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We are in need of a telecommunication revolution. Also on the Calgary Herald Q.It's not me, it's you. When I first met you, I was completely enamored with you. You were reliable for about the first month or so into each new year and then you got distant. You cut me off for no reason, cost me an absurd amount, treat me like everyone else (and I thought I was above the rest...) and I believe, have been falsely advertised as something you're definitely not: reliable. When I first found you, I was pretty excited. Maybe it was the newness of it all. Maybe it was the change of pace. Whatever it was, it died quickly and I once again found myself in a lonely, inaccessible place where I needed you. You were my lifeline to the outside world, to my friends and family. I hope someone else will have better times with you. Maybe you’ll come full circle and I’ll learn to love you again, but until then, I have to move on to someone who will treat me better, give me gifts at Christmas and not drop me when there’s a problem. Sincerely, Customer number 2A3-004-HB5-999 I can’t figure out what's worse; knowing that Canada pays the highest cell phone fees of any developed country, or that Americans are getting better deals than us when it comes to cell phones. Here I thought they envied us, but I actually envy them… just on this one issue though. Since I broke my cell phone virginity and jumped into a contract with one of Canada's largest telecommunication companies, I have had no end of issues with them. Sure, I'll be the first to admit that sometimes issues have been user-error and not so much their error, but it's generally more them than me. I often snicker when I come across an American cell phone ad and their message is "fewest dropped calls". Dropped calls? Who gets dropped calls? Silly Americans. Little did I know it happens to us too. In the past 4 years, I have had 4 cell phones with the same provider. The first one was ok, until 2 months before the contract was up and it suddenly stopped working. I batted my eyelashes in a flirty way and got a new phone, no charge and was on my way again. The second phone was cursed (stupid eyelash batting) and was sent back to the store months after because of a battery issue. Awesome. Third phone was also cursed but I was told it "wasn't surprising there was an issue with this phone as it was new and no one should ever buy first generation anything". That would have been something to have told me when I bought it. And now, I am down to my last phone with this cellular provider. I was told to buy it because it had an excellent performance record and the company providing them was one of the best. Well. How come I’m having issues with it? I can handle paying the 911 access fee, the network fee, the "you-are-a-customer-of-us-so-we’ll-stick-it-to-you-every-way-we-can" fee and others, but what I can’t handle is the contract we're obligated to take in order to get a better price on a phone which will self-combust long before the contract is up. Until those years are up, we’re forced to pay an absurd amount for a new phone that may or not break before your current contract is up. Living in Canada gives us the option of 3 major providers. However, if you live south of the border, you are given the option of cheaper phones, better rates, bigger selection of providers and less grief. Or so people say. So until the day when the CRTC decides to take their head out of their ass and allow some smaller telecommunication companies to start up to take away the monopoly the larger companies are involved in, we’re left with little choice of who to use. The service won’t change no matter how many cute animals they put in a commercial or how many songs you can put on your phone. Posted by Bella at 8:07 AM# 3 Comments: Small companies tend not to be able to make a go of it because it's very expensive to run a telecommunications gig. By Hear, hear sister. I am so with you on this one. By I'll forgive you Megan for railing against the reality of a situation without either a) understanding it or b) proposing plausible solutions By
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