Shaw To Buy Wind Mobile for 1.6B

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by smoothpops

I wonder what's going to happen to my $39 unlimited package

It's Shaw, they'll first announce no price increases on existing packages, which means you'll inexplicably be paying $55 a month before you know it!

[Amethyst]

I think it's much more likely that Shaw will be the same as the Big 3, rather than a great deal. I was part of a focus group once, where people were asked their thoughts on Shaw (among other things). Old-time Calgary people loved Shaw and thought it was this great little upstart company whereas everyone else thought it was just another big corporate entity, not much different than Telus.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by polak

Pefect. My contract expires with Telus in January.

I'm done paying $100 a month for 4 GB of data. Whether that's with Telus or Shaw or whoever.

So happy I snagged my 6 GB plan for $70 and bought my next phone instead of getting a new plan. My wife and I must have an asterisks beside our names in the database so they hit us up with new offer texts about every three weeks.

[Igster]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH BWAAAAAHAHAAHAHAHA *catches breath* BWAHAHAHAHAAAHA

This is the perfect response. Brutal day for Canadians and competition.

Welcome to the Big 4.

[Erick Estrada]

IMO this is horrible as it was going to take upstart companies like Wind gaining momentum to possibly force the hand of the big 3. All Shaw will do is comply with the big 3 because the collusion has been proven to be extremely profitable for the parties as they all agree to keep rates high and rake in the profits rather than reduce profits for all parties involved just for another 10% market share. It's all about profits and the Wind model likely isn't profitable enough for a larger corporation like Shaw.

[Finger Cookin]

Ugh.

[Huntingwhale]

Ugly as hell. God damnit Wind. I guess every man their price. Was looking forward to switching to Wind from Telus come January, but that might be put on hold until I do some more research.

Shaw finally going to offer competitive prices over the big 3? Laughable. What a freakin' joke cellular service is in this country.

[Doodlebug]

Rogers is still honouring all Mobilicity plans, including the $40 unlimited talk/text/data plan..and that is after they have transferred over to their cell coverage networks. Hoping Shaw will do the same with existing Wind plans.

[FlameOn]

Actually this could be a good thing in the short term. Shaw understands the current spectrum Wind has is not as good as that used by Robellus and they need to maintain customer growth so will keep prices relatively low compete for the time being. They also know they do not have LTE or a out of city network. Packages and prices will probably stay similar (as stated during the buyout) for the time being until such time both of these upgrades are complete.

What this provides Wind in the short term is capital to either acquire new spectrum at the 600Mhz auction or to purchase 700Mhz spectrum off Videotron. This is good news for the 3-4 year timeframe. After that I think Wind will become something similar to what the Robellus are at a slightly lower price to attract new customers until Shaw gets to the install base numbers they want. It'll probably be Big 4 at that point.

[Jackpot_Smooth]

I like that the big three will have another big player in the game, i think this will do nothing for mobile rates other than screw over existing Wind clients who will se their bills gradually creep up tot he $80-$100 averages that the others offer.

the potential for all wind/shaw devices getting access to shaw wifi sites is a plus though.

[OnesAndZeros]

It's funny when I ask some of the people who are complaining about the lack of competition if they supported Wind or Mobilicity when it came out, and the answer was "no, because their coverage sucks". Well, what do you think it was going to happen?

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by OnesAndZeros

It's funny when I ask some of the people who are complaining about the lack of competition if they supported Wind or Mobilicity when it came out, and the answer was "no, because their coverage sucks". Well, what do you think it was going to happen?

That's the thing, without a lot of huge customer support, new entrants are going to have a hard time making money. Wind had that problem even with their 3G network upgrades that were necessary. They needed to put down a huge investment just to change out the RRUs they were using to improve capacity/speeds and buy the AWS-3 spectrum to improve to an LTE network. These two things probably depleted their accounts and they didn't have the deep enough pockets to make themselves a true fourth player in time for the 600Mhz auction or to make a play for Videotron's 700Mhz.

