The Ultimate Guide to Freedom Phone Plans

Freedom Mobile is a newer carrier in Canada, currently the fourth largest in the country. Since their establishment in 2008, they have worked hard to provide service at a much lower cost all throughout Canada and change the game when it comes to how wireless works. They offer a unique business approach in Canada and are working to perfect that strategy. 

The three big players in the Canadian market are Rogers, Telus, and Bell. They have a large base of customers, have an extensive network, and have settled into a general mode of operation in terms of the plans they offer and the service they provide. This article will cover the big three players in Canada, how Freedom Mobile fits into that equation, Freedom phone plans, and much more! 

Freedom Mobile

Freedom Mobile operates off of the platform that people are generally dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in Canada when it comes to wireless coverage. People pay too much for too little and don’t have the flexibility with plans that they want. Freedom wants to give people the opportunity to choose from a larger list of plans and find the provider that’s right for them. 

A Cheaper Wireless Option

Freedom is all about offering a cheaper alternative for phone plans in Canada. Since its establishment, Freedom has worked to create a new network and supply nationwide plans for a low cost compared to the big three wireless companies in Canada. One thing to know about Freedom — is their cheaper plans come at a cost. While they have improved their speeds in a lot of aspects, they were known in the past for slow speeds and limited coverage. 

They are also not known for their customer service, ranking poorly on many national scales. That being said, they do not tire of working to better themselves and their service and have received higher marks in both customer service and speed in the more recent past. 

Freedom Mobile is still growing. While the big three companies have all been around for many years and therefore are set in their ways, Freedom offers a different ideal — cheaper wireless bills without sacrificing the quality of service and coverage offered by the major plans. Their idea is much like MVNOs in America, but they are not the same. 

Freedom is Not an MVNO

Freedom Mobile owns and operates its own cellular towers. That means that their reception is fully dependent on how well their towers cover a given area. And Freedom, if nothing else, has the ambition to do it. They want to cover all of Canada with their towers as well as their partnerships with the other major carriers. Freedom has simplified its plans, with each plan having a separate data allotment for roaming data, that is, data used while under other companies’ cell towers. This is great compared to the traditional method, which is billed per minute for calls and texts in an “away” area. 

There are a lot of add-ons for specific plans that will be discussed later in the article, but it is worth noting that Freedom Mobile is putting in a lot of work to keep their plans cheap and usable in the great majority of Canadian territories. 

Freedom’s Cellular Network

Freedom’s Cellular Networks can not compete with the networks of Rogers, Telus, and Bell. They are not as fast, and when roaming, the speeds don’t quite match the speeds of those on the major wireless networks. That being said, they are still 4G LTE speeds. While they do not support serious video streaming, they provide fair data at a very fair price. American MVNOs are able to piggyback off of other cell towers and give out amazing deals that Freedom cannot match because it is doing much more of the work all on its own. 

The people at Freedom are working hard to improve their cellular service. Recently, they contracted Nokia in a huge “rip and replace” deal to update loads of their towers to the new industry standard. Nokia paved the road to 4G service with 5G down the line, a project that will drastically increase the speeds of customers over the next few years. 

Planning on switching to Freedom Wireless? They are not vying for the top spot as the fastest wireless network. They want to provide affordable phone plans in a way that the top three do not. 

Freedom Mobile Plans

Now, onto the meat of the article. Freedom has two main kinds of phone plans that have a variety of GBs per month, calls, texts, and add-ons. This section will cover all of those plans and how you can add on extra bits as well as change plans, as well as their phone transfer policy. 

Freedom Plans

Freedom has five phone plans in this category, ranging from 12 GB with unlimited talk and text all the way down to 250 MB with 100 mins of talk and unlimited text. Let’s take a look at their pricing compared to what they offer. Every plan comes with a digital discount, which is $5 off when you set up Auto Pay and redeem the digital discount promo code. With those $5 discounts, the plans look like this: 

• Freedom 250 MB, 100 mins talk, and unlimited text — $15
• Freedom 500 MB, unlimited talk and text — $25
• Freedom 2 GB, unlimited talk and text — $30
• Freedom 10 GB, unlimited talk and text — $35
• Freedom 12 GB, unlimited talk and text — $40

Starting with their least expensive plan, it is notable that it is the only one without unlimited calls. Interestingly, the plan comes with unlimited incoming calls, but only 100 mins of outgoing calls to Canada. Make sure to have your friends, family, and associates give you a call rather than the other way around! 

That being said, with less than two hours, the hassle of constantly worrying about the 100 minutes per month might be worth the $10 price hike to their 500 MB plan. Paying $10 for 250 more MB of data is definitely not worth it, but the unlimited calls might just be. If you are someone who uses their phone fairly regularly (not a bunch, it comes out to less than four minutes a day) then we must recommend their 500 MB plan at $25 a month. 

500 MB of data is not a ton, so if you have this plan make sure to take advantage of all the Wi-Fi you can in your home and when you’re out and about. Freedom charges by-the-gig overage fees on these plans, so you want to make sure you don’t go over in your data usage. At that point, it is always cost-efficient to get a plan with more data. 

Speaking of plans with more data, the other three entries on this list are arrayed interestingly for the data they provide. It is difficult to recommend any plan other than the 10 GB plan. It is a powerful upgrade from the 2 GB plan and undoubtedly a $5 value in those extra 8 GB. On a 2 GB plan, the user really has to be careful about their data usage. It is very easy to breach the 2 GB allocation in a month. 

