# High telephone costs



## spirit (May 9, 2009)

Tonight on Marketplace, three cell phone customers who were unhappy with their telecom providers were featured. Here is a short excerpt regarding the show:


_"Canadians are charged some of the highest prices in the world for cellphone service. And when we have a problem, it’s often tough to get it solved. We help three Canadians who are tired navigating customer service options and waiting forever on hold.

We’ve got inside information: help from a long-time customer service rep and a professional haggler who’s built a career out of getting better cellphone deals. They coach three consumers sick of getting the runaround from their cellphone companies, and give viewers critical tips on how to save money."
_
They had two industry insiders coaching these people when they called the telecoms to get redress for their complaints. It took a lot of arguing and a lot of time on hold before they got results.

I got really angry watching this show....because basically these corporations are encouraging me to be overly argumentative to get proper customer satisfaction. What the heck...if I am polite I get shafted....if I become a horrible person I get results. Honestly, I do not want to support any companies that follow this corporate model. Am I being naive or is this the customer behavior I am expected to adopt to get decent service.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

This can be traced to the monopoly that the big three cell service providers have. They know that millions of Canadians want to use cellphones, and they know what their competitors charge. They thus have no incentive to offer lower prices or better customer service.

My response to this situation is to adjust my cell phone behaviour in a way that gives them the least possible amount of business. I pay $100/year for a prepaid voice-and-text-only plan. If I want data, I use WiFi. Works for me (but I don't need a smart phone for work, so have no need for a data plan). If I lived in Europe, I'd happily get a smart phone and data plan. But not here, not at these prices.


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## Userkare (Nov 17, 2014)

brad said:


> I pay $100/year for a prepaid voice-and-text-only plan. If I want data, I use WiFi. Works for me (but I don't need a smart phone for work, so have no need for a data plan).


Exactly! I do the same thing. It's $0.40/minute talk and $0.30 per text. I always have money left after the 1 year runs out. If I top-up before, it rolls over. If have to use internet while away from home, there's lots of places to find free Wi-Fi. If for some reason, that I have yet to encounter, I need data where there's no Wi-Fi, I can buy 10MB for $1. 

This may not suit everybody's needs, but if you think you need to be instantly in touch at all times, and watch TV shows on your phone, then you just have to deal with the prices.


When I did need a phone for work, they provided it with a 6GB data plan.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

brad said:


> I pay $100/year for a prepaid voice-and-text-only plan.


How does this work exactly. Do you just pay $100 and can use the phone unlimited for a year or are there usage minutes involved and do you need to keep adding minutes each month. Also, which company do you use?


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

My parents got the Wind pre-paid pay-per-use plan, which allows $40 top-ups every 6 months ($80 per year), and runs at $0.15/min for calls and $0.05/text in Canada or the US (!). Incoming calls on their network are free. It's a fantastic deal, and Wind no longer seems to offer per per use. They also offer very reasonable data rates at $0.05 per MB, and you can use other carrier's networks (so it's effectively a cheap Rogers or Bell pay per use).


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

OptsyEagle said:


> How does this work exactly. Do you just pay $100 and can use the phone unlimited for a year or are there usage minutes involved and do you need to keep adding minutes each month. Also, which company do you use?


I do the same thing with Bell. I believe most if not all cell providers offer this type of pre-paid plan. Basically, you are buying $100 credit on your account that gets depleted as you use the phone (I think for Bell it's $0.40 per min, or per text). When you prepay $100, the credit will remain in the account for a year before it expires. You can prepay lesser amounts, but the account will expire quicker (I believe 60-90 days depending).

You just have to make sure you top up before the expiry date, otherwise you lose the balance (which happened to me once).


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

OptsyEagle said:


> How does this work exactly. Do you just pay $100 and can use the phone unlimited for a year or are there usage minutes involved and do you need to keep adding minutes each month. Also, which company do you use?


As bgc_fan explained, you prepay and then you use that up over time. I'm on Fido, but it sounds like the same plan Bell has: 40 cents per minute for talk, 30 cents per sent text (received texts are free). I make very few calls (generally 1 call per month on average, and often go several months without using the phone at all) and I send 1-2 text messages per year unless I'm traveling.

For roaming, I use Roam Mobility if I'll be traveling in the US more than just a weekend, or if I'm traveling overseas I buy a local SIM card. Most of my cell phone use is while I'm traveling, I hardly ever use the phone in Canada. I have a $30 travel phone that has two SIM slots so I can travel with one phone that has two phone numbers (one is my Canadian phone number and the other being a US or European number, depending on where I'm traveling).


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

"What the heck...if I am polite I get shafted....if I become a horrible person I get results."

I don't support this paradigm either but unfortunately this is the way the world is going....sad but true. I will do my best to remain polite, for as long as possible.


