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    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">My son is working in BC right now, and
      there is no roaming charges involved ( within his contract)...so
      far!<br>
      <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Louis Houle
Président
La Société Internet du Québec (ISOC Québec)
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Louis.Houle@isocquebec.org">Louis.Houle@isocquebec.org</a></pre>
      Le 2013-07-30 16:13, CW Mail a écrit :<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
      cite="mid:29D25CAC-7C99-41F1-B655-7E2868863B28@christopherwilkinson.eu"
      type="cite">
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      > Canada has some of the highest mobile costs in the world ...
      <div><br>
        <div>I think that is primarily an issue for the Canadian
          regulatory authorities (who should have sorted that out long
          ago.)</div>
        <div>(At least you do not have roaming charges between Montreal
          and Vancouver - or do you?)<br>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>CW</div>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          <div>
            <div>
              <div>On 30 Jul 2013, at 21:29, Evan Leibovitch <<a
                  moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:evan@telly.org">evan@telly.org</a>>
                wrote:</div>
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                <div dir="ltr">Hello everyone,
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>I come here asking for advice.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>As you may know, the Canada Chapter is one of the
                    newest, and we are still surveying our membership
                    and finding who is interested in what issues.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>Recently, some local events have happened that
                    caught my attention:</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>Canada has some of the highest mobile costs in
                    the world, and the field is essentially controlled
                    by a three-company oligopoly of Canadian-owned forms
                    (Bell, Rogers, Telus) which have identical plans.
                    When one changes its plans, up or down, the other
                    two follow suit. The only competition between them
                    appears to be in the selection of phones they each
                    support.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>A few years ago some upstart newcomers came on
                    the scene, trying to inject some competition. Based
                    on aggressive (and some would say predatory) focused
                    attacks by the Big Three, they have foundered,
                    losing money, and been for sale.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>The recent news is that US giant Verisign (45%
                    owned by Vodaphone) is making noises about buying
                    the upstarts and bidding on spectrum.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>At one level this is a very high-visibility
                    issue. The Big Three have been relentless in the
                    media telling us that Armageddon will happen should
                    Verizon be let into Canada, Nobody seems to be
                    speaking up in favour of greater competition.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>(Now, I have no great faith that Verizon has the
                    interests of Canadians in mind in its expansion, and
                    it has vcertainly engaged in its share of bully
                    tactics in its home market in the US. But I
                    personally believe that competiton certainly can
                    hurt and has the potential for positive change.
                    (Certainly Verizon is in no mood to collude with the
                    Big Three given the campaigning they've done against
                    it, at least in the short term).</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>This is ultimately a regulatory issue, for a
                    change in ownership such as this would require
                    approval of the appropriate communications
                    regulator, in Canada's case the CRTC. It will also
                    affect future allocations of mobile radio
                    frequencies.</div>
                  <div><br>
                  </div>
                  <div>What I would like to know is:</div>
                  <div>
                    <ul>
                      <li>Is this (the subject of telco/ISP
                        competition/collusion) something ISOC or
                        chapters have addressed at a policy basis
                        before?<br>
                      </li>
                      <li>Have any other chapters engaged in "consumer"
                        type issues like this? Or is it considered out
                        of bounds, even if it's anout telcos and ISPs?<br>
                      </li>
                      <li>What are the benefits risks in a public
                        campaign favouring of more competition?</li>
                      <li>Is Verizon sufficiently evil in its current
                        activity to prevent supporting it in Canada?<br>
                      </li>
                    </ul>
                  </div>
                  <div>Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.<br clear="all">
                    <div><br>
                    </div>
                    -- <br>
                    <div style="text-align:center">
                      <div style="text-align:left">Evan Leibovitch</div>
                      <div style="text-align:left">Toronto Canada</div>
                    </div>
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                      40px;border:none;padding:0px">
                      <div style="text-align:center">
                        <div style="text-align:left">Em: evan at telly
                          dot org</div>
                      </div>
                      <div style="text-align:center">
                        <div style="text-align:left">Sk: evanleibovitch</div>
                      </div>
                      <div style="text-align:center">
                        <div style="text-align:left">Tw: el56</div>
                      </div>
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                  </div>
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                _______________________________________________<br>
                As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are
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                  href="https://portal.isoc.org">https://portal.isoc.org</a></blockquote>
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      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
As an Internet Society Chapter Officer you are automatically subscribed
to this list, which is regularly synchronized with the Internet Society
Chapter Portal (AMS): <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://portal.isoc.org">https://portal.isoc.org</a></pre>
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