Are you currently locked into a contract with either Rogers, Telus, or Bell? If you want to cancel early, get ready to pay hefty termination fees for both voice and data. Wind Mobile is currently advocating Federal and Provincial governments to reduce the high cancellation fees Canadians pay.
The Toronto Sun:
Cancellation fees in Canada are about twice as much as they are in the U.S., according to technology analysts at the SeaBoard Group.
An American AT&T customer pays about $256 to get out of a typical iPhone contract after just six months, while a Canadian customer of one of the Big Three pays between $500 and $600, it said.
Manitoba has recently released a public report on wireless contracts and Quebec has made amendments to its consumer protection act. Now, Wind would like the Ontario government and Ottawa to step up and do the same.
“All Canadians should be offered similar protection,†said Wind chairman Anthony Lacavera.
“This is a great step in the right direction and we hope to see all Canadians enjoying greater protection from abusive practices of wireless carriers,†Lacavera said.
It is an uphill battle for Wind Mobile as they try to make a dent in the wireless market that is dominated by Rogers, Telus, and Bell. The ‘Big 3’ each have over 8 million subscribers. Wind has over 250,000.
I commend Wind Mobile for their efforts in bringing up the issues of long contracts and high cancellation fees. From Wind’s point of view, they can’t sign up new users because everyone and their dog is locked into a contract with the ‘Big 3’.
Cancellation fees and system access fees need to go. Canadians can make their voices heard by speaking with their wallets. Too bad the iPhone doesn’t work on Wind Mobile. If the next iPhone 5 is AWS compatible and operates on a frequency band of 1700/2100, I’d be jumping over in a heartbeat.
Have you ever paid cancellation fees? Should they be eliminated?
[GlobeandMail, 2, Toronto Sun]
