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Canadian Cellphone Bills Are Some of the Highest In the World, Says Report (straight.com)
Freshly Exhumed shares a report from Straight: A report released this week by the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) confirms that Canada ranks among the top three most costly countries for mobile wireless plans. Comparing the U.K, Italy, France, Australia, Japan, and the U.S. on six tiers of pricing -- which looked at talk-time, texts, and data -- the document shows that Canada has the most expensive mid-range and higher-tier plans in the world. "It is unacceptable that Canadians continue to pay ever-rising prices year after year for something as critical as mobile communications services," said Katy Anderson, Digital Rights Advocate at OpenMedia.
That's why I know a lot of people without cellphones. Basic packages are around $15~$20 and only give you about 10 hours of voice calls. You can pay $10~$20 extra on top of that for something like 100~500MB of data. It's just insane.
And there's basically monopolies on the coverage everywhere, you only have options if you live in or near the big cities. Get outside of Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and your list of options gets really small, really fast.
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I live in Canada and can't believe what people are willing to pay, but that's just it -- the phone companies charge it and they pay it. Myself, I have a pay-as-you-go plan where I can buy minutes in a $100 chunk which doesn't expire for 365 days, and for several years I've never maxed out that $100 so it keeps rolling over. I think I have about $250 still in there right now. That's the best deal I could find, as it's only $8.33 per month, but I only use it for a few phone calls and maybe about a dozen texts per week with my wife. No data, I just use WiFi everywhere. My wife, on the other hand, with her iPhone 7 is paying around $60/month including data on a Rogers account, I think.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Anyone invested in Telus, Rogers, and Bell have had a good decade.
Here's the three reasons why it costs so much:
Bell
Rogers
Telus
If you want more details, watch the video at this address:
http://theprovince.com/news/ca...
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"Rogers’ $25 a month plan, for instance, buys 150 local minutes, 50 text messages and no data."
Does it sink it, yet?
150 LOCAL minutes.
Only 50 text messages.
NO data.
And that joke of a service costs $25 PER MONTH.
#DeleteFacebook
Cell phones are cheap in Saskatchewan. They have competition (sasktel) I just got new phones the other day and every fucking salesperson told me that there was no difference between carriers because "there's so much competition their pricing is identical" That's collusion.
After all, it's not ridiculous for a company to charge as much as people are willing to pay for a product or service, even if they pay it only because it is preferable to them than the inconvenience of not having it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
If you look at the actual report, you'll find the differences between the prices in the US and Canada are not that dramatic. And they don't take into consideration all the lovely fees and service charges that get added to your cellular bill.
Here's a direct link to the report, because the article itself gives almost no useful data:
https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/...
You are welcome on my lawn.
They're not talking about the height of your mailbox you dumbass, they're talking about above-sea-level elevation.
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... is nullified when people keep stressing about going over their monthly smartphone quotas for voice, messages and data.
#DeleteFacebook
I got my Telus mobility bill just a couple days ago, it's just a few cents shy of $90 for a 1 GB data plan. I get about 300 minutes of call time (which I don't think I've ever gotten close to using) and unlimited texting nationwide (whoop de doo).
I'm really thinking about going back to a dumb phone, or at least scrapping the data plan. 99% of the time I'm on WiFi anyway.
crazy dynamite monkey
I'm confused. What is Bell Rogers going to Telus?
I've lived in both the US and Canada. US [everything] is no where near the cost of what I pay here.
FYP
Saskatchewan has some of the lowest rates, for example.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Just use wireless, grandpa.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Rogers Wireless will slam charges in my T-Mobile phone. Had to call T-Mobile to have the charges reversed. Every. single. time. Very very abusive practice.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The secret is to buy a US plan and just have it roam constantly in Canada. Still cheaper.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
You used to be able to have 200 minutes for $20 on prepaid at Virgin mobile.
But then Bell bought out VM...
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
I am Canadian and it is real fact that Canada has stong pro-net-neutrality laws which are prime cause of expensive bills. If we were smart to kick out libtards we could end net nutrality and the deregulation is guaranteed to lower prices.
The fact that Canada has some of the highest prices around the world have been around well before net neutrality was a thing. While I'm all for kicking out the Liberals (for other reasons), I'll point out that a decade of Conservative rule has not changed anything in regards to pricing either.
An enormous country with a low population density that is almost all concentrated in the southern part of it.
Harsh weather? Not more than other countries with winter seasons, where prices are much lower than here.
You said the same exact arguments that keep being said by those three companies... We shall mark you as being a paid shill for one or more of these companies.
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Except that in places like Saskatchewan - where you have a provincial Telco - prices are *much* more reasonable and they still manage to turn a decent profit.
