What if I have a contract?
If you have an existing contract with your cellphone company, the expectation is that you will fulfill the term of your contract and cell phone companies assess penalties for breaching your contract. Bell and Rogers both charge $20 per month for every month you have remaining on your contract to a maximum of $400. TELUS on the other hand does not have a maximum so you may be looking at a cancellation charge of more than $400. If you have an existing data plan – look out – because the charges will be even higher.
Understanding these charges is a key factor in deciding whether or not to enter into a new agreement, however the savings in signing a new deal, depending on the value of the deal, can be a good decision.
Here are two examples:
Example 1: Erin of Toronto was paying $150 per month for her cellphone with six months remaining on her contract. Erin negotiated a new deal on myCELLmyTERMS.com for $120 per month with more features than she had before including unlimited long distance and unlimited data, which she really wanted by the way. Erin was facing a $120 charge to break her contract but instead she signed a new contract for three years on a shiny new Blackberry Storm for $30 less per month. In four short months Erin’s savings were equivalent to the charge she paid to break her existing contract and Erin’s additional savings will be $960.
Example 2: Hans had just signed a new three year contract six months earlier with TELUS and was paying $60 per month. To break his existing contract he would be facing a charge of $600. Hans was interested in using myCELLmyTERMS to find a better deal for his monthly services given his wife’s recent deal of $40 per month on a three year contract. However, he would have to save in excess of $20 per month and given the features he wanted, cancelling his existing contract would not make sense at this time so Hans used our End of Contract reminder instead.
These are two examples of instances where looking at your specific situation and doing a little math can help determine the best course of action. If your contract has expired and you just love the thought of not being locked in, remember that the plan you signed three years prior is probably costing you more than an equivalent plan today, unless of course you have a grand fathered plan of unbeatable value that’s worth keeping. With Bell, Telus & Rogers all being GSM capable perhaps buying your phone outright and just plugging in your SIM card is all you need and if you aren’t ready as yet, use our End of Contract Reminder and get the best cell phone deal when the time is right.
