This is a review of my WIND Mobile experiences in Calgary since joining WIND 20 days ago on March 11th, 2010 plus a phone interview with WIND’s CEO Ken Campbell (see below) where Ken very candidly answered my questions.
Special thanks to Ken for talking to me after WIND launched in Ottawa last Friday.
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The Switch
I was a Bell Mobility customer for over 10 years, but dropped calls/poor voice quality, non-responsive customer services, and expensive new plans (for the values) stopped me from signing another 3-year contract with Bell.
I also want to give WIND a try after having such a high hope for them when reporting of the news of the government overturning the CRTC decision (where I interviewed Tony) and the WIND launch in Calgary (where I interviewed Ken and Chris) in Dec 2009.
WIND Mobile Review Background
Keep this in mind when you read this review:
I do trust WIND is working hard to resolve the problems and issues. And as you will hear in my phone interview with Ken, WIND is now my only mobile service provider, so if WIND goes down, I go down with it. So I fully expect WIND to deliver on their promises (soon).
WIND Mobile Calgary experiences review
Here are my WIND experiences in chronological order.
1) Pre-Signup
- The WIND website (see this price/value comparison chart) and the few WIND customer service reps I talked to were helpful.
- I signed up with WIND knowing fully their current limited coverage (Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, and Ottawa was added last week). But I also know and believe WIND is working hard to add additional cities before end of 2010 (cities like Vancouver).
Overall comment & rating: The WIND reps were pleasant to talk to. Nice to see WIND’s openness in accepting customers’ ideas/comments and keep an active blog dialogue. So, overall, I say I received good services from WIND.
2) Signup Day
- The Blockbuster store kiosk was quite professional looking and it blended in well with the rest of the Blockbuster location.
- Would be nice if the salesperson had a bit more in-depth knowledge of the basic features of the phones (in my case, the Samsung Gravity 2).
- After I signed up, unfortunately, this WIND location, didn’t have the proper and up-to-date software to transfer phone numbers from my old cell phone to my new phone. The 15+ minutes wait didn’t do any good as the rep didn’t have the computer privilege to install the new software update.
- I asked WIND to port my existing phone number over. And that gave me my first taste of inconsistent information and services. You see, I was told previously on the phone by a WIND agent that porting of existing phone number will take less than 4 hours. At the store, I was told the porting process might take 24 to 48 hours even I bought my old phone bill so they could have the exact information need to do a smooth phone number porting.
- By the way, this may be a bit of a speculation but if Blockbuster was to go bankrupt as some in the business community were talking about, I don’t know how will WIND adjust and how quickly.
Overall comment & rating: I had expected more from WIND and was a bit disappointed.
3) Ongoing experiences
WIND was launched in Calgary over 3 months ago in mid-Dec 2009, so I thought all of the basic and key problems/issues should/would have been solved already. Unfortunately, there remain to be some key problems.
3a) Static/Noise
There were random static/noise during phone calls since day one. Looking at the bright side, the frequency of the static/noise seems to be dropping in the last few days, so I hope all the static will soon be gone completely. Good voice quality is so basic that it is disappointing to experience static/noise.
3b) Dropped Calls
Some local and long distance calls were dropped in the middle of a conversation. And these dropped calls have been very annoying and even more unacceptable than the static/noise.
3c) Unable to make calls
In two separate cases, once when driving and once when not moving, in both cases I were well-within the Calgary WIND covered area (i.e. not at the edge of the network), I was unable to make calls. In the case while I was driving, I kept redialling for 5 times within 3 minutes but got no connection even the screen said “WIND Home”.
3d) “Limited Service”
Well, it wasn’t nice when one night I saw my phone display turn from “WIND Home” to “Limited Service” out of the blue. Sure, it went back to “WIND Home” 5-10 minutes later, but that was a bad experience at 8:30pm.
3e) The unlimited calling
To end on something positive, it was nice to have unlimited anytime minutes and also unlimited Canada-wide calling with no long-distance charge for the $45 plan that I have.
Overall comment & rating: I’ve downwardly adjusted my expectations of WIND’s service quality. Yes, I am disappointed of the problems I’ve faced so far but I am willing to give WIND a little bit of time to work out its problems and improve.
