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Prepaid Reviews

Petro-Canada Mobility Prepaid Phone Plans

Editor Rating
Overview

Launched in 2006, Petro-Canada Mobility is a subsidiary of Petro-Canada, a gasoline firm. They are an MVNO of the Rogers Wireless GSM network.

Pros:
Very simple plans at a decent per-minute rate. It's always 50 cents per minute, so there are no confusing tiers or monthly plans with possible overages.

Cons: The phone selection is very limited, and contains out-of-date phones. There are no data plans available.



Detailed Provider Information

Plans: Petro-Canada Mobility offers a simple prepaid rate of 25 cents per minute, which can be purchased with 10, 20, 50, or 100 dollar cards. The 100 dollar card provides a 40-minute bonus.


Customer Service: Customer service is available by calling a toll free number during normal business hours, or by visiting a Petro-Canada Mobility retailer.


Credit Check: None


Contract: None


Payment Options: You can pay for your Petro-Canada Mobility refills with an airtime card, available at participating retailers, or by dialing *888 from your handset.


Text and Picture Messaging: Incoming messages are always 5 cents per message. Messages sent to Canada are also 5 cents. Messages sent to the United States are 10 cents each, and messages sent outside of North America are 25 cents.


Data Plans: Mobile web access is available for 10 dollars per month. Users need at least 12 dollars in their account to sign up.


Downloadables: Petro-Canada offers ringtones, wallpaper, and games on select phones for varying fees.


International Calling: International calling is available to a number of countries for varying rates. Call customer service or dial 611 from your Petro-Canada phone to find rates to specific countries.


Roaming Charges: There are no roaming charges with Petro-Canada. You will receive the 20 cents per minute rate as long as you are within the Petro-Canada network.


Calling Features: Voicemail, caller ID, 3 way calling, and call waiting are included at no additional charge.


Activation Fee: There is no fee to activate your Petro-Canada account.


Long Distance: Dialing long distance from Petro-Canada only costs 20 cents per minute more than your normal 25 cent rate.


411 Calls: Directory assistance is available for $1.29 plus airtime.


Earliest Minute Expiration: Refills expire based on the airtime card denomination. The 15 dollar card expires after 30 days; the 25 dollar card expires after 120 days; the 50 dollar card expires after 180 days; the 100 dollar card expires after 365 days.


911 Calls: A monthly charge of 99 cents is deducted from your account for 911 services.


Phones: Currently, Petro-Canada Mobility only offers six handsets, all made by Nokia. These are older models that do not contain features of the newest phones.


Some Available Cell Models: 

Nokia 2680
Nokia 1661
Nokia 2680 (shown)
Nokia 3555
Nokia 1208


Coverage Map:
View the Petro-Canada coverage map (PDF file)


Average User Rating:
felix moulin
2008/07/03

I'd say Petro Canada gets the highest rating - their cards don't expire for at least 6 MONTHS. For those people who only rarely use their phones, 30-60 days is too short and a waste of $. If you use it more regularly, you're better off getting on a plan.

Paul O
2008/08/02

If you need cheap prepaid service, this is the one for you. Get a petro points card at the same time and buy your gas there also, no more buying with cash just use your petro points.

Guest
2008/08/11

I bought a phone a month and half ago but stopped working. Petro-Canada does not care and told me to contact Nokia. It seems, for them, selling phone is just like selling gas. The worst part is the Nokia. They told me to send the phone at my expense. It is under warranty.

Martin
2008/08/12

Does anyone know if you get charged to check your voice mail?

Is there a way to do it from a land-line?

Janice
2008/08/13

Martin, According to another forum, yes you would get charged for checking your messages from your cell phone. However, if u turn the phone off and check messages from a land line there is no charge.

Alex
2008/09/17

1000 minutes for 50 $ is a good deal when you compare against other prepaid plan such as telus.

Avery
2008/09/17

Get your math right its 250 minutes for 50$

John
2008/10/20

Great option
Easily the best price I could find. More than enough features. You can check you messages from a land phone too.

Paul
2008/11/07

It is made known on the terms and conditions that if the phone is defective or needs to be fixed you must contact the manufacturer.

PeterM
2008/11/08

I switch my original telephone number from a "big" phone company to Petro-Canada. I have good service and good basic Nokia 2760 phone for the price I payed.

