Phone Switcher Should Call Old Providers: Bell Canada

Bell Canada and their regional subsidiary Bell Aliant have made an application to the CRTC that if accepted would force anybody switching to another provider of telephone service to call their soon to be former telephone provider in order authorize the porting of their phone numbers to the new provider.

How it works now, when somebody wants to switch to a new telephone service provider they just call the new provider, give them the account number from the telephone company they current subscribe to, the address including the postal code on the account with the existing provider and the new provider arranges for the phone number to be ported.

Bell Canada's proposal would allow incumbent telco's to bombard any potential switchers with sales pitches to stay no matter how poor the service may be. Bell Canada claims that this would "level the playing ground in the competive marketplace" Which is a lot of baloney, since when deciding to shop at a different store or eat a different restraunt you don't have to the old store or restraunt that you are going to a different store or restaunt. The rules that govern how people switch telephone providers is the way it needs to be.

With first hand experience switching to a new phone provider, I know that having to call my former telephone provider (SaskTel) just to have them make their sales pitch would have been an ordeal because their very poor customer service, and restricted telephone account, I was fed up with them and wanted a different provider to switch to as soon as I could.

Incumbent telcos need to lower prices for local telephone service while improving customer service to keep customers, not the preferencial treatment from regulatory agencies.

WiMax, The Lost Potential

October 8th will be the official launch of the first WiMax service to be offered to American consumers. Subscribers in Baltimore will be the first to receive broadband using WiMax technology. While that's a good thing to see an alternative to the cable and DSL services already in place, the new entrant into market in Baltimore from the same old club of telecom companies. Sprint is the first out of the block to provide WiMax.

WiMax was seen as a techology that would allow new companies to break the cable telco broadband duopoly instead of breaking the duopoly it will only extend it to rural and remote areas that the cable and telcos couldn't justify the cost of wiring for broadband.

There would be more than enough spectrum available to allow more than one provider of WiMax service but how likely would it be that startup ISP would spend the money on WiMax knowing that their competition is both DSL and WiMax service from the big telcos and the cable modem and WiMax service from the cable companies.

In short this probably will relegate WiMax as a supplemental service for the cable and telcos, and not as a competitive technology. The greatest potential for any technology has just been lost.