Telecom Trends

I often overhear wireless employees, especially in kiosks, pushing 3 year plans on consumers. I'm always tempted to warn the people looking for a new cell phone this year to wait till spring and wireless number portability. :-) But then, that would result in a 15 minute conversation on WNP. I worry that the public isn't aware that it's so close, and they aren't considering WNP when looking at a new wireless provider.
 

If the provinces (Ontario in this case) were to jump into the fray about consumer complaints about cellular services, billing practices and service charges, etc., it wouldn't be the first time they dealt with an issue affecting federally licensed and regulated undertakings. Back when Rogers and other cablecos tried negative option billing, Ontario jumped in and stopped the practice albeit not as quickly as some consumers would have liked. What turned the tide was a virtual tidal wave of complaints and media coverage of those complaints. That hasn't happened with cellular as yet and I suspect it won't because groups like the Consumers Association of Canada don't seem to want to take up those kinds of issues any more. There were times though when the former Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations (which is now part of Government Services) reacted when there wasn't a huge public outcry. One example is when they amended the Condominium Act to clarify who owned the wiring in a condominium when the developer turned the ownership of the building over to the condominium association. The cablecos said it was still their property and they could dictate what signals were distributed. This frustrated the associations who wanted to take advantage of the competition coming from satellite providers. They lobbied behind the scenes and the Ministry eventually said 'no'. Despite active lobbying by the cablecos and the OCTA/CCTA, that's the way things stand. So, the provinces can be a source of relief. However, it may not come as quickly as some may like.