SANDRA
2008/11/10

I HAVE PURCHASED A NOKIA 2630 PHONE 6 MONTHS AGO. I DON'T USE THE CELL A LOT BUT ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO JUDGE IT . I DO NOT LIKE A MONTHY PLAN BECAUSE IAM PAYING FOR SOMETHING I AM NOT USING , OTHER PAY AS YOU GO DO NOT ALLOW ENOUGH TIME TO USE THE MINUTES I PUT AN AND IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER TO TOP UP THE ACCOUNT YOU LOOSE THEM . LIST PHONES RECEPTION IS AWESOME. I HAVE YET TO FIND A PHONE THAT GETS A RECEPTION AT HOME WITH ANY OTHER PROVIDER. THERE HAS BEEN NO WAITED MINNUTES AND HAVE FOUND THAT I AM ABLE TO USE THE PHONE MORE FREQUENTLY, HOWEVER I WISH IT COULD BE TOPPED UP ON-LINE

Prav
2008/11/22

Almost any phone purchased from Rogers or Fido can be used with Petro Canada Mobility. Buy the cheapest PCM phone. Take out SIM card. Insert into Rogers / Fido phone of your liking.

Guest
2008/12/03

perfect

Ken
2008/12/07

Switched from Telu$ to Petrocan wireless, saving over $100 a month might not sound like much, but it adds up over a year! - and the service works fine. Phone itself kind of sucks, but I can get an unlocked or rogers phone on ebay or craigslist and plug in my sim card... I do miss roaming in the US, so I'll have to grab a cheap ToGo phone while I'm there next time, which won't even cost me 1 months of savings.

ED
2009/02/12

If you want a basic "Throw-Away" ...
The Nokia 1112 and petro-canada are it !
Too bad...the old ones are hard to get.
Best battery life of any phone I had.
User friendly...text able...
great high visibility screen...
Nokia...ruined this phone with all...
the new "fancy-crap"... NOKIA 26xx...
[Except battery life...All are great !]

Mug
2009/03/05

They just changed their rates effective March 3 2009 ! Now you pay 25 cents per minute local calls and 45 cents long distance !!! I'm thinking about getting rid of Petro-Canada !!!

phone user
2009/03/05

I have this phone for six months now and it was great on price (I do not use it too often) and the (least expensive) Nokia phone is much better than other more expensive ones I have had.

Having said that, the new price (25 cents/min) AND the shorter validity period (120 days for $25) narrows the competitive gap it had vs. Fido, for example. With these rules, I would not have switched from Fido, not much difference ($15 over 4 months, unless if Fido raised their prices lately).

Martin
2009/03/08

Forget about this company. They have just higher all their prices. For local calls; from 0.20 to 0.25 (35%). For long distance calls; from 0.30 to 0.45 (50%). They have also lowered days of service for many amount.

Tony
2009/03/31

Good information Prav! I was looking for exactly that, thanks. Euro and Asian styles. No websurfing with Petro plans but at least we can get better phones than the old stuff Petro is offering.

But $15 expires after 30 days unless one buys more time....booooo, it's always about coercing more money out of us.

Peace!


Guest
2009/04/06

Is there a way to use the sim card from my petro canada cell phone with a unlocked rogers phone??
But still play the same as the prepay petro canada plan.

Seng
2009/04/09

I have no problems with PetroCan PAYG plan as far their efficiency goes. But the information provided above is outdated; and right you are, those who remarked the rates had been adjusted upwards as of March, 2009. So when you sign on, you need to understand what you are getting into.

Callum
2009/04/14

Petro Canada was great for people who use their phones rarely, as you could just top up every 6 months. Now they have changed this, and they are no better than their competitors. I am very disappointed and will be ditching them when my service expires.

LeBlanc
2009/04/22

Bought a phone 5 mths ago ,,,great plan/6 mths before expiration.Just went to buy more minutes today .SURPRISE !
only 4 mths now before expiration date GUESS WHAT ? the price has gone up from $20. to $25.
So ,the deal was good at first but now !!!
Don't know !
This phone is only use for emergency in a building that is use 2 times a week .So we rarely use it .I wish we could have the 6 mths expiration date as before.

speakout
2009/05/08

Better to use speakout wireless from 7-11 their rates and expiry times are better than petro-canada mobility.

Tony P.
2009/05/14

You have to spend $100. with petro to get 365 days before the airtime expires...with 711 ALL their airtime lasts 365 days.I use the 711-Speakout prepaid service when in the US,and the cost is .15 cents per minute that covers all of the US,and .39 per minute to Canada..We are being ripped off here!!

