Freedom Mobile and iPhones: Everything You Need To Know
Freedom Mobile (previously Wind Mobile) offers the cheapest unlimited talk, text, and data plans out of all the Canadian carriers.
Freedom is a solid choice if you spend most of your time in major urban areas (see full list below) where coverage is the most dependable. Outside of these cities, you could find yourself without service, or facing roaming fees.
If you’re an iPhone user who is thinking about switching to Freedom, here is everything you need to know before making the move.
6 facts about using your iPhone with Freedom
1) You can (finally) buy an iPhone from Freedom
For a long time, the iPhone was sorely lacking from Freedom’s smartphone line up. No longer! Since the release of the iPhone 8 in 2017, Freedom has had the full slate of iPhones available.
2) Freedom Mobile does not have Device Financing Plans
The Big 3 carriers rolled out Device Financing Plans last year as a new way of paying for your phone (we broke down at Rogers’ financing plan here). Unfortunately, Freedom does not offer Device Financing plans, but does allow customer to choose from contract- and tab-based financing solutions.
3) You cannot buy an iPhone from Freedom online
Freedom currently does not allow customers to buy phones on their website — you have to do that in store.
4) Freedom does not sell refurbished iPhones
Some of the Big 3’s flanker brands have started selling refurbished iPhones. Unfortunately, these phones can only be purchased if you sign up for a contract with these companies.
If you’d to take advantage of Freedom’s attractive Bring-Your-Own-phone plans without having to pay $979 for an iPhone 11, Orchard sells a range of used iPhones that are compatible with the Freedom network. Click here to see our full selection.
Canada's leading provider of quality used phones
Check out all of Orchard's Freedom compatible iPhones
to the shop5) Not all urban areas have LTE coverage
As of February 2020, Freedom’s LTE network was really only in a handful of metro areas, centered in Ontario: the GTA, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Kingston, Windsor, etc. Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver and Victoria (and surrounding areas) also have LTE coverage.
If you’re in Montreal, Quebec City or anywhere on the East Coast, you’re out of luck for now
You can see Freedom’s full coverage map here.
6) Phones older than the iPhone 8 may not work with Freedom’s LTE network
Freedom’s LTE network runs on bands B4, B7 and B66. If you have an iPhone 7 or older, it may not work with Freedom’s LTE network. You can use this site to check whether your iPhone (or any other phone) is compatible with Freedom’s network.
Final Thoughts
Since being acquired by Shaw back in 2015, Freedom has been aggressively improving their coverage, so keep that in mind if you’re considering switching but have concerns about the quality of their network.
Some people definitely think of Freedom as a no-frills discount carrier, which isn’t entirely fair. We like to think of them as a smaller carrier playing catch-up with more well established (and more expensive) brands.
So if you were to join Freedom today, you can expect to see improvements to their coverage as time goes on. We’re optimistic.
Hi, we have a brandnew Iphone 7+ bought directly from Apple Canada. From day one the quality of the calls (received by the other party) were sub-standard. We went to the Apple store in Detroit and they exchanged the phone just to be on the safe side. Things did not improve. I called Freedom Mobile support and that was the most frustrating part of Freedom Mobile. They use call centers in Egypt and the Philippines. Apple told me to ask for a tier 2 tech and let them know if the phone exchange did not improve the quality of the calls. The call center would not connect me to a tier 2 and when I tried to get connected to the Victoria call center they only spoke French. (I do not speak French-my bad) So we went to the Freedom Mobile store in Devonshire mall and they were very helpful (Christel) said it is most likely the simcard and she gave us a new one. It looked like the problem was solved, but when we returned home (Southwood Lakes, Windsor) the problem was still there. I swapped simcards to a phone I knew had no problems on Freedom Mobile network and the calls were good.
It appears that the Iphone 7+ has a compatibly problem with Fredom Mobile. We like to stay with the provider but need to solve the problem of bad call quality on the Iphone 7+. Can anyone help?
That’s a tricky one!
The problem is likely coming from your network settings on the phone. Try going to Settings > General > Reset, and selecting “Reset Network Settings”. If that doesn’t work, you could back the phone up then try a full factory reset. Still in the “Reset” menu, hit “Erase All Content and Settings” to do this.
I hope that helps 🙂
Hi so I have an iPhone 6 and have been with freedom mobile for a few months now and lately every time me and my boyfriend are in a call. The call just hangs up on my side and his side never hangs up. It just stays silent and stays on the call. I’m really confused as to why this is happening but maybe you guys have an idea?
A day after switching my number from freedom to Rogers I started to get TONS of spam messages whereas I never got any over my service with them for over 8 years of .
hmmm makes you think Freedom is like a jealous ex who tries to annoy the shit out of you by selling your number out of spite!!!!!!!!!