!!  I am not a fan of my cellphone and I'm not on it much, but its a necessity.

Rogers has been perfect so far - I wouldn't touch Bell with a 10 foot pole after the screw ups we've lived through and I tell them every time they call (despite my Do Not Call listing).  So Bell still digs their giant hole deeper and Rogers is just fine.

Birthstone, just remind Bell that there's a $30,000. fine if they continue to call you while you are on the Do Not Call List. They'll stop. (charities are exempt)

I have no need for a cell phone - but I am sure glad all my kids have them.

...based on experience with my daughter....

A cellphone is a device of convience that is always either misplaced, unavailable, left turned off, batteries dead, out of minutes, or curiously broken, that consumes money and time.

Still looking for the convience factor ..... I will let you know when I find it but don't hold your breath LOL

Hugs

Rita

originally, that was my experience too.  the phone seems to be figuring out how to function despite my quirks :)   My biggest dislike is poor sound, unlike a landline, so I don't use it often.

Rita LOL.

We have a Telus cellphone plan. We have basic phones and the cheapest plan. $15/month each for my partner and I (phones were 'free' with a 3 year contract). We've been set up with a plan like this for years (change phones every 3 years). It's a family plan - our calls to each other are free (including anywhere in Canada - so free calls to each other the occasional times my partner is off somewhere for work). We don't call too many other people and never use up our minutes. We never text so don't have a plan for that. I don't use my phone a lot (my partner even less), but I'm sure glad I have it.

I'm with koodo. 25 bucks a month for unlimited incoming and outgoing texts and 100 anytime minutes (really do not need more than 100 minutes). I am also on the $10 a month data plan so I can check emails and such. I am happy both with Koodo and my phone. I got myself and INQ Chat 3G. Nice phone if you are on a budget. It's kind of like a BlackBerry but minus some of the "bells and whistles." It does what I need, when I need it to.

We're on the Rogers family plan. My stepson, my wife, and I each have a cel. Somehow the bill each month is always waaay higher than I think it should be. We're on a three-year contract. When it's over I'm going pay-as-you-go.

I'm with MTS -- the provincial phone company here in Manitoba (that also offers TV and internet).  I have a blackberry, so I have a data plan with it, so that makes my bill higher than I would like.

Almost no one calls me, which is fine since I'm hard of hearing and struggle with it.  But I've got friends that love to text or BBM (BlackBerry Messenger -- like MSN, but on the BB) -- so my phone is always going all day as I have these ongoing conversations.  But I don't really do anything that uses up my data plan -- I rarely use internet on my phone.  I do love having my emails automatically go to my phone, though.

I've always been happy with MTS.  I feel their prices are a touch too high (since my sister has a BlackBerry from Rogers and pays about $10 less than me).

So... overall... I like my service provider.  I like my phone.  I'm happy with certain features (BBM, texting, emails).  I'm unhappy with the mandatory data plan that I don't use (mandatory cuz it's a smartphone).

Mr. Seeler takes care of the cell phones.  (Did I tell you I'm hopeless at electronics?)

I think our plan is with Telus.  We each have a phone - I think we bought them outright.  We pay $15 each a month, plus tax.  We use them strictly for voice - I don't even know if texting is available.  We don't have them connected with the computer.  I believe both phones can also be used as cameras but I have never used mine for any purpose than to call someone.  Because I only have a few numbers programmed in, I have to have a phone book handy, or at least my pocket calendar where I've jotted down some frequently called numbers.   As far as I know only Mr. Seeler, Seelergirl and granddaughter have my cell phone number, so I don't get many calls. 

Actually I usually only get one or two calls a month, and make about the same number.  But I wouldn't want to be without it and I try to remember to charge it once a week and to buy  a new phone card before the end of the month.    Mr. Seeler probably uses his quite a bit more - maybe two or three calls a week.  

It seems to me that we are paying a lot ($30 + tax for two) a month for how little we use them, but Telex has assured me that we have their cheapest plan.   I wouldn't want to be without them - especially when Seelergirl was sick.

Had the Rogers family plan:  poor reception in rural areas; lots of dropped calls in the city, so laughed at their ads; cost far more than expected; when closed our plan, discovered several hidden fees for items like transferring numbers.  We are now with Koodo--basic plan for son ($15 + tax/month); more expensive plan for myself including voice mail and call display and will be adding more time next month; discontinued phone for wife -- she borrows one of our other phones (mine, son's, her mother's) when she needs one.  Would probably dorp mine if I didn't travel in the country weekly on less travelled highways.

