Having lived in both US and Canada, it’s outrageous how high cellphone bills and how little these plans offer. I hope this episode brings this issue to more attention, thank you Marketplace!
It's funny in my car I have "On-Star" and for the mobile hotspot plan in the US, they get unlimited for like 20 dollars. We get like 2-4 GB last time I checked. It's rediculous!
I pay $180 for 7 lines in the US which include free Netflix subscription. Its insane to pay that much more when we literally live 2 hours across the border.
When I moved to Canada in 2008 from France. I was in shock about how much Canadians pay for 'EVERYTHING'. Same with public transit infrastructure. They tell us its difficult terrain, but its about profits to the select few!
I moved to Canada almost 3 years ago from Italy and I still remember how I felt after seeing the prices here. In Italy I had a phone plan that allowed me to have unlimited texts and phone calls + 50 GIGABYTES of data within Europe at 7.99€ a month (around 11.60 canadian dollars per month, taxes included). I really hope things will change soon!
@@gunnermac3570 it's cause we work 40+ hours per week. Mobilizing citizens to implement change is hard when everyone is tired with the difficulties of everyday life
As an international student who recently came to Canada, I was surprised by the high prices of phone plans here. In my country, I used to pay only $3 a month for a plan that included 1.5GB/day of data, even after the speed was reduced, unlimited calling, and 1000 texts/day. It's hard to understand why Canadian phone plans are so much more expensive compared to other countries. I hope that in the future, the prices will become more reasonable for people like us who are on a budget. Keep up the good work with the informative videos, it's really helpful for us to understand the reasons behind it.
Greed. The government takes bribes from corporations. They just call it lobbying here and it's legally allowed. Which country was this where you pay so cheap?
@@கோபிசுதாகர் only some plans from some phone companies do that. Some American phone plans allow to be used but only in certain countries like Mexico, Canada, Jamaica etc. and those are only some plans for some companies. Most don't have that option. My phone plan can only be used in Canada, USA and Mexico for example. I cannot use in any other country. Otherwise I have to get more expensive plan, or use roaming charges.
The problem is NOT the BIG 3. The problem is the CRTC regulators by hiring a decision maker, Ian Scott, who has worked for Rogers Telecom (Call-Net Enterprises), Telus (Former Telus VP) and in 2019 met with Bell (Mirko Bibic in regards to appealing wholesale rates). Personally, I consider this a conflict of interest situation with money in there somewhere. The current government is permitting this. In fact the Rogers and Shaw merger needs the approval of the current government to REDUCE competition. No mention of Rogers on the status of preventing another network outage that affected Hospitals, debit payments, Fido (consumer level mobile), Rogers mobile (priced at a corporate rate) and Rogers internet. Why even have a CRTC when it is just words with no teeth
The Competition Tribunal approved the Rogers-Shaw merger on December 29, 2022 while Canadians weren't paying attention. This means higher telecom bills and even less competition. Canadian industries that are oligopolistic include banking, telecom, groceries, media and engineering firms. This is a large contributor to Canadians' lower purchasing power and high cost of living. Sadly there is almost no political will for change.
Pierre voted with the Liberals against increased competition and lowering telecom prices including a customer bill of Rights. He's not going to change a thing.
I am originally from Canada and I have lived in 5 countries in 3 continents: Canada is the worst by a country mile in terms of telecom service and price. Whenever I go home, I am shocked by having to pay so much for so little. Equally shocking is how this has been an issue for decades and the CRTC has not figured it out yet. Canadians get gouged and the government plays the fiddle while the "big three" get wealthier and quality of service goes down.
Unfortunately is not only phone plans. Canada is more expensive in everything. The average Canadian citizen never protest or they just stay quiet, so big corporations and politicians take advantage. Cars, houses, food, clothes, gasoline, electronics, everything is more expensive in Canada
@@rudyzk you are so right, they only know how to protest on things that do not matter such as protesting against wearing masks in Ottawa by truckers. Imagine if that protest was about the standard of living
You should do an episode on Enbridge gas. They were fined $250,000 for all of their issues, and are only getting worse with their price hikes, and refusal to check people’s gas meters. My bill went from $100/ month to $1000-$2000. It took me calling the Ontario Energy Board to finally get Enbridge to acknowledge their mistake.
As someone who has lived in the US her whole life, and as a cellular network enthusiast, this is one of the big things that would hold me back from moving to Canada. The US isn't great compared to places in like Europe, but it is at least better than Canada, although prices here are going up in ways as well, although we at least have unlimited offerings and cheaper limited offerings from MVNOs, some of which thankfully aren't owned by the main carriers.
Cbc marketplace and this kind of investigative journalism is everything we need to promote. The greed of big business does not care about us. They are counting on our ignorance. LOVE Marketplace ❤ Just when I was about to take on Telus myself today….just in time.
This video has way to many errors in it and this is the reason people get mad because they hear crap like investigate or expert abd think the reporting must be 100% accurate. You don't ask consumers how an industry works when trying don't even understand how to read a simple bill. Not one person in this video actually understand hiw incorrect the info is that they're giving to the consumer.
In UK on giff gaff which is pay as you go so no contract and for £12 I used to get 20gb unlimited phone and messages.. also all over eu roaming when it was part of eu. 12... for no plan or contract. Cheaper if you are on o2 or Vodafone
I'm originally from the US and when I came here my jaw dropped at this robbery that was happening in broad daylight. How can we pay higher prices for cell service than 3rd world countries? It's about time they did a piece on these greedy cell phone providers. The funny thing that most people don't know is when it comes to competition they all unite to make sure that no new competition steps foot in Canada. I remember Verizon was planning on coming here and they drove them out. The one thing that is really different here in Canada than in the US is the most Canadians don't stand up and fight for things like this they just take it and accept it. This is one thing I wish was different here. Going back to the US has been weighing on my mind for the last 6 months now.
@@thatLion01 That's a common myth that Canada's population size is the reason why prices are so high here. Australia is also large with a small population and the prices are significantly lower, much like in the US.
This brings back memories of when I was in highschool. Was with Bell, and had "unlimited" texting. I learned the hard way "unlimited" wasn't actually that. There was a cap on it, that I surpassed and they tried billing me $1200 for it. I called and freaked, since I was just a highschool student and couldn't afford it. They agreed to refund it, I switched to Telus the week after.
Thank you Marketplace for this eye opening investigation. The CRTC really should look into it and have a control consumer protection. I also agree Canada has the more expensive plans in the world.
I've lived on both sides of the US-Canadian border. What I found was that it was MUCH cheaper for me to keep my US number with AT&T's prepaid service while I was living in Toronto and just roam the entire time. I still had unlimited data for a flat rate of about $55 US, had no trouble with making calls. And, to my knowledge, none of my friends with Canadian numbers had to pay any additional charges to call or text me. I was also able to switch my phone's regionalization to Canada (allowing for things like Canada-specific apps) without any trouble while maintaining my US service. It's fairly common for US carriers to offer unlimited roaming (including for data) in Canada. AT&T never complained about all of my usage in Canada. If you have the opportunity to do so, and don't mind having an American area code, I'd suggest looking into that as a solution.
SAME. Live in the US and the ATT gophone has FREE calls to canada and mexico. I know Asians and Filipinos use Viber to avoid the extra text charges which is a scam. (f telus)
Yup it's a good solution. Probably your Canadian friends did pay to call your US number. Most plans in Canada don't cover this unless its at a premium plan level. I bet if most Canadians stopped giving money to domestic telecoms they would notice and adapt.
Call it what it is. A monopoly. When the government takes away the monopoly and lets the competition in, maybe we can afford it. Cell phones are next on the list for all of us to quit using in order to survive. When it comes to food on table or expensive cell phone use, guess who's going to win. There is no reason for these monopolies, regardless of what rogers, bell and telus says. My vote is food on the table.
Wireless phone rates are expensive in Canada due to weak consumer protection legislation. Unlike most other countries, our federal government doesn't prioritize defending Canadian consumers, choosing instead to protect established industries including telecoms, banking, forestry, dairy, and mining - to name a few.
I used to work for a carrier. The low prices for the people switching over are only for new customers. After a period of time they will pay the new carrier the same price per month (or higher). My advice is first to not do leases or installment billing for a phone. Buy it outright. Second, let your adult age kids in university pay their own bills. And shop around for those bundle deals. Many of them are not really great deals in the long run.
Competition isn't the only issue. There seems to be a lot of interest in the government to favour and protect institutional investors, like banks, and other financial and investment companies. They have a big role to play in all of this.
Institutional investors and banks have globally diversified holdings. The big ones anyway, even if their telecom holdings are cut 85% they'll be totally fine.
This was the same in France 12 years ago, with 3 telco company that created a cartel and agreed to not compete to on price. But then, the telecom regulator allowed a new provider (Free Mobile), it was not the best provider at first, but the price was very low, it attracted many customers, the big 3 had to align their prices. Free Mobile has one of the best network today and the price has never moved, but the offer improved (data and 5G). There is also many MVNO with very low prices in France.
@@ultort similar way other players did enter the market in the name of competition but later they had to sell and move out and this big 3 bought them all. Currently in canada there is a company into MVNO, struggling is Dotmobile struggling with govt since last few years. Wind mobile had to sell to Shaw and now Shaw is selling to Rogers. Same there there was another company sold to Rogers few years back. It seems there is political connection which plays part to not allow other players to boom and blossom.
The problem is essentially that they don't think they need to compete against themselves,when companies like those see that if they don't turn down the prices their customers will leave that's when they change, things could be better in many countries you can have a sim to receive calls and texts for free unless you want to call someone else then you will have to pay, but mobile plans are also cheap as all companies know that they have competition in the market. that's free market if in a country companies are allowed to buy their competition things will never change.
8:19 This is so true. 20 years loyal customer gets 3 hours of call wait time...while a new prospective customer gets 1 minute and 38 seconds. There should be a law about having equal wait time.🤯
American here. So we have 4 large carriers and MANY, like HUNDREDS of smaller providers. You can get a US phone with any US area code, and unlimited US, Mexico and Canada calling. The downfall is that anyone calling you would be calling long distance, but if you're okay with that, $40 for 2 people and $10 to $25 more for each other line up to 10 in some areas.
