Get Double Data from Fido and Virgin for Free

I don’t use too many minutes on my monthly cell phone plan. It might surprise you to hear that there are many months where my total minutes of talk (none of which are billed by the second anymore) stay in the single digit range. What I want more of is wireless data, that glorious 4G LTE high-speed data. If you’re like me, then you may be very pleased to hear that both Fido and Virgin are offering double data on certain plans this weekend.

Not surprisingly, the best deal can be had if you bring your own phone and don’t require either of the wireless carriers to subsidize your hardware purchase. With both the Fido and the Virgin promo, regular talk, text and data plans that are supposed to come with 500MB or 1GB of data are getting bumped to 1GB and 2GB, respectively, for no extra money.

Here’s a look at Fido’s mobile plans for BYOP folks. As you can see, the regular $40 plan is supposed to come with 500 MB and 500 minutes, but you can sign up to get 1 GB and 500 minutes for the same $40 a month. Similarly, the $50 plan gets bumped from its normal 1 GB of data to 2 GB of data. This promo is valid for both new activations and contract renewals. Based on rumblings in the forums, people in existing contracts have been met with practically no success.

If you want to purchase a new phone (either on a new activation or on a renewal basis), you’ll have to pay more. The equivalent standard plans are $10 more, the standard plans with Fido Pulse (so you can get Spotify and Fido Roam) are $15 more, smart plans are $15 more, and smart plans with Fido Pulse are about $20 more. Clear as mud, right?

The deal is basically the same with the BYOP plans from Virgin, getting you 500 minutes and 1 GB for $40 a month or unlimited minutes and 2 GB for $50 a month. Getting the double data promo on the silver plans (for up to $300 off the retail price of a phone on a 2-year contract) is $10 more a month, and double data on gold plans (for up to $500 off your new phone) is $15 more a month.

Both Fido and Virgin are offering this double data promo until Monday, June 6. In both cases, customers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are out of luck (though they’ve been getting better deals as competition with SaskTel and MTS anyway). The Fido promo is good for Quebec residents, but not the Virgin promo. Based on how these things usually go, there’s a good chance that Koodo could jump into the double data frenzy too.