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Solo Mobile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Solo Mobile | |
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| Type | Subsidiary of Bell Mobility |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Canada |
| Industry | Wireless Services |
| Website | www.solomobile.ca |
Solo Mobile is a brand run by Bell Mobility on their network to compete directly with Virgin Mobile Canada.[1] Started in 2005, the brand markets to people in the 13-35 age bracket and currently offers 4 phones (note: all prices are in Canadian dollars): The Sanyo 3100 which is available in brown ($119), blue and pink, The Motorola RAZR v3c, ($400, 30 MB), available in black, The Nokia 6275i ($300), available in black, The Sanyo Katana (6600) ($250), available in black and pink, and The Sanyo 2400 ($89), available in black, which replaced the original Sanyo 2300 ($89). They have six monthly plans to choose from, including four monthly plans ranging from $20-$35 per month and two urban plans priced at $35 and $45 respectively. Not only does Solo offers prepaid options for their customers, they also introduced Solo Share plans in November 2006, for couples, with prices ranging from $35/month to $55/month, plus system access fee and 911-fee.
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Up to and including Friday August 11, 2006, Solo Mobile's main purpose was to compete with Virgin Mobile in The Canadian MVNO market. They had 1 monthly plan which was very attractive to teenagers:
- $30 per month (no extra fees, just $30 flat)
- Free call display, call waiting, 3-way calling, call forwarding
- 100 daytime minutes (weekdays 7 AM to 8 PM)
- Unlimited nights and weekends (weekdays 8 PM to 7 AM and weekends)
- Unlimited 1xRTT mobile browser and network access in Bell territory
- Unlimited sending/receiving text messages to anywhere in North America (sender must be in Bell territory)
- $1/day 10-4 walkie-talkie or $15/month
Users also got $10/month off for 12 months if they registered on The Christmas break of 2005-2006, along with other text-in rebates.
As of Friday August 11, 2006, in a move to compete with Fido, Solo Mobile revised all of its monthly plans and its prepaid rates. Monthly customers who subscribed before the aforementioned date got to keep their plans, but the 2 attractive monthly plans with unlimited browser, text, and weeknight/weekend minutes were gone; instead it installed 4 different Solo plans, ranging from $20 to $35 in price (plus $6.95 monthly system access fee and $0.50 monthly 911 fee). Also, it cloned Fido's urban calling area plan, in which for $30/month you get unlimited incoming calls and 400 minutes in your urban area, or 750 minutes and unlimited urban incoming calls for $45/month. Weeknights have been extended to run from 7 PM to 8 AM.
Prepaid rates went down to $0.01/minute for weekends/weeknights and $0.40/minute briefly (as a 2-week promotion), before rising back to up $0.05/minute for weekends/weeknights and $0.40/minute. Free browsers were removed, but can be accessed for $0.03/KB or $5 for unlimited browser (with prepaid). Free text was removed also, and so was caller ID with all but Solo 35 and prepaid.
Per-second billing, a feature previously available only with Fido, is now available with any Solo plan activated on a 3-year contract.
Also as of Friday August 11, 2006, Solo Mobile ended its famous "monthly plan with no contracts" by introducing "agreements". Solo contracts range from 30 days to 3 years, and the benefits include phone discounts, unlimited talking, bonus minutes, etc. Cancellations of the contract will require the customer to pay a fee, calculated by multiplying the number of remaining months by $20, with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $300. Solo Mobile has also implemented several hidden fees. The company was originally attractive and famous for charging only the price you see, but now they include a $6.95/month system access fee and $0.50/month 911 fee for all plan subscribers. Browser data is tranferred at $0.03/KB, text messages sent within Canada are $0.15/message, and a third-party Windows Live Messenger software costs $3/month to run (plus applicable mobile browser fees).
As of September 2006, Solo Mobile released 4INFO (formerly UDoIt), a service to manage your account and review usage information via 2-way text messaging. In October 2006 eCare was introduced, which is an online account that displays your balances, usage information, cell phone(s)' information, and an option that allows you to pay your bill online.
Although you can purchase a Solo handset and plan directly from their website, many do not choose this option since they don't have a credit card or for safety concerns. Numerous other dealers and stores sell Solo products, and a short list includes:
Future Shop
Best Buy
Wireless Wave
Telephone Booth
Bell, Bell World, and Bell Mobility stores
These separate stores may offer discounts on phones or plans that are different from that on The Solo Mobile website or other stores. Solo prepaid cards can be bought from any of the above locations or from thousands of gas bars and corner stores.
Many issues relating to the over-priced phones such as The Motorola RAZR V3c offered by Solo at $400 have arisen. Competitors such as Virgin Mobile sell the equivalent for a much lower price of around $250. Users have tried to get around this price by buying phones from Bell, Rogers, Virgin, or even eBay at a lower price, but it will not be usable with Solo. The only ways out are to buy a second-hand phone for a discounted price, sign a contract ("agreement"), or wait until you qualify for a hardware upgrade.
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| Major network operators | |
| Bell / Aliant Mobility · Fido · Rogers Wireless · TELUS Mobility | |
| Minor and regional network operators | |
| DMTS Mobility · ICE Wireless · KMTS Mobility · MTS Mobility · NorthernTel Mobility · NMI Mobility · SaskTel Mobility · Télébec Mobilité · TBayTel Mobility | |
| Mobile virtual network operator | |
| 7-Eleven Wireless · Amp'd Mobile · DCI Telecom · MoreMobility · Ontera · PC Mobile · Petro-Canada Mobility · Primus Canada · SearsConnect · Solo Mobile · Videotron · Virgin Mobile | |