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pbnjoe writes:
"CBC has a report on apparent price fixing by the country's top carriers.
Canada's big three wireless carriers have hiked the base prices for new plans by $5 in most markets over the past two months.
Rogers, Telus, and Bell Mobility now all charge $80 per month for new smartphone plans with a new contract, $5 more than what many of those same plans cost when they were introduced last year. The prices for other smartphone plans with more data cost upwards of $145.
The price hikes affect every province except Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
This exclusion appears to be due to the strong local competition from MTS and SaskTel, respectively; equivalent plans there are $55 cheaper than elsewhere in the country.
The $80 a month plan includes 500 MB of data, unlimited nationwide calling, unlimited messaging, voicemail and call display.
Existing plans are unaffected.
For more, here's Ars Technica's coverage of the story."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by WizardFusion on Monday March 24 2014, @10:14AM
That is super expensive compared to the UK. I am paying about £30 a month (50usd/55cad)
This gives me 2000 minutes, 2000 text and unlimited data.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dublet on Monday March 24 2014, @10:25AM
If you already have your phone and don't intend on changing, let me save you another 10 quid a month, and you get unlimited texts: http://giffgaff.com/goodybags [giffgaff.com]
It's a second tier network, running on O2. It means O2 customers get preferential treatment but in my experience I haven't noticed any worse signal/connection issues than when I was with Three.
I've got one of their cheaper packages as I don't make many phone calls but use a lot of texting + data. Costs me 12 quid a month, and I have a Nexus 4, which was a bargain. Costs me way less than any contract I've ever been on, no crazy fees and no contract period!
Like you I was incredulous that anyone would pay 80 of any currency a month for a smart phone + data plan!
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome. [dublet.org]"
(Score: 1) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 24 2014, @11:14AM
The U.S. rates are improving, slowly. A big thing here is the "family plan" where the carrier reams you for the first phone, then additional phones are added for much less. Right now, we have 3 phones each with 500Meg data per month on T-Mobile for $90 per month, you can add unlimited data for $20 per line per month. I believe the rates are $80 per month for 2 lines, or $50 per month for 1 line.
Like I said about Canada, the infrastructure costs in the US are higher, and not just because of the geography - the carriers have also fragmented the spectrum... it really sucks. Depending on where you live, you are more or less forced into the carrier that has "real" coverage in that area. In North-Central Florida, that means Verizon, but in the Keys it means AT&T. Luckily, the major metro areas have more choice, but when you travel, you suffer - and AT&T / Verizon are much more expensive than what I'm quoting for T-Mobile...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 24 2014, @10:43AM
Canada is a little bigger than the UK - lower population density = higher infrastructure cost per subscriber.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday March 24 2014, @01:44PM
...which some of the carriers have dealt with by...joining with other carriers to create a shared network.
(Score: 1) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 29 2014, @08:08PM
What fun is that, eh? Monopoly doesn't work when you've got competition.
(Score: 1) by hamsterdan on Monday March 24 2014, @03:23PM
Telecoms like to use that BS argument. Montreal and Toronto areas alone make for a *third* of the whole country, yet the prices are the same in those cities. And yes, cablecos and telcos LOVE price fixing (same goes for oilcos)
(Score: 1) by JoeMerchant on Saturday March 29 2014, @08:11PM
Absolutely, the real price fixer is "whatever the market will bear" - when you've got the potential of being mauled by a bear out in the middle of the woods, you'll likely pay a lot for reliable cell service. When you live in the high density cities, you make enough money to pay higher rates for the service than it costs to provide them.
Cable and telcos have made huge profits by fixing a "flat price" across everybody. Some people out in the boonies get their service for less than it costs to provide it, but I think the government regulators smile on this and give the monopolistic bastards a pass when they price gouge in the cities.
(Score: 1) by Teckla on Monday March 24 2014, @03:24PM
That is only true if a population is evenly spread out. If I recall correctly, the vast majority of the Canadian population is rather concentrated in a few areas.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 24 2014, @09:08PM
This is true, except no matter what the density in BFN(butt frickin nowhere) Canada, you still need coverage.