Tag: telecom

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Mobile Syrup

Public Mobile will move to 100 percent online-only on July 13

As of July 13th, Public Mobile will be moving to 100-percent online-only and will no longer have retail locations, according to tip from a MobileSyrup reader.

Additionally, as of May 3rd, Koodo Prepaid will be available alongside Public Mobile, which means the two brands will overlap for a time until July 13th.

According to the information given to us by a reader, Koodo Prepaid will now be the “value brand of choice.”

Koodo Prepaid will include:

  • Call centre support
  • 3G and 4G speed plans
  • Koodo prepaid account management tool, which will allow sales reps to support customers with account management-related transactions. These include rate plan changes, booster purchases and SIM swaps.

Koodo Prepaid will also need no credit checks, no contracts and no overage charges, referral bonuses, chatbots and a self-care section on the website.

Public Mobile isn’t the only online-only carrier. Videotron’s Fizz Mobile moved to online-only back in 2020.

We’ve reached out to Koodo/Public Mobile for further information and will update this story.

Thanks reader 

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Mobile Syrup

Telecom complaints decreased over the past year, the CCTS reports

Telecom complaints are down 26 percent, according to a recent report from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS).

The report examines complaints received between August 1st, 2021 and January 31st, 2022, and compares them to the last mid-year report.

The CCTS accepted 6,682 complaints on 14 providers, with a 88 percent resolve rate.

The recent report shows complaints decreased by 26 percent, a change from the last report, which reported an increase.

Bell accounts for 17.7 percent of all complaints, Rogers 15 percent, Fido 11.3 percent, Telus 8 percent and Virgin Plus 7.6 percent.

Bell has the largest decrease, with 36 percent fewer complaints than the year prior. Fido follows with 20 percent. Rogers and Telus reported close declines, with 16.5 percent and 16.9 percent, respectively. Virgin Plus saw nearly 10 percent fewer complaints.

The Wireless Code

Wireless complaints represented almost half of all complaints the CCTS accepted, with ‘disclosure issues’ in the lead. Conflicts with contracts and agreements were the most complained about aspects.

The CCTS found 24 breaches of the wireless code, down from the 28 reported last year.

9 of these breaches stem from providers failing to give customers reasonable notification and relevant information before disconnecting services.

4 of the breaches were because the service provider didn’t supply the customer with a paper or electronic copy of the contract listing all relevant information to the wireless code.

3 of the breaches are related to ‘critical information summary’ where providers must give customers a document containing the most essential parts of the contract.

“We continue to observe problems with service providers failing to disclose important information to their customers when signing up for a new phone, internet or TV service,” CCTS Commissioner and CEO Howard Maker said. “This can lead to complaints if bills or services don’t meet the customer’s expectation.”

Source: CCTS

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Mobile Syrup

Lucky Mobile’s Refer-a-Friend promotion returns, offering a $50 credit

Bell-owned Lucky Mobile has started to run its Refer-a-Friend promotion once again. The promotion kicked off on February 17 and offers a $50 credit.

The promotion was first seen by Red Flag Deals. From February 17 to March 31, 2022, if you refer a friend to activate a line with Lucky Mobile, the carrier will hand out a $50 credit to both you and your friend.

The credit in question will be spread out across 10 months. Each month, a $5 credit will be applied to the account, totalling the promised $50 by the end. A single referrer can refer up to three friends.

To take advantage of this promotion, your friend must simply purchase activate a SIM card either at one of Lucky Mobile’s various retail locations or online. Your friend must then submit the referral form within 10 days of activating the line. Two on-time monthly payments must also be made prior to the credits being applied.

This promotion can also be stacked and combined with any other Lucky Mobile promotion. Currently, the carrier is also offering 3GB of bonus data per month for signing up to auto top-up on select plans. This offer expired on February 21, 2022. Customers can also get 50% off a SIM card when purchasing online.

While the carrier has run similar promotions in the past, the $50 credit is amongst the highest seen paid out by the carrier.

More information can be found here on Lucky Mobile’s website.

Source: Lucky Mobile via Red Flag Deals

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Mobile Syrup

CRTC orders telecom providers to immediately make paper bills available to some customers

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) says specific customers can now obtain paper copies of their bills from telecom providers upon request at no extra cost.

The change is effective immediately and includes customers who identify as persons with disabilities, those aged 65 and older and customers who don’t have internet access or mobile data services.

The CRTC says telecom providers must make this information available on their website, update their systems, and train representatives to ensure customers are aware of the change.

“There are still many Canadians who have legitimate needs to receive their bills in paper format. This decision strikes a good balance between allowing providers to encourage their customers to switch to digital billing and ensuring Canadians are treated in an inclusive and accommodating manner,” CRTC chair and CEO, Ian Scott, said in a statement. “We expect all providers subject to these new rules to swiftly make the necessary changes.”

Providers have 90 days to inform the CRTC on how they told customers about the change.

The organization will also impose similar rules on television providers “at the next opportunity.” But if customers have this service bundled with their phone bill at this time, the CRTC says the applicable groups can request a paper copy at no extra charge.

Source: CRTC

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Mobile Syrup

Canadians want more competition in the telecom sector, survey shows

It’s no secret Canadians pay some of the highest cell phone bills in the world.

