Shaw Mobile - Self Activation?

[Sith]

Hi there, looking at the new information for the Shaw Mobile, it notes that you must go in store to activate a phone that you already own. It would be more convenient if you could self activate. I can see if you need a sim but perhaps the option of them mailing that out to customers, especially at this time. 

The offer looks decent at 0$ for talk and text for Shaw internet customers in BC and AB.

[mdk]

@Sith -- the offer looks decent ...

Yes, but I just had an online-chat with Shaw. The Shaw person outright REFUSED to allow me to bring an iPhone 5C to their store, to experiment to see if it is compatible, although they say that the iPhone 5S is compatible. That is not "decent". 😞

[mike076]

This whole you must come to retail is a little strange right now.. You know that you're offer is going to generate interest, you also know that there is a pandemic but nope you must come to the store.. Yesterday I went to Metrotown, two hour wait at least and exactly 0 enforcement of physical distancing 

[rstra]

According to the Freedom website, the 5C is supported, but you will be limited to 3G. I have heard for best performance on their LTE network, you need a phone compatible with Band 66, which is the new iPhone SE and up, so I am am going to upgrade my iPhone 7 before subscribing. 

[mdk]

@rstra -- the 5C is supported, but you will be limited to 3G.

On July 31st, I went to Walmart, where there is a store-within-a-store kiosk for all mobile phones, and successfully activated an iPhone 5C. Yes, you are correct -- it is on the 3G network -- no big deal, for me.

The employees, wearing black "OSL" T-shirts, not the usual Walmart colours, received their training on how to use the Shaw web-site on the previous day. We laughed that the other common usage of "OSL" is the IATA code for Gardemoen Airport, near Oslo, Norway.

Proper physical separation & procedures were being followed.

On the "Settings -> General -> About" screen, I now see: Carrier --- Carrier 28.2.5      Before activation, it showed "Bell".

On other iPhones, the second "Carrier" string displays as "Rogers" or "Bell" or "Telus". 

The displayed string confused the otherwise-very-knowledgeable sales associate at that kiosk.  He called it a "generic" ID.

I was charged $0.01 for the Shaw SIM card -- but they rounded-it down, to zero. 🙂

There was a $20 one-time activation fee.

Regular price is $5/month, if you do not give them your credit-card information, for automatic charges.