Category Archives: Canada

Big Telecom V.S. Canada — Who Will Win?

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Usually we like to write our own posts on this subject, but the following is a masterpiece.

Big Telecom V.S. Canada — Who Will Win?

From the Huffingtonpost.ca
David ChristopherDavid Christopher Communications Coordinator for Openmedia.ca

BigThreeBig Telecom is at it again – Telus is now actually threatening the government with legal action if they follow through on their commitment to stop the Big Three cell phone giants from taking over public spectrum assets that were set aside for new affordable telecom options for Canadians.

Telus reps are throwing a tantrum because they are afraid of losing the regulatory protections they’ve received in the past. We’ll see if the government gives in, but if they do it will be a complete about-face — the Conservative website currently boasts “We will not allow the big telecommunications companies to shut down competition by buying up undue amounts of wireless spectrum.”

Let’s not forget that this latest affront from Big Telecom on Canadians comes after we’ve just seen Telus and Bell introduce new two-year contracts with substantially higher monthly rates than before. It now looks like Rogers are following suit and increasing their monthly rates too.

These price-gouging hikes come despite the fact that Big Telecom is making huge profits off the backs of Canadians who already pay some of the highest prices in the industrialized world — as confirmed by a recent 320-page independent report — for some of the worst service.

The price hikes are further evidence that Big Telecom have embarked on a systematic campaign to undermine our widely welcomed new cell phone rules — rules that were shaped by thousands of Canadians who took part in CRTC consultations. Big Telecom’s multi-pronged campaign against Canadians includes:

  • Going to federal court to undermine and delay new cell phone contract rules.
  • Increasing their already sky-high monthly cellphone rates and using the new CRTC rules as an excuse.
  • Unleashing an expensive and misleading PR campaign, including full-page ads in newspapers across the country.

Why these higher monthly rates? Big Telecom’s flimsy excuse is that this huge jump in monthly fees is because of our long overdue move to two-year contracts. What do the experts have to say about Big Telecom’s claims? Here’s what you need to know:

    • Telecom expert Professor Michael Geist examines Big Telecom’s argument in detail in this well-researched piece on his blog. Professor Geist concludes that “Without new competitors, the incumbent carriers will use this opportunity to increase monthly costs.” In other words, our higher monthly fees are the product not of shorter contracts, but of lack of independent choice in the marketplace — over 93% of the market is currently dominated by just three large, unaccountable conglomerates.
    • Professor Geist also highlights that many other countries have 2-year contracts with cheaper rates than here in Canada. Spain for example has a highly competitive wireless market with much lower prices than here in Canada. Fancy a new iPhone 5 on a 2-year contract for under $35 a month, including 1GB of data? You’ll have to move to Spain for that. That same deal from Telus will cost you $85 a month under their new pricing structure.
    • Expert analyst Peter Nowak points out that even Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) users will see their fees increase under Telus’ new fee structure — despite the fact that BYOD customers aren’t tied to a two or three year contract term. Big Telecom clearly doesn’t need any excuse to price-gouge Canadians — that’s why Canadian carriers make more money off of cell phone users than almost anywhere else in the industrialized world (fourth highest in the entire 34-country OECD).

Big Telecom also likes to use the excuse that our sky-high prices are the result of Canada’s large size. Our own Catherine Hart thoroughly debunks that argument, crunching the numbers to show that most Canadians live in a handful of cities – that’s why, according to Big Telecom’s own lobby group, Canada has just a quarter the number of wireless towers that the U.K. has – despite our being 40 times the size of the U.K.

Our high cell phone prices are acting as a real dead weight on our economy, stifling innovation and hampering job creation. Canada cannot afford to keep falling further and further behind our counterparts in the rest of the industrialized world.

It looks like it’s Big Telecom against price-gouged Canadians, innovators, entrepreneurs and business, legal experts; and the list goes on. It’s Big Telecom against Canada – and I for one am betting on Canada to win like we have in the past.

The way ahead is clear – we need bold action to lower prices by opening up our networks to all Canadians and new service providers. This idea has worked successfully in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Canadians have laid out a clear road map forward – send this road map to your M.P. and demand action – tell your M.P. that Canadians have put up with Big Telecom’s price-gouging and disrespectful customer service for long enough.

P.S. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to tell Canada’s new Industry Minister James Moore you expect him to rein in Big Telecom at: DemandChoice.ca

For the full article, go here…

Loyalty isn’t a “Program”

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Bell Card

As you would imagine, the folks who work at Worldline use Worldline as their Home Phone and Unlimited High Speed Internet provider – meaning they were once with someone else.

Like Bell for instance. Our employees bring in these “loyalty” cards all the time for us to giggle over, but for our business, it’s not a joke.

Once someone leaves a company like Bell, that company works very, very hard at getting that person back by being all touchy-feely with a series of personalized cards offering them super discounts to come back.

You know, because they care and stuff.

The problem with this is, if they were this awesome while they were providing their service, chances are no one would ever leave them in the first place.

Regardless, these semi-shameless marketing efforts are effective, but not nearly as effective as what they do when someone calls in to cancel on them.

When we sign up customers to a Worldline service, we know a certain percentage will in fact not become our customers because of what happens when they are on the phone with the likes of Bell, Telus or Rogers to cancel.

In the parlance of the telecom industry, this is called “breakage.”

The big three are great at it. We’ve heard customers tell us tales of being wooed with promises of discounts (that only last a few months) or price matching us (again, for only a few months) or if they are truly desperate, actually going lower than us (which will last even fewer months). Then if that doesn’t work – then comes out the major artillery; they switch them over to a “supervisor.”

