Monday, March 17, 2014

Wireless carriers hike prices across Canada

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/wireless-carriers-hike-prices-across-canada-1.2575886
Article date: March 17, 2014

I am sick and tired of how much phone companies are allowed to charge us! Many of you may be unaware that we are all being completely taken advantage of. Canada is pushing for a fourth wireless phone carrier, "great" one more company to rip us off. The three current competitors Bell, Rogers, and Telus are currently charging $80 for the minimum monthly service. Yes that includes unlimited long distance calling, text messaging, and voicemail, but, what about the data? I am going to propose a thought, and you tell me what you think? If you use all your data.... and then some, you get penalized pretty hard. But, if you don't come anywhere near what you payed for, how come we are not credited or reimbursed? I would like to see how much this data really costs..... because no one's informing me of the money I'm saving Bell every time I don't use my entire package. Upsetting, really upsetting. 

7 comments:

  1. The phone companies are operating in an ogolpolistic market and they can do whatever they basically want, because what other options do you have. I think its good news to hear about the possibility of another phone carrier joining "The Big Three" because it will give us the consumer more options.

    I'd really like to know as well, what happens to the data and minutes on your plan that you don't use per month but still get billed for. I just might one day when I have time call Bell just to find out... now you got me wondering!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree! phone companies charge way too much for their phone contracts and over use of data. I am happy also with the possibility of another phone company joining the big 3 and I will definitely be trying it out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I completely agree with you Isaac, there should be some type of roll-over or something for the data that you don't use, it should be put towards your next billing cycle. As you said we get penalized for going over and it is a lot of money that you have to pay for going over. I do know that one company-I can't remember which one-use to have a family plan that if you had a certain amount of minutes you didn't use it would be circulated between the family of four or five people kind of reducing the chances of someone going over their amount (that is if someone else doesn't use them all first). I definitely think that if there is left over data after your billing cycle we should be credited it towards our next bill.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am also horrified by the prices being charged for a basic plan! I was recently looking and switching from Virgin Mobile to Telus as Virgin does not carry the phone I was looking for. However, when I went to compare prices, I would be paying $20 more per month for the exact same plan! I am thankful that Virgin Mobile offers better plans to their customers, however, they do have a very limited choice of phone.

    I think these big phone companies should carry over any minutes or data that was not used by the customer. One month I don't use all of my data and will be changed $80. The next month I go over my data and have to pay an additional charge. It does not seem right that you have to pay $80 for data that you may not even need!

    As Kelly said, phone companies can get away with charging so much because there aren't any other options for the consumer. Virgin Mobile is one of the few companies that offer lower prices. I can only hope that this new phone company will not follow the trend of charging people an arm and a leg for a cell phone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow Isaac, I have never thought of what you are proposing! If I only use 250 of the 1075 megabytes each month, why do I not save some money? I guess this is the way phone companies make money, but we the customers are suffering. Hopefully one day, a phone company will open that offers a program with roll over data, or something of that nature.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As a person who doesn't have a cell phone, I'm not able to say I know what it's like to be over-charged by phone companies. From a distance, though, it's not hard to see how much they're over-charging you as well as how bush league it is that they're doing so. So I completely agree with your thought on rolling-over your unused data.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Canada is one of the highest PAYING countries world wide for cellar service!!! We get rip off on many many different levels...one is what you expressed Isaac....no roll overs. The set pricing of the contract for three years....no other countries allow companies to bind customers to such LONG contracts...Canada needs a total overhaul from this monopoly of phone giants...sucking money dry from the working poor...I say SAME ON THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT allow such thing!!!!

    ReplyDelete