I am looking into getting a Samsung Galaxy S2, but its available on a contract only with Bell or Virgin Mobile. From the personal reviews I have got until now, Bell doesn't seem like a great option, primarily because of their poor customer service.

If someone could help me with the following questions, I would really appreciate it:

1) How is Bell's network reception on the McMaster Campus?
2) In your opinion (if you have experienced it yourself or heard from a friend) how is the customer service?
3) Do they levy any extra charges apart from HST? What about Government Regulatory fee?
4) Is it worth it to sign a 3 yr contract with Bell in order to save $500 on the phone as of now?

Hey! My bf just got this phone like 2 weeks ago and he's with bell.

He hasn't been inside buildings at mac yet, really, but he knows from last year that MDCL is always bad for reception. Other than that, it's pretty good!

He says he's also never had any issues with customer service, it's like average. nothing over the top, but not poor, by any means.

The phone itself is awesome (I totally agree, too!) so that's definitely a good choice. He has no complaints with the phone itself, the service or what he's paying.

He isn't too sure about the regulatory government fee (idk what it is either), he hasn't had any surprise fees he's had to pay, at least not yet xD.

for your last question, he took the 3 year contract and got the phone for free and so far he's glad he did that. he's been with bell for his entire cell phone career and hasn't had any major issues.

The only thing is if you don't pay your bill on time, they cut off your service (texting and calling went a little weird :S ) so pay your bill on time!

Hope that kinda helps!

Great choice for a phone i've had mine for about 3 weeks now. I personally went with Virgin because they're a division of bell so have the same network availabilities. Virgin mobile's customer service is also really great.

1) I've used the Galaxy S2 itself on campus and got great reception so no problems there.
2) Again, I would say bell's customer service is not great especially compared to Virgin's. I would say that virgin's is comparable to Rogers depending on who you talk to they can work out a deal if you ever have a "problem" so you don't leave their company.
3) I'm pretty sure bell has both but for virgin im paying a flat rate no tax no other fees
4) 3 yr contract with bell vs Virgin supertab? Go with the supertab cause there's no fixed contract. You can leave whenever you want you just have to pay for the rest of the phone.

I realize i sound like an advertisement for virgin but I'm loving it so far. I used to be a rogers user btw. If you have any questions about the phone send them my way!

How long does the battery last for the Galaxy S2? light usage, average usage, heavy usage?

Originally Posted by kanishka

How long does the battery last for the Galaxy S2? light usage, average usage, heavy usage?

i have the first version so i assume the 2nd version is either the same or better, the light usage varries on what kind of background display you have on but its always really bright and theres a setting (on the 1st version atleast) that controls how much light you need. for example if im in a really dark room the background light will dim so that way you are not blinded or if you are outside in the sun the screen will get brighter. its awesome and i find my battery lasts longer when i have it on that setting opposed to the setting where you have to go back and fourth and adjust the light brightness manually. and i find the battery lasts all day or sometimes two days if you dont use it often, but when i first got mine i couldnt put it down and the battery would die by the end of the night lol again keep in mind i own the first version of samsung galaxy S so the #2 may be slightly differnt.

hope that helps

Originally Posted by kanishka

How long does the battery last for the Galaxy S2? light usage, average usage, heavy usage?

Personally i love to use the power saver setting most of the time when i don't need the phone to work hard so its probably why i use so little of the battery itself.
On light usage days I only take at most 10% of the battery, like for example today when i woke up i unplugged it from the charger and since then i've only used 2%. On average i would say i use about 40% of a full charge. This includes texting, calls, internet usage, games, etc. I haven't killed the battery yet but they most I've used was abot 70% on the day that i was at the Mac campus.

Originally Posted by kanishka

How long does the battery last for the Galaxy S2? light usage, average usage, heavy usage?

It's pretty damn good... the screen is VERY bright, so my bf keeps it at 0% brightness (which is still bright) so that prolongs the battery life a lot. if you look under processes or the "what is using your battery the most" thing, the screen being lit itself is what usually takes up the most.

If he's just using for texting, phone calls, and maybe a couple hours of Angry birds (which comes FREE! Yay!) it lasts like 3 days, on day and night.
if he's using wifi and doing hardcore youtube-ing and calling or whatever, it's like 2 days, roughly.

I played Angry Birds when the battery was 5% for about 45 minutes before it died. it's great.

I have bells s2 and its amazing. I have not had any problems with reception anywhere on campus including ETB and MDCL (3/4 bars). As for battery life i recharge every night and havent had any problems. Ive gone max 3 days but have had to turn off data and lower brightness.

I havent dealt with customer service yet but there are no "gov regulatory fees". These are for rogers customers. You have the bill + HST and thats it.

I got a contract, and I am happy with it, but Its up to you if you wanna buy it outright. As for virgins supertab...if you pay $55 a month it will take approx 91 months to pay off your $500 super tab. This is 7.6 years. Good luck with that. You will be paying out 300/500 of that supertab in 3 years.

The GS2 is amazing like everyone says. Its snappy, and the screen just 'pops' (black is pure black on super AMOLED). The only thing I want to add is if you can, don't lock yourself into a 3 year contract! Buy it outright and when you want a new phone put it up online to get some money back and buy your next phone. The thing is some big box retailers may prevent you from purchasing the phone outright. I was denied at the Source, and BestBuy ended up going to the Phone Booth at Eastgate mall and got it there without hassle. Just an FYI if you get denied at one store just keep trying.

Originally Posted by AnguishedEnd

The GS2 is amazing like everyone says. Its snappy, and the screen just 'pops' (black is pure black on super AMOLED). The only thing I want to add is if you can, don't lock yourself into a 3 year contract! Buy it outright and when you want a new phone put it up online to get some money back and buy your next phone. The thing is some big box retailers may prevent you from purchasing the phone outright. I was denied at the Source, and BestBuy ended up going to the Phone Booth at Eastgate mall and got it there without hassle. Just an FYI if you get denied at one store just keep trying.

How much did you buy it for, including taxes?

Look at bell.ca and calculate... probably like 699*1.13

It was on sale at the source/newegg for 599 before I believe