Telecom Lobbyists Successfully Remove Canada from Wireless Pricing Report

Master_shake_

Fully [H]
Joined
Apr 9, 2012
Messages
17,794
We’ve heard the same story over and over before. An overseas consulting company releases a wireless pricing report, showing Canada pays some of the highest prices in the world. But immediately reports are shot down by lobbyists or supporters of Canada’s incumbents.


An example includes reports from Finland’s Rewheel Research, which determined Canada’s wireless data pricing is among the worst in the developed world. This report was disputed by Telus, which commissioned their own study to combat the so-called flawed study.

canadians aren't screwed over if they don't know they are being screwed over

we did it!

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/carriers/telecom-lobbyists-remove-canada-wireless-report/

this is how you oligopoly friends
 
yeah it's pretty crazy but I'm ok with paying 2 lines with unlimited everything (other than data lol) for 160 CAD$ tax in with 24GO shared data and free phones (got 2x A70 from Samsung).
I know you guys down there probably have better deals but I'm ok with those prices for now. They need to take into consideration that we have much less population per square feet...

Now, I now some people that can't negotiate anything that gets raped into 150$/m for iPhones ... that's insanity.
We also have the unlimited plans with the small characters that basically says you get turtle speed past 12GO or so...
 
yeah it's pretty crazy but I'm ok with paying 2 lines with unlimited everything (other than data lol) for 160 CAD$ tax in with 24GO shared data and free phones (got 2x A70 from Samsung).
I know you guys down there probably have better deals but I'm ok with those prices for now. They need to take into consideration that we have much less population per square feet...

Now, I now some people that can't negotiate anything that gets raped into 150$/m for iPhones ... that's insanity.
We also have the unlimited plans with the small characters that basically says you get turtle speed past 12GO or so...

Then you're a sucker.
 
Then you're a sucker.

What ? Did I tickle you somewhere you didn't like lol ? I'm all for lower price as long as coverage stays at least the same.
I won't go on strike and flip cars because of the price I pay that's all I'm saying...
 
What ? Did I tickle you somewhere you didn't like lol ? I'm all for lower price as long as coverage stays at least the same.
I won't go on strike and flip cars because of the price I pay that's all I'm saying...

By just accepting the cost and saying "oh well", you're a part of the problem. People just don't care, but they should.
 
By just accepting the cost and saying "oh well", you're a part of the problem. People just don't care, but they should.

I negotiated and will gladly accept a lower price but saying I'm part of the problem... comeon... the problem is those who doesn't shop and don't negotiate.
At that point I'm open to your suggestion on what I should be doing but as mentioned, I won't go on strike for that... or stop paying my bills.

Since you wear that almighty attitude, please tell us low peasant what we should be doing so your highness think better of us... from my point of view, I did my homework based on the market I have to deal with.
 
I negotiated and will gladly accept a lower price but saying I'm part of the problem... comeon... the problem is those who doesn't shop and don't negotiate.
At that point I'm open to your suggestion on what I should be doing but as mentioned, I won't go on strike for that... or stop paying my bills.

Since you wear that almighty attitude, please tell us low peasant what we should be doing so your highness think better of us... from my point of view, I did my homework based on the market I have to deal with.

I was clear, I'm sure. By just accepting it and not making a stink, that's an issue.
 
I Pay $40 a month for Freedom mobile, which is basically unlimited but the speeds suck after 3GB. Coverage is crap, but i don't move around a lot so this doesn't bother me. Paying $160 a month for service is crazy talk IMHO even if its for 2 lines.... Yes i bring my own phone but used phones can be had for cheap.
 
I was clear, I'm sure. By just accepting it and not making a stink, that's an issue.

Negotiating for the best deal is doing nothing ? And by the way, I asked you what (keyword) could I do to not be painted by you as the problem ? As in, please provide an example.
Merely saying that what I do is inaction and failing to provide other avenue or ideas is weak. You can do better.

I Pay $40 a month for Freedom mobile, which is basically unlimited but the speeds suck after 3GB. Coverage is crap, but i don't move around a lot so this doesn't bother me. Paying $160 a month for service is crazy talk IMHO even if its for 2 lines.... Yes i bring my own phone but used phones can be had for cheap.

