From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

Speakout is a cell service provider, retailed through
the 7-11 corner store franchise in Canada.

It may be unique in that they have no-plan (no monthly
service charge) options. You pay into your account
and funds are only drawn for 'talk' minutes used.
No data. Free text.Suits basic 'burner' cell phones,
not 'smart' ones.

If you don't 'top-up your account ($25 min) in 365
days, it expires.

They are using the termination of 3G service as an
excuse to terminate accounts, pocketing any funds
on-hand.

This doesn't sound legal, to me. Client hardware is
likely already 4G compatible, even if only of the
'burner' variety.

They are still accepting top-up payments.

As this company doesn't actually own any physical
plant, this seems like a misdirection. They are
encouraging clients to transfer service to a Bell
subsidiary called 'Lucky', which only offers
monthly pre-paid service.

RL
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From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

On 2025-08-19 5:15 a.m., legg wrote:

Speakout is a cell service provider, retailed through
the 7-11 corner store franchise in Canada.

It may be unique in that they have no-plan (no monthly
service charge) options. You pay into your account
and funds are only drawn for 'talk' minutes used.
No data. Free text.Suits basic 'burner' cell phones,
not 'smart' ones.

If you don't 'top-up your account ($25 min) in 365
days, it expires.

They are using the termination of 3G service as an
excuse to terminate accounts, pocketing any funds
on-hand.

This doesn't sound legal, to me. Client hardware is
likely already 4G compatible, even if only of the
'burner' variety.

They are still accepting top-up payments.

As this company doesn't actually own any physical
plant, this seems like a misdirection. They are
encouraging clients to transfer service to a Bell
subsidiary called 'Lucky', which only offers
monthly pre-paid service.

RL

Complain to our Canadian service provider regulator - CRTC - that is why regulators exist! What do they have to say about this?

John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the USENET newsgroup)
John's Jukes Ltd.
#7 - 3979 Marine Way, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5J 5E3
(604)872-5757 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com
"Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
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From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

On 8/19/2025 5:15 AM, legg wrote:

Speakout is a cell service provider, retailed through
the 7-11 corner store franchise in Canada.

It may be unique in that they have no-plan (no monthly
service charge) options. You pay into your account
and funds are only drawn for 'talk' minutes used.
No data. Free text.Suits basic 'burner' cell phones,
not 'smart' ones.

SWMBO had a plan like that for many years -- her "emergency
phone" ("Don, I've got a flat tire; can you come sort it out?")

She used it so little that she ended up with a ridiculous
balance. Then, the phone broke. She complained -- and
ended up with a new phone (and still has a ridiculous balance
BUT no requirement to add to it... EVER).

If you don't 'top-up your account ($25 min) in 365
days, it expires.

They are using the termination of 3G service as an
excuse to terminate accounts, pocketing any funds
on-hand.

This doesn't sound legal, to me. Client hardware is
likely already 4G compatible, even if only of the
'burner' variety.

They are still accepting top-up payments.

As this company doesn't actually own any physical
plant, this seems like a misdirection. They are
encouraging clients to transfer service to a Bell
subsidiary called 'Lucky', which only offers
monthly pre-paid service.

There are many such MVNAs here. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_enabler>

They typically use mainstream providers' infrastructure
(so you get the same coverage/reliability) at a fraction
of the cost.

E.g., the phone that we use for our home is $12/month.
An alternate plan is available for *$8*/month but
it includes SMS service (ours allowed us to deliberately
and permanently disable SMS service; the $8 plan requires
you to manually disable it for your account each month!)

*My* "emergency phone" is $5/month and I have to remember to
use it as I'm paying for a service that I largely don't use.
(The idea of carrying a phone is anathema to me; I wish
they would build one into the car that could reliably operate
in the heat and wouldn't require me ot have to *remember*
to bring it with me)

[We discourage folks from using the phone to contact us as
it is an interruptive process that "demands" attention
on THEIR schedule! Send me an email with whatever attachments
you choose!]

There's one that provides a minutes limited service for
$25/year -- which would have been great for SWMBO given
her past (lack of) usage, but she's just using up her
balance so won't be making any payments for YEARS!

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From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> writes:

*My* "emergency phone" is $5/month and I have to remember to
use it as I'm paying for a service that I largely don't use.

Mine is a grandfathered TMO "Gold Plan" account from a decade+
ago.

It's $0.10/minute. I must pay $10/year to keep it active. That
adds another 100 minutes.

I now have something over $100 of credit on it. While traveling
I had a case where on my main account ^*$$ Red Pocket had cut me
off, claiming I hadn't paid for that month. With the TMO, I had
to call and explain to them it was an annual plan, Grrr. I now
use US Mobile on that phone.
--
A host is a host from coast to coast...............wb8foz@panix.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close..........................
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
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From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

On 8/20/2025 8:19 AM, David Lesher wrote:

Don Y <blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> writes:

*My* "emergency phone" is $5/month and I have to remember to
use it as I'm paying for a service that I largely don't use.

Mine is a grandfathered TMO "Gold Plan" account from a decade+
ago.

It's $0.10/minute. I must pay $10/year to keep it active. That
adds another 100 minutes.

SWMBO's phone is something similar. It sees no use -- save for the
text messages that the provider sends to her (which consume "minutes").

I now have something over $100 of credit on it.

I think SWMBO was several hundreds of dollars. They dropped the
requirement that she "buy more minutes" each year so it's just a
"free" phone.

While traveling
I had a case where on my main account ^*$$ Red Pocket had cut me
off, claiming I hadn't paid for that month.

I think they had a $25/yr plan, at one point. I tried it but
think there was a problem (perhaps unsupported phone? bad coverage?)
and I got the service refunded.

With the TMO, I had
to call and explain to them it was an annual plan, Grrr. I now
use US Mobile on that phone.

We have US Mobile on two of our phones. They have been pretty good
(coverage, service/support, etc.). Sadly, they used to offer a
plan where you could specify amount of voice, text and data -- they
no longer offer that.

We chose unlimited voice, no text, and no data (I'll use a computer
if I want to do anything online -- and, wifi, in a pinch) which we
would love for additional phones! but, their newer/cheaper plan now
includes unlimited voice and text with the stipulation that you have
to manually turn off text capability each billing cycle if that's
what you want -- I don't want to have to spend any time dealing with
phones! (I now understand why replies to emails are often just
a quoted email with a "thumbs up" emoji! A phone is really inconvenient
for anything other than voice)

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