Canadian Chat → Internet, phone bills in Canada too high, says consumer study

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The federal government needs to take action to assess how escalating phone, internet and television bills are affecting Canadians, especially those earning the least income, a new study on affordability says.

Canadians are spending between $100 and $212 a month per household on communications services, according to the report issued Monday by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), an Ottawa-based consumer advocacy group.

While all Canadians are feeling the pinch, low-income households are getting particularly hard hit by the cost. These households account for between 8 and 15 per cent of the population, depending on the measure, and an average of 7.6 per cent of their total annual expenditures is going to communications, exceeding spending on clothing, health-care and education.

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NOW THAT'S truth in news.

We all know we pay too much for telecom in this country. The old arguments about maintaining millions of miles of cable and fibre no longer make any sense. Rural areas can be served just as well by wireless solutions these days so why in hell are we paying thousands of dollars per year per family to maintain our connections?

Honestly if the government were to nationalize Bell and Telus and Rogers and Videotron and maintain the current fee structures the country would be debt free in under 3 years

We're all overdue for some relief on our phone and cable bills but so far all I've been hearing from the current government is a lot of lip service and zero tangible results

Will we ever see relief? probably not. wont' happen.

when investors are making money they will keep jacking up our rates.
even rogers that has lost some customer base doesn't really care, they increase their dividends, increase their cell rates and internet and call a date.

I mean some things aren't a necessity, but reality is the internet is becoming one and the rates that are being charges are raping in this country

anyhow some might disagree some might agree

Too expensive, companies should lower costs!
Yet
People keep paying.
It's funny, everyone I know has a smartphone. They pay a lot, and insist that they couldn't live without it. Even though the reality is, it's simply a convenience.

That's the problem with conveniences, you grow dependent on them.

40 years ago I had a dial telephone, cable with about 10 usable channels and no internet or computer.

How did I spend my evenings? I went out with friends, to clubs, to concerts, to amusement parks, to fine restaurants, and REALLY enjoyed my life.

How do I spend my evenings today? Parked on my fat ass in front of a screen, be it a terminal or a television and eating my chemical snacks in mouthfuls between mouse and remote clicks.

What I can't figure out is if all the recreational activities of yesteryear simply became too expensive or if the cost of all the telecom I'm wired up too keeps me too broke to go out.

40 years ago a glass of draught beer was 20 cents and a steak dinner could be had in a tavern for about $2.50. Rolling Stones concert tickets set me back $12.

Today even the crappiest concert will cost you at least $100 a seat and a lousy sirloin at the Keg will set you back about $50 a plate with drinks and dessert.

I seriously wish Mr. Peabody would adopt me and set the wayback for 1970

While my cell phone may be a convenience, it's grown to be a necessary evil. The prices are too high and if the profits of telecom; markup is huge...there is a huge discrepancy between the real cost and charged price for things like bandwidth and texts. At least I don't have a land line...by now, landlines should be free!

I remember the steak was $2.00 and the beer about 50 cents I also remember paying about a months pay for a good used car and full years insurance. PLPD only...paid cash and thought nothing about it.

our provider had an article out that they will be increasing the price of internet, and lowering the speed...that's like really rubbing the salt into the wound.

I'd say a bit of both, but mostly due to things becoming too expensive. Even if you dropped all telecom services for a month you wouldn't have enough.

Yeah, but what are you gonna do? How does a free market government force companies to reduce prices?

At least when it comes to mobile data and cellular services, the gov't owns the airwaves and the carriers lease them. If the gov't wants you to charge less to use those airwaves, you do, or you lose them and they go up for auction to someone else.