Fido to be rebranded as discount carrier
Since it was bought out by Rogers in 2004, Fido has always been somewhat of a discount brand in that it offers relatively cheap plans and an abundance of phones that can be had for little or no cost. Despite the fact it sells the iPhone 3G, Fido has in the past year become more and more of a discount brand as it started to heavily advertise plans starting at $17.50 per month that were intended to keep people away from competing low-cost brand like Telus’ Koodo, Bell’s Solo Mobile and Virgin Mobile Canada. As early as today Fido is going to completely rebrand itself as a discount brand by taking on a new look, eliminating system access fees, lowering the cost of all plans and offering even more in the way of low-end phones. But with all of the Canadian public lusting after multimedia rich smartphones, the only question is whether or not people truly want to settle for another discount brand offering low-end devices instead of all around price cuts in the Canadian wireless marketplace.
As a long-time Fido customer, the only complain I have is the somewhat lacking phone selection. Fido has great plans at good prices, but the fact that you cannot pick up a decent smartphone is a deal breaker in many cases. I collected a lot of Fido dollars, but there isn’t anything you can really spend it on – all phones are not exactly what a modern user is needed.
This has been in the works for a while, and is giving Fido a huge head start on the upcoming new entrants…however, they really should not have messed with the old “look” and feel. Just change the price plans. Ugh.
Like Avid and Budget rent a car. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone–they’re the same company with the same vehicle inventories, only you’ll pay considerably more at Avis.
@Michael – come on man dont tease like this we know that there are changes coming but what are they!?
Discount carrier, huh? Here’s how my monthly bill breaks down:
$45 for City Fido (unlimited local calling)
$30 for 6 GB of data
$15 for value pack (including 2,500 texts)
… Of course in Canada this is considered to be a great value :rolleyes:
At one time Fido was ok… they at least had the Fido City unlimited calling thing. Once they were bought by Rogers and got rid of that it was kinda not that different. They seemed to have a really strong presence among francophones in Quebec, but I don’t know anymore… I also agree that their new look is retarded! “We’re Fido, the cellular provider for dogs and poor people who sleep in doghouses. Give us a woof at 1-800-WESCREWU”
Dude you have unlimited calling for $45 and youre complaining?
Fido’s being sent to the doghouse. Fido used to offer Blackberry service before the Rogers days… now only grandfathered plans can keep using Blackberries on it. Otherwise everyone else has to go to Rogers, the “premium” carrier. CRTC messed up big by letting Rogers have Fido behind Telus’ back.
@AC i have the same plan as you do. let’s consider ourselves lucky, because “relatively speaking,” we are. That being said, mobile coverage in Canada is absurd and over-priced, partly because Canada is just too big (and therefore expensive to provide service to), and partly because there is a frickin cartel running our wireless providers.
At any rate, I hope that Fido’s move to rebrand in the face of the oncoming onslaught of competition revealed earlier this year by the CRTC somehow communicates the fact that things are changing in Canada. Wireless cannot sustain the prices they have demanded.
That being said, I think it’s cool that I can sell my grandfathered plan on ebay for $800 +. Ac, take solace in that.
A complain, That’s public library or agency has the right to block a site? Can open your site http://www.fido.ca
I like the new brand of Fido. And the new plan prices are ok, too. The website is much clean now, it will make navigation very clear. Perhaps they should have hired an internet marketing company to take care of the migration to the new website. Fido did one mistake w.r.t. their online presence. Fido doesn’t know 301 redirects is the article I wrote about the missing 301 redirect.