rickstep
join:2002-11-25
Hamilton, ON
| Perhaps; WE (collectively) are responsible.
30 years ago (give or take) if you ordered telephone service, you HAD to rent your phone from Bell. The CRTC finally ended the practice after a Montreal company took Bell to court for violating common carrier rules. I'm hoping my memory here is not too faulty. At least you can hook up the phone of your choice today.
The cell phone that you use is not sold to you, it is sold to Bell, Telus, Rogers etc. and is essentially given permission to work on the network that purchases the phones. The phones are then sold (and imprinted with the Bell etc. logo) or more precisely you are blackmailed with your own money to sign a contract for a free phone that has a few some or most of the built in features disabled. Bell also does this with the Siemens/Speedstream 6520 and other modems where they disable the built in firewall and then sell you security services.
This problem will not go away until we begin to buy our phones from independent suppliers, the bill you get from Bell Mobility and others is reduced to only reflect the network charges and legislation is in place to force open standards on cellphone providers, ISPs and other future communication systems that currently don't exist. |
