How Cell Phone Companies Are Robbing You

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Nowadays it seems like nearly everyone has a cell phone. Cell phones have become a part of our life that for a few of us it hard to part us from these little gadgets. Does’nt this high reliance on these makes us a slave of our phone company. I think so.

But why is it like this in the first place. I came to this country in few years back as an immigrant so I know how cell phone companies work in ‘my part of the world’.

Here are a few important points to note about cell phone services in South Asian sub continent.

More Competition

In Canada I see only a handful of companies in the cell phone business. In South Asian sub-continent, there is a lot more competition then what we have here. One clear reason for this higher competition is the size of the market. South Asian sub continent as whole is much smaller place as compared to North America, and therefore , it is much easier for small players to get into the market as they would have smaller setup costs then what we have here. This higher setup cost here in Canada [and in US] is probably the only factor these North American companies can put as an excuse to the higher cost and more binding contracts. Other wise everything else is just plain rip-off.

Cell Phone Compatibility

Nonbody in South Asian continent locks their phone to their specific carrier. This is rip-off idea is blantantly utilized here, more to the advantage of cell phone manufacturer and then to cell phone companies only here. If you want to switch to a different company you got to have either your phone unclocked by paying a fee or just scrap your phone at ebay and get a new one from authorized by your new provider who has newer ways to rob you.

Choice of Billing Granularity.

Candian companies have fewer choices of billing granularity. Mostly count the duration in minutes. Very recently I am seeing an ad for per second billing. Rogers did have a per second billing , but somehow such things were not advertised and restrictively offered to a select few.

A number of companies in south Asia are now giving the choice to their customer for 30 seconds billing. This gives the added satisfaction to customers that they are not paying a full minute for only 20 sec call.

Pay As You Go packages :: Balance Expiry.

Like US and Canada , companies in South Asian sub continent do have a wide choice of packages which may be monthly packages or pre-paid [which we refer here Pay As You Go]. But there are big contrasts in the way these packages are offered there to meet the convinience of the customer. Most of the companies have lifetime availablity of your phone number on Pay as You Go. The balance you have on your credit NEVER expires unless you use it to make phone calls. On the contrary Canadian companies have strict denomination based balance expiry. The more you add to your account here, longer could your balance live on your account, and after that it evaporates in thin air.

Monthly Packages :: No Contracts.

Yes a monthly package here means you are tied with your service provider for at least a year [and sometimes for two or three years]. Amazingly people dont commit that long period to their girlfriend / boy firend, then they do to there cell phone providers. Monthly Packages in sub continent dont have such long term binding contract. You are free to go to any other provider when you dont like our service, fair enough.

Like here they do have their own equivalent of “6.95 system access fee.” They call it line rent, and it varies from one provider to other. Apart from this, service , quality and tarrif are all way better then what we have here.

Isnt’ this time that some consumer rights group voice these issues, as being a consumer I dont have a choice. A few providers have monopolized the market and drive the things the way they want.

Browse more posts marked in: