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Canada’s big three wireless carriers all raised the prices for their monthly plans this weekend.

hsedin33

By hsedin33
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hsedin33 Canucks Third-Line

hsedin33

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Wireless Price Hike Strangely Similar Across All 3 Major Telcos

Canada’s big three wireless carriers all raised the prices for their monthly plans this weekend. All of them raised prices by $5, and all the base plans cost the same.

The price hikes apply to all of Canada except Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the CBC reports, with a smartphone plan with 500 MB of data monthly costing $80 at all three carriers.

And it’s not just Bell, Rogers and Telus customers; those who have wireless service with Big Three sub-brands like Koodo (Telus) and Fido (Rogers) saw their services shoot up in price over the past few days as well.

Internet commenters are calling it collusion, but we at HuffPost won’t do that, because we don’t have any evidence.

There does exist the possibility that it isn’t collusion, that these companies face similar cost structures and therefore come up with similar price plans. As for the prices all going up at once, it may be a case of follow the leader.

Consumer tech columnist Peter Nowak suggests that Telus, back in January, subtly signalled to the other big players that it would be increasing prices by $5.

“Bell and Rogers of course followed [Telus] and now all three are moving in unison,” he writes.

“Why is this happening? It’s very simple, really: the new entrants are dead, and so is competition. Public Mobile has been bought by Telus, Mobilicity is under creditor protection and Wind is being left to wither on the vine by its Russian owner Vimpelcom.”

The Harper government declared victory in the wireless war recently, insisting that the 700-mHZ wireless spectrum auction that took place in January will increase competition, because it made room for a fourth major player: Videotron, the Quebecor-owned wireless provider which won a hefty chunk of spectrum in that auction.

But as Nowak notes, the future of Videotron as a major wireless player is now in limbo, as Quebecor’s owner, Pierre-Karl Peladeau, recently declared himself a Parti Quebecois candidate in Quebec’s provincial election.

But many analysts say the Tories will overlook that, in an effort to bring more competition to the wireless market.

“I think the government is so desperate to have a fourth carrier and they realize that no foreigner wants to participate, so I don’t think it makes any difference on that side,” the National Post quoted Dvai Ghose, head of research at Canaccord Genuity, as saying.

But for Nowak, the recent wireless price hikes are proof Tory efforts to increase competition have already failed.

“The government’s claims of lowering wireless prices over the past few years, if they were ever true, now look laughable. Any gains made since 2008 have been erased in a matter of months,” he writes.

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I already took off my data plan and might have to remove even more now. Canadians need to find new ways to communicate in Canada, these Telecom gangsters need to be taken out back...

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Rypien37 Canucks Rookie

Rypien37

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Doesn't that effectively go against the purpose of a contract? like what legal obligation do you have to keep staying and paying that crap off if they change their terms whenever they feel like it?

They can't. The change is for people signing up for contracts NOW.

If you are under contract there are no changes and they have to honor the plan you signed up for at the current time.

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hsedin33 Canucks Third-Line

hsedin33

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I would pay attention to your next bill, see if they jacked it up $5, the contract is not for the plan itself as plans can be changed at any time for free (on Rogers at least). I think the contract just means that you will buy from them while under contract.

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drummer4now Canucks Second-Line

drummer4now

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I'm with Rogers 60$ unlimited text, evenings & weekends my 10 250 daytime mins and 6 gigs of data

Aah.. love my sask plan..

65$

Unlimited canada wide calling.. unlimited incoming calls.. unlimited texting/picture msgs.. 10 hours of bell(dont use because most of the channels are blacked out) 5 gigs of data(pretty much never use as I am always around wifi)

Did you both get these plans awhile ago? I remember Rogers and others having killer deals on data around the time iPhone 4 came out. Nowadays they rip people off.. I just saw a plan from Rogers, 70 bucks for 500 mb of data lol... talk about highway robbery.

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Grapefruits Canucks Star

Grapefruits

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Not surprising since they were forced to get rid of the 3 year contracts. They were going to stick it to the consumer one way or another.

I would pay attention to your next bill, see if they jacked it up $5, the contract is not for the plan itself as plans can be changed at any time for free (on Rogers at least). I think the contract just means that you will buy from them while under contract.

While the customer can change the contract to a new plan. I don't believe that the carrier can change your plan during the contract. I could easily be wrong since they may have changed it.

Years ago, when you signed a contract, they couldn't change it until the contract was over.

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drummer4now Canucks Second-Line

drummer4now

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Not surprising since they were forced to get rid of the 3 year contracts. They were going to stick it to the consumer one way or another.

While the customer can change the contract to a new plan. I don't believe that the carrier can change your plan during the contract. I could easily be wrong since they may have changed it.

Years ago, when you signed a contract, they couldn't change it until the contract was over.

They can now. I remember when I read the terms and conditions of my Telus contract and it said they can add or change my services anytime even with a contract...

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Grapefruits Canucks Star

Grapefruits

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Pretty much, but thanks to the idiots who couldn't understand how a 3 year contract works, the rest of us get screwed.

They can now. I remember when I read the terms and conditions of my Telus contract and it said they can add or change my services anytime even with a contract...

Interesting, I'll keep an eye on my bill. I'll raise shit if they try to up my bill. I've been paying the same since I signed the contract 2 1/2 years ago and there no way I'll pay more until the contract is over or if I decide to make changes.

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TheAntar Abbotsford Star

TheAntar

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Aah.. love my sask plan..

65$

Unlimited canada wide calling.. unlimited incoming calls.. unlimited texting/picture msgs.. 10 hours of bell(dont use because most of the channels are blacked out) 5 gigs of data(pretty much never use as I am always around wifi)

What's the 10 hours of bell thing? (Sounds like I'm on the same sasktel plan).

Btw sasktel fricken rocks as a service provider.

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