A report submitted to Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada examining the costs of wireless services in 2020 showed Canada offered some of the steepest price tags, coming in second to Japan.

Source: Wall Communications Inc.

Data is collected and compared for Canada, the U.S, Australia, the U.K, France, Italy, Germany and Japan. Level 1 refers to plans with 450 minutes of talk and 300 text only. Level 2 refers to 1GB of data a month and doesn’t include talk or text. The remaining levels include unlimited talk and text with specific data limits. All figures are in Canadian dollars.

In 2020, Canadians using plans with 2-4GB of data and unlimited talk and text were paying 64 percent more than those in the U.K using the same plan.

For years Canadians have asked for change. A recent survey by Ipsos shows that ask has not waivered.

The market research company surveyed 1,001 Canadians over 18 on how they felt about competition in various Canadian markets.

88 percent of survey respondents want more competition across several sectors because they believe it’s too easy for big businesses to take advantage of Canadians.

90 percent of the respondents said steps need to be taken so smaller businesses can compete with more prominent players and create more choices for Canadians, leading to lower prices, better quality products, and more innovation.

The telecommunications and cable industries need the most competition, with 72 percent of the vote.

The results aren’t surprising given the lack of competition in Canada. According to the 2020 Communications Market Report from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Bell, Telus, and Rogers (known as the Big Three) represented almost 90 percent of mobile phone revenues in 2020.

The Big Three are continuing a historical trend. They appear in this category for results released in 2017, 2018 and 2019. 

Only 28 percent of respondents say there’s enough competition in the telecom and cable sectors.

Source: Ipsos

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Mobile Syrup

Telus offers fastest mobile speeds in Canada, Shaw takes broadband; report

Telus continues to be the fastest mobile operator in Canada, according to recently released statistics from Ookla’s Q4 Canada Market report for 2021.

Ookla owns and operates speedtest.net, a website that analyzes internet performance.

Prior quarterly reports for the year also placed Telus in the top spot. The Q4 report shows Telus has a speed score of 98.29, a significant increase from 81.93 reported in Q3.

Freedom Mobile also kept its spot from Q3 by offering the lowest latency at 19 milliseconds (ms).

Vidéotron emerged with the highest consistency score in the mobile sector once again. The higher the score, the better internet performance and quality.

The findings weren’t as clearcut when reporting 5G performance, as there was no “statistical winner.” However, Bell did have the highest median download speed on the network at 171.39Mbps. Telus came in second with 167.74Mbps.

The same goes for 5G availability in Canada. While there was no winner, Rogers reported 41.3 percent availability and Telus 39.9 percent.

Telus was the fastest provider in Manitoba, B.C., and Ontario. Rogers was the quickest provider in Saskatchewan. Provider information on the remaining provinces was not available.

Google devices have the fastest overall performance. The iPhone 13 Pro Max had the quickest download speeds when looking at individual devices.

Broadband

Different players entered the top ranks in the broadband aspect of the report.

Shaw offered the fastest fixed broadband services with a speed score of 197.22. Rogers, which will soon merge with Shaw, came in second with a speed score of 183.63.

Bell had the lowest latency at 5ms, and Rogers presented the highest consistency score.

New Brunswick had the fastest broadband download speeds in Canada. Rogers is the “fastest provider” in the province, along with Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario.

Shaw is the fastest in B.C, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, while Bell is listed for Nova Scotia and Quebec. Information on Prince Edward Island is unavailable.

Source: Ookla

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Mobile Syrup

Ryan Reynolds releases billboard and website calling for Mint Mobile in Canada

Ryan Reynolds wants your help to bring his U.S.-based Mint Mobile telecom company to Canada.

The Vancouver-born actor has launched a billboard in downtown Toronto (at Yonge and Edward) to promote Mint Mobile. “Why not Mint?” reads the ad, which also features Reynolds looking quizzically into a phone alongside mention of “mintmobile.ca.”

Head to that website and you’ll see a short ad with Reynolds in a cubicle taking phone calls. In the video, Reynolds notes that many Canadians have asked why Mint — which is well-known in the U.S. for offering low-cost phone plans — isn’t available in his home country. “Canadians pay some of the highest wireless costs anywhere,” acknowledges Reynolds.

“I kinda wanna say call your representative — is that too aggressive? I’m not saying call your representative, but I’m also not-not saying that.”

The Mint website also offers a link so you can “find your representative,” although it requests that you “please be nice,” if you do contact them.

This isn’t the first time Reynolds has spoken about potentially bringing Mint to Canada. In September 2020, he said he was actively “working” on making that happen. While he didn’t get into specifics, he’s no doubt been running into issues with Canada’s complicated telecom industry, which is dominated by the likes of Rogers, Bell and Telus. Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like Mint have historically been unable to operate in Canada.

While the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved a new access model in April that would require big telecom to provide MVNOs with access to their networks, the catch was that they’d need to have invested in network infrastructure and spectrum. This decision received criticism from a number of groups, as they argued that this ultimately still benefits “Big Telecom.”

It’s unclear what influence, if any, Reynolds and his fans might have on the government.

Via: @Bryson_M