The majority of Canada's population is concentrated in the areas close to the Canada–US border.
#DeleteFacebook
.. I'd like to post a rant, but can't afford the data.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
To bend over, and that they're going in dry
ROgers, Bell, and telUS. Also known as ROBUS because they rob us blind.
It's fucking bullshit that they get to have their cake and eat it too. If I go over one month, they get to charge me up the ass for it. But if I don't hit my limit the next month, there's absolutely no credit back. This is fucking bullshit. It should go both ways or no way at all. Fuck 'em.
I signed up for a Voice and 6GB data plan when the iPhone first came to Canada. It cost almost $85/mo (taxes in). It's still cheaper than any comparable plan you can get now.
I got fed up and did the math. It would actually be cheaper to sign up with GoogleFi in the US, and just roam in Canada.
So what I do now, is I use a flex data tablet plan. Costs $17 for 3GB, and $10/1GB after that, and I use a VOIP provider for voice and text, which costs less than a dollar a month for the number, and pennies a minute for usage. I would literally have to be talking for 2 weeks straight before I ever hit what my old plan cost. Most months it costs me less than $20.
Until our Premier sells off our Telco to Bell. :-/
Source: Live in SK. Always talk going around about selling off our government owned infrastructure.
Every time I see one of the articles I thank an Internet god that now of the companies have bothered to bring cell service to my (not remote, but rural) part of Canada.
Cell phone usage is super super cheap. Like electricity cheap. So cheap that I have long ago stopped looking at the bills.
I don't respond to AC's.
So, the summary says
As I see it, the phrase "among the top three" means: "third" (because surely if it was the most expensive or the second most they'd say that. First could, of course, also be labelled "among the top three," but you'd just call it first.) And there were six countries compared. So: Third of six is in the middle, not "some of the highest".
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
A majority, yes... not everyone, however. There are roughly 3 million that do not. Three out of the ten largest cities in Canada are not very near the Canada-US border, in fact: Winnipeg, with a population of about 3/4 million is 110 km from the border, Calgary, with about 1.3 million people is about 250km from the border, and Edmonton, with about 950,000 people is about 550km from the border.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Found russian stooge. I'm "sure" you are anti-liberal and here is you defending net neutrality like a cuck.
This comment shows how low the IQ discussion can go on this site at times. Keep your nonsense to yourself dude.
Yup. I think that recently happened to Manitoba.
http://www.newswire.ca/news-re...
an enormous country with a low population density and harsh weather requiring more expensive equipment,
Are you talking about Finland, Sweden or Norway? Because I thought all of three of those low-population with harsh weather countries had pretty cheap mobile service.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Rogers once tried to charge us nearly $2000 for roaming data in Ft. Lauderdale. We had purchased a very expensive roaming data plan, but it didn't go through, so the cost was nearly $2000. The amount of data was primarily due to having the maps function turned on during three moderately short taxi rides. It was likely on the order of $5 to $10 per megabyte.
They have also muddied the competitive waters by creating a large number of fake shell cell phone providers to give the illusion of competition. Fido and Chatr = Rogers. Virgin, Lucky Mobile = Bell. Koodo, Public Mobile = Telus. In our area, the only actual competitor outside the big three is Freedom Mobile, owned by our cable monopoly Shaw. They remind me of organized crime.
This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
As long as I can remember just about everything in Canada is 20-30% more than in the U.S.. Sometimes 50% more, it varies as our dollar goes up and down like a yo-yo. Which we expect. The Bell-Rogers-Telus bunch just shove it in a little further.
10 years ago I lived in Washington (state) and got a job commuting to Vancouver for work. I looked into getting a Canadian cell phone, and it turned out that adding the Canada roaming option to my U.S. plan was cheaper per minute than any Canadian plan.
Finland 212 16
Canada 232 4
Finland and Norway has 4 times the population density. Sweden has even greater population density than Finland or Norway, Tim S.
an enormous country with a low population density and harsh weather requiring more expensive equipment,
Are you talking about Finland, Sweden or Norway? Because I thought all of three of those low-population with harsh weather countries had pretty cheap mobile service.
So just as this was posted, there is a $60/mo promo going on with all the carriers in BC and AB, $60/mo for 10GB data, unlimited nationwide text/talk, BYOD. Some of the carriers (and probably soon all) are also offering it in ON. Get on it while you can.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
Yo Quiero Telco Bell.
Norway and Ontario are nearly the same population density, at 14.3 versus 14.1 people per square kilometer. So at the very least the infrastructure where more than half of Canadians live could be equivalent to what Norway's costs.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I live in Canada as a US expat. US allows ISPs to control the last mile so Comcast and such prohibit any competition for service to your house. Ontario, at least, requires Rogers, Bell to lease their lines to anyone. So I contract with VMedia and get cable with a couple of premium packages and 35 mbit down for about CAD$70 a month, much cheaper than what I was paying in the US ($70 a month for 1.5 mbit down. Really. Try living in Qwest territory.)
OTOH the US prohibits telcos from owning cell towers, and the cell tower operators must lease to anyone so competition is fierce. As a result there's lots of competition and mobile prices are reasonable. In Ontario, Rogers owns Rogers towers, and no one else can use them. Each telco has to build its own tower network, decreasing competition and driving up prices.
What the numbers in the report don't show is that in the US you can get family bundles that substantially lower the bill; I have 5 lines and pay about US$120 a month for the service; the first line is $60 and then each additional line is $10. If I was to contract with Rogers, I'd pay CAD$60 PER LINE with no discount. Sure I can share data, but I have to pay full freight for each line.
My fault Ontario is only 37.5% of the population of Canada. I've only solved a third of your problem for you, I guess you'll have to figure the other 2/3rds on your own.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
In BC, it's $70 a month for a single person on top of the taxes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
On the other hand, I pay $15 a month for 3 gigabytes of data and no phone number. For calls my VoIP service costs me about $3 a month for my normal usage.
You don't actually HAVE to spend ridiculous sums for basic service; most people just don't know any better.
I with they would jump in when I'm trying to place an order with Szechuan Palace. Could use a good interpreter.
After five years of paying 50 CAD for more data and minutes than I ever used in a month, I went to a prepaid plan with minutes and data that don't expire at the end of the month if I pay the $15 base charge (Koodo). I now average about $25 a month in cell costs without being very stingy with my data or minutes.
My wife uses her phone MUCH less than I do, so she is on a pay as you go plan and spends around $5 a month with no data (speakout7eleven).
The key is to buy phones outright and not get sucked in to contracts.
But it is still true that people in other countries with higher population densities, more competition, or more regulation still pay much less than we in Canada, especially for the heavy users.
------- Mark
The primary goal of free enterprise is to maximize income while minimizing cost. Removing government regulation lets them increase rates and cutting corners on things that cost them money. The reason for high costs in Canada is called regulatory capture.
If you're going to make 150km be the standard for "close" (I would have considered it to be anything closer than 100km, as the crow fliies, personally... since things like terrain or great lakes that might force roads to not simply be straight has no bearing on the distance that a wireless signal necessarily has to travel), that still leaves about 12 or 13% of Canadians that don't live that close... and of those, about 85% of them live in just one of two Albertan cities, both of which are among Canada's ten most populous: Calgary and Edmonton. The former city has about 1.3 million people and is 250km from the border and the latter has a population of about 950,000, and is 550km. Neither of them are just dudes living in a shack out in the boondocks somewhere.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Where the data was actually collected: Canada: Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, and Vancouver; United States: Boston, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Seattle; UK: London; France: Paris; Italy: Rome; Germany: Berlin; Japan: Tolyo.
Let me guess - The rates were cheaper in the places with higher population density.
True... but there are somewhat long highways connecting them.
The above post only suggested that cellular service would only be needed along the Transcanada highway.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
When they say that the price is high because Canada is a big country and few people... I simply answer this:
French tourists in Canada have a better deal than Canadian themselves!
So last time I went to France, I went to one of their SIM card vending machine where I bought the SIM card using my Canadian Credit Card and I'm still using it in Canada!
http://mobile.free.fr/fiche-fo...
Using Free Mobile, you get a very good deal in France where you can call in more than 100 countries in the world and 100gb data...
But they get also a pretty good deal in 35 countries!
For 20€/month (no contract):
- Unlimited calls/sms/mms in that country and France
- 25gb data (not as fast as LTE... I get between 2mbit and 4mbit AND 25gb!)
- You can choose the network. In Canada, I can choose between Bell, Rogers and Telus (Videotron doesn't accept the connection). So when the speed or network reception is not good in one place, I can switch to another network.
- You can "Pause" it by downgrading to the 2€/month deal
That means that my mother, who also kept her Free's sim card, can call me for no extra cost even if we are anywhere within those 35 countries
That means also that if I go to USA, I also get this deal for no extra cost
The only thing that cost much more is the Toll Free number. So I just ask them for their "not Toll Free number" so I can call them... for free! :P
Enjoy!
How can I take your comment seriously when you slip in net neutrality as if it had anything to do with the fact that Canadians pay the highest prices for cell phones fees? This problem in Canada is as old as the arrival of the cell phone service, well before we started to hear of the term net neutrality which makes it irrelevant to this discussion. You're mixing apples and oranges as far as I'm concerned.
