Mobile Rates Going Up Due to 2 Year Plan Changes

[Knut]

I just upgraded to the iPhone 5 with Bell. My plan had run out and I wanted to shop around.

Turns out my old plan Is way better than any new plan currently. Seventy- seven dollars for six gigs data and unlimited everything. Plus bell waived the upgrade fee and took $50 off the price of the iPhone ($129 now).

If you have an old high data plan it is likely better to stay with it than change.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

I have no sympathy for these guys. Just heard a radio ad last night and was laughing at how pathetic their whole "It's not fair!" message is.

They bully Wind and Moblicity with Chatr and KooDoo, and when a bigger bully comes along they start crying tears. They effectivly used their market share to drive the start ups into ruin, and tried to buy them out. Very preditory, and the goverent isn't stupid to see that either.

Now this, they are blocking a new provider that will allow you to pay for only what you use.

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story...ile-phone.html

I say good on the gov't for not bending to these preditory husslers.

Ting is a really good option for lots of people, since the plan is completely flex and you can add additional devices for a very small monthly fee, however if you consistently use a lot of voice/data it isn't really that spectacular, price wise.

https://ting.com/rates

For example, my base Rogers Super 6 plan without any of my free addons is $65. If I was to consistently use all my minutes and 3Gb of data (which is a typical high-end month usage, out of the 6 GB I have), my cost would be about $80 with Ting.

However the bonus comes where I can add my wife to the same plan for $6, and add a ton of extra minutes/texts etc and only be paying $98. Add in my niece who only ever really texts for an extra $20 we can add her phone and 5000 extra texts for the pool, if she uses them all.

Data gets pretty expensive as it goes up though, for example, if I was to go from 3GB usage a month to 6Gb a month, the cost goes up by $75. However, if I was only to use 1GB on a given month, the price drops by $36.

Of course, you can cap it at whatever you want, so no surprises at the end of the month, which is a bonus.

[fundmark19]

If only ting accepted Iphones and I could do 6 gigs of data. I would switch right away! I really like that format

[Rathji]

You can do extra data, at 2.5c per MB.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Rathji

You can do extra data, at 2.5c per MB.

we need this in Canada!

[SuperMatt18]

Ting prices really aren't that great.

For 100 Minutes, 1000 texts, and 2GB of data you are spending $62.

Prior to the 2 year code implementation I would have been able to get Unlimited Minutes, Text, and 2 GB of data from Koodo, Virgin, Fido for $60 and they would have given me $300 off a phone.

Edit: Actually I can still get that with Koodo, and data overage is $10/GB which is decent too.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Ting prices really aren't that great.

For 100 Minutes, 1000 texts, and 2GB of data you are spending $62.

Prior to the 2 year code implementation I would have been able to get Unlimited Minutes, Text, and 2 GB of data from Koodo, Virgin, Fido for $60 and they would have given me $300 off a phone.

Edit: Actually I can still get that with Koodo, and data overage is $10/GB which is decent too.

The real benefit comes from adding additional devices, and the fact that you only pay for what you actually use.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

I have no sympathy for these guys. Just heard a radio ad last night and was laughing at how pathetic their whole "It's not fair!" message is.

I heard a radio ad yesterday questioning if they would service small towns; because it's big cities where the money is. Just had a girl saying "I wonder....."

Annoying as heck. Actually makes me sure they are worried about some real competition. As was said earlier; the first carrier that offers a good North America wide plan will likely get a significant share of the customer base in Canada. We are in an odd location in Alberta; where we are 5 hours from the nearest US shopping and 8 hours from Spokane. Most of the rest of the major cities in Canada have a decent sized US city less than 2 hours away. When I lived in Winnipeg it was common to go down to Grand Forks and run into people you know.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I heard a radio ad yesterday questioning if they would service small towns; because it's big cities where the money is. Just had a girl saying "I wonder....."

Annoying as heck. Actually makes me sure they are worried about some real competition. As was said earlier; the first carrier that offers a good North America wide plan will likely get a significant share of the customer base in Canada. We are in an odd location in Alberta; where we are 5 hours from the nearest US shopping and 8 hours from Spokane. Most of the rest of the major cities in Canada have a decent sized US city less than 2 hours away. When I lived in Winnipeg it was common to go down to Grand Forks and run into people you know.

http://www.fairforcanada.ca/

Just heard the ad.

Maybe they should decide to lower their rates instead of paying millions of dollars for a scare campaign. Straight out of the Karl Rove playbook.

I hope the majority of Canadians aren't dumb enough to fall for this crap.