It is much more difficult to breach a 10 GB allocation, which is the main strength of the 10 GB plan. $35 a month is an affordable plan and it is the first plan on their list with a sizable chunk of data. On any non-unlimited plan, it pays to keep track of data usage, but you can rest much easier with 10 GB a month. 

The 12 GB plan does not seem nearly as cost-effective as the 10 GB. That plan gives a bump of 8 GB for the $5, this one only 2. 

Big Gig Unlimited Plans

There are five big gig unlimited plans. The major difference with these is that instead of having to pay for data if you pass your allocation, you are simply able to continue using data, just at reduced speeds. It is important to note that these plans are the only ones that come with roaming data. The plans look like this: 

• All have unlimited talk and text
• 20 GB; 1 GB roaming — $45
• 25 GB; 1 GB roaming — $55
• 30 GB; 1 GB roaming — $65
• 35 GB; 2 GB roaming unlimited — $75
• 50 GB; 4 GB roaming unlimited in Canada and US — $90

Across the board, the allocation for roaming data, which is to say anytime you use data connected to another cell tower, is very small. Freedom has a lot of cell towers over Canada, but their coverage is far from nationwide. If you are interested in Freedom Mobile, make sure that you will spend most of your time in one of their zones of coverage. 

Having at most 4 GB of roaming data, while nice, is not enough to carry you through the month if you are using their roaming data on a regular basis. These plans are pretty straightforward. They offer more and more data for higher prices, with the only real change coming from their final plan, which offers unlimited talk and text to phones in the United States and Canada. When choosing one of Freedom’s phone plans, we recommend using the allocated data per month and the cost as your primary method of determining which plan is right for you. Besides the least and most expensive plans, all of them offer the same fundamental features where the only major variables are cost and data. 

Plan Add-Ons

The majority of Freedom Mobile’s phone plan add-ons give a bit extra data, either on their network, while roaming, or internationally. 

• Freedom Nationwide adds 1 to 3 GB of data to the plan’s nationwide allocation at $15 per GB. Valid for 30 days
• 5 GB of data on their network for $25. Valid for 30 days
• 1 GB Freedom Nationwide + the U.S. for $20. Valid for 30 days

These add-ons are great in a pinch, but you want to shy away from using them every month, as they are all more expensive than their counterparts as a part of one of their plans. Freedom Mobile has a ton of add-ons on their website. You can look through them in greater detail here, but, in short, they are as follows. 

• Phone Protection to get priority repairs and replacements
• International Roaming lets you use your plan in select countries for a small charge every day
• Long distance minutes are available for use internationally for a fee each month

Depending on your specific situation, these add-ons may be must-haves for your monthly usage. Keep in mind, however, that there are many apps that exist operating solely off of Wi-Fi, which means you can use them internationally without these add-ons and without using your plan’s data. 

Freedom Phone Plans Compared to the Competition

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The major downside to Freedom phone plans is the speed. Though they have created an impressive network, it is not yet able to contend with the networks of the big three Canadian phone companies. One day, perhaps. When you shop at Freedom, you can be sure that you are getting your wireless from a company that is working every day to extend their service, speed up their network, and become the fourth big Canadian wireless company. More than any of the other companies, they are growing. 

Bell Mobile

Bell has a variety of plans, just like Freedom, but it is telling that their cheapest monthly phone plan is $55 a month. This plan comes with 10 GB of high-speed data as well as unlimited talk and text, but it is only available for multi-line plans. The next cheapest plan is their essential plan, which starts at $85 a month for a one-line plan. Their essential plan gives 25 GB of high-speed data with unlimited talk and text. 

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Freedom’s 30 GB plan comes in at $65 a month, a full $20 cheaper than what Bell has to offer. Now, Freedom’s cheaper plan is not all sunshine and roses. As we discussed, the cheaper plans come with lower speeds. 

Tellus Mobile

This company tells a similar story. Their phone plans are all priced around $20 more each month for around the same amount of data. Their cheapest prepaid plan, however, is priced competitively. It is $30 for 500 MB of data with unlimited talk and text each month. If you are looking for a cheap plan and don’t need much data, check your local area to see if Tellus is a better match than Freedom! With a one-person phone plan, their 25 G plan comes in at $85 a month, which is $30 more than Freedom’s plan. 

Rogers Mobile

Roger’s 25 GB plan is also $85 a month. Each of these competitors charges higher rates for more coverage and faster data. The higher rates of the big companies in Canada are viable because of their service and the flexibility they offer. There are more phones and more towers. It comes down to what you are looking for in a phone plan. 

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So, what do you think of Freedom Mobile? They are, at the very least, offering another kind of service in Canada. Their service is not for everyone. If you are someone who depends on or much prefers faster data speeds, then one of the three major companies is a better bet. While we are stressing that Freedom is slower, it is still pretty fast in its own right. They provide 4G LTE data in an impressive amount of the country, and are continually working to expand their net. 

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Freedom Wireless phone plans are best for customers who don’t need the cutting-edge speeds that are the fastest in the nation. Freedom is for those who are okay with speeds that are just pretty fast, knowing that they are saving a ton on their wireless bill every month. What it really comes down to is what you are looking for in your wireless plan. It is, unfortunately, not always easy to switch providers, so you want to do some good research beforehand (and this article was the perfect place to start) to know you are signing on with the right company.

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