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Canadian cellphone rates third highest in world


jdobbin

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http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Ca...1516/story.html

Canadians are being charged some of the highest cellphone rates among industrialized countries, according to a report released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Tuesday.

The study analyzed data from mobile-phone use in August 2008, breaking down how much the service cost for low, medium and high users.

Canadian users who were classified as mid-range users paid on average a total of $500.63 a year for 780 calls, sending or receiving 600 text messages and eight video messages per year.

I think one of the most common complaints I hear are from people about the cell phone charges.

I am always curious about how some other countries have such reasonable rates.

The auction of bandwidth was said to be something that will drop rates. It doesn't look like it so far.

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One of the best things I have ever done was get rid of my Blackberry and other cell........bugger to being "available" all the time.

I have avoided using them. I know some careers make them essential such a real estate agents, etc.

However, I consider them to be a big timesuck among people who do use them.

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I agree on the rates and people become addicted to using them and I only use the "pay as you go" plan. I buy a $100.00 which is good for a year IF you don't use it alot, which I don't, just have it for distance travelling. You kinda wonder what all these people did before cell phones.

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  • 1 year later...

For the non-addicited cell phone users out there the Pay as You Go cards are fantastic.

Bell and Rogers offer the card and its good for 1 year, if you run out of minutes you just buy more. I just bought one from Bell and it comes with Call Display and Messaging Services, some cell phone plans charge $6 month just for that!

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I hate these things and have avoided them until recently when my work gave me a free phone.

Previously, we used a 'pay as you go' plan at about $10/month. That's plenty of airtime if you avoid calling, which is easy to do. The phones are good for small emergencies and major emergencies. ( I witnessed a fire last week, and - realizing that I actually HAD a phone - was able to call 911 right away.)

For everything else:

- plan ahead

- wait until you get there and use a land line

- if you forgot to ask for something, ask later

- don't sweat it

As an aside - what do people pay for their cells on here ? One friend of mine claimed his family plan cost hundreds !

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I hate these things and have avoided them until recently when my work gave me a free phone.

As an aside - what do people pay for their cells on here ? One friend of mine claimed his family plan cost hundreds !

Have to have one.

Probably costs $300-$350 a month. I spend a lot of time on it, especially on weekends and nights answering emails, questions from clients and a whole bunch of other things.

Im actually pretty good at poker now thanks to BB.

BBM is a great tool too !

Very surprised to see the Yanks pay more. Always heard it to be the reverse.

Edited by guyser
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I have a pay as you go, don't use it, I'm phone-a-phobic, I hate talking on phones. The only time I will use one is when I have to for work and it's provided by my employer.

If you believed the advertising they are the ultimate device. For instance, the new ad on tv claims that after using it to watch a movie you'll decide that its the ultimate way to watch a movie. I don't think so. I'd rather watch my 47" high def running through my Klipsch/Denon/Rotel system personally.

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Those that have vested interest in cellphones are the same people who had vested interest in the booze trade - in pharma products - in creating laws that enrich only the rich.. so..........................................the reason cell phones bills are so high is because THOSE people controling the industry are old school and treat electronic communication as an enterprise based in addiction - just like alcohol..

Young people and even older folks are now ADDICTED - to out going and incoming electronic communications...seeing we are now mutated in the respect of having artifical devices all but implanted into our heads..Those that control the cell phone market treat us like junkies - all great fortunes usually originate though human weakness and addiction - opium - shelter - food - well....you get my drift - The rate of billing for personal communication is governed by greed based in the manipulation of the poor stupid lonely masses...IN OTHER WORDS - SPEECH IS NO LONGER FREE...IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK...IT'S GOING TO COST YOU YOUR FREEDOM...electronic communications have enslaved not freed mankind.

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I pay $70 per month, unlimited everything: data, calls anywhere in US & Canada, texts, etc. It's awesome because, among other things, I can connect my cell phone to my laptop and have full access internet anywhere where there is cell reception. I never thought I really needed a smart phone before either, but it is just so useful once you have one. Figuring out your route to drive somewhere, as you go, with its built in (cell-tower) gps and directions, playing music over Pandora, checking your email at any time, posting on forums while on the bus (haha), etc.

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I was in the US on saturday, and for shits and giggles I went to the Verizon store in the mall to see what their cadillac plan for a blackberry is. For all intents and purposes it is very comparable to MTS and there isn't much difference if any at all. It was 65$ in the brochere for 450 mins +unlimited text and internet. MTS is about 50$ for 300 weekday mins + unlimited text and internet, but its "bundled". To me that's a pretty negligible difference and not worth pissing around.

Looks like I'm eating crow on complaining about Cdn. cell phone rates, the americans get soaked too!

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I dunno, to me, $70 per month for complete access to almost all types of electronic communication/information while located anywhere within range of cell towers on the entire continent does not seem unreasonable. I mean, people pay comparable rates for cable TV, just to get a bunch of dumbass programming and ads, or for home internet, which is faster but restricted to being used in one location. Sure it would be nice if prices came down, and they will over time, as price/performance for all information technology progress rapidly, but it's already quite affordable and not out of line with the value you receive for a given price from other subscription services.

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I dunno, to me, $70 per month for complete access to almost all types of electronic communication/information while located anywhere within range of cell towers on the entire continent does not seem unreasonable.

It is compared to Europe... that's the point. We pay the most in the world.

I only have a cell for work use, and I don't have to pay for it. I don't have one for personal use.

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It is compared to Europe... that's the point. We pay the most in the world.

I only have a cell for work use, and I don't have to pay for it. I don't have one for personal use.

Prices of many things differ between North America and Europe, for many different reasons. Gasoline for example is much more expensive in Europe. The cost of living varies greatly between various European countries and the US and Canada. Salaries for different types of jobs are different. Minimum wage is different. Taxation schemes are different.

