CBC News: Cell-shocked Canadians speak out against Big Telecom

Big Telecom's increased control has contributed to Canadians feeling 'cell-shocked' by our broken telecom market. But if you had the chance to change anything about your wireless services, what would it be? Policy-makers at the CRTC are now opening up their decision-making process to Canadian input. Share your Cell Phone Horror Story at CellPhoneHorrorStory.ca and let's tell the CRTC to put public interest first. Article by Laura Payton for CBC News A consumer group worried that a bureaucratic hurdle could stop people from giving feedback about a code of conduct for cellphone companies is compiling complaints from Canadians. Open Media, a watchdog group that fights to keep internet access cheap, says it wants to make it easier for consumers to tell their stories about battles with cellphone companies. The group has launched a website, CellPhoneHorrorStory.ca, to collect complaints about what they say is a "broken cellphone market."

The CRTC, Canada's telecommunications regulator, is calling for comments as it draws up a mandatory code of conduct for the industry.

The regulator is notoriously technical, which can be overwhelming for people who want to comment. The notice for how to send comments on the wireless code of conduct, for example, is 13 pages long.

The CRTC is asking for "detailed comments, with supporting rationale, on the contents of the code, to whom the code should apply, how the code should be enforced and promoted, and how the code’s effectiveness should be assessed and reviewed," it said in the announcement of the consultation process. Read more »

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Share your Cell Phone Horror Story and show the CRTC that Canadians are stuck in an unfair and expensive wireless market »