Now, NY has 19, Mass 6.5, Penn 12… just these 3 states come up to nearly double, with less territory to cover.

I’m not saying we’re paying alot… but would never expect to see the same rates that american carriers, or european carries. Keep in mind as well that americans have 4 national carriers, we have 3 (wind is still regional). Not a significant diffence that likely doesn’t affect the competitive picture.

Will prices go down? They already have to an extent. Are they going to go down more? Maybe for the “bargain talk and text” carriers will see more of a fall as “basic services” are where the gap is the biggest. But premium services (like data) likely won’t fall by as much as people expect… they’re already closer to US rates.2

It’s not like we’re all living in igloos in the middle of nowhere.

This is the same argument we were told decades ago when our telcos were trying to justify our long distance rates. I remember reading a steady stream of stories year after year, about new and more powerful computers making everything more efficient and less costly, yet, prices kept going up every year.

The moment the industry was deregulated the cost of long distance calls went straight through the floor. The telcos trimmed the fat (i.e., thousands of make work jobs were gone) but survived.

The fact is that the large majority of our population is within 200 miles from the US border and the density is about the same. Our telcos don’t spend a penny in Nowhereville, Yukon. Heck, Rogers doesn’t spend a penny in 90% of Newfoundland!

Your argument reminds me of Canadian automobile manufacturers who have been using the same old canard for years. Yet, we’ve all seen on consumer shows those Canadians who buy Ontario made cars in the state of New York, bring them back legally to Canada and after all is said and done with currency exchange, taxes, etc., they save $20,000 on high-end cars.

I live in New Brunswick where we have the largest gas refinery in the country. The Irving gas you buy at the pump across the street from the refinery costs more than the very same gas after it has been trucked all the way down to the south of Maine! This has been confirmed by CBC on several occasions, again after all taxes and currency exchange are considered. Does the word “ripoff” come to mind? Speaking of which, it was revealed last week that natural gas that comes from Nova Scotia costs twice as much in New Brunswick than the same gas AFTER it’s been carried all the way to Ontario! And I remember that years ago when Volvos were assembled in NS they cost more across the street from the plant, than the same cars AFTER they had been shipped to Montreal. I guess the further they shipped them, the cheaper they cost. They must have been free by the time they reached Vancouver!

I could go on with examples like this all day. Canadian companies get away with charging a fortune for mediocre service because: we don’t have enough competition; we don’t have enough consumer protection laws and most Canadians are just suckers. We put up with $99 airline tickets that cost $477 and made up fees designed to hide the real cost of services such as SAF, 911 fee, etc. End of story.

This reminds me of this CEO’s statement years ago:

“Sure we can have a monopoly without being greedy. But what would be the point?”

Disclosure: I have personally been involved in class action suits against cellcos including this one:

http://www.merchantlaw.com/cellular.html