These are the folks who are specialists at making the switch as painful as possible. They’re so good they even make switching from their overpriced, bandwidth-capped service seem somehow illogical.

And, unfortunately for us, on occasion these tactics work. We lose customers who were looking forward to saving up to $600/yr on their bills simply because they were talked out of it.

Now Rogers is going one step further. They’re trying to entice their existing customer base   into staying by signing them up to their new “loyalty” program. Starting this summer, “points” can be earned for Rogers services, and applied to other services like discounts on roaming charges, or a free PPV movie, stuff like that.

Worldline BundleIt adds up to a few pennies a month in benefits, weighed against the hundreds a year they are overcharging their customers.

It’s a great deal – for them.

And it’s also a preemptive strike to keep customers from thinking about going elsewhere, because now when someone calls into switch Rogers can say, “But what about all your points?”

Tricky eh?

So, how will Worldline fight against this? Same way we always have – by providing the fairest priced, Unlimited High Speed Internet and Home Phone in Canada – and trusting our customers to understand that we are taking on the big telecom companies on their behalf.

Joyce Maynard once wrote, “a person who deserves my loyalty receives it.”

The same applies to companies who provide a service.

Canadians have no idea they have Telco options: “I had no idea I could switch!”

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BigThreeWe hear it all the time.

The Big Three have done such an awesome job at dominating the Canadian Telecommunications marketplace with their carpet bombing of cross-platform promotion and advertising that most Canadian believe they have little or, in most cases, no choice but to bite the bullet and sign up for with one of these overpriced behemoths.

On Canada Day we helped promote the fireworks display at Riverside Park in Cambridge, (our home town), with a massive TV truck, (literally a truck with a MASSIVE TV on the back), that also ran a Worldline promo.

A woman who was attending the show with her family saw the promo and called and signed up immediately telling the sales agent, “I had no idea I could switch!”, and that she’s been “dying to dump Rogers for ages” but didn’t know she had options.

Worldline BundleTo be honest, it drives us a little nuts. Here’s this nice lady in a park that is about 2 kms from Worldline’s head-office and she didn’t even know we exist!

It just shows you how daunting the task is that we face in this uneven market. In our own home town the Big Three have such a presence that they can essentially drown out a company like Worldline that has over 300,000 customers.

That said, we’re up to the task because we know Canadians who no longer can tolerate being overcharged for their High Speed Internet or Home Phone will find us, or we’ll find them.

We kind of feel it’s our duty.

It’s Official: Canada is No. 1 (Like we had to be told)

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Maple_Leaf_(from_roundel)

OTTAWA — Canada is No. 1

That’s our reputation around the world, anyway, as a Reputation Institute global survey puts Canada in first place for the third year in the row.

“Canada’s results confirm that it is only possible to maintain a strong reputation in the long term when a country has the ability to transmit its leadership globally in each of the three key areas: an effective government, an advanced economy and an appealing environment,” said Fernando Prado, managing partner at the institute.

Sweden came in second, followed by Switzerland and Australia. The US weighed in at number 22, up from 23 last year.

“A country’s reputation is its calling card,” Canadian Tourism Commission president Michele McKenzie said.

But Reputation Institute director Rob Jekielek says that the responses of the 27,000 people who took the survey are “very emotional” and based on what people think they know about the different countries and not what they know.

Canada ranked high for its natural environment but low for the lack of well-known brands originating here.

Whatever.

It’s great that the rest of the world has finally caught up with us in knowing we live in the greatest country on earth!*

From all of us here at Worldline, Happy Canada Day Everybody!

*Not that we would ever say that of course.

 

It’s a “rare” thing – Worldline pitches in for Cambridge’s nature reserve

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The “rare” pair of Ospreys on the shores of the Brand River

Worldline’s head office is in Cambridge Ontario, part of the “Tech Triangle” that also includes Kitchener and Waterloo. Located petty much right in the middle of Southern Ontario, Cambridge is divided in two by the Grand River, and on the western shore through a large portion of the city is the rare Charitable Research Reserve, a Central Park-sized parcel of privately held land dedicated to environmental and ecological education.

Founded in 2001, the rare Charitable Research Reserve is a 900+acre land reserve situated at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers.  The Reserve is not only a beautiful and culturally significant landscape, but includes trees more than 240 years old and provides an array of habitats that supports rich biodiversity. This pristine landscape is home to an incredible array of flora and fauna, some of which are ranked significant regionally, provincially, nationally, even globally.

rare stewards this magnificent natural jewel striving to preserve the land for future generations by focusing on conservation, ecological restoration, research and education while also providing wonderful passive recreation opportunities to the surrounding community.

This private charity has opened up the property to the public for hiking and education sessions, and they’ve also donated tracks for public vegetable garden plots.

Amanda at rare

Amanda with a wheelbarrow full of yuck

All that said, the land rare has, wasn’t always a nature reserve. Rather, it was working industrial and farmland, and the previous owners, seeing as it’s been occupied for over a century, weren’t all that environmental. In places it’s a mess and there is an ongoing program underway to not just clean up what’s there, but to return it to what it was – a pristine environment, completely reflective of naturally occurring Southern Ontario flora and fauna.

And that means cleaning out a bunch of invasive species and clearing up a lot of crap.

Worldine takes their role in the Cambridge community very seriously, and that’s why, working with the United Way, we committed ourselves to helping rare get to where it wants to be.

Worldline at rare

The next time you are in Cambridge, make sure you check out rare and all it has to offer,  beauty, education and appreciation of what a fabulous place we all live and work. And while you’re there, also check out what’s not there – four truckloads of some seriously nasty stuff.

Well done guys.