What is the best cell phone plan in Manitoba that gives me data as well as talk and text?

The best cell phone plan in Manitoba varies and Koodo Telecom currently at the time of writing offering $45 for TAB Medium and $80 for TAB Large seems to be the best plan for data and text. There are many types of plans as well from other carriers as well.

From many years the Manitoba Government has maintained a public company (MTS) to handle telecommunications. It was privatized in the 90’s but MTS and a number of smaller telecommunications companies built a large wireless network to serve many rural parts of the province.   Bell acquired MTS in 2017, but the Canadian government has ensured that smaller telecommunications companies would remain. Similar to Saskatchewan which has Crown-owned SaskTel, Manitoba enjoys healthy competition in the market and remains one of the best places to get a cheap mobile phone deal with loads of talk time, text, and data.

Here let us first see the types of plans of offer and what all data you can get. Remember these plans are subject to change. You need to go the carrier website to know the latest plans.

No Tab Plan

• Plans start $30 per month and you get 500 MB of shock free data (where you get message if you exceed your data limit)
• Unlimited incoming messaging (text & picture)
• You cannot use this plan for tablet devices
• Additional data $7/100 MB; additional talk rates $0.60/min
• $30 connection fee including SIM card applies when purchased in store
• $0 connection fee including SIM card when you order online.

Tab Small Plan

• Plan start $30 per month+ applicable monthly tab charge
• Unlimited incoming messaging (text & picture)
• You cannot use this plan for tablet devices
• Additional data $7/100 MB; additional talk rates $0.60/min
• $30 connection fee including SIM card applies when purchased in store
• $0 connection fee including SIM card when you order online

Tab Medium Plan

• This plan costs $45 per month + applicable monthly tab charge
• You get 2 GB of Shock-Free data
• Unlimited Canada-wide anytime minutes
• Unlimited messaging (text & picture)
• Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting, Conference Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
• Also get additional data $7/100 MB
• $30 connection fee including SIM card applies when purchased in store
• $0 connection fee including SIM card when you order online.

Tab Large Plan

• This plan costs $80 per month + applicable monthly tab charge
• You get 5 GB of Shock-Free data
• Also get 500 Canada-wide anytime minutes
• Unlimited messaging (text & picture)
• Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting, Conference Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
• Additional data $7/100 MB; additional talk rates $0.60/min
• $30 connection fee including SIM card applies when purchased in store
• $0 connection fee including SIM card when you order online!
• Bonus 3 GB of data available
• Bonus 3 GB of data for 24 months is applicable with all new activations or with the purchase a new phone with the Tab.

Tab Extra Large Plan

• This plan costs $80 per month + applicable monthly tab charge
• You get 5 GB of Shock-Free data
• Also get 500 Canada-wide anytime minutes
• Unlimited messaging (text & picture)
• Call Display, Voicemail, Call Waiting, Conference Calling and Unlimited Canada-wide Family Calling
• Additional data $7/100 MB; additional talk rates $0.60/min
• $30 connection fee including SIM card applies when purchased in store
• $0 connection fee including SIM card when you order online.
• Bonus 3 GB of data available
• Bonus 3 GB of data for 24 months is applicable with all new activations or with the purchase a new phone with the Tab.

Click here for the latest Koodo plans in Canada

Best Prepaid Plan in Manitoba

If you are looking for the best prepaid plan in Manitoba then it is Petro Canada’s $20 Text-a-lot plan which gives you 200 Canada-wide minutes and unlimited texting.

Also Rogers, Telus and Bell all offer plans for $10 more per month that let you add phone lines to share an 8GB bucket of data. Talk & Text are unlimited, but long distance calls are extra.

If you just need an emergency phone line, Koodo will give you one for $15/month with Pay As You Go minutes. Right now you’ll get a 100 minute booster for the first month if you register a credit card.

At $35/mth Public Mobile will load up your phone with unlimited Canada-wide talk & text and 1GB of data Telus’ 3G network. No strings attached.

Manitoba cell phone plans offer some of the most data for lowest price in Canada. That deal gets even better when you split that data between two or more cell phones. Plans from Bell, Telus and Rogers allow adding lines for a small monthly fee.

Best sharing plans for Manitoba

• Rogers Share Everything 6GB+2GB Plan The best Sharing Plan is the Rogers Share Everything 6GB+2GB Plan. Rogers manages to undercut Bell’s price to offer 8GB of data between four lines for $115/mth. Talk and text are unlimited but only for local calls. Adding Canada-wide voice is $5 more per month per line.
• Bell has a similar Sharable Plan for $130/mth with Canada-wide calls an extra $5 per line. However, Bell has better coverage if you regularly travel to neighbouring provinces.
• Cityfone’s $55 Couples & Family Plan shares 200 Canada-wide minutes and 200MB. Right now if you Bring Your Own Phone they’ll knock 10% for each, making it only $44/mth for two lines.

Manitoba thus offers some of the best cell phone plans in Canada, and the best deals are available when you “Bring Your Own Phone” (BYOP). Before 2018, cell phones in Canada have usually been ‘locked’ to a single carrier. Even without a contract, you still couldn’t use locked phones with other wireless providers. This made changing companies very expensive as you would need to buy a new phone, or at least pay $50 or more to have it ‘unlocked’.

But with latest changes made by the CRT,  all new cell phones sold in Canada are to be unlocked. Older phones may still be locked to your carrier but they must now unlock it for free if you request. There may be fees involved if you are breaking a 2-year contract or received a subsidized price when you bought your phone, and your account must be all clear with it’s bill payments. So you may be able to choose a different wireless provider and take advantage of discounted BYOP plans as well.

Your phone should be compatible with your new wireless carrier in terms of latest technology to get it unlocked and get the best phone plan with your same phone number too.