Ok sheepeople it is time to wake up! While Canadian complacency can be charming – it is also dam costly. Recent studies show that Canadians pay more and get less for their cell phones and internet than other developed nations (www.michaelgeist.ca). The industry is plague by locked phone, overly complicated plans, loopholes, small print clauses, lengthy contracts and illusive phone centers that are designed to block complaints rather solve problems. I was recently told by one representative that the small print in my contract states service is not guaranteed. I think that would make a great tagline! I would also like to add the clause bill payment not guarantee and see how that goes over! Im so tired of these large monopolistic corporations confusing their policy statements with law!! Right now there is law suit in progress over the monthly $6.95 system access fee that the government stop charging years ago but mysteriously remains on our bills. No wonder Bell Canadas parent company, BCE Inc. reported a 46 per cent rise in their 2009 first-quarter profit to the tune of $377 million (www.thestar.com – 05/07/09). So, wake-up people we are being robbed!!
—Celled Out!
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2009.
The sad part is “we” have to be told.
You clearly own one OP, so shut up. It’s not a necessary part of life; so, much like ever other luxury, suck it up and pay.
Fever’s right — I hate how everyone bitches about cell phones yet continues to use them…it’s like the world will end because someone OMG CAN’T BE REACHED EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY.
My parents drive me CRAZY with my cell phone…I’m thinking of dumping it just so (at 28) I won’t have to hear “MAKE SURE YOU TAKE YOUR CELL PHONE WITH YOU AND TURN IT ON WHEN YOU’RE OUT!” anymore. Last time I went out with a guy my mom called me twice to see where I was and what I was doing. Sheesh.
Well done OP. Why doncha just go apply for a column at the New York Times, hm?
No really, I had no idea that we were paying more for cell phones, for you see I have had no contact with the outside world or the media for the last decade.
There is a simple solution – get pay as you go (which I do for my cell), and talk less. When I’m at work I get work-related calls on my work phone, which I don’t pay for. When I’m at work I don’t get personal calls because people know not to call me during work hours – they don’t have to anyway, everyone’s got email, and nothing is that urgent.
When I’m at home people call on the landline number. I prefer real phones to talk on anyway, instead of tiny Star Trek communicators. The total cost of the landline is pretty close to being fixed, and runs about $500 a year.
My cell costs me about $150 a year. That’s because I use it for emergencies and for important calls, not for chit chat. If I want to shoot the shit I’ll use the landline, or even better, arrange for a time to get together. Old-fashioned, I know, but that’s just me. I don’t have text messaging, because what’s the point? I don’t try to read email or look at web pages on teensy screens either.
In summary, it’s amazing how when you use your phones (cell and/or landline) for their original purposes, make good use of email, and actually get together with people when you want to have longer conversations, that the cost of ownership of telephones becomes very manageable.
I have little sympathy for people who moan about the high prices of cell plans. I was about 40 years old before I ever had a cell phone…it strikes me that I got along pretty well for decades without one before that. It may be hard to believe for the younger folk, but it was even possible to maintain an active social life without cell phones. ‘Nuff said.
I thing you are missing the OP’s point. They are gouging us because we allow it. We don’t care. People in Europe, USA, Africa, stratch thier heads in amazement. They pay a fraction of the costs. I only keep a cellphone for emergencies, and Im still getting hosed, pay as you go or not.
If you want to lambast a group look squarely at the CRTC. They’re supposed to advocate for the consumer, but they don’t. Business will always get away with what ever it can in the name of profit.
The System access fee was to pay fo the land which they run the signals off of. The land has been paid for a couple years ago and now its just a fee which goes directly into the pockets of the companies.
so i’m told.
FlyingBrick: I’m not being combative here, but if your sole purpose for having a cellphone is for emergencies, how could you possibly be getting hosed? I already stated above that I shell out perhaps $150 per year for my cell, and that’s through pre-paid. That’s hardly “getting hosed”.
In fact, with careful planning, and somewhat more frequent purchases of $10 top-ups as opposed to the $25 ones I usually get, I could probably drop the annual cost of ownership below a hundred bucks.
I guess it depends on what you expect the cost of an “emergency” cell phone to be. Myself I don’t think that about ten bucks a month is unreasonable.
Get high an crank call them from a pay phone or something. I promise it’ll make you feel better.
Flyingbrick: Bit more complicated than that.
No shit.
Sorry, my bad. I was comparing pay as you go rates in other parts of the globe, not Canada. oops.
Hey uh, brick, unlike here, there are areas in Africa where cells are the only way to get a phone call through. Secondly, most of Europe has large multinationals running the show like Virgin, Vodafone and Orange (not to mention a much larger market). Unlike here, where the largest company is a national media outlet (i.e.: Bell) and the runner up is a Telecom provider that is mired in the fertile “market” out west.
Too right fever. I should have more than one coffee before replying.