Thinking of Cell Phones

My cell phone contract is up very soon and I’ve been looking around to see if I can get a better deal. Now, it’s relatively expensive to have a cell phone when I could be splitting a land line with my roommates, but the purchase certainly made sense at the time. It was actually cheaper to have a cell than my Bell line when I was living by myself, and the added convenience of a cell phone was a big plus.

I was lucky to sign my contract when I did. Well, not so much luck … I did a lot of research and knew the plans would be changing shortly. I got in before Rogers did away with airtime credits, so I use mine to basically get 100 minutes of free long distance per month. That was also back in the day when nights started at 6 pm instead of the ridiculous 7 or 8 pm which is now common. I also get the 20% ‘friends & family’ discount because of someone Rob knows. So really, I don’t have much I can improve on because cell phone plans are so shitty nowadays so it’s not advantagious to switch from what I have.

But I learned a thing or two about the telecom industry on my work terms, and I do have a bit of leverage: the dreaded churn! It probably took Rogers about 18 months before they started making money off of me … that’s why they want you on long-term contracts and have those crazy cancellation fees. I can probably get a decent deal on a newer phone or some other services by signing a new contract just by threatening to cancel. Not that I’ve really had any issues with my service, but it’s fun to hate Rogers along with everyone else.

Anyway, all this came to mind because I had jotted down a link to this article on CNN last month. Here’s a quote I particularly liked:

Sprint PCS ads even acknowledge consumer’s frustration. A four-page ad in USA Today asked, “What if the rest of the world were like the wireless industry?”

It showed a group of children outside a fenced playground, reading the rules, which included, “You have to guess how many minutes you’re going to use your ball — for the next two years. Don’t guess too high or too low, or you’ll be sorry.”

The final rule: “If you don’t like the rules, try another playground. It’ll be exactly the same.”