Alec Saunders has a great post on the harm caused by Canada's uncompetitive mobile data rates.
Saunders on Canadian Data Rates
March 31, 2008
Share this post
2 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 237: A Conversation with Jason Woywada of BCFIPA on Political Party Privacy and Bill C-4
byMichael Geist

June 23, 2025
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Recent Posts
Ignoring the Warning Signs: Why Did the Canadian Government Dismiss the Trade Risks of a Digital Services Tax?
Why Bill C-2 Faces a Likely Constitutional Challenge By Placing Solicitor-Client Privilege at Risk
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 237: A Conversation with Jason Woywada of BCFIPA on Political Party Privacy and Bill C-4
Lawful Access on Steroids: Why Bill C-2’s Big Brother Tactics Combine Expansive Warrantless Disclosure with Unprecedented Secrecy
Government Reverses on Privacy and the Charter: Department of Justice Analysis Concludes Political Party Privacy Bill Raises No Charter of Rights Effects
When I worked at a call centre that did outsource support for Sprint cell phone sin teh USA, a few years ago I found out that for $10/month Spritn customers coudl get unlimited data on their cell phones. Up here, 1.5 megabytes a month (barely enough to chat on IRC while on the bus to work every day) with Rogers was $15/month. Sucks be Canadian for wireless access. 🙁
Beyond the point
Based on Alec’s analysis, data rates in Canada have been set beyond the point of diminishing returns. It is priced above what most people are willing to pay, so they have a smaller customer base. Of course, this is good for the “average revenue per customer” number… not so good for total revenues.