Worked at a Telco and then worked as an ombudsman for different telcos. I had to leave the industry entirely. It's disgusting what they can get away with and they have little oversight. When there are rules, they know exactly how to go around them or flat out break them. Money talks.
Money talks! Yes they take care of each other and it's not going change, not just the big 3 , it's all of government and companies, they all pad each others pockets, and the common people pay the price, it's like when the head of the CRTC got caught with one of the executives of Rogers having lunch and he said were just friends, lol, they are all very RICH friends and getting richer, and the common folk paying through the nose and just surviving, its sad!
@@abc10927 SNC-Lavalin, the eHealth Scandal, the Ontario power plant scandal, and the Ornge scandal. The 2014 Ernst & Young global fraud survey found that "twenty percent of Canadian executives believe bribery and corruption are widespread in this country".
I mean they still do the bottlenecking which is crazy like 40gb at such speed then unlimited after but at a much slower speed is straight up criminal behaviour from them
Im so dead it's so bad outside of France.. Legit went on my app activated an option that took 10secs to add 20G in CA/US for 4.99€ for a trip Legit eu compagnys are trolling u at this point like the eu compagny goes trought us/ca networks and still gets french very low prices straight up trolling americans who use the same networks and pays 20x like. My base service is 130G for 14.99€/month and I Can add 50G for 8.99€ if Im out.
It is so painful to use cellular services here in Canada... I'm mexican by born. When family and friend come to visit I'm so impressed by the way they use their roaming data from Mexico without even regarding their amount of use it.... When I'm in Mexico I'm afraid even to turn on the phone!!!
Thanks for taking this to spotlight. I was in Canada for few months and searching for plan and could not believe the prices. I end up with myChattr prepay and data was only 2.5gb for the plan that I picked. It's way too expensive in Canada.
For nearly two years, I used a US number roaming in Canada, and it was cheaper compared to similar Canadian plans 🤐 I feel that last time we had a price reduce was when Verizon tried to buy Wind, when all big three stopped long distance charges.
It's a big shame about the internet and wireless prices in Canada. I lived in multiple countries before coming here but never seen prices like this! First time after moving to Canada, I thought they were joking but it was a brutally true story!
Don’t forget, if your with TELUS and pay using credit card, they’re charging you an extra 1.5% fee on top of your total bill including taxes as a credit card processing fee now.
I am a Canadian who has lived in Laos for more than a decade. Just so you know - I get 35GB of data for less than $3.50 (USD). Also when I have a problem - I have people on the line ASAP to deal with it.
@@My_Old_YT_Account The labour cost is different, the land cost and taxes are also different. The only similar tower costs are the material/component, license and patent costs.
I used to work for 1 of the big 3. (Not in the Cell or cable or telco division) And the CRTC was a client of ours. There was alot of wineing and dining behind the scenes. I actually actually saw a pitch from an Egyptian company that was trying to get into the Canadian market. Someone told me that the CRTC mandates that only Canadian owned companies can apply.
I always thought the reason why is because Canada doesn't allow foreign competition in the telecom sphere, American telecom prices fell hugely when Germany's T-Mobile came on the scene.
I learned this week after calling them multiple times and having to escalate the situation that Telus contracts are one-sided. When consumers breach contract, we get penalized. But if they sign a contract with you and weeks later they realize the phone is out of stock, they'll send a simple text and ask you to call (and wait 45+ minutes) and pick a new phone but they can't honour the boxing day sales (time I renewed my contract). The representative even said they're allowed to cancel agreements based on phone availability. Yet a week ago, the one agent had no problem selling and confirming the phone was available and signing a contract. So their mistake, but consumers get penalized. We need more competition. Hoping with marketplace shining a light on this topic, we'll get more competitors in Canada 🤞🏼
We need Mint Mobile (US carrier, Ryan Reynolds owns part of them) to be allowed to come to Canada. These are the types of small companies that help foster competition and lower prices for consumers. They aren't bloated massive behemoths who have been feeding at the troughs of Government and Consumers for decades. I joined Wind several years ago and it was great (never had an issue). I ended up switching to Rogers a couple of years later, but have since switched back to (as it's known now) Freedom Mobile. I've never had any issues with them (in terms of service, billing, pricing, etc.) and their rates are quite a bit less than the Big 3 (or have been). I am not sure how the takeover (Shaw or Videotron?) will change things.
In the UK, I paid £200 for a pre-paid SIM for 24 months service, for unlimited data -- 600GB/mo of 5G (avg speed over 400mbps), 4G unlimited thereafter. Price per month = £8.33 ($13.88), around $0.02 per GB @ 5G speeds. Includes unlimited calls/txts, and even free roaming in ~75 countries, many of which are also 5G. This is the total cost, including all taxes (20% of the cost). No contracts. No BS fees. No lock-in. Last month in Canada, my Rogers bill was over $250 for 2x lines, less than 50GB used (total 100GB allowance) and 4 days of US roaming. Price per GB used = $5. Yes, we are being shafted.
When I worked for Bell TV they told us that the reason the costs were so high was because of satellites that they had to put up but the thing is Bell Telephone was initially funded by the government during war times, thus the people paid. Also, the Satellites Bell put up were compensated by the Government from what I understand. I now live in another country and pay under $9 for my husband's plan and under $17 for mine which includes free coverage for some apps.
I’m paying $100 plus tax for a 80 GB data with unlimited talk with Rogers and I recently travel to Srilanka and got the same plan with a provider in Srilanka. For the same plan with 100GB of data I’m paying $15 (3,500 rupees). Even this plan includes unlimited UA-cam, Facebook & WhatsApp. Definitely the cell phone plans are very expensive in Canada.
There isn't any real competition in Canada due to the oligopoly of the big three. I'm really concerned about the Shaw/Roger deal, as Shaw owns Freedom Mobile. The Competition Tribunal approved the deal on December 29, 2022. Freedom Mobile will be sold to Videotron. Consumer prices usually rise after business acquisition. I switched to Wind Mobile (now Freedom) 8 years ago and I hadn't switched back. If you were in the coverage area, Wind Mobile was amazing choice when it entered the competition over 10 years ago. It had everything unlimited for around $40; comparing to the competition at that time, huge overage fees for less than 2gb of data and 100 minutes for $60+. Now, none of the competition have overage fees for data which I believe we got Freedom Mobile to thank for. We need more competition. After MTS was sold to Bell in 2017 and since there is no other real competition, Bell rose back its prices and MTS prices in Manitoba.
I left Canada last fall, best decision ever! To give you an example, in Thailand, I got a plan for 3 months, with 100 GB data per month with unli texts and calls locally. Cost? 21.90CDN for the the entire 3 months! And this is just the start! Canada is out pricing itself!!!
I live in Asia and i pay 13cnd a month, with 4G unlimited and reliable internet usage. It used to be a little over that but bc i dont do phone calls i asked the company for a discount. Canadian prices are unbelievable.
Thanks for this video, this is an ongoing problem in Canada. As an above average Canadian consumer in Toronto, I have to say some of the problems are user issues. Pricing is high, but most people do not have the time or the skills to bargain. The Telcos take advantage on this. The only person that got a deal on their plan, was the Rogers customer. He was knowledgeable and had the patience. Rogers is also better at making deals with their customers, but they have more users and more problems with their network. Bell is the hardest to get a deal with, but they have the best network (wireless and wired). Telus is in the middle. The Bell lady example, she got a deal, but she did give up the first day and had to build up her confidence/patience to call back a second day. The Telus man example, just didn't have the skills to bargain and negotiate over the phone. The Big 3s play an unfair game, but it is up to us as smart consumers to do our part and play a similar game. Just like car insurance companies. It is always a good thing every couple of years to get a quote and chance providers.
You are pretty correct in your assessment of the carriers. Person has to put themselves in the best position to negotiate. To do that you have to own your devices out right. When they know you can just leave cause there is no attachment they are more willing to play ball.
The Canadian government allowed Roger's to buy Shaw. That deal should have never gone through. That deal should be illegal. There are not enough phone service providers.
The worst thing about cell plan pricing here on top of the outrageous prices to begin with, it how quickly the cost/GB goes up when you try to get a smaller plan. I'm currently with Bell, but have switched from both Rogers and Telus over the last 2 years due to spotty cell coverage where I live in Victoria. Where I work, I can only reach a Telus tower (which they also share with Bell) but in another part of the city, Telus/Bell have poor coverage and Rogers is solid. I wanted a base plan from Rogers for city-wide coverage, and a dual-SIM with either Telus or Bell to use at work, or vice-versa and I would switch to Rogers in the spotty area of town. All 3 providers offered the same base plan that I wanted: 20GB for $50. Still expensive compared to international rates, but it was the best valued plan that gave me the actual 5GB that I really need. But when I tried to get a small data plan for my dual-SIM from any of the providers, something in the range of 2 or 3 GB, they all quoted plans starting at $30 for 1GB or $40 for 3GB!! They all offer a talk/text only with no data for $15, so they're essentially charging $15 for the 1 GB of data. With the same logic applied to the 20GB plan, that's $35 for 20GB of data. Volume pricing works for physical goods because there's often a labor savings involved when dealing with 1 item vs 100 of the same item. But data is virtual; there's no physical component, so why the volume pricing, and why such a steep increase for low quantities? Most volume pricing schemes involve discounts of 10 or 20% when you buy more. Comparing $15 for 1GB to $35 for 20GB is a discount of 89%!! At same value pricing, the 20GB plan should cost $300, or the 1GB plan should cost $16.75 ($15 for the talk/text plus $1.75 for the 1GB). And speaking of physical costs, the other odd thing is that the Big-Three all charge $10 for an eSIM, but getting a physical SIM either in store of mailed to you is free?? The other discovery I made during this journey was that there's virtually no "data-only" options for cell-phones. A Roger's rep suggested I get a tablet-style data-only plan from Telus or Bell for my second SIM, but a Bell rep told me that's only available for tablet SIM's which don't work in cell-phones, and can only be provided as an add-on plan to an existing cell-plan. If you try the tablet SIM in your phone, it either won't work or you'd get charged a ton due to roaming fees or incompatible device fees, or something to that extent. I then asked about the data-only plans used for pocket-WiFi (Mi-Fi) devices, and was told that's a 3rd type of SIM and also can't be used in phones!! *insert face-palm here* I eventually found a Bell-sub-subsidiary provider, Lucky mobile, who offers a data-only plan for cell users. Their offer: 500 MB of data at 3G only for only $15/month, lol. This is the best we can do on the West-Coast unfortunately. It really pisses me off that users who only need small data packages so they can browse the web and check Facebook get absolutely gouged compared to heavier data users. 2 or 3 GB of data should cost less than $10/month based on the price points of the higher plans.
I agree with almost all of it except volume pricing. Volume pricing have significant impact in Data. For example, people who have more data, have bigger portion as leftover. That counts as savings for Telco. Irrespective of you use 1 GB or 20 GB, maintaining continuous signal to your cellphone is same, the network coverage rollout cost is similar. So, yes there's definitely volume component in it. However, that still shouldn't count for the level of discrepancy you are talking about.
Marketplace makes some great and very interesting videos. Thank you! Also shocking to see as a Finn how expensive it is in Canada. Feel bad for you guys
I see similarities with internet packages as well. I used to be with Rogers cable and in the past I used to negotiate the price to match competitors and last time I tried they refused. The best they would do is a 75mbps line 105 bucks a month plus tax. I ended up switching to a competitor for the same package for 65 bucks a month. After I switched they called me no less than 5 times a day for 2 weeks asking me to come back to Rogers with them saying they will match the same price after I already switched. I didn't switch back as I already gave them a chance but they refused to budge till it was too late.
I had this happen. I asked Shaw to keep my same plan and price I had the past 2 years and they kept telling me no, it had to go up by like $40/month. I cancelled with Shaw and got Telus Fiber. Shaw then called the same day the Telus install finished and said they could give me a better deal. I asked why I was not offered that and I was told I did not ask for it. Told them too late but they kept insisting to switch back. I then called back Telus and told them what Shaw was offering to undo the switch and Telus then beat that price again, so I took the deal and stayed with Telus fiber.
I’m Australian. We also have three big Telcos. Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone. Here, you can buy and own your phone outright from, say, Apple. These phones are not locked to a Telco, but I think if you buy a mobile from Telstra it’s locked to Telstra and no other SIM card works. You can also buy a phone and SIM card from a Telco on a contract. The monthly price varies depending on the phone and package. But the good news for Aussies is that there are second-tier service providers that offer bare bones online only prepaid sales of SIM cards only for a much cheaper service. My service uses Telstra wholesale for $AUD30 ($CAD28) a month unlimited phone calls and texts, with 32GB data, the unused portion of which rolls over and is banked to a max of 500GB.
Here in Australia we have a national phone and internet carrier called Telstra which owned most of our infrastructure before it was privatised. We also let in Optus, which is a Singapore based company, to build and operate more infrastructure. We now have many small cell phone operators who provide cell service, like Aldi the German supermarket chain, and Amaysim. I have been with both and paid $ 25 a month for unlimited mobile, landline local and national calls and got 22 GB of data and any unused data rolls over each month with no limit on rollover. I currently have around 523 GB of data in my account for use at the moment because i never use 22 GB each month. With both of them you can pay as little as $ 15 a month for unlimited local, national, and mobile calls and 3 GB of data with any unused data rolled over to next month unlimited. As far as dropouts or no service in certain areas with these 2 companies or any of the many others we have, it is almost non existent in rural areas and nonexistent in the cities and burbs. Australian mobile carriers have around 95-98 % coverage of the whole country. You Canadians are getting screwed royally, and if i was a Canadian i would be burning the house down until things changed.
This is so timely, and long overdue! Having recently returned to Canada from Europe, I was shocked by the 10 fold prices for any type of plan and/or data package. How about unlimited 4G LTE and 500 Minutes to any number, all for 15 dollars a month?
It’s about time to flood the gov’t. with complaints. I mean FLOOD it. If enough people complain, then they will HAVE TO listen & start reacting & doing something about it.
I pay 15 dollars a month with Telus, prepaid phone. If Bell had a landline for those 60 year old and up, at a cost of 15-20 dollars, I would take it. However, If I'm not mistaken, Bell's landline starts at 45 dollars a month. Nothing but greed, just like the price of gaz.
And over here in the United States of America, you can get ACTUALLY unlimited everything for $45/mo+tax minimum if you go with a major carrier (specifically that’s the T-Mobile Base Essentials plan) or for $30/mo incl. tax if you go with an MVNO (specifically that’s the Visible Base plan). _And then Canada is getting shafted by their major carriers even harder than we are._
Wow, thats crazy the prices. I pay $29.99 with tax for my line and $10 a month for my moms plan, been like that for years. I am in the US tho, guess I take that price for granted
When I lived in Europe, the costs of a cellphone plan were ridiculous low in comparison to Canada, granted this was before Data was such an integral part of a phone plan, though I know it'd still be way better than it is here. I switched to Wynd/Freedom years ago, I'm also with a smaller ISP company for my internet at home, I was so tired dealing with the big 3 having dealt with them each over the years. It'd be nice if our governments (Liberal/Conservative doesn't matter) actually cared for it's citizens to get us fair competition. I'm so tired of the excuse of big country, Australia has had better pricing for ages.
As soon as you leave town, you're at the mercy of the big three for away coverage. I looked into Shaw Mobile and it would end up costing me more than my Rogers plan
Same here $30 they lower my plan from $60 and increased my data to 30GB was very surprised, I’m not giving the other companies a cent their excuses and greed it’s disgusting.
@@gunit6815 Ifyou have an iphone you need to look into esims. You can load a second esim onto your phone while off their network. 3HK in Honk Kong offers about 50gb of data in north america for $45 and it expires in one year. Many Canadians are using this option. Yes, its cheaper to get an international esim then local plans.
I have worked for two telecommunications companies (one was Bell and the other a wholesale company) and can tell you they will loop whole it out eventually. Hopefully, when they do, there will be better options for customers and more competition.
This is why I use pay as you go phone plan. I load like $25 in there and I can use it for half a year. Each call and text costs me $25 cents. But there are free wifi everywhere so I always wait until there are wifi at home or in store to reply to texts and call family and friends for free. Apps like WeChat let you call for free when you have wifi connected.
Thats what i do. There's also free services that give you your own number as well. Only reason i use the 25 dollar pay as go is because the 2fas no longer works with voip type number services.
Nice. I do something similar except use Shaw’s pay-as-you go for $10 per 3 months for 1GB, or $20 for half a year but with 2GB data. I use Shaw’s wifi hotspots and local wifi whenever I can. Pay-as-you go is definitely the way to go.
To be honest its not the the price that annoys me... I get it, the country is absolutely massive so you need a lot of infrastructure to support it. But giving people 5 GB plans with 0.5 Mbps after the fact is just sad.
@@codyhummel2366 You should do a Google search before you answer next time. I see so much Canada bashing by a small group of Canadians pushing absolute nonsense. WHY? It's so easy to search these days and have all the facts at hand. Canada is 24th out or 38 OECD countries. Only 14 countries have lower taxes. We pay only slightly more than Americans but get a heck of a lot more for our money in social services. Our health care system may be going through a rough patch but we are still far better than the USA by almost every measurement.
We don't have the highest taxes. In fact in the states they are taxed from 1 dollar earned unlike our 12,000 personal exemption, though they have loopholes for home ownership mortgage rightoffs. The only tax where we pay more is our HST vs their state tax. Go check their tax rates vs ours. You are better off here/our safer society in general-your taxes are the reason for that. Also go check healthcare in the states if you aren't rich. Good luck.
When you want to do renegotiate your plans / services, put all the providers in your area on a conference call, and let them hash it out. It's hilarious to watch them scramble as they try to beat each other, and I've never had it fail to secure me custom rates.
There’s a couple of really important considerations that have been left out: 1- in Canada most people do not pay full price for their phone. For example, they pay an up-front $300 for a $1500 phone, and finance the remaining $1200 on their cell bill over the course of 2 years. This adds $50 per month to the cellphone bill. In most parts of the world, people purchase their phone in full, and therefore just pay for monthly service. 2- We can’t ignore the fact that Canada is a massive country with less than 40 million population. This has a meaningful impact. It’s not fair to compare us to France, which can fit inside of Manitoba 3 times over, and with a population that is about double that of Canada. 3- I don’t believe it’s reasonable to expect top notch quality cell phone access in exceptionally remote areas. I’m not saying that people should expect no service, but just that it won’t be the same quality as when you’re in a metro area. I want to be clear- I’m not defending the industry. I agree that we need more competition and options.I just wanted to add more context to this debate.
You are giving your politicians a big pass. No wonder you have incompetent and complacent leaders everywhere. Did you even watch the video? Australia is also a big country with little population. You need to travel to other first world countries with better infrastructure. A lot of you also give excuse for your dilapidated roads. "Roads are bad because of snow". As if other countries don't experience snow 🙄
I read your comment again. All I could do is SMH. Obviously, you've been stuck in Canada for too long. Travel the world. If you could only see how really developed other 1st world countries in other continents. Pity you.
We’re not trying to bring cell service to the entire country most people live by the USA boarder so that argument that Canada needs more cell towers is ridiculous. Also the fact none of these company want to share a tower and build there own and then throws the price of that tower on consumers is also wrong. The prices are high because of no real competition and the government gets kick backs from all these providers and they like the money so they won’t regulate the prices. It’s ridiculous when you pay 130 dollars for basic internet and over 100 dollars for a basic phone plan.
@@ryans413 I wouldn’t call it “ridiculous” that Canadians expect cell signal while travelling on highways and from one community to another. I’m going to stop here because I can tell that you’re more concerned with trying to “put me in spot” and appear to be some heroic internet intellect than having a civil discussion.
@@vedranhodzic9467 why would you need service why’ll driving and any town or major city will have service unless you go way north into the territories.
Indeed. I’m Canadian living in the US, I pay US$25 per line - unlimited data/call/txt. US used to be monopolized by a few players too but over the years many small companies began sharing towers of the big players so rates have come down by a lot. The law makers need to protect the consumers!
Thank you for covering this. I have lived in India, the US and Canada, and oh my f**kg god, I still use my US number in Canada coz it's so much cheaper
I have a US cell plan that I’ve been using for a couple years here in Canada. Unlimited North American Calling and Unlimited Data for less per month than I was offered by the big 3. Now we need to bring down the home internet rates.
Wow. Why people live in Canada at all? Salaries are low, housing market as expensive as in the US, the queues for medical services are super long, even cell phone plans aparently start at 300$+. Doesn't really make much sense to me at all.
Never sign a 2-year contract. Always BYOD to chase the best plans. You'll either find an affordable plan or receive a win-back from a previous provider for a great deal. A bit of a hassle but it's the only tried and true way. Bundling cell+internet also helps.
You forgot to add that people have to buy their cell phone outright if you're not going to sign a contract. People are not used to buying unlocked phones outright.
This is true, but I some how pay $33 +tax and get 10gb which is enough for me on Freedom. Granted, they have only service within the GTA, so when I went to Quebec and Ottawa, it went on roaming, but $33 with tax is a no-brainer. Honestly, I was thinking about switching to rogers or bell, but now I guess I'll stick with Freedom unless I move out of the GTA.
Rogers is just wick, I was paying $250 a year later they went down to $200 then after I told them about Bell offer they wanted to give me the same plan for $140 + tax a month. I couldn't understand why it took me almost 5 years to get this offer. I felt robbed. That's why I never take their free cell phone with a plan for 2 years, I often get it a couple of times a year, and I'd rather pay $56.50 every month with no stress.
The heads of the CRTC all need to all go to jail for corruption, no parole. The fact so many come from telecom companies suggests even more collusion and kickbacks. Send them all to max security and seize their net worth.
Even in the early days of the analog cell phones, if you compared the cell phone coverage maps between the US and Canada, the US was restricted to coverage at the cities and along highways while Canada's coverage bloomed out evenly over rural areas. Canada has always been focused more on broader coverage and service than on low costs. However, I do miss the much lower costs of countries like the US even if it does mean greater disparity between rural and urban life.
@@mikem.9197 Sigh, I said if you compare the old analog coverage maps, there's a big difference between the US and Canada coverage. Focusing on your specifics only shows how limited your scope and world view is.
Doesn't Canada have a government agency that regulates cellular carriers like we have here the Federal Communion Commission regulates our cellular phone carriers
Me and my Brother pay 140 for 2 lines 70 per person for 20GB of high speed data and unlimited low speed data. we have had our phone for 5 years now which has saved us an extra $50/line/month for the phones. What some people don't understand is you have to pay for the phone plan and the finance of the phone which is why it goes so high. $412 for 4 lines is reasonable when you have to pay big bucks for the new phones.
Welcome to Canada, where consumers have little to no protection rights and politicians deflect with empty songs and dances with "investigations" and how they "have the consumer protection in their best interest in mind" and "how they are working to help the consumer" and so and and so forth - year after year and Government after Government - the same song and dance with no changes - and this applies to so much more than just mobile plans. On the topic of Canadian mobile plans - some 15 years ago, I was with Bell, I signed up for a $50 per month plan back in the days of "free evenings and weekends", made 99% of my calls in the evening and on weekends and they billed me over $400. I called them up, asked for an explanation, and they said they "reviewed" my plan and changed it (without notifying me) to a plan that was "better suited for my needs". Took a while, but I got them to change my plan back and refund me my money. A couple of months later, they did it again. Cancelled the plan and went elsewhere. Fast forward 10 years, I went back to Bell, got a 6GB plan and every single month, I would end up going over my data plan or very close to it. After the contact expired, I switched to Virgin, got an identical plan with 6GB (for less money) and am still using the identical phone and even though Virgin is Bell, I have not once even come close to using all of my data in the 6 years I've been with them. The big 3 are crooks, they know it but they don't care because they know that there is absolutely zero recourse for them.
Unfortunately, Canada is one of the most corrupt systems, yet no one really talks about it. Most Canadians are too good (naive) and simply can’t imagine it. Construction, supermarkets, telecom, healthcare, …. Just sad.
Well. I needed a new phone. Bestbuy won't sell me a new iPhone without me signing a new phone contracts. I couldn't buy out the phone outright. My cellular provider won't sell me a new iPhone outright as well. I finally end up at Costco buying out a new phone out right. There might be a more clear transparency as to how much a third party makes signing up a contract with a provider. They are making money selling signing up contracts than selling phones. There are many third parties store in cdn doing that. The question is should the able to without being transparent?
I've been with FIDO for well over a decade and so far been extremely happy with them. When I was going over my data they called me and suggested a different pkg. Saved money. Once I stopped using as much data... again they phoned and suggested a difPferent pkg. I have never waited long to talk to a person if I have a question either. I have to communicate with Bell and Telus for my corporate AP job and Bell is the worst. Rude CSR's and you wait forever, after going through multiple prompts, to even get to the rude CSR. TELUS is usually faster and quick to rectify whatever issue I have called them about.
Having lived in both US and Canada, it’s outrageous how high cellphone bills and how little these plans offer. I hope this episode brings this issue to more attention, thank you Marketplace!
It's funny in my car I have "On-Star" and for the mobile hotspot plan in the US, they get unlimited for like 20 dollars. We get like 2-4 GB last time I checked. It's rediculous!
I pay $180 for 7 lines in the US which include free Netflix subscription. Its insane to pay that much more when we literally live 2 hours across the border.
When I moved to Canada in 2008 from France. I was in shock about how much Canadians pay for 'EVERYTHING'. Same with public transit infrastructure. They tell us its difficult terrain, but its about profits to the select few!
Second largest land mass on the planet with only 33 million people to pay for infrastructure.
Thanks for what
They pretend to question
Their federal benefactor
I moved to Canada almost 3 years ago from Italy and I still remember how I felt after seeing the prices here. In Italy I had a phone plan that allowed me to have unlimited texts and phone calls + 50 GIGABYTES of data within Europe at 7.99€ a month (around 11.60 canadian dollars per month, taxes included). I really hope things will change soon!
Well you're getting the true Canadian experience. We will complain but do nothing about it.
@@gunnermac3570 Canada is hella corrupted.
@@gunnermac3570 it's cause we work 40+ hours per week. Mobilizing citizens to implement change is hard when everyone is tired with the difficulties of everyday life
Monopoly
@@symh7505 modern slavery
I laugh when I hear that Bell is donating 10 million dollars for mental health ... at the same time it is their bullshit that is driving people nuts.
Not to mention how they treat their employees.
And who signed up for their service?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. That mental stress is all about their monthly bills on us
Donating to mental health is just tax deduction in disguise.
@@ArashFallah Is that a bad thing if millions are going to a good cause? What's the government doing about mental health?
Politicians refusing interviews with CBC is unacceptable.
Almost like they don't want to held accountable. Can't tell a heinz pickle anything
Business 101 in the Soviet North
Who really runs this country? In Canada, everything is smoke and mirrors
@@jonathanshane6274 So that is Pat Buchanan's username.
As an international student who recently came to Canada, I was surprised by the high prices of phone plans here. In my country, I used to pay only $3 a month for a plan that included 1.5GB/day of data, even after the speed was reduced, unlimited calling, and 1000 texts/day. It's hard to understand why Canadian phone plans are so much more expensive compared to other countries. I hope that in the future, the prices will become more reasonable for people like us who are on a budget. Keep up the good work with the informative videos, it's really helpful for us to understand the reasons behind it.
Greed. The government takes bribes from corporations. They just call it lobbying here and it's legally allowed.
Which country was this where you pay so cheap?
Could you just use your home country phone plan in Canada with an international plan?
Greed. Greed is the reason. It's part of the culture here. Along with other abnormal behaviour.
@@கோபிசுதாகர் only some plans from some phone companies do that. Some American phone plans allow to be used but only in certain countries like Mexico, Canada, Jamaica etc. and those are only some plans for some companies. Most don't have that option.
My phone plan can only be used in Canada, USA and Mexico for example. I cannot use in any other country. Otherwise I have to get more expensive plan, or use roaming charges.
The problem is NOT the BIG 3.
The problem is the CRTC regulators by hiring a decision maker, Ian Scott, who has worked for Rogers Telecom (Call-Net Enterprises), Telus (Former Telus VP) and in 2019 met with Bell (Mirko Bibic in regards to appealing wholesale rates). Personally, I consider this a conflict of interest situation with money in there somewhere. The current government is permitting this.
In fact the Rogers and Shaw merger needs the approval of the current government to REDUCE competition. No mention of Rogers on the status of preventing another network outage that affected Hospitals, debit payments, Fido (consumer level mobile), Rogers mobile (priced at a corporate rate) and Rogers internet.
Why even have a CRTC when it is just words with no teeth
I think there's a level of corruption going on between them.
Corruption at all levels is how.
No the problem is people wanting 60+ gigabytes of data. My plan is unlimited calls & texts and its only 17$ taxes in, in Canada.
@@thatguy5801 who are you with? I’d love to know!
@@Disgruntled_Canadian Luckymobile
The Competition Tribunal approved the Rogers-Shaw merger on December 29, 2022 while Canadians weren't paying attention. This means higher telecom bills and even less competition. Canadian industries that are oligopolistic include banking, telecom, groceries, media and engineering firms. This is a large contributor to Canadians' lower purchasing power and high cost of living. Sadly there is almost no political will for change.
Politicians definitely profited from it, so of course they won't change it.
We can blame conflicts of interest and the cyclical gravy train for almost everything that we as a society overpay for
Vote Pierre
No they did not
Pierre voted with the Liberals against increased competition and lowering telecom prices including a customer bill of Rights. He's not going to change a thing.
I am originally from Canada and I have lived in 5 countries in 3 continents: Canada is the worst by a country mile in terms of telecom service and price. Whenever I go home, I am shocked by having to pay so much for so little. Equally shocking is how this has been an issue for decades and the CRTC has not figured it out yet. Canadians get gouged and the government plays the fiddle while the "big three" get wealthier and quality of service goes down.
exactly! It's sick!
