Union attempts to block launch of Wind Mobile

[cacruden]

You think that's bad? In Canada you pay that much and get no real unlimited anything. There are caps on data, number of texts and minutes. The carrier can change the rate on any pay per use item anytime and you have no recourse. Oh yeah, don't forget the calling zones are tiny (Oakvilled is long distance on Rogers in Toronto) and long distance is expensive.

Wind has started off by charging $45 for unlimited calling, any time of day with all the features in and $35 for unlimited data. That's incredible compared to anything the Big 3 offers right now.

If I were going to be in Canada, I would go for Wind (have no cell phone right now), the $35 data unlimited includes tethering (total $80 for phone unlimited, data unlimited, tethering). For mobil internet (no phone) Rogers is charging $65 for max 3GB, + $30 / GB after that.

 

[cacruden]

^ Wondered where the plan went, the best "value" plan is 5GB for $85 plus $30/GB after.

 

[Admiral Beez]

This company is 60%(?) owned by an Egyptian firm. How do you know they will have 100% of their workforce Canadian?

Half the workforce at my job in Markham aren't Canadian. So what? I don't care who owns the telecons.

 

[Brandon716]

Well, Wind has launched. Some of those union members will find themselves on the street in short order. The Big 3 is simply going to respond by slashing their jobs and shipping them overseas, all the while carping about being Canadian. Too bad for them. Had the union been smart they would have recognized the value of competition creating productivity and more jobs in the telecom sector. Rogers layoffs 900 before Christmas. Wind just hired 800. Heck, Wind even kept paying its employees for the last 6 weeks to do volunteer work while they waited for approval to launch.

Even now the Big 3 haven't really dropped prices. If you call your provider, they just say "Wind will be out of business in a year so why should we match their deal." They are comparing their "cheaper phones" to Wind's phone prices. Except Wind has no contracts. And they may not be cheaper either. Rogers is charging 500 bucks for a BB Bold 9700 on a 2 year contract while Wind charges 450 with no contract. The Big 3 are still trying to force people into 3 year contracts before Wind grows and Canadians catch on.

The big 3 will learn to become competitive, hence why its good for Wind to enter the market. It doesn't mean that massive jobs will be gone because an entirely new company is entering the market.

Like it was said, if Rogers lays off people then Wind will be hiring.

And Wind will likely have to rely on foreign call centers to offer cheaper rates, so don't expect the best service from them either. How an agent in a different country not even using the product can support it is beyond me... But that's how its done around the world in many respects. Every company will have their respective product, no company is perfect.

On another note, my provider Sprint here in the US has a history of bad customer service because they outsourced much of their support several years back. The service itself is actually quite good these days, but they had major customer service issues in the past. They brought their service centers back to the US predominantly to change their image on customer service.

If it doesn't work, it won't last.

 

[afransen]

Half the workforce at my job in Markham aren't Canadian. So what? I don't care who owns the telecons.

I agree that I don't care who owns our wireless carriers, but then the government should change the law rather than using a weasely excuse to go around it.

 

[afransen]

You think that's bad? In Canada you pay that much and get no real unlimited anything. There are caps on data, number of texts and minutes. The carrier can change the rate on any pay per use item anytime and you have no recourse. Oh yeah, don't forget the calling zones are tiny (Oakvilled is long distance on Rogers in Toronto) and long distance is expensive.

Wind has started off by charging $45 for unlimited calling, any time of day with all the features in and $35 for unlimited data. That's incredible compared to anything the Big 3 offers right now.

That is a great deal. If I needed data or mobile internet, I'd probably already be with Wind.

Brandon: AFAIK, Wind's customer service is based in Canada.

 

[cacruden]

^ Also, how much of the call centre work is already done overseas by Bell and maybe Rogers?

 

[kEiThZ]

That is a great deal. If I needed data or mobile internet, I'd probably already be with Wind.

Check out their plans. Unlimited talk inside the province is $35. All plans include caller ID, call waiting, call answer and unlimited in-network calling (Wind2Wind), even the $15 plan! All minutes are province wide. And there is no time of day restriction (like that unlimited after 5 crap - it's unlimited all day). The best part: No contracts!

I know I sound like a salesman, but I am just excited to finally have access to a deal like this. How could this not be good for Canada? The Big 3 will finally be forced to compete and we'll all benefit. Best decision the government made all year.

Brandon: AFAIK, Wind's customer service is based in Canada.

Both Wind and parent company Globalive have a 100% Canadian workforce. That's what makes the unions complaints absolutely infuriating and hypocritical.

 

[kEiThZ]

^ Wondered where the plan went, the best "value" plan is 5GB for $85 plus $30/GB after.

That was limited time offer. They only roll that out when they launch a prestige product like the iPhone. And you only get it if you sign a 3 year contract.

 

[Disparishun]

I agree that I don't care who owns our wireless carriers, but then the government should change the law rather than using a weasely excuse to go around it.

They didn't -- they exercised their authority to review a CRTC decision and found that the decision was wrong, basically for the reasons kEiThZ explained.

 

[cacruden]

The government has not many good decisions this year - in respect to telecom.

This is the only one so far that I can think of

 

[allabootmatt]

Interestingly, there's a very similar thing going on right now in France, where a company called Iliad has just won the right to offer mobile service. In many ways the situation has some parallels.

The three current French mobile operators are France Telecom (aka Orange), Vivendi (SFR), and Bouygues (Bouygues Telecom)--as blue as any blue-chip corporations in France. They fought this pretty hard--all have complained to the European Commission--but the government has gone for it. The France Telecom unions have also complained, on similar grounds. France also has very, very high prices by European standards--but they're still way cheaper than Canada, of course.

The big difference in France is that broadband--in which Iliad is already a very big player--is ridiculously cheap and competitive. €29.99 gets you DSL, TV, and fixed-line phone with some sort of unlimited-calling plan. In preparation for the entry of Iliad, Bouygues is going to offer DSL, TV, fixed-line, AND mobile for €45/mo. Competition works wonders...

 

[afransen]

That just goes to show how absurdly expensive telecom is here in Canada. Contrast that with Bell's fibre internet/IPTV service for $160+.

 

[kEiThZ]

How about 8 Euros per month for unlimited high speed internet? This is what I saw in Austria:

http://www.telekom.at/portal/site/t...0220d2c110VgnVCM100000230a14acRCRD&taxlang=de

Nobody has cable internet at home anymore. Everybody is switching to data sticks. If this is what the Big 3 are holding us back from than screw it, the government should remove all restrictions on foreign ownership. It's absurd how far behind Canada is compared to the rest of the world.