For those Canadians hoping for a fourth wireless carrier to arrive, there may still be some hope coming out of the 700MHz wireless auction. A fourth block of the wireless spectrum in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia becomes available with the departure of Wind Mobile.
The Big Three carriers, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, will presumably grab the remaining three blocks in those regions. This will leave one block open to other regional carriers in Canada, like MTS and Videotron,
Another possibility is the return of Verizon, the U.S. wireless carrier that was reported to be making an entry into the Canadian market last summer. Verizon ended up denying any rumours of a possible move north of the border.
According to a statement to The Globe and Mail, Greg MacDonald, a telecom analyst at Macquarie Capital Markets, believes that Verizon is still in talks with Ottawa.
“In our opinion the government is focused on attracting Verizon back to this market so investors should consider scenarios that would make this more likely.”
The Globe and Mail confirmed MacDonald’s statement saying that Verizon is lobbying the federal government and has six logged communications with Ottawa recorded in the lobbyist registry.
The Huffington Post has collected some data that shows how Canada compares to other countries when it comes to wireless prices. Note that some of the charts and graphs are not up-to-date, but overall they should be fairly accurate.
Let us known the comments below if you are satisfied with wireless services and pricing in Canada. Do you think Verizon should make an entrance into the Canadian market?
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Please put a rest to this crap. Verizon is never coming up here and even if they do so, it’ll only be a matter of time until people switch back to there old providers from them. No one will want to deal with foreign call centers and etc. Also, don’t expect Verizon to walk up in here with killer prices.
Are you on crack? Where is Bells call center?
umm… your mamas basement?
Hahaha, are you 4 years old? Way to show your intelligence level.
We are already dealing with foreign call camera …:p
Centers*
Centres*
Expect Verizon’s so called “foreign” call centers are in southern US states. Where are your company’s?
Not going to ever happen. Verizon can care less about Canada. We are way too insignificant to matter.
I guess this Greg MacDonald fellow hasn’t been paying attention to
what’s really been going on. And, apparently, neither has Nick. The
lobbying is not for entry into Canada, and is not a revelation of new
information. This is old news.
Smoking crackity crack again eh AI?? the globe story requires a sub but its new info as far as we can tell, not related to the old lobbying efforts of verizon you silly fool rofl. verizon most likely wont come here but the source makes it seem like something is coming or wants to come. at least thats what i got out of it
PS – get over ur self the world does not revolve about your fugly simpsons mug
I’d like it to be cheaper as well, but I do see a partial point by the carriers with regard to the geographical expanse of the territory they need to cover. European countries are smaller than most Canadian provinces.
And I also agree that it’s cheaper hear than comparable plans/service in the US. I’ve always found data speeds in the US to be terrible compared to up here, which is partially due to the customer to spectrum ratio from what I gather. With Rogers (Fido) in Montreal, I often get around 20-30Mbps over LTE which is quite good. Major US cities are nowhere near comparable. Also dropped calls, in my experience, have never been a real problem in Canada.
Again, I would obviously like it to be cheaper, but I’m not sure that Verizon would be some kind of great saviour. We might see an average savings of $10 a month or something initially, which is nothing to shake a stick at since it adds up to over $120 per year when you factor in taxes.
Anyway, perhaps the reason I’m not complaining is because I ported my number to a voip provider and run a tablet plan on my phone. My bill is $25 – $35 per month depending on whether I use up to 1gb of data or up to 5gb of data. I find it to be 98% as reliable as a traditional voice/data plan from the carriers and so long as it stays that way, I’d never go back. Not to mention that I’ve used my phone abroad and areas with no cell service (but wifi) and I can still get all my calls from my local number. This isn’t for everyone, but the type of people who read this blog seem like they’d have a greater propensity for alternative solutions.
Anyway… I’ll likely get flamed for this, but keep in mind that of course I’d like to pay less and if Verizon can help that, great! I’m merely trying to add a little “grey” to the debate.
“Anyway, perhaps the reason I’m not complaining is because I ported my number to a voip provider and run a tablet plan on my phone.”
I sense an article there. Where’s Gary?
Has no one read that Verizon is the most expensive mobile operator in the USA?
I wish t mobile would come up here. I was very happy with them when I lived in NY.
ooooooo no i can already hear the big 3 start there bitching again about the big bad Verizon is coming run for your life please give my ears a fucken break from that shit and don’t start that shit again
I believe that Verizon should make an interest and come to Canada. I have been to Canada many times with my parents. There should be more big carriers like Bell, Rogers, Telus, and Verizon (if possible). Verizon should look into Canada, Australia and other countries.