Here is a telling question I can ask myself:
Would I rather have WIND resolved all its technical issues before launching in Calgary? My answer will be, “Absolutely NOT!” You see, I would rather endure some short term service problems that will/should improve in time, instead of being locked-up in another 3-year contract with any of the existing service providers.
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Phone Interview with WIND’s CEO Ken Campbell
After WIND launched in Ottawa last Friday, Ken was very helpful and gave me a chance to interview him to talk about some of the serious problems I have experienced with WIND. I want to thank Ken again for his time and his candid answers.
Here is my phone interview (mp3) with Ken (or you can stream the interview here) where I asked Ken about many of the problems I experienced in Calgary and also about WIND’s expansion plans, etc.
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Concluding thoughts
On the day I signed up with WIND, I honestly felt and wanted to post the line,
“Free at last! Free at last! I am free from Bell at last!“
Sure, I wish WIND was perfect and I didn’t have any voice problems. But in the long run, I am very happy that I did not sign another contract and locked myself into another 3-year jail sentence with anyone.
Since WIND doesn’t use contract and penalties to lockup customers, it has to earn my business every month. And WIND has to show its customers that it is working hard to improve the services. Unless WIND improves its call qualities and its services quickly, it may not be able to keep its existing customers and recruit more customers.
If you are a WIND customer in Calgary or thinking of joining WIND in Calgary, please leave a comment to share your thoughts.
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[...] WIND Mobile launch review & details (More details on Plans, Handsets, Prices. – Simple Plans: Chat $15, Always Talk $35, Always Shout $45/mo) Apr 5, 2010 Update: I’ve now joined WIND since March 2010. Here is my WIND Mobile Calgary service review & Interview with WIND CEO Ken Campbell. [...]
[...] When presented with a choice of iPhone & some fun vs a locked-in three year contract, I decided to go with WIND Mobile. I guess my business/rational mind wins over my urge to have fun. :) Possibly related posts: [...]
Not in Calgary, but I’m in Hamilton, and I switched to WIND three weeks ago. I’ve probably had one of the better experiences of anybody with WIND, I’ve had almost nothing to complain about. Ordered a Nexus One the day after shipping to Canada opened from Google, they ported my Telus number over after three hours, I’ve had 70 calls so far with no dropped calls, no static, although the call volume is a little low at times (had that with Telus too sometimes though). Data connection always there, never had WIND Home disappear.
Wonderful experience so far. I know from being a part of the community on WIND’s site that Calgary probably has the most problems of any area right now, so hopefully they’ll turn their attention to beefing that up a bit now. By all accounts it’s getting better every week.
I’m just glad to support a new player in the market, Bell, Rogers and Telus have had their oligopoly over Canada for too long. Need to have change for the better (and cheaper!).
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences from Hamilton and your Nexus One here in this post,
http://opinionatedengineer.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/google-nexus-one-and-wind-mobile/
I will try to read it when I find some time.
I totally agree with you re the last comment in supporting a new player to compete against the likes of Bell, Telus, and Rogers. And with no contract to lock us up, WIND has to keep improving its service or they won’t have our business.
Exactly. WIND will have to keep on their toes, which is a very good thing. Especially with Mobilicity also entering the market in the next month or two, and also promising “unbelievable value and no contracts.” Not that they’ve announced any plans or coverage maps yet, so I’ll remain skeptical for now. They both operate on the same AWS wireless band, so there’s nothing stopping a customer from switching from one to the other if a good deal pops up, just swap SIM cards, and you’re good to go. I’m really looking forward to it. Especially if one or both of them end up going under, this next stretch could be the most exciting and competitive time in the wireless industry in Canada in our lifetime. Just a shame they aren’t also on the same band as Robellus to enable easier transfer of customers to the new guys.
Cool to hear Mobilicity runs on AWS too.
Do you know if the spectrum Shaw won is AWS too? With Shaw, I will be surprised if Calgary is not one of the early launch city but one never knows.
