My own phone bill from chatr has been $40/month in the past years. More recently, they dropped it to $25/month for the same service. To me, it feels like we complained loudly about mobile plan pricing, and the problem got solved. However, the interview is still making complaints about high prices. What am I missing?
For one, while it's true that offered prices for wireless services have gone done quite a bit over the past few years, the carriers' all-important metric of average revenue per user (ARPU) has either stayed flat or declined only slightly. That indicates one of two things, or both - that many people aren't taking advantage of the lower prices being offered, or that carriers are dinging people for more money in other, less obvious ways.
A good example of this is activation fees, which have skyrocketed in recent years. With Bell, Rogers and Telus, that fee is now $80, which immediately wipes out a lot of savings you might get from switching, so many people don't.
Many people also bundle their services and, when faced with the likelihood of losing their bundle discount for switching one of their services, opt not to.
Statscan has noted that wireless prices are on the rise again. Carriers were feeling some pressure from the government on their high prices, peaking in 2023 around the time of the Rogers-Shaw merger, and with that pressure now gone, they're getting back to business as usual.
Anecdotally, I just experienced all of this firsthand. I was with Koodo, which all of a sudden raised my monthly fee by a whopping $7. When I shopped around, I saw the $80 activation fees. Freedom offered a lower fee of $45, but the store clerk actually lied to me by saying that you still have to pay that fee if you activate online. I checked and that was not correct, so I did end up switching. Pro tip for anyone reading: you can indeed often avoid the activation fee if you sign up online rather than at a store.
Lastly, what's important to remember is that while prices may have dropped somewhat (apparently only temporarily), that has also been the case in a lot of other countries with more competitive markets. Every international comparison that isn't sponsored by the telcos continues to find Canadian telecom prices to be high by global standards.
I haven’t seen the show but I have experienced Roger’s “customer service”. It is abysmal. I spent 3 to 4 HOURS waiting for an agent. Another hour or two with agent and the problem still wasn’t fixed. Thankfully there are other providers.
My own phone bill from chatr has been $40/month in the past years. More recently, they dropped it to $25/month for the same service. To me, it feels like we complained loudly about mobile plan pricing, and the problem got solved. However, the interview is still making complaints about high prices. What am I missing?
There are a couple of aspects to this.
For one, while it's true that offered prices for wireless services have gone done quite a bit over the past few years, the carriers' all-important metric of average revenue per user (ARPU) has either stayed flat or declined only slightly. That indicates one of two things, or both - that many people aren't taking advantage of the lower prices being offered, or that carriers are dinging people for more money in other, less obvious ways.
A good example of this is activation fees, which have skyrocketed in recent years. With Bell, Rogers and Telus, that fee is now $80, which immediately wipes out a lot of savings you might get from switching, so many people don't.
Many people also bundle their services and, when faced with the likelihood of losing their bundle discount for switching one of their services, opt not to.
Statscan has noted that wireless prices are on the rise again. Carriers were feeling some pressure from the government on their high prices, peaking in 2023 around the time of the Rogers-Shaw merger, and with that pressure now gone, they're getting back to business as usual.
Anecdotally, I just experienced all of this firsthand. I was with Koodo, which all of a sudden raised my monthly fee by a whopping $7. When I shopped around, I saw the $80 activation fees. Freedom offered a lower fee of $45, but the store clerk actually lied to me by saying that you still have to pay that fee if you activate online. I checked and that was not correct, so I did end up switching. Pro tip for anyone reading: you can indeed often avoid the activation fee if you sign up online rather than at a store.
Lastly, what's important to remember is that while prices may have dropped somewhat (apparently only temporarily), that has also been the case in a lot of other countries with more competitive markets. Every international comparison that isn't sponsored by the telcos continues to find Canadian telecom prices to be high by global standards.
Can't wait to see this show in Ottawa!
It's going to do huge business when it inevitably gets there.
I haven’t seen the show but I have experienced Roger’s “customer service”. It is abysmal. I spent 3 to 4 HOURS waiting for an agent. Another hour or two with agent and the problem still wasn’t fixed. Thankfully there are other providers.