Mobile Rates Going Up Due to 2 Year Plan Changes

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

It's baffling to me that the big three haven't pulled on the plug on this "save Canada!" campaign. The public's reaction has been a resounding "Fata You!" and it's simply feeding into the perception that the Big 3 have been in cahoots for years to keep prices where they are.

They are running a lot of TV and radio ads, maybe they are going for the uninformed non-internet savvy angry joe six pack support still? How common is this vs. the vocal internet population?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

Now they're breaking out the "Fear America" card.

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



I get it, this NSA stuff is a real concern, but to think that this data isn't already accessible to these types of agencies is silly. It's taking one issue and twisting it to suit another purpose.

That's old page 9 news

[GreenLantern2814]

Get on a Nexus and never worry about these things again; I'm on a pretty sweetheart plan from Bell for $65 a month with 6GB data, 200 long distance, 200 anytime, unlimited evenings/weekends, My10, unlimited texts, call ID, voicemail etc.

I'm looking forward to the day I can tell their contract people to #### off and keep paying this rate or better in perpetuity. No issues with the network persay, but the days of feeling pressured into a 3-year extension just to get an upgrade are OVER.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

They are running a lot of TV and radio ads, maybe they are going for the uninformed non-internet savvy angry joe six pack support still? How common is this vs. the vocal internet population?

Anecdotally, I don't know anybody who is buying what the big 3 are trying to sell. As I mentioned above my own mother who I use as my "tech base-line" (if she knows how to do something technical, everybody else also should) asked me why the big 3 are so afraid of the competition coming in.

I also work in tech support so I also get users asking me personal questions. Once again, most people have figured out that this is just extra competition and good for end users.

[Bobblehead]

CEO of wind responds to the ad campaign:

After all, in the early days of cellphones and wireless technology the government simply gave them bucketloads of Canadian spectrum for free.

No subsidies are being offered, and no one will be paying more in taxes. Where a new entrant roams on an existing network, they have to pay the Big Three a fair commercial price for that access. Any claim otherwise is nothing more than lies and fear-mongering.

The Big Three are not serving these smaller communities out of the goodness of their hearts. They are serving these communities because there are customers there, and money to be made. I am quite confident that, should the Big Three decide in a huff to abandon their cellular service in Moncton, someone else would swoop in to take over.

http://windmobileblog.com/2013/08/ti...h-and-reality/

[smoothpops]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

CEO of wind responds to the ad campaign:



http://windmobileblog.com/2013/08/ti...h-and-reality/

My favorite paragraph in the post; "The truth is the auction structure for 700MHz is not unfair to the Big Three at all. Perhaps Bell, TELUS and Rogers have lost some perspective after decades of getting handouts and protections from the Canadian people. It’s understandable, I suppose. After all, in the early days of cellphones and wireless technology the government simply gave them bucketloads of Canadian spectrum for free. If that is their baseline for what’s “fair”, then it’s not hard to understand why the Big Three feel so hard done by when they have to actively compete."

Basically cuts the fair for Canada ads off at the knees.

[theinfinitejar]

This news story from CBC earlier this week seems to confirm what we have known all along: the Canadian public isn't actually as dumb as the big 3 seem to believe they are. They're seeing right through this miscalculated campaign and telling Robellus where to stick it.

[WilsonFourTwo]

There is a great quote early in the piece

"So they haven't built a relationship with the Canadian public. They've now turned to the Canadian public to come to their aid."

That's exactly it. The Big Three have spent years ignoring their customers and are now demanding us to defend them so they can continue. Screw them.

[FlameOn]

More news on the regulatory front. CRTC is now investigating Robellus roaming rates and agreements. Hopefully prices continue to drop.
http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/08/31/cr...nd-agreements/

[ken0042]

This is huge; as roaming rates are ridiculous. Back in 2006 I was paying 17¢ per text when roaming in the US. Now it's 75¢. Somebody is making a lot of extra money there; as the cost of texting is lower now.

Also today I went into Wind to talk to them about a plan, and I asked about US roaming. They have a deal with T-Mobile that allows them to charge $1 per MB for data roaming. While that isn't "cheap", it is 1/6 the cost of what Bell is charging. If a small company like Wind can make an agreement with a major US carrier like that; why can't Robellus? Especially seeing as Wind can offer very little in return; whereas the Big 3 can offer a reciprocal agreement for US customers roaming here.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by ken0042

This is huge; as roaming rates are ridiculous. Back in 2006 I was paying 17¢ per text when roaming in the US. Now it's 75¢. Somebody is making a lot of extra money there; as the cost of texting is lower now.

Texting is actually part of the GSM signalling msg that controls network traffic as such it really doesn't cost the carrier anything once your phone is on network. It's pure profit for them and is ridiculous the rates are so high. Glad the gov't is looking at regulating this too and I wonder if the announcement to look at what amounts to one of the highest margin pay service is a response to Robellus's spectrum auction misinformation campaign.