Apparently Shaw has decided to delay their entry into the wireless market until late 2011 or early 2012 (assuming no delays), and launching a 4G network called LTE. Article I found is here, was a pretty good read.
http://tech.ca.msn.com/canadianpress-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23865714
I had the same issue with the number port time. The website explicitly states that the typical time is 3-5 hours. I based my sign up time on this. When I went in, I was told 3 hours-10 days. 10 days! I asked how often it’s completed in 3-5 hours and the rep said almost never. In fact, she said unless it’s been longer than 3 days there’s no point calling in as they won’t bother looking into it. I was disappointed, as I waited until just a few days before the end of my monthly billing cycle with my previous mobile provider in an effort to avoid paying for time I wouldn’t be using. Unfortunately, this means that if my number isn’t ported in the next 3 days, my account with my previous mobile provider will not be canceled in time and I will be on the hook for the next billing cycle, even though a day or two into that I will likely be ported over to Wind and be on the hook for paying them as well. I understand that some of this issue is out of their hands, I just wish they had been more upfront about it on their website.
Hi Cory,
Totally agree WIND need to be more upfront or at least provide a consistent message about the port time. For me, while it took a few hours longer than planned, I am ultimately not too unhappy.
Now, the “10 days” time frame was totally unacceptable if you have all your information precisely (I bought my Bell phone bill will all the info readied to be entered letter for letter, word for word)! Apparently, everything need to be spelled correctly before your old Telco will port. In fact, the old telcos would use every trick to delay your port.
Still, if you had all your info ready, the salesperson giving the “10 days” outer limit for porting must be out of his/her mind to think that customers would be happy over that!
WIND need to improve on simple stuff like this that can easily (and rightfully) drive new customers nuts!
Wind is horrible. Their sales people know nothing and when you call the toll free number they know even less! They also do NOT refund your purchase even if you are within their refund period.
The reception was horrible in downtown Edmonton with the blackberry I bought and when I complained about it and asked for my money back, they refused to refund the phone or the rate plan purchase. They did however cancel the plan immediately so I had paid for both the phone and plan and got nothing in the end. My work work phone is with Telus and I’ll be switching my personal from Wind back to Telus because it simply works!
You may save a little money with Wind but you’ll be having every conversation twice because of the dropped calls. If you do decide to try and get your money back, you’re out of luck!
Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear the problem you have with WIND. Have you tried tweeting your problems to @WINDmobile ? I hope they will resolve your issues if you just joined recently.
For me, WIND has been working well enough for me in Calgary and I have recommend WIND to my friends.
I live in TELUS-land and I have terrible customer service (landline) experience with TELUS.
I got Wind in Edmonton yesterday. The ol registration process reminds me of the lousy registration Fido once had before Rogers ate it. However, I am free and I’m willing to put up with the growing pains. Bell, Telus, Rogers simply suck they have cheated us for years, and we should all stand up together, dump them so Wind can make a state of the art network, not based on fake government communication fees like the other Cell companies wanted us to believe.
For those of you who remember the build up of bell telus rogers…you were not able to return nothing for the life of you. As a matter of fact rogers had such crap service, i didn’t pay the 300 buck…ya i took a credit hit as they threatened me with, but big deal, they did not get my money for service not provided. Too bad most canadians are so gutless so they don’t stand up for that. I recently came back from Afghanistan, and cell service there is lot less hassle, cheaper and light years ahead of anything we have here. Kind like Air canada and Emirates…no wander the government is not giving Emirates what’s fair in competition…Air canada would never survive it. It is a AC is a trabant in a parking lot full of Ferrari’s.
And yes you have to pay for your own cell phone…personally i would not have it any other way.
“rose” & “adam”
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Wind mobile service is very bad. They have very weak signal. Their billing system is very confusing. They charge you for two months, one month behind and one month in advance when the bill only indicated one month. You can’t argue with their customer service because they simply reply “sorry, we can’t change our system and you have to pay your bill regardless”.
Just because I have to wait for three month to get my cell phone unlocked, I had to pay my bill. Here is the surprise !!! their online payment service does not work. I tried and tried and tried for several days but their online service was down, then had to go personally to one of their shopping stands to pay the bill. Now more surprise, the bill I had to pay had an amount very different from the bill shown online.
My advice, Never think about using windmobile service. It is a bit cheaper than other companies but will give you real nightmares.
dieaa,
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. As a WIND mobile customers, I can tell you they are not perfect but I can say their online payment system has worked for months (they do have problems from time to time) and their customer services have always tried to be helpful and fair.