By 2 lines, I mean 2 actual phones and CAD$ tx in (66$ base price) (Are you from US?) with free phone... Anyway not sure why I'm arguing... seems like I should have no cellphone and burn bras from Walmart while yelling "Make America great again"
 
Negotiating for the best deal is doing nothing ? And by the way, I asked you what (keyword) could I do to not be painted by you as the problem ? As in, please provide an example.
Merely saying that what I do is inaction and failing to provide other avenue or ideas is weak. You can do better.



By 2 lines, I mean 2 actual phones and CAD$ tx in (66$ base price) (Are you from US?) with free phone... Anyway not sure why I'm arguing... seems like I should have no cellphone and burn bras from Walmart while yelling "Make America great again"

He's Canadian and $160 for two lines is atrocious.
 
He's Canadian and $160 for two lines is atrocious.

Ok, so ~150$/m (no tax) is atrocious for 2 lines with 24GB shared and 1200$ worth of phones (2years).
Man am I wrong.... and here I thought I had the good deals here in Quebec.

But yeah again you fail to provide any hint or help to improve this ... you can judge all you want but trust me, here I'm in the best deals we can get.
Yes I wish we paid less, now tell me how... and please don't tell me to use used/old phones... this is [H].

Edit: I assume you're from the US or Canada and can say you're also part of the problem that those countries pay high broadband price compared to some Europe countries... I mean hey you're replying so you use that expensive internet right ?
 
Last edited:
He's Canadian and $160 for two lines is atrocious.
I'm paying over $200 for two lines and tethered data to a tablet, and alleged unlimited data at AT&T, and I don't have any other choice other than Verizon, and their prices are about the same. His $160Cdn is about $120US, which to me makes his plan a pretty damned good deal. I would love to be paying that right now.
 
Ok, so ~150$/m (no tax) is atrocious for 2 lines with 24GB shared and 1200$ worth of phones (2years).
Man am I wrong.... and here I thought I had the good deals here in Quebec.

But yeah again you fail to provide any hint or help to improve this ... you can judge all you want but trust me, here I'm in the best deals we can get.
Yes I wish we paid less, now tell me how... and please don't tell me to use used/old phones... this is [H].

Edit: I assume you're from the US or Canada and can say you're also part of the problem that those countries pay high broadband price compared to some Europe countries... I mean hey you're replying so you use that expensive internet right ?
He's trolling you. $160CDN is $120US, there's no major carrier that comes close when it's over and done with.
 
Personally, if I lived in Canada, I'd try to get a US SIM card from Google's Fi or Tmobile which have free international roaming, and just use that in Canada.

Can you get one with a Canadian postal code ? I would think they would say you need a valid US zip code... You also need to factor in that your family will probably pay long distance when they call your US phone number ...
And frankly, how cheaper are the US plan seriously ?

Edit: just checked the article, wth is this junk lol ? 46CAD$ for 2GB ? !? Seriously, no wonder Telus says it's biased.
 
I'd like to know how good GoogleFi's coverage is, nationwide...

I've been using Fi since shortly after it launched.

I was a sceptic at first as well, but I decided I wanted to experiment for myself.

My experience has been that their "Network of Networks" approach has been much better than I expected. In many cases I have better coverage with Fi than friends and colleagues with Verizon or AT&T, at least in reasonably well populated areas within a couple of miles of a major interstate. Being able to pick the strongest of two or more network in areas like this has been a really good experience.

I'd imagine out in really rural areas this may not be the case. Picking the best of T-mobile, Sprint (or U.S. Cellular) isn't going to help much if none of them have any signal :p I almost never make it to truly rural areas though. In my few years of using Fi, I only remember not having signal once, a few years back, in a little dead zone in Coventry, CT.
 
Can you get one with a Canadian postal code? I would think they would say you need a valid US zip code...

I thought about that. I wonder if you could just use a US friends address, and pay with a rechargeable VISA gift card.

You also need to factor in that your family will probably pay long distance when they call your US phone number ...

Certainly also an issue, but how often do people actually call using the regular phone service anymore, with all the chat apps we have these days that can both do voice messaging, voice calls and video calls?

And frankly, how cheaper are the US plan seriously ?

Edit: just checked the article, wth is this junk lol ? 46CAD$ for 2GB ? !? Seriously, no wonder Telus says it's biased.

Fi is a great plan for low data users. $20 USD gets you unlimited talk & text, and then you pay by the GB for data, $10 a gig.

