Canada Worse than 3rd World Countries when it comes to Mobile Data Access

By on April 9, 2007 | | Comments and Trackbacks

Travesty of Canadian Mobile Carriers

The motto of the CRTC, Canada’s telcom regulator is “Communications in the Public Interest”. Right.

If you live in Canada, write to your MP. The CRTC, as an institution, needs to be taken out and shot.*

This chart charts the best rates available from all carriers. And all levels of government say that “ICT” competitiveness is key factor in Canada’s future economic
prosperity. Ya. Right. I would like to say that Canada is a 3rd world country when it comes to Mobile ICT, except you can clearly see from this chart that even *Rwanda* has orders of magnitude better Mobile Data service than Canada.

As I’ve noted in the chart, 500MB is about 100 minutes of usage at a Canadian Carrier’s maximum (advertised) download speed of 700kB/s (your mileage will vary, International carriers are typically twice or four times faster). 500MB is not a lot of data in the grand scheme of things, a few GB could make a better example but in that case the red bars would be completely off the charts.

If you don’t live in Canada but you or your small business depends on mobile connectivity or net neutrality in general, don’t come here.

If see these numbers makes you mad, then Digg this article and spread the word on your site.

(and leave a comment, what is mobile service like where you live? why do you think mobile data is important?)

Here is the complete data table including data speed and Caps for each of the services listed. You’ll notice Canadian carriers lag substantially in every category.

see also on this blog: Bell to charge you $3600 per hour for Wireless Internet access. (the situation has not changed in a while)

supporting links:
www.vodafone.co.nz/pricing_plans/broadband.jsp?st=ourserv…
www.t-mobile.com/shop/plans/default.aspx
powervision.sprint.com/mobilebroadband/plans/index.html
www.terracom.rw/services/internet/evdo/pricing.php
www.telstra.com.au/business/products/internetanddata/mobi…
www.telusmobility.com/on/business_solutions/connect_megab…
www.bell.ca/shop/en_CA_AB/Sme.Sol.Wireless.Internet.Plans…
www.fido.ca/portal/en/domore/options.shtml
www.shoprogers.com/business/wireless/plans_services/busin…

*not literally of course, we are Canadian after all. (the CRTC is the Canadian regulator for radio, television, and telecomumnications). Here’s the Canadian Telecommunications Act that governs the CRTC. I like parts 7 a, b and c.

UPDATE May 2010: While the situation (and competition) has improved significantly in Canada since this post was first published, according to OECD data Canadians still pay among the highest cell phone bills in the world.

UPDATE December2007: For ongoing and more up to date coverage of the Canadian wireless industry, data rates, carriers, spectrum auctions, and mobile startups, I recommend WirelessNorth.ca

Tags:
Topics: Business
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  • Dragnits

    Waited two years for my contract with Bell to be over so I could cancel my service. Just received a bill today for 400.00 . Maybe I was a day early and they charged me with termination liability . I can’t believe they would stoop to such tactics aqnd rip people off like this it’s legal robbery.

  • Weatherald

    You should be thankfull that you live in TO. You’ve got it 1000 times better in the likelyhood department that you will get service sooner than later…. Here in Saskatchewan Sasktel promises to have 3G service within 3 years (that was a year ago). What they don’t tell you is that you have to be living in Regina, Saskatoon or one of the other largest centers to even be considered for it in the next decade… reality dictates that there just aren’t enough patrons to pay for the cost of an upgrade in real time. Ottawa has to step up here and even the playing field with Canadian TAXPAYER dollars or open the door to foriegn investment/access!!! CRTC stands for Communist Radio, TV and (lack of) Communications.

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  • Paul

    I actually emailed the “honourable” Tony Clement (the federal Industry minister who’s mandate is to promote industry “innovation” especially in his riding of perry sound) about this issue months ago and never received a response. I explained that I am a phd student at U of Toronto in Economics and that new research suggests that the old Schumpeterian assumption that competition hinders innovation is too simple an interpretation, considering how often Bell/Rogers blackmail the CRTC by pulling out the “we won’t invest in infrastructure” card. Needless to say I never received a response; I suppose I can interpret this as Tony either being in the pocket of vested interests or simply not giving a shit?

