The Starter plans include options that meet the government’s wireless price reduction targets
Koodo, Fido and Virgin Plus (flanker brands for Telus, Rogers and Bell respectively) have had $50/10GB plans available on and off over the last few months. Well, the three carriers are back to ‘on’ with the $50/10GB offer, but not a whole lot else.
Koodo and Virgin both surprisingly only offer four plans right now, with a few exceptions. First, it’s four plans if you choose to bring your own phone — some plans aren’t available to customers who choose to get a phone on contract. The other exception is an expanded list of ‘Starter Plans’ with plenty of options that also aren’t available if you want to get a phone (I’ll dig into these more below).
Fido’s plan set-up is a little different, with options across ‘Data, Talk & Text,’ ‘Talk & Text’ and ‘Basic’ categories. Some of these match the ‘Starter’ plans offered by Koodo and Virgin and, like Koodo and Virgin, Fido restricts these options for those looking to get a phone.
Below I’ll list out all the plans in order from cheapest to most expensive, including labels to show which categories these fall into (‘Starter’ for Starter plans, ‘Promo’ for offers listed as promotional and no label for the regular plans). Note that these prices are shown for Ontario locations and should be the same in some provinces, but others (for example, Quebec and Manitoba) often have different prices.
- $15/mo 250MB data at 3G speed with 100 Canada-wide minutes (Koodo Starter, Fido Basic, Virgin Starter)
- $28/mo 1GB data at 4G speed with pay-per-use minutes (Virgin Starter)
- $30/mo pay-per-use data with unlimited minutes (Koodo, Fido ‘Talk & Text,’ Virgin)
- $35/mo 3GB data at 3G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo Starter, Fido Basic, Virgin Starter)
- $38/mo 2GB data at 4G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo Starter, Fido, Virgin Starter [note: costs $37.50/mo])
- $41/mo 4GB data at 4G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo Starter, Fido, Virgin Starter [note: costs $41.25/mo])
- $45/mo 6GB data at 4G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo Starter, Fido, Virgin Starter)
- $50/mo 10GB data at 4G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo Promo, Fido, Virgin)
- $55/mo 12GB data at 4G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo Promo, Fido, Virgin)
- $70/mo 15GB data at 4G speed with unlimited minutes (Koodo, Fido, Virgin)
All of the above plans include messaging services.
Starter plans now include options that meet government price reduction targets
It’s worth noting that the Starter plans category isn’t exactly new — Koodo, Fido and Virgin rolled out the category alongside the CRTC-mandated low-cost plans in July. Since then, however, it looks like the three flanker brands have expanded the category with plans beyond what was mandated by the CRTC, such as options that meet the reduced wireless price targets set by the federal government.
Namely, the new $38/2GB plan almost meets the $37.50/mo 2GB target set by the government (Virgin actually meets the $37.50 price target). Similarly, the $41/mo 4GB plan comes in just a few cents lower than the $41.25/mo government target for 4GB plans.
Bell announced in September that Virgin would add plans meeting the government targets in October, but I’m not sure when Fido and Koodo added their versions of those plans.
While great to see the flanker brands offer plans that meet these targets, it’s frustrating that carriers also blocked these plans for people who want to get a phone. It’s especially annoying when you consider that most carriers offer a device financing model that separates the cost of the phone from your monthly plan.
Telus, Rogers and Bell, however, do not meet these targets.
You can check out the plans at the linked pages below:
- Koodo
- Fido
- Virgin Plus