Much like a lot of features in this edition of OTR, the folks at Freedom Mobile radiate community. They may not have been born and raised here, but the values that brought them together in business are the same – built on family, history, and relationships. They insist that these values be present in business.
They could have opened the branch of (“the best branch of”) Freedom Mobile in a dozen different locations, but they chose Stouffville. Why? Because the community clicked for them, it felt right, and they wanted to take part in it. They could have moved into a trending location like the new Longo’s plaza, but instead insisted on being in the heart of Downtown Stouffville at Main & the tracks.
The owners of Stouffville Freedom Mobile are Neil Dutton and Trevor Fernandes. They are supported by two essential staff named Rose and Abhinav.
Freedom Mobile is Canada’s fourth-largest mobile network operator with over 1.6 million subscribers. Freedom Mobile was founded in 2016 when Shaw bought out Wind Mobile and changed its name; Wind has been around since 2008. Freedom Mobile was the first Canadian wireless service provider to make use of Advanced Wireless Services bands for its primary network, which according to TechDaily, is “Great for those who want large amounts of data… (while being) cheaper than the big 3.”
Neil and Trevor have been friends for over 20 years. They worked together at Sony Mobile. When Sony pulled out of Canada, they decided to invest in Freedom. “Shaw is heavily invested in 5G rollout. There’s great growth potential with Freedom and we wanted part of it,” said Trevor.
“We build our relationships based on excellent customer service,” says Neil, “and we base everything on trust, loyalty and integrity.” Proof of this can be seen in their online Google reviews. “If our product isn’t a good fit for someone – we tell them,” adds Trevor.
When Freedom Mobile opened in Stouffville, it was with much fanfare, as they staged a meet & greet with Grey’s Anatomy star Giacomo Gianniotti (Dr. Andrew DeLuca). Hundreds of people lined up for the event in the rain, the first having arrived at 4:30am from Ottawa.
Other promotional events have involved the “Plant Guy” with his famous Kawactus Plant and Sam “Caveman” Losco of the Trailer Park Boys. Promotional offers have included free Toronto Raptors tickets and free earbuds with plan activation, Absolute Zero plans, and Big Gig Unlimited Data Plans.
Beyond the promotions, discounts and celebrities, Stouffville Freedom staff have readily participated and promoted Downtown events, such as Stouffville Sparkles and Bootastic Trick or Treat.
Is Freedom a good fit for you? You won’t know until you ask. The company is rapidly expanding, but there are still grey areas in cottage country and rural areas. Depending on where you are, some rural Whitchurch residents may want to use Freedom’s big data plans for hot spotting at home for school work and movie downloads, web browsing and streaming. The best way to approach it is to tell them how you use your phone, and how you would use it if there were no constraints. “No one can touch the value that we have at present,” concluded Neil. “This is a great store and layout,” Trevor added proudly.
It appears that Stouffville Freedom Mobile has embraced the community and its values. It will be up to us to support and enable it