Why would you expect cell phone rates to be precisely equivalent?

Then there is of course the physical reality of Canadian geography and population, which makes it so that a much greater infrastructure cost to cover vast areas must be recouped from a relatively small number of customers.

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I hate these things and have avoided them until recently when my work gave me a free phone.

Previously, we used a 'pay as you go' plan at about $10/month. That's plenty of airtime if you avoid calling, which is easy to do. The phones are good for small emergencies and major emergencies. ( I witnessed a fire last week, and - realizing that I actually HAD a phone - was able to call 911 right away.)

For everything else:

- plan ahead

- wait until you get there and use a land line

- if you forgot to ask for something, ask later

- don't sweat it

As an aside - what do people pay for their cells on here ? One friend of mine claimed his family plan cost hundreds !

I have a pay as you go, the mrs has a BB.

The pay as you go is the most expenive way ...the cost is greater than using a phone booth. Fifty cents a call for the 1st minute, and something less for every minute afterwards. I keep my calls short. I use the $25 60 day cards and can roll over minutes.

My wife's plan is $50 per month, 200 minutes (which is the EQ of a $100 pay as you go card) 500 MB data and unlimited text messaging.

What she really likes though is that her BB is a MP3 player....Kids I tell ya....

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.

What she really likes though is that her BB is a MP3 player....Kids I tell ya....

I see and hear that all the time.

Its the only thing I dont use, and really dont want. I will grab the ipod for that.

In 4 years of owning a BB, I have never knowingly shut it off , frankly not sure if I know how !

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Previously, we used a 'pay as you go' plan at about $10/month. That's plenty of airtime if you avoid calling, which is easy to do. The phones are good for small emergencies and major emergencies. ( I witnessed a fire last week, and - realizing that I actually HAD a phone - was able to call 911 right away.)

For everything else:

- plan ahead

- wait until you get there and use a land line

- if you forgot to ask for something, ask later

- don't sweat it

As an aside - what do people pay for their cells on here ? One friend of mine claimed his family plan cost hundreds !

Why on Earth would you want to use a land line? I don't even have a land line any more, haven't had one for two years. Why pay for something made utterly obsolete by your cell phone? In fact, phoning as we know it itself is almost obsolete, since you can call anywhere completely free using VoIP applications, including video-call if you want, and these now exist for mobile devices as well. Anyway, the cell phone plan allows you to save some money by cutting off the land line, which offsets a portion of the cell's cost.

I see and hear that all the time.

Its the only thing I dont use, and really dont want. I will grab the ipod for that.

Why would you want to have two separate devices to perform these two functions, when one can do both? Just more junk sitting in your pockets as you walk around. I like having all these capabilities integrated into one compact device.

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Lets see if I can answer your questions. As stated earlier I personally dislike phones, hate using them, when I do use them it is for communication in brief concise form. I'm not a cell addict as so many today are. As for the MP3 player, well, believe it or not when I'm out I actually enjoy hearing whats going on around me. Next I really can't stand crap sound, when I listen to music I like it played by a good system, not some little piece of crap with piece of crap earbuds.

Thats why I listen at home. Sure my Klipsch Reference Series IV speakers aren't the best money can buy but they certainly blow any phone or I Pod to hell and back without even trying. Does that shed some light on your questions?

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Lets see if I can answer your questions. As stated earlier I personally dislike phones, hate using them, when I do use them it is for communication in brief concise form. I'm not a cell addict as so many today are. As for the MP3 player, well, believe it or not when I'm out I actually enjoy hearing whats going on around me. Next I really can't stand crap sound, when I listen to music I like it played by a good system, not some little piece of crap with piece of crap earbuds.

Oh, I understand. I'm not a big fan of listening to music as you walk around town either. But the sentence I quoted said that they'd "rather" use an mp3 player instead of a cell phone to play their portable music. Given that the phone performs the exact same function but makes you have to carry one less device, there is really NO reason to have an mp3 player separate from a phone nowadays, except perhaps the slight difference in battery life.

Thats why I listen at home. Sure my Klipsch Reference Series IV speakers aren't the best money can buy but they certainly blow any phone or I Pod to hell and back without even trying. Does that shed some light on your questions?

Not really, for the reasons I mentioned above. That being said, if sound quality is your main reason for not wanting to listen to stuff via a portable device, you should be aware that there are headphones out there that provide very good sound quality. Not buds of course, but the nice big headphones that cost $100+. As for the sound quality that is output from the device, that is really all up to you, you can use whatever kind of music files you want, and the hardware processing speed to read those music files has long since not been a limitation.

Edited by Bonam
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but the nice big headphones that cost $100+. As for the sound quality that is output from the device, that is really all up to you, you can use whatever kind of music files you want, and the hardware processing speed to read those music files has long since not been a limitation.

The phones I use with my system are Sennhiesers, about $250.00, very good phones but still not in the same league as a properly set up audio system of good quality. My vinyl is half speed mastered and played on a $1200 Lynn deck with a $1500 Itok arm and a $345 Shure cartridge. The MP3 player and headphones that can match this sound quality simply do not exist. In fact it can be argued that the CD/DVD/BD player that can match this sound do not exist. As anyone who is into audio can tell you digital is inferior to analogue when it comes to sound quality.

Having said that I can see how one portable device would be prefferable to carrying two, if you're into that sort of ghetto sound, or for the portability I suppose.

Since today is Friday when I go home after work I'm going to grab a few beers and listen to my new album I just bought last weekend. The Eagles Hotel California on half speed mastered. I'm really anticipating that with pleasure. Especially since the girlfriend won't be home until later so I can listen at levels I enjoy without complaint. :)

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