Unfortunately is not only phone plans. Canada is more expensive in everything. The average Canadian citizen never protest or they just stay quiet, so big corporations and politicians take advantage. Cars, houses, food, clothes, gasoline, electronics, everything is more expensive in Canada
@@rudyzk you are so right, they only know how to protest on things that do not matter such as protesting against wearing masks in Ottawa by truckers. Imagine if that protest was about the standard of living
I agree. That, cable, banks, groceries, clothing. On top of housing costs. Horrible
THE CRTC IS "RETIRED" EXECUTIVES FROM ROGERS BELL AND TELUS
You should do an episode on Enbridge gas. They were fined $250,000 for all of their issues, and are only getting worse with their price hikes, and refusal to check people’s gas meters. My bill went from $100/ month to $1000-$2000. It took me calling the Ontario Energy Board to finally get Enbridge to acknowledge their mistake.
As someone who has lived in the US her whole life, and as a cellular network enthusiast, this is one of the big things that would hold me back from moving to Canada. The US isn't great compared to places in like Europe, but it is at least better than Canada, although prices here are going up in ways as well, although we at least have unlimited offerings and cheaper limited offerings from MVNOs, some of which thankfully aren't owned by the main carriers.
We need universal healthcare badly.
Cbc marketplace and this kind of investigative journalism is everything we need to promote. The greed of big business does not care about us. They are counting on our ignorance. LOVE Marketplace ❤ Just when I was about to take on Telus myself today….just in time.
This video has way to many errors in it and this is the reason people get mad because they hear crap like investigate or expert abd think the reporting must be 100% accurate. You don't ask consumers how an industry works when trying don't even understand how to read a simple bill. Not one person in this video actually understand hiw incorrect the info is that they're giving to the consumer.
I wonder why someone would want to defund a news outlet that puts out stories like this? ...
@@glawr8486 Because they put out miss leading info like this.
@@Justicescales123 Can you give an example of a piece of incorrect information in this video and a source demonstrating that?
@@jthayer479 sure once you show me proof that this information is correct.
Easy answer - greed. In Mexico I pay the equivalent of $12 cdn a month for unlimited calls to US, Can and Mex plus 5 gigs data. Eff Rogers!
In UK on giff gaff which is pay as you go so no contract and for £12 I used to get 20gb unlimited phone and messages.. also all over eu roaming when it was part of eu.
12... for no plan or contract. Cheaper if you are on o2 or Vodafone
Not greed is the people still allowing this rubbish
I'm originally from the US and when I came here my jaw dropped at this robbery that was happening in broad daylight. How can we pay higher prices for cell service than 3rd world countries? It's about time they did a piece on these greedy cell phone providers. The funny thing that most people don't know is when it comes to competition they all unite to make sure that no new competition steps foot in Canada. I remember Verizon was planning on coming here and they drove them out. The one thing that is really different here in Canada than in the US is the most Canadians don't stand up and fight for things like this they just take it and accept it. This is one thing I wish was different here. Going back to the US has been weighing on my mind for the last 6 months now.
You only have a few months warm enough to stand out, and probably not enough money to get to the houses of power, or the media.
Ditto brother. Coming from US it is a robbery. Its Crazy and service is really bad.
ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile way cheaper than Rogers,bell, Telus. But ușa is also 300 mill+ vs 30 million+ makes sense
@@thatLion01 No really since 90% of Canadians live within 100 k of the US border.
@@thatLion01 That's a common myth that Canada's population size is the reason why prices are so high here. Australia is also large with a small population and the prices are significantly lower, much like in the US.
This brings back memories of when I was in highschool. Was with Bell, and had "unlimited" texting. I learned the hard way "unlimited" wasn't actually that. There was a cap on it, that I surpassed and they tried billing me $1200 for it. I called and freaked, since I was just a highschool student and couldn't afford it. They agreed to refund it, I switched to Telus the week after.
Thank you Marketplace for this eye opening investigation. The CRTC really should look into it and have a control consumer protection. I also agree Canada has the more expensive plans in the world.
DEFUND CBC
DEFUND CBC
DEFUND CBC
DEFUND CBC
Do internet and TV services next please!
It's basically the same exact thing.
TV Service? That's still a thing?
its worse
@@Drivenwithambition I don't know anyone with cable or satellite tv anymore. Just use the cable jack for internet service
Yes. please do. internet prices are insanely high.
@@tahaniaburaneh6625 Internet is essential and should be free, like radio waves.
I've lived on both sides of the US-Canadian border. What I found was that it was MUCH cheaper for me to keep my US number with AT&T's prepaid service while I was living in Toronto and just roam the entire time. I still had unlimited data for a flat rate of about $55 US, had no trouble with making calls. And, to my knowledge, none of my friends with Canadian numbers had to pay any additional charges to call or text me.
I was also able to switch my phone's regionalization to Canada (allowing for things like Canada-specific apps) without any trouble while maintaining my US service.
It's fairly common for US carriers to offer unlimited roaming (including for data) in Canada. AT&T never complained about all of my usage in Canada. If you have the opportunity to do so, and don't mind having an American area code, I'd suggest looking into that as a solution.
Yes I did the same for years
So did I, except that I was with Verizon and they disconnected my service two years later.
SAME. Live in the US and the ATT gophone has FREE calls to canada and mexico. I know Asians and Filipinos use Viber to avoid the extra text charges which is a scam. (f telus)
Yup it's a good solution. Probably your Canadian friends did pay to call your US number. Most plans in Canada don't cover this unless its at a premium plan level. I bet if most Canadians stopped giving money to domestic telecoms they would notice and adapt.
@@andrewcrookall7229 probably not, it goes through the same towers, they would just up the price for foreign companies
Call it what it is. A monopoly. When the government takes away the monopoly and lets the competition in, maybe we can afford it. Cell phones are next on the list for all of us to quit using in order to survive. When it comes to food on table or expensive cell phone use, guess who's going to win. There is no reason for these monopolies, regardless of what rogers, bell and telus says. My vote is food on the table.
Oligopoly, actually
The problem is that the oligopoly is tacitly supported by government measures. Governments don't dismantle monopolies, they foster them.
They know the answer they know what the are doing
Competition has been allowed for a while now. Verizon looked at the market, and said it wasn't feasible for them. Country is too big and sparse.
They won’t
Wireless phone rates are expensive in Canada due to weak consumer protection legislation. Unlike most other countries, our federal government doesn't prioritize defending Canadian consumers, choosing instead to protect established industries including telecoms, banking, forestry, dairy, and mining - to name a few.
I used to work for a carrier. The low prices for the people switching over are only for new customers. After a period of time they will pay the new carrier the same price per month (or higher). My advice is first to not do leases or installment billing for a phone. Buy it outright. Second, let your adult age kids in university pay their own bills. And shop around for those bundle deals. Many of them are not really great deals in the long run.
Competition isn't the only issue. There seems to be a lot of interest in the government to favour and protect institutional investors, like banks, and other financial and investment companies. They have a big role to play in all of this.
They also hate any competition, thus we paid to rip out Huawei and replace everything with inferior, outdated crap, so we don't get spied on. ha ha ha
Bankers accountants and lawyers
Institutional investors and banks have globally diversified holdings. The big ones anyway, even if their telecom holdings are cut 85% they'll be totally fine.
Competition is the mean issue in Europe they pay 9 euros a month for 300gb which is 13 cad
This will never stop. Market place will keep making such videos but next to impossible to turn the table. Big 3 are too powerful.
This was the same in France 12 years ago, with 3 telco company that created a cartel and agreed to not compete to on price. But then, the telecom regulator allowed a new provider (Free Mobile), it was not the best provider at first, but the price was very low, it attracted many customers, the big 3 had to align their prices. Free Mobile has one of the best network today and the price has never moved, but the offer improved (data and 5G). There is also many MVNO with very low prices in France.
@@ultort similar way other players did enter the market in the name of competition but later they had to sell and move out and this big 3 bought them all. Currently in canada there is a company into MVNO, struggling is Dotmobile struggling with govt since last few years. Wind mobile had to sell to Shaw and now Shaw is selling to Rogers. Same there there was another company sold to Rogers few years back. It seems there is political connection which plays part to not allow other players to boom and blossom.
DEFUND CBC
DEFUND CBC
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DEFUND CBC
The problem is essentially that they don't think they need to compete against themselves,when companies like those see that if they don't turn down the prices their customers will leave that's when they change, things could be better in many countries you can have a sim to receive calls and texts for free unless you want to call someone else then you will have to pay, but mobile plans are also cheap as all companies know that they have competition in the market. that's free market if in a country companies are allowed to buy their competition things will never change.
8:19 This is so true. 20 years loyal customer gets 3 hours of call wait time...while a new prospective customer gets 1 minute and 38 seconds. There should be a law about having equal wait time.🤯
It shows where they budget their priorities.
This is a great show. Hopefully this will wake up more people and politicians.
American here. So we have 4 large carriers and MANY, like HUNDREDS of smaller providers. You can get a US phone with any US area code, and unlimited US, Mexico and Canada calling. The downfall is that anyone calling you would be calling long distance, but if you're okay with that, $40 for 2 people and $10 to $25 more for each other line up to 10 in some areas.
Worked at a Telco and then worked as an ombudsman for different telcos. I had to leave the industry entirely. It's disgusting what they can get away with and they have little oversight. When there are rules, they know exactly how to go around them or flat out break them. Money talks.
Money talks! Yes they take care of each other and it's not going change, not just the big 3 , it's all of government and companies, they all pad each others pockets, and the common people pay the price, it's like when the head of the CRTC got caught with one of the executives of Rogers having lunch and he said were just friends, lol, they are all very RICH friends and getting richer, and the common folk paying through the nose and just surviving, its sad!
Mind sharing some specific examples?
@@abc10927 SNC-Lavalin, the eHealth Scandal, the Ontario power plant scandal, and the Ornge scandal. The 2014 Ernst & Young global fraud survey found that "twenty percent of Canadian executives believe bribery and corruption are widespread in this country".
Which country did you work in when working as an Ombudsman?
@@newfdogg Someone has to fund their Ponzi scheme foundation.
This is a very well documented video explaining the telecom industry in Canada and how corrupt its been for over a decade
I mean they still do the bottlenecking which is crazy like 40gb at such speed then unlimited after but at a much slower speed is straight up criminal behaviour from them
DEFUND CBC
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DEFUND CBC
It's about to get worse
@@michaelatcheson4816 I'm guessing you work for one of these corrupt telcom companies.
Im so dead it's so bad outside of France..
