Cell Phones

Of course, it's the consumer's fault

  • Last Updated:
  • Mar 9th, 2017 8:09 am
Deal Addict
Aug 20, 2008
2097 posts
971 upvotes
X-Nemesis wrote: With only 36 Million potential customers, do foreign carriers even want to get into the Canadian market?
Yes, they will wipe out the competition. The truth is all 3 networks are practically the same right now, they all have great coverage and good speeds. If a US telco (AT&T or Verizon) buys one of them you can bet "North American Roaming" will be included, and that's a big plus for business customers (you know, the ones actually driving up the ARPU, not RFD members). Add to that the volume discounts they get from Apple and Samsung, they can undercut the remaining two carriers on hardware (look at the US deals with "buy one get one free" iPhone and family plans).
That's if a foreign carrier enters by buying a network, we already saw that building one out from scratch (i.e. Freedom Mobile) doesn't make any financial sense.
Deal Expert
Aug 2, 2004
38392 posts
12011 upvotes
East Gwillimbury
RFDQ1016 wrote: I hope you are aware there is no difference in network between Telus/Koodo/Public or Rogers/Fido or Bell/Virgin
I'm completely aware, it costs them more money to maintain multiple networks.

It's not the point. The difference is in the service levels between the brands. Public Mobile has no customer service whereas Telus has full customer service.

It would be unfair to compare Rogers against Koodo or even Fido
Deal Expert
User avatar
Mar 23, 2009
22529 posts
8938 upvotes
Toronto
bomber17 wrote: They already changed the system before CRTC even kicked in. Telus started the subsidy change and CRTC copied it few years later. Plans were cheaper than today, you can't get a consumer 6GB plan with highest subsidy for under $60 anymore. Even BOYD is not possible unless you want to jump hoops.
True about the subsidized plans, but also back then they were not unlimited Canada-wide voice and SMS/MMS plans either. And to get these deals often meant dealing with loyalty.

And I'll repeat: My BYOD post-paid Fido plan from Dec. 2016 is $54, which is $60 minus 10%, with unlimited Canada-wide voice, 1000 long distance minutes to certain countries, unlimited international SMS/MMS, and 6 GB data. This plan was an in-market plan, available to everyone, including both new and existing customers. No hoop jumping involved. The main problem with it was that it was a short term sale. So, if you had been locked into a contract (Fido or anywhere else) you wouldn't have been able to switch to this plan without incurring significant penalties. Yet another reason not to have a contract.
Gee wrote: I'm completely aware, it costs them more money to maintain multiple networks.

It's not the point. The difference is in the service levels between the brands. Public Mobile has no customer service whereas Telus has full customer service.

It would be unfair to compare Rogers against Koodo or even Fido
Customer service between Fido and Rogers is very similar. However, both are in a totally different customer service tier than Koodo and of course Public Mobile, which is why I specifically discussed both Koodo and Public Mobile above.

The main difference between Rogers and Fido is business support, but from individual consumer's perspective that's irrelevant. Ironically though, I use Fido for my business since I'm a one man show with no employees.
Last edited by EugW on Mar 9th, 2017 6:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
Deal Guru
Jul 19, 2012
14763 posts
4912 upvotes
Montreal
X-Nemesis wrote: With only 36 Million potential customers, do foreign carriers even want to get into the Canadian market?
let's open it up and find out.

and I'm certain that if offered an opening of more than 10% of the US market, lots of of companies would jump at the chance, especially seeing the insanely-high prices we already pay due to the enforced monoply at the top.
Deal Guru
Feb 9, 2006
13375 posts
8307 upvotes
Brampton
The Competition Bureau needs to change its name to the Collusion Bureau.

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