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  • Eva

    Not just in mobile data access, but in most things, very third world. The only reason why Canada is first-world, is because of the past achievements and gains, and we are only living off of this but with no new innovation and real development. There is really nothing going on in Canada besides auto, gasoline and housing and IMMIGRATION industries, which only a few are in and gain from monetarily or in opportunity. On paper and law Canada is first-world, but the day-to-day elements and factors within Canada are totally third-world. As for the USA, I won’t even touch that.

  • Justin_hockey21

    TOAST! haha

  • Patricia_monk894

    I like cellphones. toast too

  • Frewty55

    Sorry to see no one comments much so we deserve the rates we get. It would be nice to see a Canadian site to compare ALL the carriers side by side…Rob

  • Thehypnotoad

    I have a really bad service with Telus, probably the worst customer service of all!

  • Thehypnotoad

    The big players in this market are Roger/fido and Bell mobility but NOT bell SOLO Mobil, and the rest are small players, maybe Videtron who just come in the market, but gonna work really hard to have a small piece of the action, and I mean really really hard!, so its gonna be between Bell and Roger/fido, and don’t underestimated Bell.

  • Thehypnotoad

    Your right! when I was living in New york, It take 10 minutes on the phone with at&t,
    And I receive my phone the next day by Fed Ex, and my agreement cost me 25% less then what I have In Canada!

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  • Robert

    Having lived outside of Canada for 10 years, it has been my pleasure – and displeasure – in coming back. Pleasure, because Canada is a wonderful country; displeasure because of the internet situation. Living for years in Egypt, far from any major centre, in a desert town of about 5000 people – many whom did not have internet, never mind a computer – I “struggled” with a 1MB per second internet connection for about $10 a month. Today, on the family farm in rural Manitoba, close to the US border, I have dial up (transferring at maybe 1-2 kB a second) for about $30 a month. Skype is completely unusable and just checking your email is a half hour ordeal. God forbid, and may he grant you hours of time, if someone has the audactity to mail you a file >500kB. “Solutions” available to us have download limits and do not have good reviews from our neighbors using the service. No one I know pays less than $60 a month plus set-fees, plus equipment rental, plus, plus, plus. If you want good service without having to worry about bandwidth, $100 plus options per month seem the norm. What a shame Canada. How could we have fallen so far behind the times?

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GHAC3DK7BH5HCIBFB4PNDEXECI Tom

    the only thing i can think of why canada soo expensive is becuase we are soo big in area and soo sparesly populated. other than southern ontario and quebec that is. look alberta all the main cities are at least 300km away from eachoher and only have little farms in between. What they should do is have cheaper data rates in main cities (cities with population over 75,000)

  • Shatteproof

    first indicator that the author has no clue what they are talking about. CRTC has nothing to do with Wireless communications. The RT stands for Radio and Television.I hope you can guess what the C stands for…Try the CCTS…

  • http://ixld.com/ Web Strategy

    I’d love an update on this post.
    I’m sure it’s gone down, but the ratio’s in comparison to US and EU plans (and speeds) are similarly skewed.

  • Rod

    Anyways, I’m looking into getting a smart phone for accessing data via
    the world-wide-web. I am aware that in Canada, the carriers are
    notorious for charging hefty rates for data plans. I would like to
    kindly know if anyone has any insights on this subject?

    I’m currently with Telus for my internet access and may consider asking
    them if they can provide me with an affordable plan/service.

    My usage shall be limited to accessing a brokerage account, as well as, receiving incoming trade signals.

    Thank you all for your feedback!
    Regards

  • Guest

    I hate canada… fucking overrrated piece of shit

  • Guest

    just another tick on the long long list of things canadians over pay out the a** for when compared to the exact same product or service as people in the US or elsewhere.. 

  • Dalain Jrp

    Will be returning to Canada next year.  I’m very scared that I will have to learn to live without a Cell phone.  I’ve been looking at the prices, problem is that a $30 plan is actually more like $60 when you receive the bill, due to all the hidden fees, and by then it’s too late.  You are now tied to a plan, and cost you more money to get out of it.  Data plans are even worse.  Something has to be done this is very wrong!!

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