[Brannigans Law]

The video is right I dont want taxpayer dollars wasted giving sweetheart deals to a giant US telco... but the hypocrisy dilutes the message for me. They want things fair? Maybe you shouldn't have used your own size to crush new entrants and used your own lobbying to bully them. What a crock. No real good answer in this situation though.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Brannigans Law

The video is right I dont want taxpayer dollars wasted giving sweetheart deals to a giant US telco... but the hypocrisy dilutes the message for me. They want things fair? Maybe you shouldn't have used your own size to crush new entrants and used your own lobbying to bully them. What a crock. No real good answer in this situation though.

I agree. The irony is that if they just contained the new entrants and not crushed them methodically, they would not be facing this new threat.

[OldDutch]

I found this story amusing given their "That's no fair" whine fest. So Rogers is giving cash to a Canadian firm to try to buy Wind before Verizon can.

Why do they even try these stunts? Is it not obvious to them that the gov't sees right through these games?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...d-telecom.html

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

I agree. The irony is that if they just contained the new entrants and not crushed them methodically, they would not be facing this new threat.

What did the big 3 do to crush the new entrants?

Poor managements, poor service, unsustainably low rates, and ridiculous offers that hurt cash flow ($200+ port-in credits) are what got the new entrants into trouble.

The big 3 never even competed directly with the new entrants on price, and they never once got close to unlimited everything for $30 per month.

People made it seem like they aggressively knocked off the new entrants, when really they just improved the offering from the value brands, and let the new entrants slowly die off due to unsustainable economics.

In the end it was beneficial for the customers because the value brands became more competitive with one another and were offering $60 rate plans that included Unlimited NW Calling, Unlimited Text, and 2GB of data with a $300 tab.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

What did the big 3 do to crush the new entrants?

Poor managements, poor service, unsustainably low rates, and ridiculous offers that hurt cash flow ($200+ port-in credits) are what got the new entrants into trouble.

The big 3 never even competed directly with the new entrants on price, and they never once got close to unlimited everything for $30 per month.

People made it seem like they aggressively knocked off the new entrants, when really they just improved the offering from the value brands, and let the new entrants slowly die off due to unsustainable economics.

In the end it was beneficial for the customers because the value brands became more competitive with one another and were offering $60 rate plans that included Unlimited NW Calling, Unlimited Text, and 2GB of data with a $300 tab.

Spectrum hoarding.

[Brannigans Law]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Spectrum hoarding.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Recently went to the States and through Bell the best deal was 50 mins, 50mb, and 200 texts for $50 for 30 days.

All Verizon needs to do is get rid of roaming state side and lots of people will come over. The big three would have to do something to entice people to stay.

If Verizon comes up here I will sign immediately regardless to stick it to the big three. There is no excuse for Canada having some of the highest rates in the world and regardless of them being Canadian or not I'm simply not going to support companies that have been gouging their citizens.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

If Verizon comes up here I will sign immediately regardless to stick it to the big three. There is no excuse for Canada having some of the highest rates in the world and regardless of them being Canadian or not I'm simply not going to support companies that have been gouging their citizens.

Will you still sign if their pricing is just as bad or worse than the big three?

What makes people think Verizon will be cheaper than the current B3 options? Call be skeptical but look at Target - prices are not as cheap as they are in the US. If there's money to be made in Canada, Verizon will do so.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Will you still sign if their pricing is just as bad or worse than the big three?

What makes people think Verizon will be cheaper than the current B3 options? Call be skeptical but look at Target - prices are not as cheap as they are in the US. If there's money to be made in Canada, Verizon will do so.

They would have to be. In order for them to get any sort of initial market penetration; there will need to be sales and discounts otherwise there is no incentive to switch. If they want to make any money in Canada they'll have to priced more competitively than Robellus, at least initially.

I think Robellus is afraid more of Verizon's deeper pockets i.e. war chest and ability to take a bigger hit in profits to steal away initial customers. Wind and Mobilicity are not faring as well in their plans to build out that initial customer base.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

What did the big 3 do to crush the new entrants?

Poor managements, poor service, unsustainably low rates, and ridiculous offers that hurt cash flow ($200+ port-in credits) are what got the new entrants into trouble.

The big 3 never even competed directly with the new entrants on price, and they never once got close to unlimited everything for $30 per month.

People made it seem like they aggressively knocked off the new entrants, when really they just improved the offering from the value brands, and let the new entrants slowly die off due to unsustainable economics.

In the end it was beneficial for the customers because the value brands became more competitive with one another and were offering $60 rate plans that included Unlimited NW Calling, Unlimited Text, and 2GB of data with a $300 tab.

I'll go ahead and counter with this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatr#Fighter_brand

I will also add that Wind's undoing was partly responsible for choosing AWS tech and not being able to offer the iPhone. Virgin and Fido, which are discount Big 3 brands could.

However, To say the Big 3 had no part (or a minimal part) in helping Wind to fail is just simply not true.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Aws tech?

That was the spectrum being auctioned, it was Aws or nothing.