Results tagged “telcos”

In a move clearly meant to stem the bad PR continually building against the ludicrous $6.95 monthly System Access Fee, as well as the pending debut of increased competition in the marketplace, Rogers Communications has announced that the despised fake tax is about to disappear. But not really, because a new "government regulatory recovery fee" will be added, as well as a $5 monthly plan increase. That means your monthly bill won't really change, but Rogers hopes you'll be tricked into thinking it has. To divert the customer's attention from the fact that they're still paying through the nose, Rogers is now "throwing in" things like call display and the obnoxious WhoCalled "service." Plus, there are those things they quietly implement but hope you don't notice, like reducing your local calling area so that more calls are classified as long-distance. The reason for this, as usual, is to "align with common industry practices." In other words, they reserve the right to continue being loathsome and unethical.

While we think it's really sleazy to force customers to pay extra for a connection they're already paying for, we have to admit that Rogers surprised us when they enabled the tethering option of the iPhone at no extra charge this month (tethering allows you to basically use your mobile device as a modem when not connected to your usual service). Could this be a sign of a kinder, gentler Rogers-slash-Fido?

When it comes to holding customers in seething contempt, few corporate entities do it with more blatancy than the Canadian telcos. And they know customers hate them—that's why Koodo (a brand owned by Telus, though you'd never know it) mocks the industry's despicable practices in their advertising. But when three biggies control an entire market, forcing users into long-term contracts and deliberately muddying their fee structures, the notion of customer service is merely an insignificant byproduct of offering a service to customers.

While Second Cup and Starbucks have offered Wi-Fi service for years, the cost model has always leaned towards laptop users: customers can choose to purchase internet for an hour, a day, or a month. However, the explosion of Wi-Fi enabled smartphones changes the use of Wi-Fi: checking an email, using GPS, or finding a telephone listing takes minutes. Here's a catch: in the States, the internet period is limited to a single session. Once you log off, you're done for the day. We wonder if Bell will make the session cumulative or if the telco will follow suit. (Doesn't it appears that telcos plan to take advantage of the changing market to manipulate Wi-Fi at the major coffee chains to become marketing tools for products like the iPhone or WiMax?)

People are scamming the city's parking machines to the tune of $1 million per year. Apparently you can use an expired pre-paid credit card to park for free because the machines don't check to see if the cards have credit left on them. The Toronto Parking Authority has known about this since 1998, but hasn't done anything because what the hell—it's only money.

As we've pointed out many times before, Rogers boasts an exceptional brand of contempt for its non-business wireless customers, but the launch of Apple's desperately anticipated iPhone has exposed a whole set of new lows for the Toronto-based company. Due to a breathtakingly boneheaded policy in place by the company's National Planning Department, existing customers currently under a Rogers contract and who have upgraded their handset within the year are prohibited from purchasing an iPhone. At all.

The wireless spectrum auction being held by Industry Canada to sell off 300 spectrum licenses has closed, with 40% of the spectrum licenses being set aside for new competitors in the wireless industry and $4.25 billion in revenue going to the Feds. The Financial Post speculates that competition will increase and prices will decrease, and also notes that: "It is widely assumed that all new entrants will lease bandwidth space on Rogers' networks." Ever the fair-minded conglomerate, Rogers will be leasing bandwidth space to their new competitors for the bargain price of 75 GAJILLION DOLLARS.

Photo by Denmar from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.