 When we were expecting our baby boy in '09  I knew he would be delivered out of town, most likely in Vancouver.  I also knew I would be spending time at Easter Seal House. I got a phone so the hospital could contact me if they needed to etc.  Phone number one: a talk n text with Rogers.  I added unlimited email for $5/mo so people could email me and keep it cheap also.    A few months later my hubby takes my phone to work a couple times and decides he likes having a phone on him, as they did work all over the city. I got him a very simple Fido (also owned by Rogers) for $15/mo.   Over the holidays I was sucked into the tractor beam of Smart Phones.  Ended up with another phone on Rogers.  The Fido expires this summer so we will keep it on pay as you go because my hubby hardly uses it. The first Rogers will be a spare that my daughters can use if they go to friends' houses or to the park etc.  Peace of mind for me. So yeah here I am paying three cell phone bills.  (Like  Red Baron and a few others, I have no complaints with Rogers.)

I have Telus and a Blackberry, so pay more as well for data. Rogers is the worst choice in this area because there is very little coverage up here outside of the main hub of Canada. If you are going outside the main urban area of Canada, Telus seems to be about the best option for coverage, with Bell being second. When I went up to Whitehorse in the fall, the Rogers folks could not use their cells very much.

Inanna and somegirl, there's more of us holdouts than you think, I think. I only even vaguely consider getting one when I go away on long road trips. 

I agree Bette - I hate the idea of being constantly contactable. For awhile I even went without a land line. I do have a land line now, but rarely use it - I much prefer email.

Some of us need the contactability (e.g. for work), but at this point, I think that even if I didn't carry a smartphone for work, I'd score an inexpensive one with a basic dataplan for email and other messaging. I've come to like not having to camp out on a computer just to check to see if anything has come in.

Mendalla

Rogers is really bad  in rural NS- lots of places without service. For someone who uses the cell phone only occaisionally, I was thinking what might be cheaper- usng the cell phone only and no landline or having a land line and a really cheap cell phone plan. My cell phone costs me $34/ month and that's without any extras (except "my five"). My phone, internet and tv costs $144- that's $180 a month just for that! That's more than my heating bill.

I don't want to give up on cell phone, as I have to go on home visits for work and I also like to have one for emergencies on the road.

My Blackberry is on silent most of the time, so I decide how contactable I am with it. I do need it for work. I am finding I prefer e-mail, texts or Blackberry Messenger messages now. You get the business done quickly and efficiently.I am not sure I would do that with a normal cell phone. I like the keyboard, even if it is miniscule.

On the original topic, I have no experience with the consumer end of the cell phone/smartphone business. My employer has been through corporate contracts with all of the big three and Telus is our favorite though they are far from perfect. At least we have a good account exec to work with and bitch to when things go awry, which we didn't have at Bell.

I carry a Blackberry Bold 9700 which runs on Telus' new HSPA+ network (shared with Bell, BTW). Performance is adequate to excellent. My office, interestingly, is in a bit of a black hole but otherwise I haven't had a lot of coverage issues.

I don't use it much as a phone. People here are supposed to page me and I use the BB for outcalls. May replace the paging with SMS down the road, and I do use SMS for emergency communications with other users internally. My wife has the number and my son's school and after-school care have it as an emergency number. That's about it. Neither my son nor my wife pack a phone although I'm thinking of getting a basic phone (if there is such a thing anymore) with a pay as you go plan for my son when he starts having to use public transit to go to school in the fall.

Mendalla

 Neither my son nor my wife pack a phone although I'm thinking of getting a basic phone (if there is such a thing anymore) with a pay as you go plan for my son when he starts having to use public transit to go to school in the fall.

 That is exactly what I got for my parents last year. A basic phone on a pre-pay set up..  Telus and Virgin are voted as having the best prepaid set ups in Canada as far as bang for your buck and service.  Although Virgin now has this Supertab thing going on.  You may want to scrutinize that.

Koodo is supposed to be another really good prepay company but when I last checked their selection of phones it was pretty low quality. ( I did a terrific amount of consumer research before buying a phone.)

Somegal - I was reading your post with interest - not being constantly contactable, for awhile even going without a land line.   then you ruined it with the last four words - I much prefer email.   So you still have a form of instant communication.

And here I was thinking about the 'good old days'.  When I was growing up we didn't have phones in the village.  The railway station had a phone line, and a telegraph.  Mail was delivered to the post office once a day, and outgoing letters picked up.   And within the village, we communicated by seeing people at school or at the village general store, or we walked to their home.  Kids ran errands, carrying notes.  Emergencies, someone ran to the station, or to a neighbour.  Snail mail letters written by hand kept us in touch with the outside world.   Seems like centuries - rather than just a generation or two ago.

I rarely check my email more than once per day - and sometimes not at all. The contact was really all at my discretion. I like email, because it can be short and to the point. I can send it at 3AM if I choose to. Also, I can edit my emails before I send them - that's hard to do with a phone conversation! My conversations on the phone are still rarely longer than a couple of minutes.