The Truth: What Canadians pay for wireless service with Rogers, Bell and Telus

March 16, 2010

Who really provides the best deal in Canada? When it comes to wireless the debate, in public at least, has been going on for years. Rogers recently called themselves the MOST reliable network. Telus filed a complaint. Now Rogers is just reliable. Did anything really change? Probably not. You still get the same service and the same rates, right?

However, consumers have always wanted to know where can they get the biggest bang for their buck.

With a little help from some friends, Techvibes has been able to source out how much the average customer pays on Rogers, Bell and Telus.

Tired of being misled through their advertising? Want the truth? Let’s get down to the real numbers….

Rogers:

The average Rogers Wireless customer spent $63.23 a month on wireless services in the fourth quarter of 2009. The average post-paid customer spent $73.42 a month versus just $16.39 per month for pre-paid customers. During the same period, the company had 8,494,000 wireless customers which consisted of 1,515,000 pre-paid customers and 6,979,000 post paid customers.

Bell:

The average Bell Mobility customer spent $51.08 a month on wireless services in the fourth quarter of 2009. During the same period, the company had 6,833,000 wireless customers which consisted of 1,792,000 pre-paid customers and 5,041,000 post paid customers. The average post-paid customer spent $62.47 a month versus just $18.45 per month for pre-paid customers.

Telus:

The latest numbers Techvibes was able to obtain were from the first quarter of 2009.

The average customer paid $62.73. This resulted in an average decrease in what a Telus cellphone customer spent in 2008 from 2007 of 83¢. That’s a -1.3% “growth” in all of 2008 in the amount of money Telus was able to extract from its wireless customers. The reason? KOODO (their discount carrier) apparently took a lot of Telus business.

Telus Wireless had 6,129,000 customers. 4,922,000 post-paid while 1,270,000 pre-paid. The average Telus Wireless customer used 411 minutes per month and spent 15¢ per minute.