Manitoba isn't very well covered, that is true... but Alberta sure as hell is, with reliable LTE service going as far north as Athabasca. BC also has pretty good coverage on its major highways extending into the interior and to its northern major cities.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Government owned Sasktel is cheapest, private is most expensive. You're not too bright, eh?
Can you use specific numbers, because my impression has always been that the big three are making more and more profit than ever before? I half believed the ongoing high prices were because government employees are on a volume discount price, so they don't get reamed like the rest of us. The other is that since they are more and more profitable, they are in a shit load of mutual funds and stuff.
It's not just density, it's population overall.
Russia has a population of 145 million. That's more than 4 times Canada's population. That brings economies of scale that lowers prices.
Really, can you provide a source?
I was a canadian citizen living in the US for years. I'd cross back into the US 4-6 times a month and hand a canadian passport while driving my connecticut plated car and using a connecticut drivers license becaues i needed it to buy my car and i let my Ontario license expire.
Never once had them ask me about the TWO US phones i had on me.
I still go back and forth often. in the last 10 years of crossing dozens of times i have only had one DHS guy ask about a phone. He found it odd i didnt have one and mentioned that everyone does and when people say they dont it sets off red flags that they are hiding the phones.
Never once was i asked who was the phones service provider.
It's because the calls last longer due to all the "aboooooooooot"s, "y'hoser"s and "eh"s.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'm in Canada and mny cell phone bill is about $80/mo for a smartphone plan, which includes 2gigabytes of data, with an overage charge of $10 for every gigabyte or portion thereof over it. It has unlimited talk minutes, no charges for long distance anywhere in Canada, and can be used without paying roaming charges anywhere in the country that is within my provider's network (and their coverage is quite reasonable... including all of the major cities, many smaller ones, as well as all of the highways I've ever driven on). Not sure how that compares to typical US plans, but there's your comparison.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
They only looked at eight countries total, including the U.S. and Canada. No others as sparsely populated as Canada. It's a bit like breathlessly claiming that they're below average half the time!
Sure, let's compare Rogers (probably the biggest wireless carrier in Canada) in Canada's most populous province to T-Mobile. I'll pick a plan with unlimited nationwide minutes and as close to 50GB of full-speed monthly data as I can get:
Rogers: 40GB for $225 USD / $290 CAD per month
T-Mobile: 50GB soft-cap for $70 USD / $90 CAD per month
How much can you get with Rogers for the same price as T-Mobile? $90 CAD a month gets you 4GB.
So as compared to the US, Canadians either pay 3.2x the price, or get 12.5% as much data.
I'll just say that the two years I spent working at Chalk River, Ontario I found my Virgin Mobile account to be cheaper than my U.S. minimum price AT&T phone. And I have a decades old cheaper contract with AT&T they keep trying to get me to let go of so they can raise my rates. I keep turning down new iPhones for free.
NRRPT/RCT
The problem is Canada is there is very little competition, and what does exist seems to actively collude and price fix (depending on your definitions I suppose). From my simple perspective, just go to Bell or Rogers (or one of their subsidiaries) websites. You'll see the exact same plans, for the exact same prices. The new player Wind, might actually shake some things up, however they have a pretty limited market share and is only really available is certain markets anyway. I am not surprised in the least that Canada has the most expensive rates. While I think the CRTC tries every now and again, they are full of former industry shills, and get bullied around half the time by the active industry. What is even worse is the roaming rules. I know I went overseas a number of years ago with a large mixed nationality group, and they were all aghast at what I paid, and what my limitations were. Basically I couldn't use my phone at all without Wifi someplace. Now that said, with the new unlocking measures being put into place in 2018 at the behest of the CRTC, that should at least help in that regard.
However even to the point of leasing lines (which is internet not mobile but you mentioned it), there was a case brought before the CRTC in Ontario of TekSavvy an independent ISP and Bell, about what Bell charged for the leased line, and the throttling of said line. As I recall TekSavvy lost, where basically the Bell argument was that they provide shitty expensive service to their customers, so if Teksavvy were to use their lines, they would be obligated to provide the same shitty expensive service...
Anyway as I said, it is slowly getting better in Canada, but it is sloooow, likely because of no real competition and the few companies that do exist fight the CRTC tooth and nail, lobby government, etc...
Canada 3.4/km2
That is the average population density across the entire country which is 100% irrelevant.
Exactly this. Mobile prices also vary significantly by province, due to varying states of regulation making competition more viable. Saskatchewan has some arms-length crown-owned providers which produces a competitive market with the big 3. Over there prices are in the area of $45/mo for phone+5GB, versus the exact same provider/plan in Ontario being $60/mo.
And for all the idiots talking about population density? Saskatchewan = 1.8 persons/km, Ontario = 14.1 persons/km. The difference is competition and regulatory capture.