Cheapest phone deal in Canada... not for everyone

If you're a light cell phone user, you might not know about the best deal (IMHO) for pay-as-you-go in Canada. It's called Speak Out Wireless and it's available at 7-11. Yeah, Slurpee Central!

This service actually runs on the Rogers GSM network. Speak Out sells a small variety of unspectacular Nokia phones, but come fully unlocked and charged, phone number already assigned. If you already have an unlocked (or Rogers) GSM phone, you could take the sim card from the new phone and use it in your own phone. You cannot just buy a sim card - you have to get the phone. Also, a Speak Out sim card will not work outside of Canada.

Where Speak Out excels is in its rates. They offer a fixed rate of $0.25/minute for local calls, $0.45/minute for long-distance calls within Canada and the U.S., and a monthly 911 fee of $0.99 - no system access fee. Prepaid vouchers in denominations of $25, $50, $75 and $100 are offered at 7-Eleven convenience stores, and must be activated within 90 days of purchase. Get this though - minutes expire 365 days after activation - not 30 like on other services. Unused minutes can be rolled over with the activation of a new prepaid voucher. If you refill with a $75 or $100 voucher, your effective rate per minute becomes 20 cents per minute (36 for long distance). This is because with those denominations, you get a 25% bonus - a $75 voucher adds $93.75 to your account, a $100 voucher adds $125.

Text messages are offered at $0.05 for both incoming and outgoing messages within Canada, and $0.25 for international text messages. Calls are charged by the minute, rounded up.

This truly is an option for light users of cell phones only. The primary advantage in my mind is that minutes last a full year.