Bell Mobility has stopped offering device subsidy plans and now exclusively provides device financing to customers.

It stopped offering subsidy plans effective July 20.

Bell was one of the last holdouts, offering both the new ‘SmartPay’ device financing alongside the old subsidized schemes. SmartPay allows customers to get a smartphone for $ 0 down payment and pay off the price of the phone in 24 equal monthly payments. The main advantage of this system is that phone payments are no longer directly tied to customer rate plans, although you still need to be a Bell customer with an eligible Bell rate plan to use SmartPay.

In addition, Bell offers customers a certain choice of financing. For example, customers can opt for Bell’s “device return option”, which reduces the cost of a smartphone if they commit to returning it to Bell at the end of their contract.

Alternatively, customers can choose to pay a deposit instead of picking up the phone for $ 0 up front. Depending on the amount of the down payment, the monthly cost of financing the device can drop significantly.

Still, some people preferred the old subsidy model, which lowered the initial cost of a smartphone but locked customers into a specific plan level that combined the pricing plan with the cost of the phone.

It should be noted that Virgin Mobile, the complementary brand of Bell, replaced its subsidy plans with a device financing option in May. Virgin calls its device financing “Sweet Pay”.

Telus flanker, Koodo, and Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile remain among the few major Canadian carriers that do not offer device financing programs.