Legit went on my app activated an option that took 10secs to add 20G in CA/US for 4.99€ for a trip
Legit eu compagnys are trolling u at this point like the eu compagny goes trought us/ca networks and still gets french very low prices straight up trolling americans who use the same networks and pays 20x like. My base service is 130G for 14.99€/month and I Can add 50G for 8.99€ if Im out.
It is so painful to use cellular services here in Canada... I'm mexican by born. When family and friend come to visit I'm so impressed by the way they use their roaming data from Mexico without even regarding their amount of use it.... When I'm in Mexico I'm afraid even to turn on the phone!!!
Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just move to Mexico like Canada seems like an expensive country or get a Mexican sim and just roam if it’s cheaper
Might as well buy a Mexican SIM card and roam in Canada,get cut off,buy another one.
@@Alphoric "just move to Mexico"? Do you really think that is some kind of solution?
Change your Sim to a Mexican one then no need to roam that's what I'd do if I were to go to a country like Mexico.
@@900Yugo That's a breach of contract and the service provider can cancel your plan or penalize you for that
Thanks for taking this to spotlight. I was in Canada for few months and searching for plan and could not believe the prices. I end up with myChattr prepay and data was only 2.5gb for the plan that I picked. It's way too expensive in Canada.
For nearly two years, I used a US number roaming in Canada, and it was cheaper compared to similar Canadian plans 🤐
I feel that last time we had a price reduce was when Verizon tried to buy Wind, when all big three stopped long distance charges.
What carrier were you using ? T-Mobile? And how were you able to do so for 2 years? T-Mobile only allows 5gb of roaming in Canada I believe.
@@asianstud7 It was Verizon. They terminated my service after nearly two years after I moved back to Canada.
Can we buy US local sim in airport?
It's a big shame about the internet and wireless prices in Canada. I lived in multiple countries before coming here but never seen prices like this! First time after moving to Canada, I thought they were joking but it was a brutally true story!
@@nsevv Well, that's one way to say. But a lot of fellow Canadians show the true Canadian spirit and say we need to fix the actual issue 🙂
Don’t forget, if your with TELUS and pay using credit card, they’re charging you an extra 1.5% fee on top of your total bill including taxes as a credit card processing fee now.
I am a Canadian who has lived in Laos for more than a decade. Just so you know - I get 35GB of data for less than $3.50 (USD). Also when I have a problem - I have people on the line ASAP to deal with it.
I found the same living in China, served by the forbidden, evil Huawei.
Perhaps it's worth to consider that Laos is a developing country. I think the countries that are compared in the video are more comparable.
@@TheDuckPox The tower costs the same, doesn't matter where you put it
@@My_Old_YT_Account The labour cost is different, the land cost and taxes are also different. The only similar tower costs are the material/component, license and patent costs.
I used to work for 1 of the big 3. (Not in the Cell or cable or telco division) And the CRTC was a client of ours.
There was alot of wineing and dining behind the scenes.
I actually actually saw a pitch from an Egyptian company that was trying to get into the Canadian market.
Someone told me that the CRTC mandates that only Canadian owned companies can apply.
I always thought the reason why is because Canada doesn't allow foreign competition in the telecom sphere, American telecom prices fell hugely when Germany's T-Mobile came on the scene.
I remember when Verizon almost entered the Canadian Market. The big 3 were so scared lol
Ministers and deputy ministers should not be allowed to decline reasonable media requests for interviews in the public interest. Unacceptable.
I learned this week after calling them multiple times and having to escalate the situation that Telus contracts are one-sided.
When consumers breach contract, we get penalized. But if they sign a contract with you and weeks later they realize the phone is out of stock, they'll send a simple text and ask you to call (and wait 45+ minutes) and pick a new phone but they can't honour the boxing day sales (time I renewed my contract). The representative even said they're allowed to cancel agreements based on phone availability. Yet a week ago, the one agent had no problem selling and confirming the phone was available and signing a contract. So their mistake, but consumers get penalized.
We need more competition. Hoping with marketplace shining a light on this topic, we'll get more competitors in Canada 🤞🏼
Long wait times should be breach of service
It's brutal, I was in Europe this past summer and I can't believe how much we get screwed.
We need Mint Mobile (US carrier, Ryan Reynolds owns part of them) to be allowed to come to Canada. These are the types of small companies that help foster competition and lower prices for consumers. They aren't bloated massive behemoths who have been feeding at the troughs of Government and Consumers for decades. I joined Wind several years ago and it was great (never had an issue). I ended up switching to Rogers a couple of years later, but have since switched back to (as it's known now) Freedom Mobile. I've never had any issues with them (in terms of service, billing, pricing, etc.) and their rates are quite a bit less than the Big 3 (or have been). I am not sure how the takeover (Shaw or Videotron?) will change things.
there are alot of similar companies in Canada, lucky mobile and myphonebox come to mind
In the UK, I paid £200 for a pre-paid SIM for 24 months service, for unlimited data -- 600GB/mo of 5G (avg speed over 400mbps), 4G unlimited thereafter. Price per month = £8.33 ($13.88), around $0.02 per GB @ 5G speeds. Includes unlimited calls/txts, and even free roaming in ~75 countries, many of which are also 5G. This is the total cost, including all taxes (20% of the cost). No contracts. No BS fees. No lock-in.
Last month in Canada, my Rogers bill was over $250 for 2x lines, less than 50GB used (total 100GB allowance) and 4 days of US roaming. Price per GB used = $5. Yes, we are being shafted.
Because in Canada, you have to pay more for everything due to increasing corruption and greed, be it directly or indirectly !
When I worked for Bell TV they told us that the reason the costs were so high was because of satellites that they had to put up but the thing is Bell Telephone was initially funded by the government during war times, thus the people paid. Also, the Satellites Bell put up were compensated by the Government from what I understand.
I now live in another country and pay under $9 for my husband's plan and under $17 for mine which includes free coverage for some apps.
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I’m paying $100 plus tax for a 80 GB data with unlimited talk with Rogers and I recently travel to Srilanka and got the same plan with a provider in Srilanka. For the same plan with 100GB of data I’m paying $15 (3,500 rupees). Even this plan includes unlimited UA-cam, Facebook & WhatsApp. Definitely the cell phone plans are very expensive in Canada.
What province
here in ontario im paying 140 for 2 lines of 20gb highspeed and unlimited low speed.
Are Canadian so domb what is unlimited WhatsApp UA-cam internet 🛜 is internet
There isn't any real competition in Canada due to the oligopoly of the big three. I'm really concerned about the Shaw/Roger deal, as Shaw owns Freedom Mobile. The Competition Tribunal approved the deal on December 29, 2022. Freedom Mobile will be sold to Videotron. Consumer prices usually rise after business acquisition. I switched to Wind Mobile (now Freedom) 8 years ago and I hadn't switched back. If you were in the coverage area, Wind Mobile was amazing choice when it entered the competition over 10 years ago. It had everything unlimited for around $40; comparing to the competition at that time, huge overage fees for less than 2gb of data and 100 minutes for $60+. Now, none of the competition have overage fees for data which I believe we got Freedom Mobile to thank for. We need more competition. After MTS was sold to Bell in 2017 and since there is no other real competition, Bell rose back its prices and MTS prices in Manitoba.
I visited Canada from New Zealand and was sooooo shocked at the Price of a basic plan in Canada
I left Canada last fall, best decision ever! To give you an example, in Thailand, I got a plan for 3 months, with 100 GB data per month with unli texts and calls locally. Cost? 21.90CDN for the the entire 3 months!
And this is just the start! Canada is out pricing itself!!!
I live in Asia and i pay 13cnd a month, with 4G unlimited and reliable internet usage. It used to be a little over that but bc i dont do phone calls i asked the company for a discount. Canadian prices are unbelievable.
CBC working on the real issues, thank you
Thanks for this video, this is an ongoing problem in Canada. As an above average Canadian consumer in Toronto, I have to say some of the problems are user issues. Pricing is high, but most people do not have the time or the skills to bargain. The Telcos take advantage on this. The only person that got a deal on their plan, was the Rogers customer. He was knowledgeable and had the patience. Rogers is also better at making deals with their customers, but they have more users and more problems with their network. Bell is the hardest to get a deal with, but they have the best network (wireless and wired). Telus is in the middle.
The Bell lady example, she got a deal, but she did give up the first day and had to build up her confidence/patience to call back a second day. The Telus man example, just didn't have the skills to bargain and negotiate over the phone.
The Big 3s play an unfair game, but it is up to us as smart consumers to do our part and play a similar game. Just like car insurance companies. It is always a good thing every couple of years to get a quote and chance providers.
You are pretty correct in your assessment of the carriers. Person has to put themselves in the best position to negotiate. To do that you have to own your devices out right. When they know you can just leave cause there is no attachment they are more willing to play ball.
The Canadian government allowed Roger's to buy Shaw. That deal should have never gone through. That deal should be illegal. There are not enough phone service providers.
The worst thing about cell plan pricing here on top of the outrageous prices to begin with, it how quickly the cost/GB goes up when you try to get a smaller plan. I'm currently with Bell, but have switched from both Rogers and Telus over the last 2 years due to spotty cell coverage where I live in Victoria. Where I work, I can only reach a Telus tower (which they also share with Bell) but in another part of the city, Telus/Bell have poor coverage and Rogers is solid. I wanted a base plan from Rogers for city-wide coverage, and a dual-SIM with either Telus or Bell to use at work, or vice-versa and I would switch to Rogers in the spotty area of town.
All 3 providers offered the same base plan that I wanted: 20GB for $50. Still expensive compared to international rates, but it was the best valued plan that gave me the actual 5GB that I really need. But when I tried to get a small data plan for my dual-SIM from any of the providers, something in the range of 2 or 3 GB, they all quoted plans starting at $30 for 1GB or $40 for 3GB!! They all offer a talk/text only with no data for $15, so they're essentially charging $15 for the 1 GB of data. With the same logic applied to the 20GB plan, that's $35 for 20GB of data. Volume pricing works for physical goods because there's often a labor savings involved when dealing with 1 item vs 100 of the same item. But data is virtual; there's no physical component, so why the volume pricing, and why such a steep increase for low quantities? Most volume pricing schemes involve discounts of 10 or 20% when you buy more. Comparing $15 for 1GB to $35 for 20GB is a discount of 89%!! At same value pricing, the 20GB plan should cost $300, or the 1GB plan should cost $16.75 ($15 for the talk/text plus $1.75 for the 1GB).
