Canada wireless monopoly equals insane mobile data rates

I called Fido today to ask about data plans. The standard rate is 5 cents / KB = $51.20 / MB. To give you an idea, at mobile speeds (about twice the speed of a modem) you can download about 50 MB / hour. So downloading at full speed costs $2,560 / hour - plus tax. The best plan you can buy lets you pre-pay $100 / month for 200MB, and then $5 / MB thereafter -- still about $250 / hour.

Fido used to have an unlimited data plan available. This was canceled shortly after Rogers purchased them. How much money did Rogers have to pay to bribe the competition bureau to approve that sale?

It seems like more and more people have been blogging and writing about this. Even the mainstream media is starting to wake up:

Call your MP today and ask them why the big three (Bell, Telus, Rogers) are continued to be allowed this monopoly.

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