Yak Communications discovered that a whopping 73% of Canadians (based on a survey of 999 Canadian home phone users) think their phone bills are too high; while 59% are frsutrated by unexpected rate increases. Almost half of Canadians don't understand why they have to pay a "system access fee" (a bone of contention in the mobile world as well), and 40% actually think this fee is mandated by the Government.
Yak's V.P. of Marketing Andrew Boone claims that many telephone companies rely on "consumer ignorance", although he admits that some of the onus should be on the consumer for not actually examining each bill with a fine-toothed comb.
A lack of choice in the mobile arena has always been a major issue, but this study claims that customers feel the same way when it comes to landline phone providers as well.
I honestly never thought to examine the home phone industry in such a light since I myself have done away with a home phone altogether, and strictly use my mobile phone (and the Internet) for communicating from home. But it appears that there are many angry home phone users out there that want more choice and, most important, more affordable billing. Hear, hear!
3 comments:
Firstly, I can't agree 100% with the sentiment that the onus is on consumers to pore over our phone bill to make sure we're not getting scammed. It's one thing to be wary of someone trying to sell you something out of the back of a van in a parking lot, but why should consumers have to watch their telco like a hawk? Telecom is already hyper-regulated by the feds, so why are we still at risk of being scammed?
Second, as a legitimate question, can someone with some knowledge explain/justify, using simple language, why long distance charges still exist? With a global network such as we have, I fail to see how "Long Distance" is anything other than a fiction kept in place because we're all used to it. Does it really cost the telcos more than local service to deliver it? I have trouble believing it.
Does anybody noticed what ROGERS is doing with their internet access?
Charging $2 to $5 per GB over their new announced limits?
Do we have any choice? I don't think so.
It is not enough that they increase all other services every few months by just a few dollars.
I hope that some
politicians read this and comment about what is happening.
To answer your question regarding long distance charges - long distance calls usually go through several providers from the time the call is placed to its arrival at the recepient.
Most inter-carrier traffic is subject to tariffs. These charges are then passed on to the customer.
When local calls are placed they usually stay within the same carrier network and thus are not subject to any additional charges or tariffs.
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