Severing the Telus umbilical cord
- Image by Darren Hester via Flickr
The first move was finally made last night. It’s been long overdue and I’m happy to be on the path. I’ve taken the first step to getting Telus hands out of my pockets – and they’ve been pretty deeply in there for a long time. Complete disclosure forces me to say that I was a Telus manager for five years and my wife has now been an employee for 11. We met while working there, so not all my associations with the recursive T are bad. However, most of my customer service associations with them are horrific. This could be a very long post, so I’ll endeavour to keep it short.
I’ve been a cash cow for them. Particularly as my sons are now 19 and 16, we have four mobile accounts, our home landline and high speed internet. That’s too many eggs in one basket anyway, but since we’ve had four accounts they’ve been able to count on me for a minimum of $220 in revenue every month. Unlike our US friends who can usually add a new number and pool voice/data in a family cellular plan for a few bucks, now that Telus doesn’t offer family plans (and never did affordably), four accounts with reasonable data/voice runs well over $150 a month. Add another $60 for landline and high speed internet and that’s just shy of $2700 a year. When you look at it that way, the costs are nothing short of obscene. They don’t blend mobility and landline billing and good bundles for being a good customer are pretty much non-existent.
Earth to Telus: you’re not a monopoly
We’ve been having a battle with them for the past few weeks. My son had to change a handset and they transferred his faves (for free texting) for him, only from what we can tell they got one of the numbers wrong and he incurred probably $30-40 in charges that we feel were not right. My wife has been on the phone with them several times trying to get them to go back a few months and determine the error. Most calls end abruptly with the reps refusing to do enough to clarify the issue. So, they can’t look enough at the big picture that they’re willing to risk a good customer over a $40 bill reversal. Brilliant. Maybe someone forgot to tell them they’re not a monopoly any more because they’re as arrogant as one. Based on this, the expensive voice/data packages and getting locked into long contracts to get decent phones, we’d already decided that as our contracts rolled we’d be looking elsewhere for wireless.
Since the feds auctioned off some wireless spectrum last year, my understanding is that Canada may finally have competition more like the US in the next 6-12 months. There are already options to go without contracts and system access fees but the voice/data is still pricey and the three carriers who offer these are simply subsidiaries of Telus, Rogers or Bell. You can’t get away from the monoliths as it stands right now. I think things will be looking very different in a year.
I don’t need no stinkin’ landline
I’d always operated under the assumption that cable was still slower than ADSL, but Shaw has been making steady improvements with their cable service while Telus hasn’t been keeping pace. Their high speed internet is generally rated as faster now, while their customer service consistently blows Telus out of the water. A little research yesterday told me I was probably with the wrong ISP. What really sealed the deal for me was when I thought about our home phone use. I can count the calls we get in a week on one hand as most of us use our cells for our voice. While Telus very much needs that wireline connection to try and sell me high speed or, gawd forbid, Telus TV, I don’t need it at all, thank you very much. Decision made.
I had committed to two years with Telus high speed just before Christmas for the privilege of getting a lower price, so I knew I’d have to swallow a cancellation fee to move to Shaw. I’d already accepted that I’d be paying more with Shaw, but for faster high speed and way better customer service, it seemed like a fair trade off. What I didn’t realize is that Shaw’s current promotional offer would more than make up for it. Two months for free, six more for $20 and then $43 a month after that when bundled with my HD digital TV service. I’ll save $200 in the first eight months with Shaw and cover my $120 cancellation fee with Telus. My home phone will be gone and so will my copper connection with Telus.
The best part
Aside from severing the umbilical cord with the Local Incumbent Carrier (telecom lingo for former monopoly), the best part of this is that my Shaw bundle for TV and ISP will run me about $122 + tax after the eight month promotional period is done. Right now, when I add up TV, landline and ISP with Telus and Shaw blended I’m paying about $140 + tax. By the end of this month I’ll be taking about $720 a year before tax out of Telus hands. Sure I’m putting it somewhere else, but I’m going to make sure I get satisfaction with my dollars. As our wireless accounts roll over the next 18 months or so, we’ll be pulling another $500 a year at a time more out of Telus hands.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Great work and vent. I’d like to know more about your cell phone research. I want to know why I can’t get data plans in Vancouver for cheap.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Hey James. I have no insider knowledge, it’s just the industry here. Because there is an oligopoly in wireless carriers, three companies are competitive but nonetheless pretty much in collusion. Compare packages and contracts with the three and you won’t see an awful lot of difference. Once you add in 911 fee and system access, cheap contracts will typically run you $40 per account if you use data. Voice only can be had more cheaply. My BBerry costs me about $50 a month plus the fees.
Koodo, Solo and Fido don’t lock contracts and wave the system access fees but voice/data are still pricey. And you’re still ultimately supporting Telus, Bell or Rogers respectively. I switched to Rogers a few years ago and it was no better than Telus.
My understanding is that more carriers are entering the market sometime in the next year and you’re going to see packages more in line with US carriers. I’ve met people with 1500-3000 anytime minutes and decent data for $30 a month, no contract. Try finding that here.
I pray for carriers.