Thomas Panicker
2009/09/20

Is there anyway I can get my Call history or statements which I have called. I am told that to go to call history from Cellphone. But when click for Callhistory it suddently disappears. Why my callhistory want to keep it as a secret? I am legally entitiled to view my statements.Please send my statements to my email address.

Speakout 7-11 very good
2010/01/06

All airtime expiry is 365 days. Rate is 20c/min. Use their phone or your unlocked GSM phone. Downside is no data service, no roaming, costly long distance.

Guest
2010/02/22

It is okay IF you don't need to all customer support. Calling a customer support is nightmare. First, their phone has VERY poor quality - low volume and breaking up sounds. I have to call 4 times and all of time had same problem. Actual problem with buying air time online and they don't how to handle and keep sending me back and forth and in the middle of forwarding or conversation. I think that is related to poor phone quality and that is why I had to call 4 times.

Leo
2010/02/23

First, it is 0.25 $ a minute for local calls. no other fees, all else is included (voicemail, call id, etc.)

And every time I called their customer service, it was great. Guess I was lucky 5 times in a row !

I have it for emergencies, and it never costs me more than 8$ a month ! Ask other companies for such a deal...

Assunta
2010/02/25

I got a Nokia 2680 phone with Petro Canada a month ago. So far the service is good, and the phone itself was a good deal ($60.00 with 50 airtime purchase-6 month expiration). BUT one problem is their website claims the 2680 has VOICE COMMAND DIALING. IT DOES NOT. Nokia's own website verifies it does not, and my playing around with the phone for hours confirmed there is no such function. I notified Petro Canada of this factual error in their website 2 weeks ago. They replied and said the web department was aware of the problem. 2 weeks later the error is still there. I mean hello...how long does it take to delete 2 lines of text in your website? Should not take more than a few minutes to delete the text, and reupload the updated file. DUH.

dwightdstjohn
2010/03/01

new phone; battery discharges in less than ten hours without using the phone; will use for resume responses only!

Guest
2010/05/07

I always liked Telus Mobility but funny how they now want 800 deposit and a few months ago it was a thousand dollar and a while ago I got cut off from pay go from them I have not had a monthly billing from them since 1990s and still wont let me a monthly phone and cuts my pay go off now i had virgin mobile as well I so so liked them and also had solo as well. and bell and rogers Rogers cut me off as well on pay go.

Brooks
2010/06/21

People complaining about price and expiry changes should keep in mind that it's still cheaper. I am going to get the $100 for 365 days plan (440 minutes total) and top it off when I need to. If I don't use it very often, 100 dollars for a whole year sounds pretty good to me.

Gueren Chen
2010/07/07

The customer service is the worst. There's no notification of the credit expiration. You can't return the point card even they cancelled your service.

jasonkiting
2010/07/14

I ended up getting a new Iphone 3gs very cheap it was not activated and I didn't want to get locked into a contract, I live in an area where Iphone does nto work. I bought the cheapest phone, activated it, took the SIM card out and put it into the Iphone voila pay as you go Iphone, no 3G stuff but just need to find WiFi connection and your good to go, my phone was Rogers so didn't even have to unlock it. $100 for year cheap, around $8 a month for Iphone pretty good.

Paul
2010/09/13

I love the monthly plans, they help me save money on my cell phone bill. 2,500 outing text messages, free incomeing and 50 minutes for $20. You can't beat it. Plus free services like voice mail, caller ID. jasonkiting, thanks for the idea.

Guest
2010/09/26

Not used their phone for a year - they deactivated it and now I have to buy a new one. No way to activate existing one. And you can't use it with other wireless providers! Never again. This sucks!

Jak
2010/10/30

Hello, I'm new in Canada. Is the incoming local call free?
Thanks.

Teressa
2010/11/09

Incoming text are free, calls are not. Even though I have 2 of these phones, mine and my daughters, I will never get another petro canada mobility phone. You can not send multi media text messages even when signed up for the talk text and browse plan. I was told by petro mobility that you could with that plan. You can not download pictures you take to your computer unless (from what I was told) you get a blue tooth. Next time, I will definately go for another carrier. The internet option is for the most part useless in my opinion. Not worth the extra money at all.

