I am in Canada; Edmonton. Rogers is saying $35 for a phone I own, $50 if I get a phone from them.
Ah, nm then. Still, those are some pretty bare-bones plans. They charge for EVERYTHING, even basic services like voicemail and call display are severely over-charged.
Yeah, this won't work for us. We all travel too much; especially my father.
Same!
Yep, that's pretty much exactly what I pay for two phones and data including my Microsoft discount (which I still get even though I don't work there anymore).
I believe MetroPCS allows you to bring your (GSM unlocked) iPhone 5 onto their network for $40/month, unlimited, taxes and fees included.
Most of us are nonplussed that a Canadian is irate at $35/mo cell phone charges.
FTFY
It was very irritating at first, and later very funny, to see the hoops Verizon went through to prevent skype from working on their mobile handsets. They made skype come out with a custom just-for-verizon version of Skype that made the calls over their "voice" network instead of the data connection. Of course, this made it not work half the time and sound like shit the rest of the time. More fool them, I tethered my tablet to the phone, and ran normal vanilla Skype for Android on the tablet, and both the reliability and sound quality became umpteenfoldaplex times better.
In all fairness, there are guarantees on your voice service and each individual connection that don't exist in the VOIP world.
...when they can't legitimately put it off any longer.
This video must be made by Canadians; it's uncannily like Shaw Cable's commercials.
I wonder why the plan costs $50/mo, which I have no problem with, but an additional $35/mo because I have my own phone. That's my grievance. $50/mo + $55/mo for a new phone ($105/mo) is also crazy, since will pay off the price of even a $500 phone in less than a year at that rate, but you continue to have to pay $55? And the phone I've owned, bought outright from the get-go, costs me $35/mo?
Ah, I see. That's different. An additional fee for using your own handset is pretty bullshit. I thought it was odd that Canadian service was cheaper than ours, that had not been the case in other conversations I've had with Canadians about cell phones.
If you think more people having wireless plans will give us more bargaining power, I have a feeling you're in for a nasty surprise. They'll just gouge you more because they know there is no other option. Either way, you will never be able to beat the reliability of POTS. In an extended blackout when your phone battery runs out or the towers quit working, POTS works. If the regulations regarding internet service or wireless service don't change, we'll be in a world of hurt as consumers when we lose POTS.
Analog cell service was switched off in early 2008, which is why those older OnStar, etc, services no longer work. POTS is already winding down and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it (The FCC is on board with it). AT&T and Verizon are already moving to eliminate copper networks in some of their areas. And as far as bargaining power goes, there will be leverage once the number of customers go from millions to hundreds of millions. It will just be a matter of whether the carriers will start trying to entice subscribers away from each other once this happens.
That's the thing, they won't. They don't need to. Which is why we've lost unlimited mobile internet plans.