If you don't use much data (like me, I have wifi at home, and wifi at work, so I rarely hit my wireless data) you can get away with tiny phone bills. I was paying $30 a month for a while including all taxes and fees, but I was only using about 500mb of data a month.

If you use more mobile data, they are not the cheapest option. They recently launched an unlimited data plan for $70 per month for everything though. Not sure how good a deal that is, as I don't use that much data, so I have never researched it.
 
I'm paying $15.50/mo ($86.94 every six months) for 2gb of data and unlimited talk/text (if I use their app for VoIP). After the data is used up,I do have to pay for more if I want to continue using any data at all, which is a bit inconvenient.

As such, I ordered a second sim, and registered it with one of their free plans (200mb, unlimited talk/text), so I can just use that for talking if I run out of data. I use a separate voice service which costs $8/mo , and also google voice (free), so people can contact me as long as I have a data connection (3/4g or WiFi), regardless of which service I use.

If I had to pay $200 or even $80 for the service I have, I would rather just get a feature phone and a 2g carrier. Unfortunately, I'd still be paying about as much as I am now if I did (for hundreds or thousands of minutes I'll never use, and potentially lose my number at any moment,for whatever reason they can think up), so this is the best compromise I could find.
 
Last edited:
Ok, so ~150$/m (no tax) is atrocious for 2 lines with 24GB shared and 1200$ worth of phones (2years).
Man am I wrong.... and here I thought I had the good deals here in Quebec.

But yeah again you fail to provide any hint or help to improve this ... you can judge all you want but trust me, here I'm in the best deals we can get.
Yes I wish we paid less, now tell me how... and please don't tell me to use used/old phones... this is [H].

Edit: I assume you're from the US or Canada and can say you're also part of the problem that those countries pay high broadband price compared to some Europe countries... I mean hey you're replying so you use that expensive internet right ?

It does sound high. I have 5 lines for $192 USD/mo with taxes. It's not unlimited data (22gb/mo + rollover), but we don't even use half the available on a typical month.

My wife and myself get our phones free, but I'm not sure on the other lines. We did have to trade in our existing phones at the time though (worth less than $200 each).

I still think my price is a little high, but I pay it due to the excellent coverage.
 
It does sound high. I have 5 lines for $192 USD/mo with taxes. It's not unlimited data (22gb/mo + rollover), but we don't even use half the available on a typical month.

My wife and myself get our phones free, but I'm not sure on the other lines. We did have to trade in our existing phones at the time though (worth less than $200 each).

I still think my price is a little high, but I pay it due to the excellent coverage.

We pay $120/mo for 5 lines with unlimited data, 20GB hotspot, and free Netflix with T-Mobile.
 
We pay $120/mo for 5 lines with unlimited data, 20GB hotspot, and free Netflix with T-Mobile.
Yeah but then you have T-Mobile. You have to sacrifice somewhere, one of those pick 2 out of 3 scenarios: great price, great cell coverage/quality, great data plan.

The classic GSM carriers have never been good in my experience, but not sure who T-mobile uses anymore these days.
 
Yeah but then you have T-Mobile. You have to sacrifice somewhere, one of those pick 2 out of 3 scenarios: great price, great cell coverage/quality, great data plan.

The classic GSM carriers have never been good in my experience, but not sure who T-mobile uses anymore these days.

T-Mobile had about 95% of the coverage that Verizon (who I left 3 years ago) and AT&T (which the rest of my family has) along the east coast whenever we traveled together. I was definitely happy with that going from $240/month on Verizon with 3 lines, 2x lines of which on their legacy unlimited data plan (with no restrictions until right before I left when they soft capped it at 100 GBs or something) to $100/month for 4x lines on their One unlimited plan that has a soft cap at 52ish GBs (where they only deprioritize, not throttle) and limit video to 480p with I think it was 6 or 10GBs of 4G hotspot available.

So less than half the bill without sacrificing much on coverage or service was definitely worth it to me. Band 12 helped them a lot in the past few years in terms of coverage, as when I initially switched there wasn't much coverage indoors because the other bands were too high frequency to go indoors, plus band 12 allowed for much wider coverage from a single tower as well. Now they're also doing band 71 at 600 MHz, so they're only going to get better as they continue to throw up more towers.

