CRTC Unveils New Wireless Code To Protect Canadian Customers 230
FuzzNugget writes "The CRTC has unveiled a code of conduct that brings many positive changes for Canadian wireless customers, most notably:
1.) Carriers must provide the option to unlock a cell phone after 3 months for subsidized phones within the contract period, or immediately if the device was purchased outright.
2.) Contracts are now capped at two years, and cancellation fees are limited to the amount of the subsidy.
3.) Carriers can no longer charge outrageous data overage and international roaming charges. Without explicit consent from the a customer, such charges are capped at $50 and $100 per month, respectively."
1.) Carriers must provide the option to unlock a cell phone after 3 months for subsidized phones within the contract period, or immediately if the device was purchased outright.
2.) Contracts are now capped at two years, and cancellation fees are limited to the amount of the subsidy.
3.) Carriers can no longer charge outrageous data overage and international roaming charges. Without explicit consent from the a customer, such charges are capped at $50 and $100 per month, respectively."
Reduced Expectations (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Unlocked phone? (Score:3, Informative)
yes as long as the phone covers the frequencies on the network you wish to roam on, which is why "QUAD BAND GSM" used to be popular, although there are more bands now with 4G LTE and so on
Re:Point 3 will be fiercely faught. (Score:3, Informative)
There is a cap except if you agree to a higher charge. This just stops them from automatically charging you outrageous fees based on fine print rather than explicit consent.
In your Brazil example, you'd have a teeny cap, then a window would pop up, "From this point on, Brazil charges $700/Gigabyte. Do you accept?"
Dirty Harry: "Well, do ya...punk?"
Re:About Time (Score:5, Informative)
I was born and raised in Canada. I am a proud Canadian through and through. I have never heard a Canadian pronounce aboot instead of about. I have travelled coast to coast, and have never heard it. Ever.
Sorry, just needed to get that off my chest.
Re:Still sucks to own a phone in Canada (Score:5, Informative)
Until relatively recently, 3 large wireless companies completely dominated the market. there are 3rd party offerings in urban areas that have largely been crippled by regulation favouring the large incumbents [thestar.com]. Mobilicity (now telus), Wind, and Public Mobile recently Withdrew from their own lobbying organization [publicmobile.ca] claiming they were also in the pocket of the big 3.
“It has been evident for quite some time that, rather than being a true industry association which represents the views of all players regardless of size, the CWTA has instead largely been an advocate for Rogers, TELUS and Bell, and often directly contrary to the interests of new entrant wireless carriers” said Bob Boron, General Counsel and Senior Vice-President, Legal & Regulatory Affairs for Public Mobile.
The CEOs of the big 3 mobile companies tell their shareholders proudly that they consistently have the highest revenue per customer in the world. This is not in dispute [wordsbynowak.com]. However, when pressed to justify such high priced plans, they use the same hackneyed mantras of: sparse geographic distribution, threat of netflix and streaming services [thestar.com], and supposed customer satisfaction, which are largely corporate marketing spin repeated year after year until it's true [michaelgeist.ca].
Recently, all 3 new entrants in the urban wireless market became up for sale, and Telus is intending to buy Mobilicity, and Rogers is attempting to purchase the spectrum [michaelgeist.ca] originally allocated by the CRTC to new entrants to increase market competition.
Canadian wireless service has less choice, higher prices, offering fewer services and typically lower bandwidth caps, thanks to collusion from the large telcos. It's a caricature of the US market.
Re:A nice lead... (Score:5, Informative)
Trust me, These piddly little changes will still allow Telus, Bell, and Rogers to charge overly high prices, buy up or stifle competition, and generally make obscenely large profits. There never has been, and likely never will be, an unprofitable business in Canadian telecoms, as long as you belong to the Big Three monopolists.