While I've been in Europe I've paid 5 Euros a month for an amount of data that is perfectly reasonable for casual usage. Fuck Canadian carriers' so hard.
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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Not just fuck Canadian ISP's, fuck the CRTC that's run by ex-CEO's from the big three. They set the rules which are, by my guess, provided by the big three.
Check your population density numbers for any European country against Canada, or in fact, any Canadian province.
For the folks that hope for competition as a solution, this has always been a red herring. Even under the classic framework where competition is thought as an effective means to lower prices, the telco market has always been one where natural monopolies form. Introducing competition in the telco market requires regulation. Using regulated competition to lower prices is just regulating prices with extra steps. Personally, I'd demand price regulation without the overhead. Today, these are essential infrastructure services like electricity and water. And to put a further damper on the profit that can flow to regulators, ensure that unions scoop up as much from that profit as possible, effectively acting as taxation.
Yeah these are essential services now and since we can't have real competition lets just nationalize all the carriers and turn them into a crown corporation.
Almost sounds logical doesn't it. We might also stem excess profits from flowing into privatizing healthcare while doing it. Cough.. Telus Health.. cough.
Nationalize the infrastructure (cell towers / fibre network) and make everyone compete on service. No more "You don't have network? I have network." bullshit -- one cell network, with double the capacity, double the coverage, and everyone competes for customers on price and service and device support (iPhone/Android/watches/data cards/etc.), and everyone pays the same wholesale price for voice/minutes and data/gigs. Everyone gets 5G. Your only government requirement for starting a new cell company is a $1m non-transferable license/access fee that helps pay for expanding/upgrading the network.
And then sell that crown corp off after investing a ton of tax dollars so that the buyer can double prices.
Stifling competition leads to higher prices, who the fuck would have guessed that?
But what about the shareholders? Won't anyone think of the shareholders?
I think of them sometimes. Nothing good though.
But I'm sure the next huge merger will be good for consumers!
So good for competition. Great move, CRTC!
Instead of jacking prices, they should cut wages and bonuses from the execs and board. Would solve a whole lot of problems lol
The hikes apply only to customers who are not on contract.
Why is the CRTC allowing this racketeering to go on?
I feel so lucky to be with Public Mobile, where I pay < $21 a month for 1GB data, unlimited text and calling, and I've still got 6GB of unused bonus data and over 1500 of bonus international long-distance that doesn't expire.
The push to 5G on contract is why people are paying $100 a month for a cell phone plan. SCAM!
Because ROBeLUS make so much money that there's a lot left for influencing* regulation. According to some rough numbers from Wikipedia, ROBeLUS made combined 6.5B in profit in 2019. 2019 because that's the year available for two out of three and I don't feel like digging in for newer data. That's more than $170 for every Canadian.
*Influencing refers to various forms of legal and illegal lobbying, but also convincing unaffiliated voters to vote against their own interests. Instead lobbying and voting for ROBeLUS'es interest. Case in point the brilliant line - "If you let big gov regulate us, we won't have the money to build rural infrastructure." - wink wink, nudge nudge rural voter.
Its all bullshit for maximising ARPU. Public Mobile exists for users that are price conscious but you don't get any international roaming. Koodo is the step up for people that need roaming (if only SMS 2FA wasn't a thing). Then moving up to Telus is for people who don't know any better or don't give a shit about price.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Rogers Communications Inc. will increase the cost of some of its plans in the coming weeks, the company confirmed to CBC News on Wednesday.
The Rogers price hike will impact some customers' wireless phone plans and internet plans, including customers of its subsidiary Fido, a spokesperson for the telecom giant told CBC News.
"We are committed to delivering mobile and residential services with the highest standard of quality and reliability to bring our customers the best network experience," a Rogers spokesperson said in a statement.
The long-brewing deal, first announced in March 2021, was subject to a number of regulatory hurdles as opponents expressed concerns about decreased competition.
When the deal was made official in April 2023, Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri pledged in an interview that prices would go down for customers.
At the same time, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced nearly two dozen "enforceable" conditions attached to the deal's approval, including reducing costs for customers.
The original article contains 408 words, the summary contains 151 words. Saved 63%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Then Telus is going to do it also, because fuck competition when you could make more profits!
They're just gonna wait a couple of weeks to avoid getting lumped into the same news articles. It would be Bell's turn to play possum for a few weeks during the next hike.