Wind coming to Canada

[Effendi]

Originally Posted by BLC

Wind Italy's roaming agreement is with Rogers right now and is some ridiculous rate (1.50 euro a minute I think). The sim would work in Wind Canada phones if they had an agreement.

It's 2€/min outgoing, 1€/min incoming.
It should work only on Rogers, which is the only GSM network in Canada (at least nationwide). Probably new agreements will follow, surely at least with Wind Canada.

[VladS]

I passed by a Wind store last Friday and I just had to stop and grab a phone. So far I'm not at all impressed with Wind.

The activation was a pain. I started it at 10am on Saturday and the phone only came to life on Sunday at 4PM, after being on the phone with pretty much everyone in their food chain. Basically the initial activations rep messed-up the process and the SIM card info dropped out of the HLR.

The problems didn't stop at the activation. Even inside their already-too-small coverage area there are many dead-zones. In building coverage is mediocre. To make things worse, handoffs to Rogers are slow (in the upwards of 30 seconds).

To this you add friendly but quite clueless CSRs and you have a mess on your hands.

Unless things improve dramatically in the next 3-4 weeks, I plan to take the phone back and cancel the service.

[BLC]

Originally Posted by VladS

I passed by a Wind store last Friday and I just had to stop and grab a phone. So far I'm not at all impressed with Wind.

The activation was a pain. I started it at 10am on Saturday and the phone only came to life on Sunday at 4PM, after being on the phone with pretty much everyone in their food chain. Basically the initial activations rep messed-up the process and the SIM card info dropped out of the HLR.

The problems didn't stop at the activation. Even inside their already-too-small coverage area there are many dead-zones. In building coverage is mediocre. To make things worse, handoffs to Rogers are slow (in the upwards of 30 seconds).

To this you add friendly but quite clueless CSRs and you have a mess on your hands.

Unless things improve dramatically in the next 3-4 weeks, I plan to take the phone back and cancel the service.

At least yours is working! I had mediocre service for a half an hour and nothing since. Can't make or recieve calls. The only thing that works is messaging. I gave up talking to them as they don't have a clue. Supposedly they have a request in to the service department but I've heard nothing. I'am leaving it until next week when I'll return the phone for a refund. Maybe in a year or 2 if they survive we can give them another try.

[BLC]

Originally Posted by Effendi

It's 2€/min outgoing, 1€/min incoming.
It should work only on Rogers, which is the only GSM network in Canada (at least nationwide). Probably new agreements will follow, surely at least with Wind Canada.

My Wind Italy phone actually roams on Rogers 3g network so it should work on Telus and Bell if they had agreements.

[VladS]

Originally Posted by BLC

At least yours is working! I had mediocre service for a half an hour and nothing since. Can't make or recieve calls. The only thing that works is messaging. I gave up talking to them as they don't have a clue. Supposedly they have a request in to the service department but I've heard nothing. I'am leaving it until next week when I'll return the phone for a refund. Maybe in a year or 2 if they survive we can give them another try.

First tier support staff are just as bad as those at Rogers, Telus and Bell.

Call and ask to be escalated to management. Some of the Wind upper tier managers do in fact know what an HLR is and even have access to it.

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by BLC

Wind roams on Rogers in 2g at 25 cents a minute, no long distance charges so it may put Petro Canada mobility out of business as the rate is the same but much cheaper on long distance calls.

I meant in Italy.

[Stu]

My ATT US Sim roamed on Bell the other day so it sounds like Bell has set up some roaming agreements.

[BLC]

Originally Posted by VladS

First tier support staff are just as bad as those at Rogers, Telus and Bell.

Call and ask to be escalated to management. Some of the Wind upper tier managers do in fact know what an HLR is and even have access to it.

Finally gave up and took the phone back. Nobody buying in the store and lots of people returning their phones!
If they survive this fiasco I will give them another try in a year or so.
Just found a deal with Bell. 10 cents a minute on prepaid provided you put in a least $10/month.

[BLC]

Originally Posted by VladS

I passed by a Wind store last Friday and I just had to stop and grab a phone. So far I'm not at all impressed with Wind.

The activation was a pain. I started it at 10am on Saturday and the phone only came to life on Sunday at 4PM, after being on the phone with pretty much everyone in their food chain. Basically the initial activations rep messed-up the process and the SIM card info dropped out of the HLR.

The problems didn't stop at the activation. Even inside their already-too-small coverage area there are many dead-zones. In building coverage is mediocre. To make things worse, handoffs to Rogers are slow (in the upwards of 30 seconds).

To this you add friendly but quite clueless CSRs and you have a mess on your hands.

Unless things improve dramatically in the next 3-4 weeks, I plan to take the phone back and cancel the service.

Did you last out the month?
From the other forums it dosen't look like there has been much improvement yet.

[PhotoJim]

WIND Mobile | Update on Your Neighborhood Network
Looks like they're doing quite a lot!