AlternateRoute ( @AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca ) English15•1 month agoThat looks like a cell tower list not a list of alternatives.
Mobile network operators (MNOs)
Nearly everything is owned by Bell, Telus, Rogers and if you travel roam they end up being your national roaming option with most of the other options.
An orange is not an orange according to your comment.
What do you mean it’s not a list of alternatives when it shows towers owned by different operators pinned on the map. Vidéotron has a lot of towers and so does Sasktel.
Yes, when you travel outside your area the other operators do pay fees to the big three but it is still less overall than what you would pay directly as the other telecoms have more bargaining power thus bringing down the costs for everyone.
Ralimba ( @Ralimba@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 11•1 month agoAlso the flanker brands owned by the big 3 are:
Rogers: Fido, Chatr.
Telus: Koodo Mobile, Public Mobile.
Bell: Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile.
MisterD ( @MisterD@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 month agoWho owns Fizz?
Samus Crankpork ( @Crankpork@beehaw.org ) 10•1 month agoVideotron, who own Freedom/Wind now.
bionicjoey ( @bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ) 6•1 month agoFreedom user here, my service got a lot better when Videotron took over Freedom from Shaw. Not saying Shaw did a bad job, but Freedom has always had a reputation among some for poor service coverage (which I’ve personally rarely seen anyway) and after the switch, it became even better.
Ralimba ( @Ralimba@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 4•1 month agoVidéotron.
That’s a funny typo
MisterD ( @MisterD@lemmy.ca ) 4•1 month agoOh shit! You are right. Changed the J to a F
GreyEyedGhost ( @GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca ) 2•1 month agoAutocorrect ratting you out.
The big 3 have too much market share at 86%!
Ralimba ( @Ralimba@lemmy.blahaj.zone ) 8•1 month agoWe should all switch over to an alternative to have more innovation and to lower prices in the long run.
Auli ( @Auli@lemmy.ca ) English1•1 month agoWould be nice but Freedom coverage sucked asss the last time I used it maybe teo years ago. Haven’t heard of any major improvements so no thanks.
Freedom mobile has much more tower coverage now and when you’re outside of their area they switch you to rogers or bell. So you not losing anything by switching to them. Also they’re building out the new towers quickly nowadays. You can try out Freedom or Fizz. They got good plans.
Nik282000 ( @nik282000@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 month agoBoy, so as long as I never leave the GTA I’ll be set.
Freedom Mobile works outside of cities too, you will just have to be on a partner network is all.
yeehaw ( @cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca ) 4•1 month agoBeen with them since they were wind mobile. I use my service all over Canada and in the USA. I have little to complain about and I don’t pay much.
bionicjoey ( @bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ) 4•1 month agoSame here. They’ve been great. And they never shaft me with hidden fees. I pay the exact same thing every month while my dad needs to call Rogers a couple times a year, threaten to switch to Bell, and spend literally an entire day on the phone just to keep his prices from going up.
Wow you have been with them since the rough days haha!
yeehaw ( @cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca ) 3•1 month agoYeah, a while haha. They were separate from the big 3 and after one of them pissed me off I was done with the monopoly 🤣. They’ve only gotten better and better. Right now they even have the 35/mo plan with north America coverage.
ILikeBoobies ( @ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca ) 2•1 month agoWhich means you aren’t avoiding the big 3
PuddingFeeling ( @PuddingFeeling907@lemmy.ca ) 3•1 month agoThough they’re negotiating with the big 3 with bargaining power to lower service use fees and will use the profits to build their own towers which will eventually have the same level of coverage all across Canada and consumers will have lower fees. You have to look at the long term here.
Let’s foster some competition folks!
Also when you click on the “All Others” on the drop down menu it shows the alternatives brands that have their own towers.
folkrav ( @folkrav@lemmy.ca ) 3•1 month agoFizz often have promos where you accumulate rewards such as monthly rebates after certain milestones. It’s currently costing me $28/mo (+tx) for 20GB after some small rebate. And they do data carry over for a couple of months, so I basically always have 40+GB in bank. I tend to buy my phones upfront when I get a good deal, and keep them until they stop doing the job, or when I don’t or want to change it for whatever reason, I resell/hand down/donate them. Phone plans just keep getting cheaper for me, which is a nice change of pace from most expenses in my life these days… But you have to stop the loop of financing with the Big 3 and getting two year plans, and either financing yourself or ideally saving and paying cash, or some mix of both…
Boycott the big 3 by switching to the smaller telecom companies: Sasktel, Freedom, Fizz, Videotron, CityWest, Eastlink, Ecotel, Execulink, Ice, Nexicom, Sogetel, TBayTel