Canadian Cell Phone Carriers Gouging Consumers

Canada pays the highest cell phone fees of any developed country, with Canadians paying about 33 per cent more per month than Americans do.



According to the Seaboard Group, a Canadian technology research and consulting group, just 56 per cent of Canadians have a mobile phone, compared with 75 per cent of Americans, 86 per cent of Germans.

In a report entitled "Lament for a Wireless Nation," the Seaboard Group says the average user, defined as someone using 500 minutes a month, pays a 33-per-cent premium.

The high-end business user uses 1,200 minutes of voice plus data monthly and pays a staggering 150 per cent more than a subscriber in the United States. Canada is dead last in the 30-country OECD measurement of wireless penetration. Oddly enough, Canada's wireless prices lead the world -- there may well be a correlation.

Canadians often pay a 911 access fee, a network service fee, as well as monthly cost of the rate plan -- plus overage charges. Many Canadian consumers buy monthly packages for $20 or $30. But when they exceed their allotted minutes, or after the network fees, those prices double.

The report's authors recommend Canadian wireless carriers do away with long-distance fees, raise usage ceilings and reward customers for signing up friends. (Since 2001 these fees and times have been steadily creeping up).

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