Telecom Lobbyists Successfully Remove Canada from Wireless Pricing Report

Canada is a cesspool of oligopolies, from TV to Cell Phone to Banks, etc.The excuse is always “if we don’t then some foreign/US company could come in and destroy our culture.” Which of course is bullshit. A handful of companies are making billions and billions off the backs of Canadian with worse service and it won’t get any better unless the oligopolies are broken.

Around 2013, the Canadian government considered allowing Verizon to enter the Canadian market by buying WIND Mobile, a small budget carrier which was looking for foreign investors. They were faced with a huge fearmongering campaign orchestrated by the big three carriers, with TV ads like this:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ndQv6wwaNyM" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=ndQv6wwaNyM</a><p>Needless to say that Verizon backed out of the deal immediately.

Sadly, telecommunications (Rogers, Telus, Bell) and air transportation (WestJet, Air Canada) are affected by oligopoly.<p>The situation in Quebec is slightly better thanks to a 4th telecom company, Videotron, which brings mobile plans and internet prices lower than in the rest of Canada.<p>It&#x27;s funny how sometimes you&#x27;ll see the exactly same &quot;promotion&quot; offerings from the Robelus trio...

Pricing in Canada for mobile plans are downright awful! I can buy a plan from Australia and use it there in Canada for cheaper with international roaming.<p>I remember only 10 years ago that Canadian telcos still considered moving between state lines as ‘roaming’. I don’t know if it’s still the case.

I recently had a discussion with a colleague about this:<p>Wouldn&#x27;t it be much more efficient to start a telco with just 1 plan: unlimited everything for a fixed price.<p>Literally just charge $30&#x2F;month or so (I haven&#x27;t done the math on what is economically viable) for a flat fee plan. No strings attached, except maybe rate limit after a substantial amount of data to prevent abuse (like 50gb&#x2F;day).<p>Also: no contracts, let people cancel when they want. And don&#x27;t sell devices, just the SIM card.<p>This way you&#x27;ll have:<p>- no need for usage metering systems<p>- very simple billing systems<p>- minimal need for marketing<p>- much less support calls (at least no angry customers due to unexpected costs)<p>- a very simple self-service portal<p>Now, I know I&#x27;m being naive here, it&#x27;ll be next to impossible to start a service like this because the physical infrastructure (the base stations) are owned by the ancient behemoth telcos that have roamed the earth for past century.<p>But just imagine how great a telco can be if you were just to trim the fat, legacy and greed away.

For us living in Canada, we know we pay more than anyone else. And we&#x27;re constantly reminded of how the Bell, Telus and Rogers mafia keeps it that way.

This is <i>insane</i>... how can the Canadian populace (and by extension, the government) <i>not</i> pass laws that forbid this nonsense? Its incredible that the Canadian people are not up in arms over this shit.

I lived in Canada for 2 years. The week I moved there is when T-Mobile started offering free unlimited roaming in Canada. In my time in Canada I kept my T-Mobile plan and didn&#x27;t even have to get an unlimited plan since I already had unlimited roaming. Since my bill was sent to a Washington address, I guess I got in on some loophole. The best part was that my coverage was phenominal... I had access to Telus, Wind and Bell in my area.<p>My prior trip to BC scouting for a home (a month earlier) cost me hundreds of dollars in international calls and data usage. The phone plans in Canada are shockingly bad. Being able to circumvent them was a godsend.

I remember the spectacular pricing of around $10-15&#x2F;MB in Canadian mobile networks back around 2004-2005, just when 3G was getting started. (So it was really 2G pricing.)<p>As a reference, typical European pricing was around $2&#x2F;MB at the time, IIRC. The US of course had their typical &quot;plans&quot; that made price comparisons hard.<p>It&#x27;s fascinating that the network owners in Canada have managed to keep prices so high, for so long.<p>We were launching a mobile J2ME-based service back then; I remember thinking we&#x27;d get back to Canada when they&#x27;d got their data pricing in order but that never happened...

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