Why Telus Mobility is losing a 16 year Wireless Customer

I have been a Telus customer since they bought Clearnet in late 90’s. I have carried them from city to city, province to province, upgrading phone every couple years. Conservatively I have spent in phones and contracts around $23K in that time.

The Desperation of Hope

My Mother has bright rolling laugh, the kind that where you can hear her tears welling from the initial burst as she slows down to a happy sigh and wipes her eyes. She is laughing because The Lady that lives in her mirrors has told her something funny. It makes me happy to hear her laugh like that. It happens between hour long one sided conversations and intense prolonged bouts of anxiety that leave her crying.

Tales from Telus: The Hypothetical-Videotron

The recent spectrum auction resulted in the major players buying up piles of spectrum, along with Quebec's Videotron, which has lead analysts to speculate if the Quebec telecom giant is planning a national rollout. Given Videotron has some of the best rates in the country, this bares exploration.

The Lineup 

Phone*	Off contract Cost	On "Tab"
Iphone 5s	N/A	N/A
Iphone 5c	N/A	N/A
Galaxy S4	$649	$49.95 (promo)*
Nexus 5	$499 ($350 from Google)	$0 (promo)*
Lumia 1020	N/A	N/A
HTC One	N/A	N/A

*On contract which requires a minimum plan commitment of $69.95 recurring monthly

While Wind does not offer Iphone 5 for sale it does support them depending on the model. 

Plan in the Ass

A reminder of my current plans that would be replaced with a new device or a new provider:

VOICE/TEXT	FAVORITES* Included	Data	Price per Month(before tax &fees)
200 Local	8 favorites #’s(local & LD)	6 GB/month	$70 (promo plan only offered for 60 days)
Unlimited nationwide	n/a	1 GB/month (promo)	$55 + $20 data (promo)
200 Local	10 favorites #’s(local & LD)	1 GB/month	$55 (student promo)
		TOTAL	$205

Videotron plan:

*No connection fee found online

Non-Shared Plan across 3 devices (out of contract)

VOICE/TEXT**	FAVORITES Included	Data	Price per Month(before tax &fees)
Unlimited North America	n/a	6 GB/month	$71.95
Unlimited North America	n/a	1 GB/month	$49.95
Unlimited North America	n/a	1 GB/month	$49.95
		Data overage	n/a
		TOTAL	$171.85

**Included in all plans: unlimited North American text/picture/video messaging, Call display, Voice Mail, Conference Calling

Videotron's Plan is significantly less than my current bill but requires I buy out of my current contracts on which I owe the following:

• 2 year old Android (on contract)= $152.44/9 months left
• 1 brand new Android (on contract)= $479/22 months left
• 1 3 yr old iphone (off contract)=$0
• 1 wife-destroyed windows phone (on contract)=$294/19 months left

Upfront costs: 

Wind's AWS network does not support the old iphone nor the wp7 should we choose to fix the screen, which means at least one new device purchase (nexus 5).

• $925 contract buy out
• $350 device cost

Total: $1275 with monthly recurring fee of $45 less a month and 80% data.

This is pure speculation given they are only available in Quebec and Ottawa but the rates and services are extremely competitive.

Tales from Telus: The Competition - Wind

Wind Mobile is the real unknown in this comparison. There are some massive caveats that are unavoidable with this service, the largest being that there is literally no coverage outside of major cities. Uncertainty with the financial stability of the company combined with spotty customer service make this a more complicated choice given unlimited data plans and low prices.

The death of a form

I finally watched Heaven's Gate on blu-ray. It was a transformative and emotional experience outside of the narrative and meta-narrative of the film. There has been swaths of text and video about the rise and fall of Heaven's Gate as the once greatest bomb in film history and it's role in destroying United Artists as a studio.

This is a set not a town. 

Tales from Telus: The Competition - Fido and Koodo

Given that Rogers owns Fido and Telus owns Koodo I don't have high hopes. I do have friends happy with their services though so let's break it down.

Tales from Telus: The Competition - Rogers

I hate Rogers. When I used them as a wireless customer and as a cable customer service was uniformly terrible, but that was a long time ago.

However, they might be worth a look.