Selecting a Cellphone carrier based on

[Fuman]

Hey,

I'm doing a research project for school and would like to survey fellow members of TM3.
Would you select a carrier based on:

Services and application - music, video, chat, email, sms, e-commerce, etc.
Product - What cell-phones are available.
Price - whoever is cheapest that has the services I want.

[MistaChin]

I think of it this way.

If you have a great price already and have great service, you can use that great service to get you a great price on a great product. lol

[Iceman_F1]

Me, personally...My order of importance would be the following...

Product - As I would want a cell phone I'm going to be happy with for the length of the contract...Or if I don't like the cell phone, how easy is it to swap cell phones should I get bored of it.
Price - As I would want to pay the least amount I can. Obviously still getting what I need.
Services - As I rarely use any of that, it's not very important to me.

[SilentJay]

My ranking:

Price - Canadian carriers all provide a pretty similar, if not identical, service. Call quality should no longer be an issue (barring regional service coverage limitations), and I find, is much more dependent on handset than provider. A cheaper rate, or even more "freebies" goes a long way.

Service - A close second. Again, with the product and sometimes pricing being so similar, a company needs to find a way to differentiate themselves from the competition without necessarily costing more. A friendlier tone, little gestures, faster response-times all contribute to a company's market share. For example, I hate Rogers with a passion. They overbill, the overcharge, but worst yet, a vast majority of the agents i've ever dealt with are unmotivated, rude, and seem to all carry the company's smug sense of self-satisfaction. I've since switched to Telus in 98 and have been happily with them ever since - they recognize brand loyalty (agents are authorized to issue refunds or "inconvenience-credits" without escalating to the CEO), little perks sent out on anniversaries, birthday bonuses, special cx service queues for higher-billing customers, etc.

Product - The least important factor in carrier selection to me, however i'm not always looking to swap to the latest-and-greatest phones from Asia every few months. Phone offerings are somewhat important (no-frills carriers like PC mobile offer 2-3 year old phones, and JUST recently started carrying the BB pearl), but as stated before, data packets don't "feel" different between carriers, and frankly, I don't see a huge speed difference between Rogers' 3G and Telus' EVDO Rev.A for my purposes.

[Fuman]

thanks for the input =)
keep it coming

[p-o-g-i]

I agree with SilentJay........ 1. Price 2. Service 3. Product

Reasoning: For me Price and Service almost go hand in hand as I want to pay the least amount possible for the kind of service I am looking for. As for the product, the majority of all my phones I've ever had are were all puchased unlocked from private dealers (ie, not Fido/ Rogers/ Bell/ Telus/ etc.) So the product a carrier supplies has no importance to me.

[Iceman_F1]

I agree with SilentJay........ 1. Price 2. Service 3. Product

Reasoning: For me Price and Service almost go hand in hand as I want to pay the least amount possible for the kind of service I am looking for. As for the product, the majority of all my phones I've ever had are were all puchased unlocked from private dealers (ie, not Fido/ Rogers/ Bell/ Telus/ etc.) So the product a carrier supplies has no importance to me.

While that's true, you have to find a phone that works for the carrier. To me, even if you do the unlocked route, I prefer to start with the phone I want and work from there...as that will narrow down the choices of carriers.

[Tokic_o]

You can get any phone you want if you buy it from outside dealers.

for me its:

1. Price
2. Service
3. Product

[Iceman_F1]

You can get any phone you want if you buy it from outside dealers.

Not really...Some phones are only CDMA and others are GSM...I'm sure you can't interchange them...I know a lot of companies usually have the same phone for both...but not always the case...

[Tokic_o]

lol. I forgot about that.

well in that case, I guess companies like Fido and Rogers would be the best choice for those who are picky of the product. Since you can buy any phone that uses the SIM card from outside dealers.

[Iceman_F1]

lol. I forgot about that.

well in that case, I guess companies like Fido and Rogers would be the best choice for those who are picky of the product. Since you can buy any phone that uses the SIM card from outside dealers.

Yeah...but that's why to me, it's pick the product first since if I want a GSM phone to just be able to swap the sim card, I have to then pick a plan with a provider that takes those phones...on the other hand, if I want a CDMA phone because there isn't an equivilent on the GSM network, then I pick a price from those carriers...

[fini]

I think the way that the market is right now and how it has been for the last number of years, you are missing a VERY important option:
Choosing the carrier based on technology.
GSM versus CDMA

I'm not sure if your option for product encompasses the handsets that are only available from the carrier or in addition to ones that can be bought 3rd party as well.

I would only use GSM. and at the time being only Rogers offers that.

if technology being equal, price and customer service is most important to me because the products would then be equal as well both carrier offered and from 3rd party vendors

[Fuman]

Thanks guys

[dentinger]

product and price.
i havent looked into this THAT much, but i've been looking around for future reference.

rogers has the sweetest phones, but if i want the same plan as im getting with fido, its $60 a month, compared to the $45 i pay right now.
i havent looked into others, but i want a nice phone, with nice features, but i also want a fairly inexpensive plan.

[SilentJay]

Bell/Telus are getting into the GSM-ish forray with their intention to release HSPA to major metropolitan cities sometime this year, with intention on jumping into 4G/LTE after. With this, barring any stupid moves, the once CDMA-exclusive providers will begin to carry a much wider selection of said aforementioned "sweet phones". Who'd ever thought that Telus would have the iPhone? :)