I have been on their $45/month plan since day one. And recently, WIND added unlimited data to my $45 plan for FREE! So I am a happy customer and totally imagine I will be paying through the roof to Bell or the other telcos for the same plan.
Again, sorry it didn’t work out for you but WIND is still working nicely for me or I would have walked. With no contract locking me up, WIND has to perform for me and earn my continue business every month.
I switched from wind mobile to another just for their coverage and drop call. its suck when you talked with some one and you get disconnected or you don’t hear anything so you have to wait until you get the network and call again.
A new company likes WIND Mobile will take time to create a good coverage. I can’t and won’t speak for others, I can say for me living in Calgary, WIND’s coverage has improved a lot and is pretty good now.
By the way, some of the drop calls when people go out of WIND’s core coverage area were a direct result of the big 3 monopolies deliberately *DROPPING* the calls! In countries around the world, *smooth* handoff are expected and experienced.
I live in Calgary and the coverage areas SUCK. I walk out of my work building downtown and I have no coverage, no coverage at the train station, and in the middle of calls they are dropped. The only good thing about Wind mobile are the prices. Im so frustrated with the coverage Im changing service providers. I need a cell phone company with reliable service in case of an emergency and would never suggest this phone company to anyone.
Nola, sorry to hear WIND doesn’t work for you. When I joined WIND in 2010, the service wasn’t great but I gave it time to improve after my complains. And now it is working pretty well for me.
hi kempton, I don’t know if you work for wind or you are their rep. At this point I really wish I could take windmobile to court for ripping me off. I got a $600 phone on wind STUPID WINDTAP in January and the phone stopped working in march. I took the phone back to the store where i purchase the phone, the sale rep. said there is nothing they could at the store so, he directed me to their replacement center wish is about 2hrs away from me by bus; I went to this place and explained myself to them and they said okay they will replace the phone but I have to wait for them to get shipment because they don’t have a repair service at all. First of all, I have been waiting since march for a phone which i later found out that they only give you a used or previously damaged phone that was returned by a customer. This is BIG TIME FRAUD HOW CAN THEY EXPECT ME TO PAY MY BILLS AND YET I DON’T HAVE A PHONE THAT I AM PAYING FOR? Up on till now i still don’t have a phone to use because wind and their incompetent worker has yet to get a shipment. Atleast other phone company give you a temporary phone to use while they send your phone in for repair STUPID WIND DOES NOT ACCOMMODATE THEIR CUSTOMERS IN ANYWAY. Iif you call their customer services line they will tell you there’s nothing they can do, that they don’t have anything to do with their retail stores. HOW CAN THEY SAY THAT, WHEN THEY ARE ONE COMPANY? I AM REALLY DISAPPOINTED AT WIND FOR THE STRESS AND HEADACHE THEY HAVE CAUSED ME IN PAST MONTHS AND I AM WONDERING IF I COULD TAKE THEM TO COURT FOR SELLING ME A FAKE PHONE AND NOT READY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
I am thinking about moving from virgin to Wind only because it’s cheaper. I am happy with virgin’s coverage and customer service etc.
I am doing my research and it seems like wind is a bad idea for me because I live in a basement apartment and Wind has lots of issues with coverage in Calgary. Not sure if I should give it a try and go through all the hassle.
trust me don’t go to wind they are lairs and they will rip you off there is nothing good in having your peace of mind rather than dealing with stress all the time…
Good luck if you do decide to give WIND a try.
For me, WIND’s advantage of having the best unlimited data plan included in the regular price I pay keep me with them. I could have left WIND anytime in the last 2+ years but I am still happy with WIND.
@FIERCECUPID I am a WIND customer and I don’t work for WIND. Have you tried tweeting your problems and making it public like you are doing here? May be it is worth linking your tweet complain to your long comments here?
https://twitter.com/#!/windmobile
Good luck.
Windmobil Once again you have managed to lower the bar for your so called customer service.
C11213603, case#. I have called six times to day, I was sent to the store to get a new sim card, got two, still not solved the slow data problem, but managed to kill my caller ID. Called three times dropped out!!! No call back.
Now tech support doesn’t even take the calls they ask so called customer service to stall and get rid of the client. This is the worst service I have ever seen in my life. Is there no end to Wind’s incompetence and moronic behavior? Apparently not.
Irate customer