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## Willwemakeit (Feb 7, 2016)

use prepaid Telus $100 for hubby's phone for text and talk use, he inherited future son in law's iPhone couple years ago. Just had to renew within 7 days of end of year term, and over $41 from last year been carried forwards. Think? they said 5c per minute and 15cents per text. it's a lot just to have the phone for an emergency and he uses data on wifi only at airports or home here.

Prices and service we get from the big 3 in Canada are atrocious and hoping to become snowbirds in the near future, we are going to look into getting a better bang for our buck USA plan that we can use in Canada as well year round. Met a few FT Rvers that do this saying it's cheaper for them overall to keep a Verizon or similar, but need to research into it. By the way, I don't particular like Verizon for dealing with on our Fla property for the triple bundle switch vacation mode on and off. Used to be $19.99 each time, now they've doubled the charge for this service after we've been with them for over 6 years and don't seemed phased about losing our business to a.n.other.

When I said to a Bell rep once "you are the best of a bad bunch", they responded with a thank you - I retorted with "that's not a compliment". They just don't get it, but our time will come :biggrin:


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## Brian K (Jan 29, 2011)

I noticed that Marketplace segment didn't deal with Koodo or Fido - only Bell and Telus. I use Koodo (a discount Telus provider) and their rates are much better than the parent company. With Koodo I get 300 MB of Data, 300 daytime LD/Local minutes across Canada/Unlimited evening and weekends, and unlimited texting for $39 per month and it will get cheaper once my 2 year contract is up and my phone is paid off (What they call a Tab). 
Not sure why anyone would get a Bell or Telus plan when Koodo and Fido are cheaper. Wind (now Shaw) is great too - but they for now are only good in a few cities and useless in the country.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

We really only have a need for emergency or very basic voice service.

When in Canada, we use 7-eleven prepaid. There are several plans, but all we need are emergency phones. My wife and I both have simple unlocked flip phones. We bought the SIMs from 7-eleven for $10.00. Then we buy $25 air time vouchers good for 100 minutes. They are good for 365 days. One voucher lasts me for a whole year! Just use it as an emergency phone. 7-eleven also sell phones. 7-eleven operates on the Rogers network and has same coverage. Best for local use otherwise check LD charges. 

When we visit USA for 2-3 moths, we stop at first AT&T store (or walmart?) and get an AT&T sim. They are free if you buy airtime. We buy $25 of airtime, and it is good for 90 days. Includes free US LD. AT&T and Walmart USA sell phones with sim installed for under $15.00. I use one of those phones on 7-eleven in Canada.


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## artisterolles (Jan 22, 2016)

agent99 said:


> We really only have a need for emergency or very basic voice service.
> 
> When in Canada, we use 7-eleven prepaid. There are several plans, but all we need are emergency phones. My wife and I both have simple unlocked flip phones. We bought the SIMs from 7-eleven for $10.00. Then we buy $25 air time vouchers good for 100 minutes. They are good for 365 days. One voucher lasts me for a whole year! Just use it as an emergency phone. 7-eleven also sell phones. 7-eleven operates on the Rogers network and has same coverage. Best for local use otherwise check LD charges.
> 
> When we visit USA for 2-3 moths, we stop at first AT&T store (or walmart?) and get an AT&T sim. They are free if you buy airtime. We buy $25 of airtime, and it is good for 90 days. Includes free US LD. AT&T and Walmart USA sell phones with sim installed for under $15.00. I use one of those phones on 7-eleven in Canada.


This is the best route to go by far. Pre-paid phones can still get me to call and receive calls from my husband and kids. I don't want to shell off hundreds or thousands of dollars for a post-paid plan. If I run out of pre-paid load, I can go to the nearest establishment with Wi-Fi and call or message them via FB or Skype. This has saved my family from unnecessary phone expenses. We don't even have a landline at home just pre-paid emergency phones. I've been doing this ever since 2011 and have not looked back. 

I used to have a post paid phone plan but the service was really poor and I got charged extra for using mobile data that I thought was already included in the plan I selected (this was on me 'coz I failed to read the terms and conditions lol), but it made me realize that I don't need all those extras.


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

Not as cheap as pre-paid, but my wife and I switched to Fido and we pay about $82/month for two plans. Each gets 500 weekday minutes, unlimited Eve/Wknd minutes, unlimited Canada-wide long distance, unlimited text, picture and video messages from Canada to Canadian, U.S and international wireless, 500 MB of Data and some other convenience features. 

Wind has better pricing but our son's experience with their out-of-town coverage her in Alberta was not great. 

