Petro-Canada Mobility Jacks Rates
March 5th, 2009 by PotatoI’m very sad to say that less than 3 months after buying a Petro-Canada Mobility phone for Wayfare, they are jacking the calling rates: local calls are going up 25%, while long-distance goes up 50%. This is a ludicrous price increase, and really cheeses us off. While the rates are still competitive with most other offerings, we might switch to PC [President’s Choice — slightly confusing since Petro-Canada has the same initials] out of spite (and to get a phone with volume controls). At the very least we might start using PC calling cards for our long distance; since we’re all over the place when we do use our phones almost half the calls were long distance, and the decent rate (30 cents/min before) was part of the attraction for Petro-Canada.
Other than that the service so far has been just fine, with the exception of the fact that the phone comes with a camera and FM radio tuner but no bloody volume control (since when is volume an optional feature??).
Thanks to Ben for pointing this out; we still haven’t received any kind of notification from Petro-Canada.
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March 5th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
My “notification” was a text from +447624803777 that read, “Effective March 3rd buy airtime online at mobility.petro-canada.ca and check out our new rates”
I’d be tempted to reply, but I don’t think that that’s even a real number, considering it has 12 digits…
March 5th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Oh, and regarding PC Mobility, I have a phone through them for Toronto and I got a really good deal on that. I don’t know if it’s a continual thing or just a rare special offer, but I paid $50 for the phone, which came with a bluetooth ear piece and volume control (but no camera), as well as a $15 grocery coupon and $10 worth of airtime. So really the whole thing only cost me $25. If I decide to keep my 289# when I get back from Burgundy in the winter I’ll probably switch over to President’s Choice.
March 5th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
One thing to try is to switch the SIM cards — you might be able to use the same handset for both services/phone numbers.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
As Michael James points out, Petro-Canada also increased the minimum payment to keep your phone active, from “$20 every 6 months to $25 every 4 months, an 87.5% increase”.
This is probably going to be relevant to Wayfare, as she is such a light user of her cell phone that the long-lasting minimum top-ups were a key feature of Petro-Canada Mobility. Wayfare’s on track to use about $30 every 4 months, so she’ll still be above the minimum, but just barely (though of course with the higher per minute rates that would translate to ~$60 every 4 months).
May 29th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Re: volume control . . .
Read the insructions. The radio does have a volume control.
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:59 am
This is really sad. I bought my Petro Canada phone in January 2009 after doing tons of research to ensure I was getting value for my money. 20 cents per minute for local and 30 cents for LD seemed expensive, but for the amount of times I use my phone it wasn’t so extravagant. Now it’s gone up only a couple of months after I bought the frigging phone?!? I hate the cell phone deals we have here in Canada. None of them are any good. I think I’ll just throw the entire phone in the garbage and not bother with it anymore. I only use it a couple of times per month, and there are other phones I could probably be using instead. I feel like I’ve been scammed by Petro Canada and Rogers.
Canada needs some decent competition like they have in the US and other countries. Enough is enough!!
I hope that people will remember the crappy plans and rates that Bell, Rogers, and Telus have put us through over the past couple of decades. Remember it people!! When competition comes along leave these companies and always keep in mind the nasty scams they pulled on us, no matter how sweet they make their deals in light of the new competition. Never go back to them.
January 12th, 2010 at 9:08 am
If you’re looking for the cheapest way to call long distance from a cell phone here it is…
http://www.yak.ca/product/yak-cell/overview
You sign up with Yak and register your cell phone number.
1. Call a Toronto phone # and get a busy signal (no charge from anywhere because it’s a busy signal)
2. Yak automatically calls you back within a few seconds, and you get a dial tone. Punch in the phone number you want to call anywhere in the world and get their same rates as you would if calling from home with Yak. 3.5¢/min. in Canada/US. They will send you your monthly bill with no extra fees or charges.
It’s slightly inconvenient (i.e. can’t use your phone contact list), but it’s way cheaper and works on any cell phone that you register.