And speaking of physical costs, the other odd thing is that the Big-Three all charge $10 for an eSIM, but getting a physical SIM either in store of mailed to you is free??
The other discovery I made during this journey was that there's virtually no "data-only" options for cell-phones. A Roger's rep suggested I get a tablet-style data-only plan from Telus or Bell for my second SIM, but a Bell rep told me that's only available for tablet SIM's which don't work in cell-phones, and can only be provided as an add-on plan to an existing cell-plan. If you try the tablet SIM in your phone, it either won't work or you'd get charged a ton due to roaming fees or incompatible device fees, or something to that extent. I then asked about the data-only plans used for pocket-WiFi (Mi-Fi) devices, and was told that's a 3rd type of SIM and also can't be used in phones!! *insert face-palm here*
I eventually found a Bell-sub-subsidiary provider, Lucky mobile, who offers a data-only plan for cell users. Their offer: 500 MB of data at 3G only for only $15/month, lol. This is the best we can do on the West-Coast unfortunately. It really pisses me off that users who only need small data packages so they can browse the web and check Facebook get absolutely gouged compared to heavier data users. 2 or 3 GB of data should cost less than $10/month based on the price points of the higher plans.
I agree with almost all of it except volume pricing. Volume pricing have significant impact in Data. For example, people who have more data, have bigger portion as leftover. That counts as savings for Telco. Irrespective of you use 1 GB or 20 GB, maintaining continuous signal to your cellphone is same, the network coverage rollout cost is similar. So, yes there's definitely volume component in it. However, that still shouldn't count for the level of discrepancy you are talking about.
Marketplace makes some great and very interesting videos. Thank you! Also shocking to see as a Finn how expensive it is in Canada. Feel bad for you guys
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I see similarities with internet packages as well. I used to be with Rogers cable and in the past I used to negotiate the price to match competitors and last time I tried they refused. The best they would do is a 75mbps line 105 bucks a month plus tax. I ended up switching to a competitor for the same package for 65 bucks a month. After I switched they called me no less than 5 times a day for 2 weeks asking me to come back to Rogers with them saying they will match the same price after I already switched. I didn't switch back as I already gave them a chance but they refused to budge till it was too late.
I had this happen. I asked Shaw to keep my same plan and price I had the past 2 years and they kept telling me no, it had to go up by like $40/month. I cancelled with Shaw and got Telus Fiber. Shaw then called the same day the Telus install finished and said they could give me a better deal. I asked why I was not offered that and I was told I did not ask for it. Told them too late but they kept insisting to switch back. I then called back Telus and told them what Shaw was offering to undo the switch and Telus then beat that price again, so I took the deal and stayed with Telus fiber.
@@nsevv to be fair, Singapore is much much smaller than Canada
I’m Australian. We also have three big Telcos. Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone. Here, you can buy and own your phone outright from, say, Apple. These phones are not locked to a Telco, but I think if you buy a mobile from Telstra it’s locked to Telstra and no other SIM card works. You can also buy a phone and SIM card from a Telco on a contract. The monthly price varies depending on the phone and package. But the good news for Aussies is that there are second-tier service providers that offer bare bones online only prepaid sales of SIM cards only for a much cheaper service. My service uses Telstra wholesale for $AUD30 ($CAD28) a month unlimited phone calls and texts, with 32GB data, the unused portion of which rolls over and is banked to a max of 500GB.
Here in Australia we have a national phone and internet carrier called Telstra which owned most of our infrastructure before it was privatised. We also let in Optus, which is a Singapore based company, to build and operate more infrastructure.
We now have many small cell phone operators who provide cell service, like Aldi the German supermarket chain, and Amaysim.
I have been with both and paid $ 25 a month for unlimited mobile, landline local and national calls and got 22 GB of data and any unused data rolls over each month with no limit on rollover. I currently have around 523 GB of data in my account for use at the moment because i never use 22 GB each month. With both of them you can pay as little as $ 15 a month for unlimited local, national, and mobile calls and 3 GB of data with any unused data rolled over to next month unlimited.
As far as dropouts or no service in certain areas with these 2 companies or any of the many others we have, it is almost non existent in rural areas and nonexistent in the cities and burbs. Australian mobile carriers have around 95-98 % coverage of the whole country.
You Canadians are getting screwed royally, and if i was a Canadian i would be burning the house down until things changed.
This is so timely, and long overdue!
Having recently returned to Canada from Europe, I was shocked by the 10 fold prices for any type of plan and/or data package.
How about unlimited 4G LTE and 500 Minutes to any number, all for 15 dollars a month?
you have limits on calls in Canada? I mean aren't they always unlimited?
In Japan. I pay $10 a month. You don't have to pay more than $30 for unlimited data. Phone calls are priced separately.
I pay $0 for Obama plan unlimited talk and text with 5g a month here in USA 🇺🇸
It’s about time to flood the gov’t. with complaints. I mean FLOOD it. If enough people complain, then they will HAVE TO listen & start reacting & doing something about it.
How to do it?
I pay 15 dollars a month with Telus, prepaid phone. If Bell had a landline for those 60 year old and up, at a cost of 15-20 dollars, I would take it. However, If I'm not mistaken, Bell's landline starts at 45 dollars a month. Nothing but greed, just like the price of gaz.
And over here in the United States of America, you can get ACTUALLY unlimited everything for $45/mo+tax minimum if you go with a major carrier (specifically that’s the T-Mobile Base Essentials plan) or for $30/mo incl. tax if you go with an MVNO (specifically that’s the Visible Base plan).
_And then Canada is getting shafted by their major carriers even harder than we are._
bro it's way harder to immigrate to states than Canada
Heck yes marketplace let's goo ❤️
+
I ❤️ this show. You guys do a great job 👏👏👏
I wonder how many Canadiens are calling up there cell phone providers, and asking for better deals after watching this broadcast.
Not only are we paying way more for cellphones or internet but we pay more for everything else too. And our taxes are higher than everyone else.
Yup but most people don't even try to negotiate 😂. The big 3 have the same advertised prices but you don't have to pay that if you just ask.
Wow, thats crazy the prices. I pay $29.99 with tax for my line and $10 a month for my moms plan, been like that for years. I am in the US tho, guess I take that price for granted
When I lived in Europe, the costs of a cellphone plan were ridiculous low in comparison to Canada, granted this was before Data was such an integral part of a phone plan, though I know it'd still be way better than it is here. I switched to Wynd/Freedom years ago, I'm also with a smaller ISP company for my internet at home, I was so tired dealing with the big 3 having dealt with them each over the years. It'd be nice if our governments (Liberal/Conservative doesn't matter) actually cared for it's citizens to get us fair competition.
I'm so tired of the excuse of big country, Australia has had better pricing for ages.
I am still on a Plan From Wind Mobile it Became Freedom Mobile 29.00 Unlimted Data and Local Calling I'll never change plans
Same here. $32 and some change every month is all I pay. I'm never switching to anything different.
As soon as you leave town, you're at the mercy of the big three for away coverage. I looked into Shaw Mobile and it would end up costing me more than my Rogers plan
Same here $30 they lower my plan from $60 and increased my data to 30GB was very surprised, I’m not giving the other companies a cent their excuses and greed it’s disgusting.
@@gunit6815 Ifyou have an iphone you need to look into esims. You can load a second esim onto your phone while off their network. 3HK in Honk Kong offers about 50gb of data in north america for $45 and it expires in one year. Many Canadians are using this option. Yes, its cheaper to get an international esim then local plans.
I have worked for two telecommunications companies (one was Bell and the other a wholesale company) and can tell you they will loop whole it out eventually.
Hopefully, when they do, there will be better options for customers and more competition.
This is why I use pay as you go phone plan. I load like $25 in there and I can use it for half a year. Each call and text costs me $25 cents. But there are free wifi everywhere so I always wait until there are wifi at home or in store to reply to texts and call family and friends for free. Apps like WeChat let you call for free when you have wifi connected.
Meanwhile in Europe they just don't have to care, why do we have to live worse than Europeans?
Thats what i do. There's also free services that give you your own number as well. Only reason i use the 25 dollar pay as go is because the 2fas no longer works with voip type number services.
Nice. I do something similar except use Shaw’s pay-as-you go for $10 per 3 months for 1GB, or $20 for half a year but with 2GB data. I use Shaw’s wifi hotspots and local wifi whenever I can. Pay-as-you go is definitely the way to go.
To be honest its not the the price that annoys me... I get it, the country is absolutely massive so you need a lot of infrastructure to support it. But giving people 5 GB plans with 0.5 Mbps after the fact is just sad.
Marketplace, I love you. Thank you for speaking up about these issues and making such great in depth and fantastic videos!
I'm sure Roger's buying shaw will make it better 🤣
In Malaysia, I pay equivalent of 11 Canadian Dollars per month for Unlimited local calls + Unlimited Data.
Unlimited data? Like over 100gb?
That doesn't seem right, more like unlimited calls and texts. No company offers unlimited data, maybe its 10-15 GB or less.
Canada has lost the plot...health care in shambles..monopolies everywhere...highest taxes...FAIL
Do we have the highest taxes though?
@@checkfactschecking for a so called free nation yes.. yes we do. And the people are brainwashed into thinking its ok...
@@codyhummel2366 You should do a Google search before you answer next time. I see so much Canada bashing by a small group of Canadians pushing absolute nonsense. WHY? It's so easy to search these days and have all the facts at hand.
Canada is 24th out or 38 OECD countries. Only 14 countries have lower taxes. We pay only slightly more than Americans but get a heck of a lot more for our money in social services. Our health care system may be going through a rough patch but we are still far better than the USA by almost every measurement.
We don't have the highest taxes. In fact in the states they are taxed from 1 dollar earned unlike our 12,000 personal exemption, though they have loopholes for home ownership mortgage rightoffs. The only tax where we pay more is our HST vs their state tax. Go check their tax rates vs ours. You are better off here/our safer society in general-your taxes are the reason for that.
Also go check healthcare in the states if you aren't rich. Good luck.