We also gave up our land line and switched to Magic Jack. It's basic but cheap IP telephony. We can use magic jack software on our phones with hotel wi-fi for unlimited free incoming and outgoing calls while travelling in the United States. . We also take our magic jack adapter and plug it in where Ethernet is available. It saves us from using up the limited number of US cellular minutes they give us and lets us keep the same home number while on the road.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

i'm with Wind for $39 with unlimited talk, text, and data (data slows down after 5G of usage- but I never use much data on my phone).


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## dotnet_nerd (Jul 1, 2009)

Wind is a great deal. But my unlocked iPhone 5 is not compatible with them, it's the wrong band.

The other problem with Wind is very limited coverage area. 

Some will argue this saying they cover virtually all of the main populated areas. Technically this may be true but their cell towers are few and far between. This means:

-your cell battery will drain MUCH quicker as its internal radio will boost itself to a higher power mode.

-you'll get lots of dropped and missed calls when indoors


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## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

I gave up the fight, just shopped for the best deal and work on ways to make my phone work for me which actually cost more but it now has to make money and save time. Only having useful apps I have noticed a difference especially when traveling, shopping on the fly, or last minute business. I agree this market in Canada is criminal compared to any others in the world. I am almost at the breaking point for the landline service.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

indexxx said:


> i'm with Wind for $39 with unlimited talk, text, and data (data slows down after 5G of usage- but I never use much data on my phone).


I bought my Chinese phone , Huwaei brand, from Wind about 4 years ago. It's one of these small phones with a semi-useless texting keyboard that only tiny fingered Chinese could use.

For a couple years I was on their monthly plan ($25 back then) and it was a good deal. I also bought a wi-fi USB data stick antenna from them and it was so-so with signal dropouts sometimes, but when they started to cap my data usage to 10gb per month, slowing down the download speed after that, it was time to look for other
alternatives if I wanted to stream netflix/youtube.

I went to Teksavvy, and although I've had some technical problems with my internet (capped at 150gb per month), I have never exceeded the 150gb,because from 1am to 7am, the data usage is FREE.
Their HOME Phone (VOIP) required that I buy their ATA phone adapter box and I bought my own TPLINK modem,including
a spare backup from a local Ottawa computer store. One of my previous owned modem failed after a year and
I cannot be very long without my internet, so I can just substitute my spare one, if I suspect modem problem\s.

There is a online website that gives you your data throughput (download/upload) speeds to verify you are using
the full bandwidth alloyed to you. 
http://www.speedtest.net/

For the emergency prepaid cell phone, I just top up $25 to $40 every 6 months and that keeps my cell service alive with Wind.
They charge me 20c a minute for outgoing calls, but incoming (because I'm on their "old pay as you go" plan are not charged..
It's a good deal for me, because sometimes if I have VOIP home phone problems with Teksavvy, that is the only way I can reach them, and during troubleshooting my issue it can sometimes take over an hour with them.
(Teksavvy call me back to save per minute charges from Wind, I save..60 x 20c per hour ($12.00) of air time, which would have been subtracted from my monthly air time balance..usually around $100. If the problem is with Teksavvy, I demand
an adjustment to my bill, especially if the problem spans into the next day. 

The other thing I like with my pay as you go plan, that after the first charged call I make on my Wind cell phone..they send me a text notification that any additional LOCAL calls are free for the remaining part of the same day until midnight.
pretty good deal and appeals to my frugal nature...

I can't understand why some people pay hundreds to "Robbers" and Bell for the convenience of surfing the internet from their expensive iphone plans with TABS to keep you from going to another provider...it's like modern day servitude!


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

dotnet_nerd said:


> Wind is a great deal. But my unlocked iPhone 5 is not compatible with them, it's the wrong band.
> 
> The other problem with Wind is very limited coverage area.
> 
> ...


I've so far found them to be pretty good- they upgraded their networks recently. I have had one or two dropped calls, but always did on other carriers as well. For my basic needs they seem OK- not sure what will happen when I travel. I figured for my purposes, I'd rather pay much less- most of my phone usage is text and data.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Wind is very generous with their pay as you go plan.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

The only problem I have with Wind is roaming outside of your local area. I recall you have to pay for that. Otherwise, if you're in the city 99% of the time, a good deal.

I pay $70/month for my cell phone and home phone. Basically unlimited data and everything for the former and unlimited minutes in Canada for the latter. That works for me.

I could probably go a bit cheaper but a few bucks per month isn't worth sweating over.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Roaming rates are the same as local outbound call rates. Also, no charge for long-distance.

All other carriers charger more. Wind is the only one I am aware of that gives free inbound calls on their network, and unlimited calling after a certain spend per day.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

andrewf said:


> Roaming rates are the same as local outbound call rates. Also, no charge for long-distance.
> 
> All other carriers charger more. Wind is the only one I am aware of that gives free inbound calls on their network, and unlimited calling after a certain spend per day.


and that's good for me..I'm sticking with them.


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