Purchasing a cell phone plan in Montreal can be a complicated undertaking. Browsing through the many contracts offered by over half a dozen companies (some of which are actually the same company) is enough to make any student swear off phones and opt for email and Skype. Before resorting to drastic measures, use the following tools to start your research.

Cell phone providers in Canada are mostly owned by three big corporations: TELUS, Rogers, and Bell. TELUS owns Koodo; Rogers owns Fido and Chat-r; and Bell owns a stake in Virgin Mobile. These providers operate Canada-wide, which means that they might be better for Canadians from outside Montreal who want to keep their phones year-round.

Carriers with a more limited range can be good choices if you only plan to use your phone in Montreal. These providers include Quebec-based Videotron and Public Mobile. Public Mobile is only available in certain cities.

Most of these providers offer a variety of plans: prepaid, text-heavy, talk and data, along with other plans to fit any usage. Finding the right package is a matter of deciding what you need and pricing those needs for every provider.

This is a daunting task for a student in back-to-school mode. Luckily, there are third-party websites which compare plans side by side.

Two of these websites are www.comparecellular.com and www.cellphones.ca. Both sites compare providers for specific types of plans.

Choose the Montreal region and input attributes like unlimited texting, 200 anytime minutes, or price under $25 per month, and these sites provide a list of plans that meets your criteria.

Select plans to compare, and the site will generate a detailed report that shows you every attribute of the plan, whether it’s an hour longer for unlimited night and weekend talk, or more memory on your voice mail.

These sites also provide reviews of carriers, maps of coverage areas, as well as store locators. Since wireless providers are constantly changing their available plans, both sites update plan information frequently. It’s a good idea to check the provider website to ensure a desired plan is still offered.

Most providers also sell phones. Buying a phone with a contract may seem like a good deal, but the price of the phone is spread over the term of the contract in small monthly payments.

Alternative places to purchase phones include the McGill Classifieds (www.mcgill.ca/classified/phones) and Craigslist (http://montreal.en.craigslist.ca/moa/).