6GB data plan, 4 year contract, iPhone 4, Fido dollars, ETF

Let's start with my background. Because if you are in the same position as I am, this should be helpful for you.

I have the iPhone 3G. I signed my 3 year contract with Fido on Sep. 2008. I had the 6GB data plan but I got rid of it (at around March 2009) because I did not use anything more than 500mb.

6GB data plan
It was to my surprise when a Fido representative told me that I can still get the 6GB data plan now. You see, I tried to get the plan earlier in the year. I was told that I had to sign a new 3 year data contract. I decided to not get it at the time. But, when the rep told me that there was actually a common glitch in the system, I was ecstatic.

Apparently, those that had the 6GB plan and downgraded was mistakenly thought to have cancelled the data plans altogether. So when I asked for the 6GB plan before, the system thought I was not in a data plan.

The special thing about this plan is that it is a limited time offer. It is only offered when there is an iPhone released. The offer is good to Sep 30, 2010 in the case of this release.

Be patient with the call rep when you talk to them about it. It seems like the more experienced ones are the ones that know about the glitch.


Contract Stacking when getting the iPhone 4
I talked to 7 people about this topic and only 2 of them were able to tell me that the contract stacks. I talked to 5 Fido reps and 2 in-store employees, and only 2 Fido reps told me that the contract stacks. Now, I pretended to be ignorant to the fact when I talked to all of them. I guess Kudos to the Fido reps.

How does it work? Well if you are still in a contract and eligible for the iPhone 4 upgrade. 3 years are added to whatever amount of time you have left in your contract.

In my case, if I get the iPhone 4 at the subsidized price. I will have a 4 year and one month contract with Fido. I talked to a Fido rep about wanting to get a new iPhone every 2 years. He told me that there were many people in my boat there there must be an upgrade program by Fido at that time. He could not guaranty this, but it was a big possibility.

Avoid ETF by switching carriers
I always thought that if you switched to a new carrier that the new carrier will pay for you Early Termination Fee (ETF). You can only do this from Fido to Rogers and vise versa. But there are a few rule in between.

You must
-have gone through 1 years of your contract already
-sign for a new contract with the new carrier
-keep your same phone number

There are more rule, but those are just the ones I can pull out of my brain at the moment. You should not be able to find these rules online or anywhere other than calling your provider and asking. You can only switch once.

Fido Dollars
According to a rep, you can use your Fido dollars to help pay for the iPhone. Fido dollars are accumulated through spending money with Fido. The catch here is that you can only use your Fido dollars in an official Fido store and the Apple store. I was thinking of getting the iPhone from wireless wave, but I guess I'm going to the apple store. I should mention that if you buy your phone from wireless wave you get a $50 in store credit toward anything in the store.