@@checkfactschecking Because they are conservative and just spew soundbites instead of doing any sort of research.
When you want to do renegotiate your plans / services, put all the providers in your area on a conference call, and let them hash it out. It's hilarious to watch them scramble as they try to beat each other, and I've never had it fail to secure me custom rates.
Really??? You tried this??
@@jessicazhang6508 yes, many times, and it always makes my laugh
We use a small company and pay $35 each line for 20GB data. We have been with them for 4 years. The reception is pretty good in Toronto
what company
Phonebox
In CanAada everything is so damn expensive than US for no reason. The salaries don’t match up to US but everything is expensive than US.
Need to stop protectionism and allow foreign companies to provide cell service. Let's force some market competition!
This is what happens when hands are shaking behind doors.
100%
There’s a couple of really important considerations that have been left out:
1- in Canada most people do not pay full price for their phone. For example, they pay an up-front $300 for a $1500 phone, and finance the remaining $1200 on their cell bill over the course of 2 years. This adds $50 per month to the cellphone bill. In most parts of the world, people purchase their phone in full, and therefore just pay for monthly service.
2- We can’t ignore the fact that Canada is a massive country with less than 40 million population. This has a meaningful impact. It’s not fair to compare us to France, which can fit inside of Manitoba 3 times over, and with a population that is about double that of Canada.
3- I don’t believe it’s reasonable to expect top notch quality cell phone access in exceptionally remote areas. I’m not saying that people should expect no service, but just that it won’t be the same quality as when you’re in a metro area.
I want to be clear- I’m not defending the industry. I agree that we need more competition and options.I just wanted to add more context to this debate.
You are giving your politicians a big pass. No wonder you have incompetent and complacent leaders everywhere. Did you even watch the video? Australia is also a big country with little population. You need to travel to other first world countries with better infrastructure. A lot of you also give excuse for your dilapidated roads. "Roads are bad because of snow". As if other countries don't experience snow 🙄
I read your comment again. All I could do is SMH. Obviously, you've been stuck in Canada for too long. Travel the world. If you could only see how really developed other 1st world countries in other continents. Pity you.
We’re not trying to bring cell service to the entire country most people live by the USA boarder so that argument that Canada needs more cell towers is ridiculous. Also the fact none of these company want to share a tower and build there own and then throws the price of that tower on consumers is also wrong. The prices are high because of no real competition and the government gets kick backs from all these providers and they like the money so they won’t regulate the prices. It’s ridiculous when you pay 130 dollars for basic internet and over 100 dollars for a basic phone plan.
@@ryans413 I wouldn’t call it “ridiculous” that Canadians expect cell signal while travelling on highways and from one community to another. I’m going to stop here because I can tell that you’re more concerned with trying to “put me in spot” and appear to be some heroic internet intellect than having a civil discussion.
@@vedranhodzic9467 why would you need service why’ll driving and any town or major city will have service unless you go way north into the territories.
Ive talked to people overseas and sometimes they pay what we pay per month in a year
Indeed. I’m Canadian living in the US, I pay US$25 per line - unlimited data/call/txt. US used to be monopolized by a few players too but over the years many small companies began sharing towers of the big players so rates have come down by a lot. The law makers need to protect the consumers!
You all in Canada have overseas customer care with your cellphone carriers?
Thank you for covering this. I have lived in India, the US and Canada, and oh my f**kg god, I still use my US number in Canada coz it's so much cheaper
I have a US cell plan that I’ve been using for a couple years here in Canada.
Unlimited North American Calling and Unlimited Data for less per month than I was offered by the big 3.
Now we need to bring down the home internet rates.
I believe I’m gonna look at their financial statements next, just to see where are they spending all that money
Every decade the media talks about this and nothing changes! The Canadian way.
Wow. Why people live in Canada at all? Salaries are low, housing market as expensive as in the US, the queues for medical services are super long, even cell phone plans aparently start at 300$+. Doesn't really make much sense to me at all.
Great job! canada's phone plans/data plan is crazy expensive. Canadians should hold a protest against this.
Never sign a 2-year contract. Always BYOD to chase the best plans. You'll either find an affordable plan or receive a win-back from a previous provider for a great deal. A bit of a hassle but it's the only tried and true way. Bundling cell+internet also helps.
You forgot to add that people have to buy their cell phone outright if you're not going to sign a contract. People are not used to buying unlocked phones outright.
BYOD is catching up to budget consumers.
Buy refurbished phones
Fido, before it got absorbed by Rogers was the cheapest.
City Fido was $20/ month. People were auctioning off their plans for thousands.
@@huckleberrybuttercup21 I believe it! We need more competition.
This is true, but I some how pay $33 +tax and get 10gb which is enough for me on Freedom. Granted, they have only service within the GTA, so when I went to Quebec and Ottawa, it went on roaming, but $33 with tax is a no-brainer. Honestly, I was thinking about switching to rogers or bell, but now I guess I'll stick with Freedom unless I move out of the GTA.
You're already with Rogers if the deal goes through. You might see a price increase or your plan might not be offered anymore.
I’m on the same plan. Grandfathered so they can’t change it!!! Do not move!!!
I'm with freedom also. I pay $30/mo for 18GB. 15GB freedom data and 3GB nationwide data.
Rogers is just wick, I was paying $250 a year later they went down to $200 then after I told them about Bell offer they wanted to give me the same plan for $140 + tax a month. I couldn't understand why it took me almost 5 years to get this offer. I felt robbed. That's why I never take their free cell phone with a plan for 2 years, I often get it a couple of times a year, and I'd rather pay $56.50 every month with no stress.
In fact, in Canad it sometimes even cheaper to use Internet in roaming rather than switch to big 3 plans :)
The heads of the CRTC all need to all go to jail for corruption, no parole. The fact so many come from telecom companies suggests even more collusion and kickbacks. Send them all to max security and seize their net worth.
Even in the early days of the analog cell phones, if you compared the cell phone coverage maps between the US and Canada, the US was restricted to coverage at the cities and along highways while Canada's coverage bloomed out evenly over rural areas. Canada has always been focused more on broader coverage and service than on low costs. However, I do miss the much lower costs of countries like the US even if it does mean greater disparity between rural and urban life.
BS. Ever driven through northern Ontario? You won't have coverage, even with Rogers. It's not even along all of the highways.
@@mikem.9197 Sigh, I said if you compare the old analog coverage maps, there's a big difference between the US and Canada coverage. Focusing on your specifics only shows how limited your scope and world view is.
@@mikem.9197 Good luck getting coverage in Abitibi-Témiscamingue in Québec too
Rubbish
Doesn't Canada have a government agency that regulates cellular carriers like we have here the Federal Communion Commission regulates our cellular phone carriers
We do, but, what is the right way to describe, they " in kohuz" with the 3 monopolies we have.
Yes but when the big 3 telecoms have them in their pockets nothing happens, they get richer and the common folks pay through the nose sadly!!
Yes, but they are as useful as home decor. They're just there for people to look at but don't really do anything
When it comes to anti-competition, Canada's federal government is a joke. Never mind telco and cable companies, Canadian airlines are 10 times worse.
Me and my Brother pay 140 for 2 lines 70 per person for 20GB of high speed data and unlimited low speed data. we have had our phone for 5 years now which has saved us an extra $50/line/month for the phones. What some people don't understand is you have to pay for the phone plan and the finance of the phone which is why it goes so high. $412 for 4 lines is reasonable when you have to pay big bucks for the new phones.
This is laughable 😂😂😂😂😂😂 in Europe 9 euros for 300 GB
Welcome to Canada, where consumers have little to no protection rights and politicians deflect with empty songs and dances with "investigations" and how they "have the consumer protection in their best interest in mind" and "how they are working to help the consumer" and so and and so forth - year after year and Government after Government - the same song and dance with no changes - and this applies to so much more than just mobile plans.
On the topic of Canadian mobile plans - some 15 years ago, I was with Bell, I signed up for a $50 per month plan back in the days of "free evenings and weekends", made 99% of my calls in the evening and on weekends and they billed me over $400. I called them up, asked for an explanation, and they said they "reviewed" my plan and changed it (without notifying me) to a plan that was "better suited for my needs". Took a while, but I got them to change my plan back and refund me my money. A couple of months later, they did it again. Cancelled the plan and went elsewhere. Fast forward 10 years, I went back to Bell, got a 6GB plan and every single month, I would end up going over my data plan or very close to it. After the contact expired, I switched to Virgin, got an identical plan with 6GB (for less money) and am still using the identical phone and even though Virgin is Bell, I have not once even come close to using all of my data in the 6 years I've been with them.
The big 3 are crooks, they know it but they don't care because they know that there is absolutely zero recourse for them.
Why is Canadian media reporting extensively on this only now? This situation has been a problem for quite a while now.
because only now Canadian are starting to complain about the prices
@@marykay8587 Not according to my recollection.
@@marykay8587 and in any case, the media's job is to inform the public, not cater to their complaints.
Because CBC is trying suddenly to be relevant for ordinary people, but they are going to be defunded anyway.
My cell phone plan is $25 a month. Seems pretty reasonable; less than a $1 a day. But I hardly use any data, that's where they screw ya.
Unfortunately, Canada is one of the most corrupt systems, yet no one really talks about it. Most Canadians are too good (naive) and simply can’t imagine it.
Construction, supermarkets, telecom, healthcare, …. Just sad.
Well. I needed a new phone. Bestbuy won't sell me a new iPhone without me signing a new phone contracts. I couldn't buy out the phone outright. My cellular provider won't sell me a new iPhone outright as well. I finally end up at Costco buying out a new phone out right. There might be a more clear transparency as to how much a third party makes signing up a contract with a provider. They are making money selling signing up contracts than selling phones. There are many third parties store in cdn doing that. The question is should the able to without being transparent?
I've been with FIDO for well over a decade and so far been extremely happy with them. When I was going over my data they called me and suggested a different pkg. Saved money. Once I stopped using as much data... again they phoned and suggested a difPferent pkg. I have never waited long to talk to a person if I have a question either.
I have to communicate with Bell and Telus for my corporate AP job and Bell is the worst. Rude CSR's and you wait forever, after going through multiple prompts, to even get to the rude CSR. TELUS is usually faster and quick to rectify whatever issue I have called them about.