Bell doesn't offer any monthly contract data-only plans for the Canadian cellular market. They have cheap prepaid plans that include data, but most services include talk time. What they lack in data-only options for smartphones they make up for in data sharing choices. Tablets, smartwatches, mobile internet and even your car can share your data plan.
Bell boasts Canada's largest network, and provides wireless service plans to suit every need.
Bell Mobility offers plans for tablets, mobile internet hubs, smartwatches, connected cars and security cameras in addition to their usual cell phone plan offerings. You can share a single bucket of data when you group it on one account, so you'll never have to worry about overage fees again.
There aren't any data-only smartphones options with Bell. What they can offer is smartphone plans with up to 50GB of high speed LTE data across that works across Canada. The most popular month-to-month plans start around $75/month for 10GB and unlimited data.
Bell smartphone plans are available in a few flavours:
How you plan to use your device — and how many devices you have on your account — will determine which type of plan is the best choice for you.
Bell Unlimited data plans give you a set amount of data at full-speed 4G-LTE, after which your uploads and downloads are throttled to a slower speed. You'll still be able to browse, chat and even stream musis, but you'll have to pass on watching full HD videos on Netflix until the end of your billing month.
Your full-speed data isn't shareable. While it's not a big deal for some people, it may be for you. If you plan to have an LTE-enabled tablet, smartphone, or just have another family member share your data then they'll need their own plan.
Wireless connectivity isn't just limited to smartphones. If you've got a tablet, smartwatch or even a car that can connect to Bell's mobile network, then a Connect Everything data plan can make it more affordable. Plans cost $10/month for each smart device (not including smartphones) that you want to add. All devices share that one Connect Everything plan's data.
Watch that data cap. Once you hit it then you'll need to pay for more data by the megabyte—and it's expensive. If you have another smartphone on a Bell Connect Everything plan, then you can share data between all phones.
In addition to month-to-month and contract plans like those above, Bell also offers prepaid plans for your device. While you don't get as much bang for your buck, your options are priced much lower. In fact, there's even a plan for $15/month that includes 100MB, unlimited texts and pay-per-use talk time. Bell prepaid also offers data packs starting at $15 that you can add onto plans as little as $5/month.
If you're committed to Bell, this is your cheapest option for a data plan on your smartphone. However, prices quickly go up over $50 without much more than a couple gigabytes of data. You're better to look at another carrier for cheap data-only options.