The Three.com.hk plan looked appealing until they note that you need to add the data roaming pass to use it in North America.

I'm considering this option for some in my family that still uses Speakout.

The other options are both Chatr and Koodo at 30GB for $150/yr.

Fizz is also an alternative if you remove all calling options and restrict your region to your own province. You can get 4GB at around $18/month depending on the province you reside in.

bridonca said

I would submit a Fongo support request here. they can give you guidance on what to do, but give them as much info you have on Speakout. The phone number and customer service pin code is usually enough. https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us

It is going to cost you $25 to do a port to Fongo. After that, there is no costs.

Thank you for your suggestion.
With the run-around / non-helpfulness I'm getting from both, Fongo and SpeakOut supports, I probably just give up on the idea and re-evaluate my needs when I'm back. This is 2019, porting a phone number from prepaid to VoIP shouldn't be rocket science.

iamdrumming said

You should ask in a Fongo forum.

Thank you for your reply.

Let's see... Before even considering posting here, I got in touch with Fongo support, who said that I'd need to get in touch with SpeakOut to get the account number (which is the mandatory field, so form can't be submitted with no information in it), and when I called 611 the SpeakOut rep insisted, to the point of being rude when I rephrased the question, that I use IMEI and PIN since they don't have account numbers. I just love getting the run-around...

If SpeakOut would a) allow call forwarding and/or b) have account numbers I wouldn't even be here - sorry for the inconvenience.

It is going to cost you $25 to do a port to Fongo. After that, there is no costs.

Has anyone been able to do the same successfully recently?
The Fongo porting form makes the account number a mandatory field (forms from other providers don't make the account number mandatory, so you just use IMEI and PIN...)
So, has anyone found a way around that? Any other suggestions to make this work? (My SO account is active until March 22/2019, so I should initiate the port by early March.)

Thank you for your thoughts!

30-days
LIMITED TIME OFFER
50 MINUTES Canada-wide Talk
UNLIMITED Incoming Text
50 TEXTS Outgoing International Text
VOICEMAIL & Call Display

SIM costs $10, available at Walmart.

You can get a 1GB data add on for $30, from which the balance of unused data can be carried over month to month for as long as you are with Public Mobile. $15 gets you an extra 400 Canada wide minutes, which also can be carried over. That is under 4 cents a minute!

Public Mobile also has a really good loyalty and referral program!

This compares very favorably with Speakout's $125 option, yet this plan is much more flexible.

For those people using Koodo prepaid, the double bonus booster packs are back again till Dec 31. It's been 4 yrs since the last time they've had this deal. RFD already has a discussion going about this if you want to get some of the details.

NO data
NO smartphone (I use a stupidphone)
Almost no texting in/out

For me, it's a mobile *phone*, not a computer! All the companies seems to be selling fancy packages - data, texting, long distance calls etc. Hey, all I need is a phone like in 1999.

My needs are simple...

1. No registration required, or even if there is easily circumvented (one person buys, another person uses and maintains account). In Indonesia small kiosks are loosey-goosey last time I was there, but in Vietnam ID is now required. This is a worldwide trend. Last time I bought a SIM in Malaysia, even though the clerk was *supposed* to ask for ID, he didn't, and the SIM still worked.

2. Can top up using cash payment with no ID required - receipts with codes you type in, or top up cards also purchased for cash. No online accounting required.

3. incoming calls very cheap (0.30 at Chatr and Speak Out) is not cheap if one gets five calls per day. I understand that at least with Chatr if you go to a landline and call the number the retrieving voice mails is free, but that sounds cumbersome.

4. No monthly fee, pay as you go. Or if you must pay a monthly minimum no more than $30

5. Credit lasts a long time. The problem I had in Malaysia is if you don't use it up the credit disappears. But at least there if you buy in big enough amounts it can last for months.

6. No/low activation fee

7. SIM card reasonable price. I was amazed to see the high price of SIMS for iphone compatibility!

8. Can use with any unlocked phone.

9. Call in customer service, reliable signal, etc - all extras. I don't need them. But they would be nice to have.

I wasn't happy making politically sensitive calls in China where registration identity is strictly enforced. I know this is Canada, but I prefer to be 'off the grid'. I use an out of date non-trackable phone with the most basic service possible. I am a journalist not a drug dealer.

Good point about the 10% discount when you use Koodo's Automatic Top-up feature. I still think data costs way too much!

I like what charge.co offers in the US -- $3 per month base fee and 1GB for $13 top-up and no expiry date. Hopefully, some Canadian providers will introduce something like this in the future.

Otherwise, I probably would have gone with the Koodoo Prepaid. (Realize too that with a automatic payment setup, the price drops to $13.50/month.) The Koodoo phone calls will only cost you $.05 a minute too. So if you talk on your phone a bit more, then this might be the best option. And the data is a third of the Speakout rate.