I am well aware that this isn’t something that is set in stone and has yet to be confirmed but there has been a lot of news going around about Verizon coming to Canada and how the big 3 monsters Rogers, Telus and Bell aren’t going to go down without a fight when it comes to them trying to enter the market. The government has decided to support increase competition by not blocking Verizon from entering the Canadian market and I am all for it. Recently Rogers, Telus and Bell have been pushing their message through radio, big spreads in major Canadian newspapers and magazines all to make Canadian consumers believe that Verizon’s entrance into the Canadian market will be bad, bad, bad. But I truly believe that it’s a good thing and as students we could all benefit from saving some extra money on our cell phone plans.

What Does This All Mean for Students

As students and of course people that are constantly on our phones we tend to really make use of our plans and the capabilities of our phones extensively. Right now Canada is dominated by 3 big players with a few smaller companies including Public mobile, Wind and Mobilicty that mostly cater to larger cities like Toronto. Most of us living in campuses outside of the GTA are stuck with Rogers, Bell or Telus and their “cheaper versions” like Fido, Koodo and Solo mobile. Well these offer relatively less expensive alternatives most people I know are with Rogers, Bell or Telus and getting charged quite a bit. The possibility of Verizon coming to Canada makes those big guys shake because simply put they haven’t had any competition for some time. Lack of competition has meant we pay quite a bit for our monthly plans and if you plan to switch from Bell to Rogers for example you may not end up saving much more money.

Lack of competition has kept prices up and especially cash strapped people like ourselves are unfortunately paying way too much for the services that these big companies offer. Ideally, cutting out all of the complicated business speak, for Verizon to enter the market and to compete they need to come in with better pricing which in the end may just drive pricing down for cell phone plans. If Verizon does enter the market, increased competition will put pressure on Rogers, Bell and Telus to stay competitive price-wise which may lead to cheap prices for us students and every other cell user.

Prices Rising Because of New 2-Year Plan Maximum

Recently you may have heard that cellphone providers are now not allowed to have 3 year plan offers and these plans can now only go for a maximum of 2 years. This may have had people jumping up and down originally but this has lead to increased costs for your phones when you start a new plan and also increased the monthly rate for plans. As thrifty as I am, I’ve had a plan with Fido for $28 dollars a month including taxes for a basic voice plan with unlimited texting and some long distance minutes. That plan no longer exists because of this new shift to 2 year plans, yet my plan was a 2 year plan, see whats wrong here? Lower priced plans are being phased out, even at Fido which is Rogers “cheaper alternative”. Prices are slowly creeping up especially because of these new pressures put on our cell phone providers. You can check out something put together by Mobile Syrup a few weeks back that was discussing the new 2-year plan maximum for cell phone plans and the pricing across the board from the big 3. What’s really scary is how similar the pricing is for all 3 with very little competition when it comes to pricing.

Final Thoughts

Make sure to read about this issue and come up with your own opinions as well, but I am all for Verizon entering the market and making my cell phone bill that much more inexpensive. Prices seem to be rising because of the 2-year maximum put forth by the CRTC and these prices are eerily similar across the board at all the major providers. Cell phone plans are something people shouldn’t be paying $100/month for (this may be shocking, but I know people that do) but instead something much more affordable. I unfortunately need to renew/renegotiate my current cell phone contract within the coming weeks and I’m not looking forward to it one bit, I know it’s going to be difficult to negotiate once again simply because everyone else out there has similar plans at similar prices. I hope that there is more competition in Canada due to Verizon entering the market and from what I’ve seen I’m not alone in wanting more competition either. I want to note that I am all for Canadian business and them thriving, but I think competition overall whether it be from another Canadian company or an American one can make our businesses stronger in the end.

Do you want Verizon to enter the Canadian market? Are you up for more competition and better pricing for you as a student and cell phone customer?