Probably it would have been better to have someone like MTS/SaskTel in every province. You'd have to pay a little higher but you'd never really get ripped off the way you are now. Though it ends up being slightly taxpayer subsidized and economic conservatives will say that is a big no no, but you can clearly see prices are much better in those two provinces for it and both MTS/SaskTel make money...

[wooohooo]

I live in Winnipeg and I don't find prices all that different than what it was in Alberta. Except the legendary koodoo plan but it's not like it's that much cheaper

[sa226]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

I live in Winnipeg and I don't find prices all that different than what it was in Alberta. Except the legendary koodoo plan but it's not like it's that much cheaper

On the contrary, after a quick look at Rogers I found that roughly the same plan that you would get for 60$ in Manitoba, costs 100$ in Alberta. Its complete bullcrap. Its the same reason that poeple are doing that Sasktel thing in the other thread. Giving a Saskatchewan address to get a Sasktel plan and then switch it back.

I have a ridiculous corporate promotional plan through my employer, yet its what any joe blow could get in Manitoba and Sask.

The only way this is a good thing, is if Shaw becomes the MTS or Sasktel of Alberta. But I'm not holding my breath.

[OldDutch]

I am in the minority here, but think it maybe a good thing in the end. Wind was thrashing the last 6 years, and really made no dent at all in the overall picture. So much so, the Big 3 went right back to charging full price after a few years.

Shaw has publicly stated their intention to keep it low cost. They need market share to make their investment worthwhile. I can see them keeping the low prices at least initially until that market share is gained. Could be several years after at least.

Also, I am optimistic on bundling. Right now I get everything through Shaw. Yes I would like cheaper but the only competition is Telus and they are more expensive. Getting Internet, Phone, Cable (with single pick channels in the new year), and cell could be a magic ticket. They need LTE though. So maybe come 2017 we have a good solution to bundle everything and save some money. Plus Shaw does have excellent Canadian based customer service, probably the best I have experienced.

I am just saying this isn't the absolute death knell it is made out to be.

[Swarly]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

I am in the minority here, but think it maybe a good thing in the end. Wind was thrashing the last 6 years, and really made no dent at all in the overall picture. So much so, the Big 3 went right back to charging full price after a few years.

Shaw has publicly stated their intention to keep it low cost. They need market share to make their investment worthwhile. I can see them keeping the low prices at least initially until that market share is gained. Could be several years after at least.

...

maybe marginally lower but not like the prices we see now with Wind. from the article:

Mr. Shaw said as the wireless company improves its coverage and upgrades to LTE (fourth-generation), “I see pricing somewhat discounted, but probably closer to the incumbents as we go forward, which allows us to increase ARPU [average revenue per user]

so 'somewhat' discounted but really more so in line with the current big 3 prices

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by sa226

On the contrary, after a quick look at Rogers I found that roughly the same plan that you would get for 60$ in Manitoba, costs 100$ in Alberta. Its complete bullcrap. Its the same reason that poeple are doing that Sasktel thing in the other thread. Giving a Saskatchewan address to get a Sasktel plan and then switch it back.

I have a ridiculous corporate promotional plan through my employer, yet its what any joe blow could get in Manitoba and Sask.

The only way this is a good thing, is if Shaw becomes the MTS or Sasktel of Alberta. But I'm not holding my breath.

Ok I just looked, I'm wrong, there's a huge difference with mobility. I was just going off my pricing for internet.

[jayswin]

Haha I actually respect that press release from Shaw. I would have rolled my eyes if they claimed they were going to offer "the same great prices you've come to expect with wind mobile".

Its nice to instead hear them basically say "yeah, maybe a little discount but make no mistake, we're one of the big guys.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Swarly

maybe marginally lower but not like the prices we see now with Wind. from the article:

so 'somewhat' discounted but really more so in line with the current big 3 prices

Oh wow, did not see that part. Ya, that is too bad.

[stampsx2]

I'm guessing the majority of the people here complaining about the big 4 are not even with wind.