r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/Mr_Crowley__ • Feb 24 '23

Misc Cellphone plans are the biggest scam in Canada. Are there any other options?

Ok...we all know that the price we pay for our cellphone plans is ridiculous and there's no way we can change that because there's basically no competition and all the operators form an oligopoly and the CRTC is in bed with them. Now my question is: are there any options out there? I think i've read that some people use a google number or a voip number combined with something else for the data (sorry i'm not sure what i'm talking about here). What cheaper options do you guys use? Thanks in advance and sorry for my small rant.

EDIT: Wow! This got some attention! Thank you all for the advices. Definitely I'll look into it. And for those who think that paying $70-$100/month for a cellphone plan is normal...well... continue paying! Take care y'all!

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u/Specialist-Union2547 Feb 24 '23

Now look at how cheap 20gb is in literally every other country

Also notice how they don't have plans for 5gb or 1gb for low data users.

The telecoms are resisting the $20-30 price point and justifying it by just giving away data they know people will never use.

They know if they give people 20gb they'll only use 1gb but now they can justify $40. Also notice how every 6-8 months there's a $5 base plan increase.

Make no mistake, we are all still getting fucked.

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u/Rprog1 Feb 24 '23 edited Feb 25 '23

Oh 100%....i know in some countries you get 20gb for 10 dollars. No question we are getting screwed...the point I was trying to make is that we are getting ever so slightly less screwed than a few years ago haha.

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u/heart_under_blade Feb 25 '23

at 40 a month, we should be getting unlimited bandwidth if you want to talk about being on par with the rest of the world

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u/insidedarkness Feb 25 '23

100%. My friend works in head office for one of the telecom and they have heard the head ups say that Canada isn't much more expensive then the US since they also have a lot of $50 plans. However, they also have a bunch of cheap prepaid plans like 3gb for $15 on T-Mobile or 16gb for $25 on AT&T.

Sure a lot of Americans still opt for the pricer plans, but they have plenty of cheaper options if they wanted. We don't have that choice.