Well, the time to move out is coming up fast! I'm heading off to Waterloo, a city about an hour away from Toronto, to study Computer Science and Math at the University of Waterloo. I've been (slowly) making the grueling preparations and such for the long drive out there, but I've got a loooot more to do yet.
One thing that I had to do was figure out my cellphone situation. I'm currently on a 3-year contract with MTS (AUGH), but since I'm moving and my parents won't need the phone, I'll be trading the contract off to a friend. Since I'll need a phone, I've started looking up all of the different companies I could go with. While I'd love to get an iPhone or an Android phone like the Nexus One or the Droid X, I figured it would be better to save a bit of money and go with a simpler phone on Fido or Koodo.
I did some research on both companies, and found most of the phones that Fido were offering were fairly old and got pretty bad reviews. I began looking up some information on Koodo's phones, and found the INQ Chat 3G phone. It's been released in Europe for a while, and just recently came to Canada.
So, the quest to find a store in Manitoba that could set me up with a Koodo plan with an INQ Chat 3G phone that would seamlessly work in Ontario... began!
I looked around Best Buy's website, and found a couple of ads for the same phone I've been looking for. The same day, I found an ad in a Wal-Mart flyer advertising the phone as well. With plans already established to do some school supply shopping in Winnipeg, the Best Buy and Wal-Mart cellphone areas were added to our destination list!
We walked into Best Buy and headed straight towards the cellphone section. I asked them about the phone, and at first they had no idea what I was talking about. I pointed to the four TVs set up along the wall that was playing an ad for the phone. The girl explained to me that they don't carry the phone because the INQ Chat 3G uses a system that is incompatible with the networks available in Manitoba. Disappointed, we headed off to Wal-Mart.
In Wal-Mart, the same thing happened. I asked them about the phone, and they mentioned it not working in Manitoba, so they don't sell it.
I understand that it's easier for a company to use the same advertisements across all of their stores than to use unique advertisements, but I don't understand how a whole province can advertise a phone that is completely incompatible with it's entire system. A bit of fine print or something would have helped nicely.
In the end, we decided that I would pick up a new phone in Ontario on the day I move in (as if it wasn't hectic enough). Thanks Manitoba. You're a good ol' pal!
Wow, that does sound frustrating. I would completely agree; you'd think they would at least be able to prevent those ads from being shown in Manitoba.
ReplyDeleteIm with you on that frustration level.
ReplyDeleteCanada sucks balls when it comes to wireless service and phone selection. That said, I love my Android!! I understand the money-saving thing though, plus if you wait you can just get >= 3.0 when it comes out. But they are so much fun!
ReplyDelete