TELUS, Koodo to Increase Prices by $5, BYOD Jumps Up $10 [u]

Did you actually think this wasn’t going to happen? After Bell raised its prices and diminished BYOD benefits, Rogers did the same, and now TELUS has competed the trifecta of traditional simultaneous ‘Big 3’ price increases.

MobileSyrup notes an internal document explains the reasoning for increasing prices as due to “economic and market conditions”, with $5 increases to Your Choice plans pegged for January 21, 2016.

Here’s what’s going to change for new customers (except in SK, MB, QC):

• Smartphone and Premium Smartphone voice tiers to increase by $5/month on contract (i.e. instead of $60 for the voice term, you’ll be paying $65 per month on an iPhone 6s contract).
• BYOD starting price jumps up by $10 per month (i.e. entry unlimited nationwide calling now starts at $50 versus $40 per month (still cheaper than Rogers/Bell by $5)
• $20/500MB shared data is eliminated
• Koodo: $5 price increase for all plans except Tab Plus (Updated Feb. 18 to clarify except Tab Plus).

As more people move away from landlines and cable TV subscriptions, maximizing profits from smartphone users is the future.

If you’re ready to stop paying a high smartphone bill, there are some interesting possible alternatives, like Sugar Mobile.