[flamesfan6]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Get on a Nexus and never worry about these things again; I'm on a pretty sweetheart plan from Bell for $65 a month with 6GB data, 200 long distance, 200 anytime, unlimited evenings/weekends, My10, unlimited texts, call ID, voicemail etc.

I'm looking forward to the day I can tell their contract people to #### off and keep paying this rate or better in perpetuity. No issues with the network persay, but the days of feeling pressured into a 3-year extension just to get an upgrade are OVER.

correct me if I'm wrong... the phone doesn't matter a bit when it comes to paying for a plan, the problem is that it is the plan: the $65 a month with 6GB data, and all that other stuff won't exist anymore, and you won't be able to renew that...

[Jude]

Originally Posted by flamesfan6

correct me if I'm wrong... the phone doesn't matter a bit when it comes to paying for a plan, the problem is that it is the plan: the $65 a month with 6GB data, and all that other stuff won't exist anymore, and you won't be able to renew that...

I thought the same thing, I locked into a 3 year plan about 4 months ago (6GB for $60/month) but I didn't bother upgrading at the time, I figured I can just cancel my contract for $15 if I really needed to. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago I really needed to replace my phone so I called into retentions and the rep said that since my plan was $60 pre-tax I was eligible to use my existing plan and re-sign it for a 2 year contract. I actually ended up saving 8 months the contract by doing this, go figure.

[FlameOn]

Industry Canada has put out a website refuting most of the talking points of the "Fair for Canada" campaign.
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.ns...o=More_Choices

Sad that are government has to actually put something official like this out just to clear up the Robellus misinformation.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by ken0042

This is huge; as roaming rates are ridiculous. Back in 2006 I was paying 17¢ per text when roaming in the US. Now it's 75¢. Somebody is making a lot of extra money there; as the cost of texting is lower now.

Also today I went into Wind to talk to them about a plan, and I asked about US roaming. They have a deal with T-Mobile that allows them to charge $1 per MB for data roaming. While that isn't "cheap", it is 1/6 the cost of what Bell is charging. If a small company like Wind can make an agreement with a major US carrier like that; why can't Robellus? Especially seeing as Wind can offer very little in return; whereas the Big 3 can offer a reciprocal agreement for US customers roaming here.

Also with wind for $5 per month you can get roaming down to 50 cents a MB and 5 cents a text. I just got back from a 3 week trip to the states and for about $25 I was able to use maps and the internet to look for things.

I think the best part about Verizon coming in will be north american roaming. I bet their first promotion to get Canadians to switch to them will be very low cost or free US data.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by flamesfan6

correct me if I'm wrong... the phone doesn't matter a bit when it comes to paying for a plan, the problem is that it is the plan: the $65 a month with 6GB data, and all that other stuff won't exist anymore, and you won't be able to renew that...

Usually, you can keep the same plan after the contract expires indefinitely month-to-month, even if the plan is no longer available.

Originally Posted by GGG

I think the best part about Verizon coming in will be north american roaming. I bet their first promotion to get Canadians to switch to them will be very low cost or free US data.

The Wind and Verizon network configurations are about as incompatible as you can get in North America; no existing Wind phone will work with Verizon's network and vice versa.

Of course, now that Verizon Comm is buying the 45% of Verizon Wireless it doesn't own for $130 billion, it's hard to say if Verizon will even come to Canada.

[FlameOn]

Better hope Wind has deep pockets. Verizon confirms that they will not be coming to Canada. Hopefully Orascom and the Egyptians can fund Wind and Mobilicity heavily in the coming auction and Robellus doesn't price the spectrum out of reach of Wind. We won't have any more competition otherwise and we'll end up with continued profit margin increases year over year. Rogers profit margins went up 10% this year alone and that can't continue.
http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/09/02/ve...way-overblown/

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Hopefully Orascom and the Egyptians can fund Wind and Mobilicity heavily in the coming auction and Robellus doesn't price the spectrum out of reach of Wind.

The Big 3 can only win 3 of the 4 prime blocks, so that 4th block should be affordable since it'll be mainly contested by regionals and the new entrants.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by accord1999

The Big 3 can only win 3 of the 4 prime blocks, so that 4th block should be affordable since it'll be mainly contested by regionals and the new entrants.

Which is exactly what we don't want. If you want Wind to build a national network with the 700 block you'd want them to get two blocks and not just one. Verizon would definitely have had the capital to do that, I'm not sure Wind will. If they don't get enough spectrum Wind will get stuck as a third rate provider or stuck with fairly limited bandwidth with high network congestion.

[WilsonFourTwo]

Disappointing news from Verizon today, but the writing was on the wall once the overseas situation with Vodafone came to light.

Its disappointing to see all the lost jobs because of the decision....I guess the Big Three can layoff all of those poor defenseless ad executive types now.