T-Mobile is their own network too, so they don't "use" anyone, other carriers (MVNOs) use them though. The Sprint-T-Mo merger is going to be big for them too, but it seems there's still a lot of road blocks being thrown at them to stop that from happening despite it pretty much being a done-deal.
 
Negotiating for the best deal is doing nothing ? And by the way, I asked you what (keyword) could I do to not be painted by you as the problem ? As in, please provide an example.
Merely saying that what I do is inaction and failing to provide other avenue or ideas is weak. You can do better.
By 2 lines, I mean 2 actual phones and CAD$ tx in (66$ base price) (Are you from US?) with free phone... Anyway not sure why I'm arguing... seems like I should have no cellphone and burn bras from Walmart while yelling "Make America great again"


Sorry i wasn't trying to shame your price or troll in any way. I guess my point was more that i i am not willing to spend that much per month on phone and or service. When i comes to phones,i have decided i don't need the latest and greatest as i pretty much only use it to browse internet and IM. I reserve most of my [H] dollars for my PC's.
 
I've been using Fi since shortly after it launched.

I was a sceptic at first as well, but I decided I wanted to experiment for myself.

My experience has been that their "Network of Networks" approach has been much better than I expected. In many cases I have better coverage with Fi than friends and colleagues with Verizon or AT&T, at least in reasonably well populated areas within a couple of miles of a major interstate. Being able to pick the strongest of two or more network in areas like this has been a really good experience.

I'd imagine out in really rural areas this may not be the case. Picking the best of T-mobile, Sprint (or U.S. Cellular) isn't going to help much if none of them have any signal :p I almost never make it to truly rural areas though. In my few years of using Fi, I only remember not having signal once, a few years back, in a little dead zone in Coventry, CT.
And there's the rub: I spend alot of time on highways in rural areas with an absolute need for phone & data connectivity. AT&T/Verizon may be a bunch of shitbags to deal with, but they're the only games with significant coverage across the US.
 
And there's the rub: I spend alot of time on highways in rural areas with an absolute need for phone & data connectivity. AT&T/Verizon may be a bunch of shitbags to deal with, but they're the only games with significant coverage across the US.

I feel like generally along highways they are good, but I can't speak for the whole country as I have not tested.
 
Sorry i wasn't trying to shame your price or troll in any way. I guess my point was more that i i am not willing to spend that much per month on phone and or service. When i comes to phones,i have decided i don't need the latest and greatest as i pretty much only use it to browse internet and IM. I reserve most of my [H] dollars for my PC's.

Don't worry I wasn't mad at you, sorry if I sounded rude.. long evening yesterday.
Anyway, he market here is different and I think I got a good deal based on my comparison with people I know.
 
Don't worry I wasn't mad at you, sorry if I sounded rude.. long evening yesterday.
Anyway, he market here is different and I think I got a good deal based on my comparison with people I know.

Yeah i live in Canada and i agree you have a good deal by our standards all considerd, but its still too expensive from a global standard. We do have a large area for coverage with a small population so that explains alot but i would like to see more competition be allowed to flourish instead of it being squashed or bought out.
 
Yeah i live in Canada and i agree you have a good deal by our standards all considerd, but its still too expensive from a global standard. We do have a large area for coverage with a small population so that explains alot but i would like to see more competition be allowed to flourish instead of it being squashed or bought out.

I do agree that data only plan are scarce. I think they based their analysis on data only plans which indeed is off the chart mainly to block VOIP users I guess.
Also getting a US SIM card would be a bad avenue in the long run, imagine 50% of users on US SIM cards... network would not be maintained much.
 
In january I got 65$ per month(including tax) with a brand new Iphone XR 64gb for my SO. 8gb of data and unlimited calls.

pretty Good if you ask me.

But lately they have change the way they work. You now have a finance fee for your phone. So i got for one of my employee the same deal as my SO( same phone data and calls) , but add on top of that 34$ for the phone each months.

fuck telus
 
I was clear, I'm sure. By just accepting it and not making a stink, that's an issue.


So what he's supposed to write a strongly worded letter? Perhaps reach out to his local politician to raise a stink as well? You know the same ones who are in office because of corporate malfeasance?
 
They need to take into consideration that we have much less population per square feet...

90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the border. Telecoms use your excuse very often but it just doesn’t fly.
 
