Rogers and Bell are raising internet prices
Everybody's best friends at big teleco have confirmed that they're hiking home internet rates this spring – because when you provide an essential service with virtually no competition, you can do whatever the heck you want!
As previously reported, Rogers Communications will be increasing the cost of all "in-market legacy internet packages" with download speeds of more than 20Mbps by $8 a month starting Monday.
Bell Canada will raise its broadband internet prices by $5 a month in Ontario starting this April, with overage charges going from $3 to $4 extra per gigabyte, according to the Canadian Press.
Telus is not participating in the price hike this time around, though it did recently end bundle discount for customers with multiple services.
@Rogers and @Bell raising internet and data prices AGAIN after a $10.2B increase in revenue in 2016 and we’re already one of (if not) the highest paying country for these devices, yet there’s no justification for increase... classic corporate greed!
— Adam Donlan (@Donsauce) March 9, 2018
Representatives from both Bell and Rogers told CP by email that their "price adjustments" will "help fund improvements in the reach and capabilities" of their growing networks.
This has proven confusing to some experts, who acknowledge that network expansion does cost money, but aren't quite sure why prices have gone up so much and so often in recent years.
Half a billion dollars from the federal government alone has been set aside specifically for this purpose.
Meanwhile, Canadian internet service revenues climbed to a whopping $10.2 billion dollars in 2016 (the most recent data available,) according to the CRTC, marking a jump of more than 10 per cent over the previous year.
My, what poor timing you have, @Rogers.
— negasonic teenage kavvy (@kavmac) March 9, 2018
I'm glad "customers like me" are using the Internet more and more. It's absolute bullshit that you and @Bell and @TELUS find it okay to over charge for a stable internet connection, acceptable speeds and no data cap.
Do better. Fix it. pic.twitter.com/xzjkD36660
People are spending more time online than ever before, to be fair, and more use means more spending – but it's getting hard for some Canadians to keep up.
Fortunately, as many online are pointing out today, smaller, independent ISPs like Tekksavy, Beanfield and Coextro say they have no intentions of raising their prices at all.
The only problem is that these providers aren't available everywhere. Rural customers, in particular, are often stuck with few telecom provider choices – if not just one.
"The CRTC 's competitive market at work, folks," wrote Canada's Forum for Research & Policy in Communications of the news. "And why we should all fear the idea of the CRTC deciding which websites you can - or can't - visit."