Rein Reio
2010/11/16

I have two PetroCan mobile phones...one in area 416 and one in area code 905...they work great and I am happy with their servvice.
The problem is Petro Points...signed up at a gas station...gave a card but forgot to send in the registration.
Could not register my account on the internet. Called their customer service...the lady that answered could barely speak English and was hard to understand. She supposedlly signed me up...went on the internet to open my account and did so but was given a different account number. Called Customer Service again and after a long wait got a rude lady that said the numbers were different and | had signed up for two cards...said she could not merge the two said I should have read the instructions (?)...basically called me stupid and when I asked for a supervisor she said none was available and hung up.
At this point I feel like cancelling the phones and then telling Petro Canada to stuff their PetroPoints and their gasoline.
The number I got originally was 7069 22363 2449 011 and the new one is 7069
21063 8938 011.

ShockedNoOneCaughtThis
2010/11/17

I was about to sign up for Petro Canada Mobility after researching cell phone prepaid plans for days. It seemed to be the cheapest for anyone who only occasionally uses a cell phone. But then I found out the big "AH-HA!!!!!"... And I can't believe no one has complained about this... Unlike the vast majority of cell phone providers, with Petro Can Mobility, if you have a phone in City A and travel to City B, when you are calling a local number in City B, PCM considers this to be LONG DISTANCE! Yes, the other side of this is that you can still call home (City A) and not have to pay long distance, but this is a BIG difference between the Petro Canada Mobility (or 7-11 SpeakOut) and the rest of the cell phone providers.

Cell Phone companies are all big-time scammers. They make plans so complicated, you need to go on a 1-week course to understand each one of them there are sooo many little 'buts' that will get you...

I ended up going with Virgin Mobile prepaid by the minute, it's simplest most straight forward..

Shannon
2010/11/19

I bought this phone for my daughter a week ago. We were never able to hook it up because of sim card problems. I have spent an obscene amount of time on the phone, and they just keep giveing diffrent answers. I have just under 100 dollars invested in this phone that they are not willing to deal with. This was the worst sevice I have ever recived it seems the moment they found out the phone was for a 16 year old that it didnt matter. I would never recomend this company for anyone you just donate to the company, and get no service , and in our case a pricey paper weight good for nothing.

Monika
2010/11/26

I'm not really ready to rate since I have yet to use the service! I purchased my phone Model 2630 about two years ago! I misplaced it after topping it up. By the time I found it again, the time had expired and the phone did not work. I was told that I would need a new Sim card. I was told one would be sent to me. It didn't happen. I was frustrated after several phone calls back and forth to Petrocan and Nokia. I threw it in the drawer and ignored it for a long while. Now I'm giving it another try. Petrocan has sent me a new sim card free of charge after another phone call. Now where the heck is the charger for this phone?? I called a Petro station to replace the one I had (probably lost in moving) - was told they had three. I got there and they had none. The second Petro station doesn't have any phones etc. Now I'm really feeling crazy! I have to wait until tomorrow for normal office hours to get this damn phone connected, I think. I've just bought a $25. amount of time. I'm still going a little crazy! Will I ever get this thing working?? Maybe I should have settled for a contract!!!!!!!

lindabythesea
2010/12/15

The 7-Eleven SpeakOut deal is much better. Until Dec 31 you can get a free Nokia phone when you buy $100 airtime. Per minute rates are way cheaper than PCM and are good for 1 year. The phone is unlocked, so it's good when you travel and want to pick up a 'local' SIM card.

Guest
2011/06/11

Petro Canada's cell phone service is a bad joke.

sezy2824
2011/07/14

if you guys really want to have a prepaid plan that does not expire and gives low rates try using g3 telecom even if you lost your sim cards just call the customer service and tell them to change the phone number that was registered..

gidget16
2011/07/14

well if you wanna try a very affordable and cheapest rates calling to different countries,try g3 telecom.no hassle on dialing,its easier for you to use.

BRIAN5427
2011/08/19

THE PETRO CANADA PHONE I HAVE IS ONLY SET UP TO RECIEVE TEXT .PETRO CANADA says send phone to TORONTO to set up to send text,should take about a week..why do they not have a local service center that can set the phone up...i have tried to go to other service providers and ask them if they can set up text service and they tried and say the cannot..but i still love my PETRO CANADA PHONE..

jim
2012/01/05

where to see my call history and statement? My account balance was $25 yesterday, I did not get a chance to turn on my phone yet, but for no reason, it became $24 today. is there a secret in my call history or statement?

Tommy
2012/01/20

I bought a Nokia2220 with $100 anytime plan, it took one day for transfer of my old phone number to PCM. So efficient. Surprise !!
I can also check voice mail from my home phone, same as Rogers I previously used. It is simple and save airtime 416-274-2817

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February 04, 2012
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