FE ana SLYIS

Battle of the Brands:

Cell phone style

Private or corporate, which cell service is your style?

 

on

 

Sy ZA FY’
Fae une
mobile

" Mer do PEIETY WIND

By Stephanie Trembath,
Life and Style Editor

& ellular technology has become an
icon of our environment; if you
do not own a blackberry, iphone,
or HTC android than you are definitely
not “in cellular vogue”. Personally, I view
these recent changes to mobile devices
with the greatest disdain; I was content
with my little LG flip that I could use to
talk and text, but times have changed,
and my little flip phone is comparable to
denim overalls and tie-dyed t-shirts.

For the last month I have been sans
cell phone as a result of my indecisive
nature, and due to my prolonged research
of mobile network service providers
in Canada. Because I am a student and
work part time, and as I live on my own
and have no land-line, finding a service
provider that balances my budget with
the latest cellular technology is more
time consuming than I imagined. My
choice is limited to signing with a large
corporate company, “Robelus” (which
is Mobilicity’s knick-name for Rogers,
Bell, and Telus) or to go with a smaller,
independently owned company with no
contracts and unlimited talk and text.

Canada has three national wireless
providers; Bell mobility, Telus Mobility,

10

and Rogers Wireless. These three national
companies own more than three quarters
of the total revenues from mobile users,
and they also own multiple cellular
brands. Chatr and Fido are both brands
owned by Rogers; Virgin and Solo
Mobile are owned by Bell; and Koodo

is owned by Telus. In November of
2009, Bell mobility and Telus merged,

so they equally own and share their
network. These three telecommunications
companies also provide internet and
satellite services.

There are only a few well known,
private, and independently owned
advanced wireless service providers in
Canada which are Wind mobile, Public
Mobile, and Mobilicity, As the hottest
rising wireless provider; Mobilicity
signed over 94,000 subscribers last year
and hopes to continue to steal from
the 16.8 billion dollar wireless market
dominated by Robelus, which pales in
comparison to the 6,833 ,000 subscribers
that Bell Mobility signed in 2009.

Signing with a larger corporate
company has major perks as they
offer warranty on all of their mobile
products, so if you damage or lose your
blackberry smartphone, you will get a free
replacement for no charge. Mobilicity
charges $7 monthly for warranty on

TELUS

  

ROGERS

WIRELESS

all of their products. Likewise, larger
service providers offer contracts with
better packages, less fees, and better
service province wide. The downside to
this plan? You have to sign a one to three
year contract to get a nicer phone with all
the perks. Independent service providers
such as Mobilicity and Wind Mobile go
with no contracts and offer unlimited talk
and text for as little as $20 monthly. The
only catch to this awesome plan is that
these independent companies do “zoning”
which means that if your cell phone is not
in a service “zone” you will not be able to
send or receive calls or text messages.

I personally have experienced the
luxury of corporate companies such as
Telus and Bell, and signed contracts to get
the better, newer, faster merchandise, with
the added frills of caller ID and voicemail.
However, I have also been trapped in
contracts for up to three years (which
is a ridiculously long time, especially
if you decide to travel) and have had
minor complaints that were ignored and
disregarded. Because these companies
have such large revenues, losing one
small scale customer is not as important
to them as it would be for a privately
owned company; which is why Mobilicity
offers no contracts with unlimited calling,
texting, long distance, and internet for as

Bel

low as $40 monthly. The only downside I
found with Mobilicity; I had absolutely no
service in specific areas such as up at SFU
and other areas in the lower mainland, as
it was out of the tower service range.

After signing contracts, experiencing
problems with my mobile devices,
and trying out smaller independent
companies, I have come to a conclusion
that if you want to own a cell phone,
buy the merchandise and go on month to
month plans. My reasoning? If I do not
have $500 to drop on the latest iphone
is it worth being tied down to “Robelus”
for three years? Certainly not, especially
since the iphone 5 and 6 will most likely
be out by then.

While independent companies are
perfect if you have a personal land line
and only use your phone every so often,
they are not ideal for someone such
as myself who spends the majority of
her time at SFU where my phone has
absolutely no service. So, my advice;
if you cannot afford a spiffy new
smartphone without signing off the next
three years of your life to a company who
doesn’t necessary care about your best
interests, buy something you can afford
and go on monthly plans that you can opt
out of at any given moment.