You Pay Too Much For Your Telecom Needs

by bigcajunman last updated on October 29, 2015 originally published on October 28, 2015

Thought that might get your attention, but let us face the fact that in Canada we pay a ludicrous amount of money for our telecommunication (i.e. Telephone, Internet and Cable) needs.

That is the Average Folks Many people pay much more.

Where is my proof? Luckily our friends at the CRTC have compiled data on this very area in their Communications Monitoring Report 2015: Canada’s Communications System: An Overview for Citizens, Consumers, and Creators , and their research is quite extensive. This report is quite extensive, but luckily they also have compiled some really nice infographics, for folks like me who don’t like to read really long reports.

Aren’t those numbers staggering to you? The average consumer pays $203.04 a month to stay in touch with the world?

The other interesting data in the report point out how things are changing in that:

For the first time wireless overtakes wireline in Canadian household subscriptions:

20.4% wireless only vs 14.4% wireline only

Not that surprising, given most of the folks I know under the age of 40, only have a Wireless phone number or don’t have a traditional Home Phone (i.e. Voice over IP or something similar).

Smart Phones and Young Folks

Remember young folks are addicted to Smart Phones (most of them at least). According to Mobile World, the graphic on the left is true for 16-24 year olds.

In fact 71% of them can’t live without their Smart Phone? Wonder how much their bills cost? The data wasn’t that surprising to me given how my kids are attached to their phones.

How old are the cord cutters out there? That is mentioned as well:

Number of hours Canadians watched traditional television in 2014:

Children 2-11 years old: 20.6 hours

18-34 years old: 20.6 hours

65 + years old: 41.8 hours

Seems like traditional TV might be dying off in Canada too?

The big three of Telus, Bell and Rogers have little competition aside from trying to steal each others customers (Ask for the Customer Retention group if you call for a discount), they won’t be lowering these rates any time soon.

{ 13 comments }

{ 13 comments… add one }

Kurt November 8, 2015, 9:21 AM
I don’t even want to admit what I pay. $100 for internet (top tier rural high-speed) and $200 for my wife’s and my phone. That’s for unlimited everything and a boat load of data. No home phone, no TV. Could probably scrape the cell bill down a little but we have 12 gigs of data between us and occasionally go over. Haven’t had a home phone for almost 8 years. Cutting cable was a no brainer because neither watches live sports. Everything else is available instantly and can be streamed to any device or tv in the house. Yay internet…

Reply
- bigcajunman November 8, 2015, 1:11 PM
  Live sports seems to be the “line in the sand” for a lot of cord cutters. If they could figure out a way to watch live sports without cable, they would cut the cord right now.
  
  Reply
Katy October 29, 2015, 2:50 PM
hmmm….monthly we have $8 for prepaid cell; $40ish for landline (depending on long distance); $50 for internet; $8 for netflix; so call it $110?

In the next couple years, the landline will be switching to fibre, and since the kid is grown up, we’ll probably ditch it then and get a “real” cell phone/plan instead. Interesting that someone commented about getting a work/company phone — my hubby works in IT, his company assumes you use your personal cell for work and won’t pay/partially reinburse for one or for internet (they used to years back).

Reply
- bigcajunman October 29, 2015, 2:55 PM
  Seems like a lot of folks have different ways of making this work, and I am always curious to hear how folks are doing it. 👂
  
  Reply
canadianbudgetbinder October 28, 2015, 9:00 PM
My wife has a cell phone but no data plan and the cheapest Rogers plan available which a grandfathered deal with all the bells and whistles minus data. We do have a home phone since both of our parents call the house although my parents now SKYPE us so we are thinking about getting rid of the home phone next year or looking at our options. Off the top of my head I believe we pay $162.75 for all 4 of our services each month. We call the retention department at Rogers every year and get what we consider a decent price for what we get. The only way to cut the bills is to cut the service or cut what you get from the service but asking for a deal is still an option.

Reply
- bigcajunman October 28, 2015, 9:15 PM
  Always ask the service provider, “… but what is MY price?”
  
  Reply
Tawcan October 28, 2015, 2:43 PM
Cut your cable and cut your home phone. That will reduce your telecom bill significantly. If you can, ask your company to give you a “work” phone to save up on the cellphone bill.

Having said that, the telecom companies are making a killing. We’re definitely being charged more than people in other countries.

Reply
aB October 28, 2015, 11:22 AM
Wrote this in several places..
Since my usage is mostly data. That is all I pay for.
Tiered TABLET plan, in my Nexus 4.
Tasker for wifi switching (annoyed that Android removed the ability to automate ‘cell data off’). Fongo (VOIP), for the odd phone call. No text, but choose your own IM.
$11.30 a month. If I go over .. $25.

Reply
- bigcajunman October 28, 2015, 11:50 AM
  Nice
  
  Reply
My Own Advisor October 28, 2015, 11:19 AM
Crazy folks still pay for home phone, $30 per month at that!

Mark

Reply
- bigcajunman October 28, 2015, 11:25 AM
  Some of us don’t trust wireless technology. ☎️
  
  Reply
Lynne October 28, 2015, 10:18 AM
Well, that sure makes it easy to do better than average. I pay $31/month to Lightspeed, a little internet company that resells me Telus’ bandwidth, and less than $20/month to Speakout which resells me Bell’s cell service. No landline, no TV. Why have TV when you have internet?

I guess I’m making up for the above average spenders out there. Somebody’s got to bring that average down. 😛 I will sacrifice myself.

Reply
- bigcajunman October 28, 2015, 11:24 AM
  Remember there are a lot of folk who only have home phone, if that 🙂 but thanks for helping out 👍
  
  Reply

You Pay Too Much For Your Telecom Needs

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