The Unofficial 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page 
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6:32 pm
May 6, 2009
Offline
I just came across this site via Ellen Roseman's column at the Toronto Star.
Sorry if my topic question sounds stupid, but by way of background, I have always had a Blackberry paid for by my company. I use my mobile as my home phone (I don't have a land line, and am moving in 2 months). I was laid off last week and told to switch my Blackberry account to a personal account, in order to keep the same 416 number. Turns out Rogers set up the account as a three year contract. I need to really watch my expenses and do not want a commitment. After complaining to Rogers, they now have me on a no contract (month-to-month) plan of 300 local minutes, but are charging me $300 for my phone.
What I would like at the end of the day is to tell Rogers to take a hike and continue to use my expensive phone (without the data/e-mail/Internet features) on the 7-Eleven Speak Out network.
The unofficial guide at https://www.speakoutwireless.ca/ suggests that I can keep my old phone number and phone, and switch to 7 Eleven's plan. I assume that I can buy a SIM card from someone privately, through the forum, plug it into the Bold, then call 7-11 SO and have them set it to my old phone number.
However, the official web site, http://speakout7eleven.ca/pages/faq/ states:
Q. Will I be able to keep my existing phone when I make the switch to SpeakOut Wireless?
A. No, you will need to purchase a new SpeakOut Wireless phone. See Phones for phone costs.
So I beg for advice on what to do.
It's a traumatic time for me and I would like to avoid getting ripped off by Rogers.
If you can help, please E mail at thepatentguy AT gmail DOT com
Thank you very very much for your time and any assistance that you can provide.
It is important to me to keep the old 416 number and to continue using my expensive Blackberry Bold (without its data features turned on. I can actually can use the Wi-Fi feature and use the Bold for web browsing for free).
8:49 pm
March 15, 2008
Offline
Sorry to hear of your job loss.
Contrary to what SO says, you will be able to use your Rogers BB on SO providing you get a valid SO SIM and top it up with airtime. (My speculation is SO says what they say because not all phones will work with SO, specifically those intended for just about any other carrier other than Rogers. Also, since they don't sell SIMs individually it's easier for them just to tell people to get one of their phones.)
Once you have a SO SIM, call SO CS, tell them you're just coming off a Rogers plan and you want to port your Rogers number to your SO SIM. They'll want proof that you own this number, e.g. your Rogers account number and possibly the password to your Rogers voicemail.
BTW, the BB is a so-called quadband GSM phone. That means it can work globally providing you have an appropriate SIM. The only rub is that sometimes Rogers locks their phones so they'll only work on their network. (SO also uses Rogers' network so that's not a problem.) If you think you'll ever want to use your BB outside of Canada, including the US, call Rogers and ask them to unlock your BB. After all, you're paying them $300 for the phone so you should be able to use it with any carrier you want in any country you want.
4:01 am
April 22, 2009
Offline
I think it is as simple as Speakout simply not wanting to have to deal with phones it does not sell. The sims work great with unlocked phones, even European phones to my delight (the catch is it only works on the 1900 mhz band, which 70% of the towers in Canada support)
As for the number portability, that is a tricky one. I would recommend you use the phone speak out provided when you are doing the porting just to simplify things. Talk to speak out before you talk to Rogers. They porting itself should take less than an hour. Oh yeah, expect to pay for an extra month to rogers. It is the way they do things.
11:04 am
October 22, 2008
Offline
Just a note - there seems to be no way out of the $300 Rogers expects you to pay for the phone. It sounds a bit odd, since it sounds like it's not a brand new phone. If you've had that phone for some time, it would be a reasonable assumption that you would be in the middle of the 3 year contract not at the beginning- but who ever said Rogers was reasonable???
One more important note. You'll be able to use your phone service with Speakout, but not any of the special Blackberry services, since Speakout doesn't offer a data plan. You'll be able to use the phone, calendar, use the internet browser and email THROUGH WIFI if your phone has it and send regular text messages, but you won't be able to use the internet browser and have push email THROUGH THE CELLULAR NETWORK and use the blackberry messaging feature.
I'd recommend trying to get someone at Rogers to unlock your phone, because if you pay for it in full it should be unlocked. However, my guess is that the Rogers customer service reps on the phone will either be (1) clueless or (2) not helpful or (3) only know how to read from a script in front of their nose, or most likely a combination of all 3, so that's unlikely to happen. Either way, you'll be able to use it with a Speakout sim.
4:03 pm
Don't pay for the phone!
Here is what you should do: stop calling R**s altogether.
Pay nothing and leave the mess to your ex employer, it's them who get you into this mess and they should pay for any contract breaking penalty.
Then go to any phone unlocking shop around (and craigslist or another millions websites)
unlock your BB for less than $30
(this step is not totally necessary but highly recommended)
Then buy a SO sim card (search craigslist again to buy).
insert it into your bold, call SO customer service, request number transfer
you are back on your feet
3:09 pm
May 26, 2009
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I agree with offall, don't buy the phone.
If your company does not remove your BlackBerry from their environment in the proper way, the IT policies that they applied to the phone to lock it down and restrict stuff will remain on the phone.
If the BlackBerry admin of your company doesn't know what s/he is doing, then there may be some settings that you can't change or functions you can't use until it has been activated against another server.
8:17 pm
October 22, 2008
Offline
She can leave it the Blackberry with her company and let her company deal with Rogers, but then she'll probably end up losing her phone number.
Is the phone number and the phone worth $300???
8:28 pm
October 22, 2008
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For the record, you can either get a new Blackberry from Ebay (where I got my last smartphone), or you can get one from a store like Factory Direct.
http://www.factorydirect.ca/ca.....p?cat=7110
There are numerous other places to get a Blackberry from. Tell us your city and some of us can give recommendations.
