Concerned Canadian reveals Bell’s anti-competitive practices

OpenMedia.ca joins with Manitoba resident Ben Klass to call on the CRTC to stop Big Telecom from making independent services more expensive for Canadians

Explaining why he’s asking the CRTC to take action, Ben Klass said: "Every week there’s a story in the news about how Bell is abusing its customers. It’s like they deliberately pick on the little guy, whether they’re trying to monitor your browsing habits or conducting illegal credit checks on TV subscribers. So when I heard that Bell is giving itself an unfair advantage over independent services on the Internet, I had to do something about it. I don't see why they can't play fair. Bell is stifling competing mobile services by unfairly marking them up - in some cases by at least 800%."

“Canadians deserve affordable access to all Internet services equally, without big telecom gatekeepers controlling our online activity in order to boost their own profits,” says OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson. “Canadians already pay some of the highest prices in the industrialized world for Internet service and this feels like adding insult to injury. Bell is stifling competing mobile services by overcharging for our use of the net as a way to unfairly push customers to use Bell content and services.”

Anderson continued: “Canadians have already fought for and won open Internet rules to prevent Big Telecom from restricting our access to online services. We even flew in some of the original architects of the Internet to the CRTC hearing where those rules were made. As long as a few telecom giants control over 90% of the market, Canadians will continue to be mistreated. It’s past time that the CRTC rein in these big telecom gatekeepers once and for all.”

Canadians can tell the CRTC that it’s time to put a stop to Bell’s unfair price-gouging at: https://OpenMedia.ca/saveournet

Canadians can tell Industry Minister Moore to rein in Big Telecom at: https://openmedia.ca/gatekeepers

About OpenMedia.ca

OpenMedia.ca is a network of people and organizations working to safeguard the possibilities of the open Internet. We work toward informed and participatory digital policy.

Through campaigns such as StopTheMeter.ca and StopSpying.ca, OpenMedia.ca has engaged over half-a-million Canadians, and has influenced public policy and federal law.

About the Demand Choice campaign

The Demand Choice campaign was launched to pressure decision-makers to take action for greater choice and lower prices in Canada’s cell phone market. Early in 2012 OpenMedia.ca launched a campaign decrying the price-gouging poor customer service and lack of choice in the cell phone market at StopTheSqueeze.ca.

OpenMedia.ca then highlighted Canadians’ Cell Phone Horror Stories in a crowdsourced submission to the CRTC, and released a citizen-driven report entitled ‘Time for an Upgrade’ detailing their findings and recommendations.

This citizen pressure resulted in a broadly positive new set of customer-friendly rules for wireless companies – national rules that reign in punitive three-year contracts, make it easier to switch to a new affordable provider, and impose caps on data roaming fees.

The Big Three cell phone providers recently unleashed an expensive PR campaign to mislead cell phone users. Canadians took to the Internet to ridicule and debunk the Big Three’s claims in a wide variety of ways - speaking out on reddit and on Facebook, and even creating parody websites, parody videos on YouTube and parody accounts on Twitter. We’ve also seen citizen-produced op-eds appear in newspapers across the country, taking the Big Three to task for their years of terrible customer service.

Over 60,000 Canadians have now participated in the Demand Choice campaign, with more standing up for wireless choice and affordability every day.

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Contact

David Christopher
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
1-778-232-1858
[email protected]

More Information

• See the infographic showing how half-a-million Canadians spoke out against telecom price-gouging: https://openmedia.ca/sites/openmedia.ca/files/Tariffs_Timeline_111212_0.png
• OpenMedia fought for and won Open Internet rules that should prevent Big Telecom discriminating against competing services. We even flew in some of the original architects of the Internet to the CRTC hearing.
• CRTC report shows Internet openness complaints went up in 2012 - see this media advisory.
• OpenMedia.ca’s crowdsourced Casting an Open Net Plan calls for net neutrality audits and penalties for companies in breach of net neutrality.
• CRTC will rescind ‘unlimited use’ Internet decision – or Ottawa will overturn it. Source: The Globe and Mail
• OpenMedia.ca: Regulators pull back from usage-based billing after half-a-million Canadians speak out
• "If using the Rogers 3G or LTE network, for only $5/month, customers can enjoy 10 hours of viewing on their device" (This means non-Rogers content is unfairly more expensive than Rogers-owned content.) Source: Google Play