Shaw’s Freedom Mobile announced this morning iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus sales will launch on Friday, December 8, with pre-orders kicking off this Friday, November 24. The wireless carrier confirmed it would carry the iPhone last month.
“Canadians have told us they want access to Apple’s range of products on a vastly improving network at a reasonable price,” said Jay Mehr, President, Shaw Communications Inc., in a press release. “By offering iPhone in combination with our Big Gig data plans and significant network improvements, we’re giving Canadians a new and improved option in a wireless service provider.”
In a move different from Big 3 wireless incumbents Rogers, Telus and Bell, Shaw will offer iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus pricing for as low as $0 on contract. The iPhone 8 starts at $65 per month plan with 10GB of data.
While that is huge, it comes with a caveat since the Freedom Mobile LTE network is only limited to its urban areas in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
Freedom Mobile says to get these phones for $0 up front on MyTab plans, they need to pre-order by November 30th, according to their fine print (but of course this date may be extended).
Here is how Freedom Mobile describes its $0 iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X pricing requirements:
To get the iPhone 8 64GB for $0 up front with a $569 MyTab Bonus on a plan with 10GB of data for $65/month, you must activate a new service or upgrade your phone to an iPhone 8 and sign up on our Big Gig $50 plan with a $15/month MyTab Boost payment on a 24 month service agreement.
To get the iPhone 8 Plus 64GB for $0 up front with a $459 MyTab Bonus, you must activate a new service or upgrade your phone on a current in-market $50 and up plan with the $25/month MyTab Boost payment on a 24 month services agreement.
To get the iPhone X 64GB for $0 up front with a $479 MyTab Bonus, you must activate a new service or upgrade your phone on a current in-market $90 and up plan with the $35/month MyTab Boost payment on a 24 month services agreement.
Here’s the full iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus price list (via MobileSyrup). Notice there are some big savings for customers on two-year terms for these latest iPhones:
Compared to Rogers, Telus and Bell, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus starts at $229 and $329 on a two-year term, on a $95/month plan with a paltry 1GB of data. iPhone X starts at $599 from the Big 3, on the same plan.
Freedom Mobile says it continues to roll out LTE-A in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton, with their newly-acquired 2500 MHz spectrum and reforming a portion of their older AWS-1 spectrum (which will enable it to support older iPhones), will complete by early December in Western Canada and early 2018 for the rest of their coverage area.
According to the Financial Post, Freedom Mobile “will sell the full range of iPhones (6, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and X) in Western Canadian retail locations as of Dec. 8.” Only the latest iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus will be available in Eastern Canada until Shaw’s network upgrades complete in early 2018.
This is the day old-school WIND Mobile fans and Freedom Mobile customers have been waiting for—the iPhone has finally landed. This is the first step to compete against Rogers, Telus and Bell and with aggressive $0 up front pricing for the latest iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, it’s a start.
Let us know if you’ll be taking the plunge to Freedom Mobile, once iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus pre-orders being this Friday.