T-Mobile had about 95% of the coverage that Verizon (who I left 3 years ago) and AT&T (which the rest of my family has) along the east coast whenever we traveled together. I was definitely happy with that going from $240/month on Verizon with 3 lines, 2x lines of which on their legacy unlimited data plan (with no restrictions until right before I left when they soft capped it at 100 GBs or something) to $100/month for 4x lines on their One unlimited plan that has a soft cap at 52ish GBs (where they only deprioritize, not throttle) and limit video to 480p with I think it was 6 or 10GBs of 4G hotspot available.

So less than half the bill without sacrificing much on coverage or service was definitely worth it to me. Band 12 helped them a lot in the past few years in terms of coverage, as when I initially switched there wasn't much coverage indoors because the other bands were too high frequency to go indoors, plus band 12 allowed for much wider coverage from a single tower as well. Now they're also doing band 71 at 600 MHz, so they're only going to get better as they continue to throw up more towers.

T-Mobile is their own network too, so they don't "use" anyone, other carriers (MVNOs) use them though. The Sprint-T-Mo merger is going to be big for them too, but it seems there's still a lot of road blocks being thrown at them to stop that from happening despite it pretty much being a done-deal.

Ah OK. All I know is the people I've known that have had their service have not been happy. I've tried AT&T in the past when they were supposedly superior to T-mobile, and it was not good. So I haven't tried T-mobile myself directly, but if their service was superior to Verizon's, I can't imagine why they'd charge so much less, and find it more likely to follow the experience of people I've known and my GSM experience I've had previously.

I think as carriers start dropping pre-4g technology over the coming years, the gaps will shrink a lot more. But I'm just speculating.

Ironically, in my house I bought 3 years ago that I live in now, Verizon coverage is not good... very inconsistent. But I get to utilize WiFi calling at home, and I've yet to experience issues elsewhere. That's probably why I'm hesitant to just abandon them for a trial period at some other carrier.
 
I have a family member who pays Verizon almost $500 a month for 5 lines. They complain about it all the time and ask how we pay so little. I stopped telling them because they just ignore me and keep signing new contracts to get the lastest iphones.

I have a Verizon MVNO (Boom!) and pay $25 for 1GB data (unlimited talk/text). I tried ATT and Sprint but didn't have service inside the house and MVNOs weren't offering wifi calling, not sure if they do yet.
 
What ? Did I tickle you somewhere you didn't like lol ? I'm all for lower price as long as coverage stays at least the same.
I won't go on strike and flip cars because of the price I pay that's all I'm saying...

https://business.financialpost.com/telecom/telus-reports-q3-profit-and-revenue-up-from-year-ago-raises-dividend#targetText=Operating revenue totalled $3.77 billion,of 72 cents per share.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rogers-profit-rises-by-more-than-a-third-to-425m-1.4627514#targetText=Rogers profit rises by more than a third to $425,the comparable period last year.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/bce-reports-first-quarter-2019-results-854013662.html

I have to say all our carriers are pure fucking evil. Years back I worked for Telus as they pushed outside of Alberta... and they are pure scum all the way up. Before that I sold contracts for Rogers and they where perhaps a fraction better. All our majors are making over a billion in profit a year and that has been going on for a very long time now. In the last number of years every one of them is reporting 40-150k NEW cellular subs a quarter. At this point big land service companies like Telus are reporting 50% of their revenue is from mobile.

They like to scare us with the.... Land mass !!! Customers per Kilometer !!! Its a great narrative to spin... there are two few of you and the geography means very high cost infrastructure. Trust me its 100% bullshit. (sure in a small Euro or Asian country perhaps they have 10x the population density and half the land mass to service... but they don't have 3 players either your talking about markets with 10+ carriers) They can afford to blanket the country in towers which cost a lot less today then they did 30 years ago. The profit margins they are seeing on mobile are monopoly healthy. I am not saying they shouldn't be able to make money.... however name ONE other industry where you can gross multiple billions in revenue at 50% margin and retain strong government protections from competition. The big 3 use every dirty trick in the book to make people believe Canada is an expensive place to do business, and outside competition would threaten our Canadianess and must be blocked at all costs. Hell they have even started multiple little no name carriers to sell low cost no contract services in an attempt to convince Canadians that there isn't really only 3 companies (who collude all the time) selling service.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top