Dave Shea writes about the sorry state of mobile phone providers in Canada. I’ve been a Fido user since returning to Toronto from Austin (where I was with VoiceStream now T-Mobile). My biggest complaints about the Canadian mobile phone experience is that as a lower end user, i.e., my options are severely limited. Virgin Mobile is offering a great $25/month plan (since I don’t use a tonne of minutes this makes a lot of sense), and all of the voice mail and caller id are included. But I just hate the CDMA phones on the network. My biggest complaints with Canadian mobile offering are:
- 3 year contracts
- $6.95 system access fee
- Lack of phone number portability
- Basic plans lack caller ID and voice mail
- The $20/month plan becomes $37/month after adding features and taxes
We need to take a stand for consumers in Canada. The first step is contact the CRTC about wireless phone number portability. Hopefully providers continue to listen to their customers, and I guess I need to change my expectations about service pricing. I guess cancelling my wired phone line would save almost $40/month.
There is some consumer demand for wireless number portability in Canada, mainly from subscribers who extensively advertise their cellular telephone number for business or social purposes and seek to change wireless service provider. As part of its 3-year Work Plan, the Commission expects to initiate a review of wireless number portability in fiscal year 2005-2006. At that time, information will be posted on our website inviting members of the public and other interested parties to submit comments. The Work Plan will be revised on a yearly basis to reflect evolving plans, priorities and workload and it can be viewed at the following address: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/BACKGRND/plan2004.htm