My son recently moved to Alberta, where he continued his contract with Telus (including a long distance plan). His girlfriend moved to the Cayman Islands for employment. Following my suggestion, he contacted Telus and was told that his plan would cover calls to the Cayman Islands. He received a bill for $8260 for the month!!! When he called to ask about the bill, they told him it would have to be paid within the month or be forwarded to a collection agency. I called and received the same response - no negotiating. Actually, I was asked if he would set up payments for a mere $2000 a week!!! I stated that at 23, some may make mistakes, but he should not be subject to the harsh reality of having any chance of establishing a credit history now with this unrealistic payment schedule. He has always paid his bills promptly, but is only young, so a history of credit has not been established. I am very upset with the way his situation has been treated.

Here's a rip off story for you. I have a MTS phone but I live in Dryden and am forced to use a Thunderbay Tell cell because MTS & Thunderbay Tell have a "network sharing agreement". Thunderbay tell's signal is so pathetically weak in Dryden that I don't get a signal A MILE AND A HALF away from Dryden. Dryden is 2 miles by 2.5 miles. Actually Thunderbay tell won't push a usable signal to the town limits. ie less than a mile radius. I've complained to my carrier (MTS) and they claim Thunderbay tell says "vallies are causing the problem". Unless they've laid their antennae on the ground at the bottom of a valley I don't see "vallies" being a problem, line of sight being what it is. Furthermore in july/aug 2009 they reduced their signal strength. I had 2 bars strength before the reduction. I couldn't make a voice call but I could send text messages. No other carriers in Dryden had txt then but I could txt our other MTS phone. Since the reduction, the other carriers steped up and added txt web etc., but now with no signal I can't txt or anything untill I drive into the usable signal a mile and a half away. Rogers and Dryden Mobility have 5 bars of strength @1.5 mi outside the Dryden limits. I see NO reason for Thunderbay tell to be so pathetic. Especially since I've been complaining about it for almost 2 years thru MTS and directly to Thunderbay tell as of late. Thunderbay tell denies it or makes lame excuses. I haven't encountered EVEN ONE Thunderbay tell customer who is satisfied with their coverage. MTS maintains they have no control over another carrier, but I demand that they DO have controll over who they contract with. And, if Thunderbay Tell refuses to provide an industry minimum they are in breach of that contract and MTS has the right to make a deal with one of the other carriers in the area who can provide a signal of reasonable strength.

I just received my cell phone bill. Bell charged me to some usage that is already paid under my plan. The rep "investaged" it. She admitted that is was their mistake. I will be credited. However, I have to paid the amount shown on the bill with thier error. (I have to overpaid.) Then the extra will be credited to the next month bill. She would not adjust the amount for this month. If I asked for a refund for my overpaid amount, I have to pay a $20.00 "processing fee". They already know they overcharged me and demand for fee so that they return the amounht they forced me to pay. That is the way Bell does business.

To everyone who has had to deal with any company over the telephone:

Most, if not all, companies with telephone contact service record their telephone conversations. I have read many posts about numerous and contradicting calls to various cell phone companies. If there is ever a contradiction between what representatives say at different times, especially regarding your contract, demand that they look up the conversation.

This happens in two ways: requested by the customer or requested by the manager/customer service. If the customer requests it, there is a fee and waiting time; however, if you manage to talk to a customer service representative (not sales/contract representative) and make a complaint about the contradiction, then that customer service rep must look up the conversation to verify your complaint. A process, yes, but this is an assured way to catch them in their own lies.

This has happened to me, and after a week of writing every email I could find, my complaint reached customer service who 'investigated' and all was resolved. Don't deal with the sales/contract rep who answers the phone. Teir 1 representatives are trained to say and not think.

I have a cell phone plan through plan through Bell Mobility that dates back to the 1990's. Originaly I paid for the 'bag' phone and the plan is 10$ per month for a pre-determined number of minutes with unused minutes and dollars being rolled over into the next month. I seldom use the phone except to call before dropping in to see my mother, a friend or to call for a tow-truck if I should happen to need one... that happened perhaps three times. :) In 2005 I receive a letter from Bell indicating I had a CREDIT of over $800 and if it wasn't used up before a date in March, the company would absorb the credit. Ain't that nice. I called to inquire if the credit could be applied to my internet account or my land-line or my Express Vu... guess what... not possible because these sister corporation do not have that ability to cross cover accounts. I may not have the worst cell phone bill, but I think I got the best fleecing and a...

Oh, I did get to call the CEO of Bell Mobility and left a message of my discontent on his voice mail luckily because the obviously young lady who answered my call transferred me at my request. I tried to repeat the call the next day and was told that Mr. XYZ was not taking calls from customers... to which I added 'wonder how long it took for that email to circulate the office'... and chuckled... still didn't get my $800 credit back but I did call Alberta several times that month... would have called China if I had someone to speak with. They changed the conditions of the contract without my consent. How many customers were penalized for choosing to do the same? Cell phone companies are but modern-day lone sharks. We all lived well without cell phones... we should learn to live without them again. Let the tech companies starve a little... before they starve us... try a pen and paper next time you want to communicate with someone.

Hey Wendy, Boxing day I left for Florida Dec 27 2009 and when I arrived I was e mailed my Rogers Cell bill just under $350.00 and most of this bill was accrued in two day and $200.00 plus roaming charges. I stayed in Florida for 17 days and the phone was off most of the time and my Jan bill a whooping $393.00 for 31 calls most under 2 minutes. I also used a cellular phone card. I have been told by rude Rogers customer service reps that pay or else.. I have been with Rogers in excess of 16 years and literally feel violated by these two invoices. I have submitted a complaint against Rogers to the CCTS to which they accepted however I have not heard anything back from them. Wendy I sincerely feel scammed by Rogers. How can we stop this sort of excessive charges? Thanks for reading this.
Rob Strong

I have been a faithful Bell customer for 10 years until now. I am currently looking for a new provider that can actually provide good service and clear information for a fair price.
Bell sold me a faulty phone for $100 last year. As it was still under warranty they sent a replacement phone and asked for the faulty one to be sent back. Due to a number of reasons I did not send the faulty phone back and Bell proceeded to put a $400 charge on my bill. When I did not pay the $400 they cut my phone off and have been rude in all my interactions with them. The phone has been sent back, I am still waiting to have the phone re-activated. I have lost my service, Bell has lost a customer and all because they sold me a faulty phone to begin with. This could have been resolved with some effort from Bell but in my conversations it was perfectly clear that my business was not valued, O well.

Its time to pass legislation that will ban certain fees.

Go MarketPlace!!! how are these great consumer injustices allowed to continue! I say anybody who has ever been burned from Rogers, Bell, and Telus should start a class action and take everything from them. Its called negative billing because there is a monopoly. I can't wait for this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've just had a nightmare bill from Rogers. Purchased the $50 international roaming package for 10 mb. Ok, so I'm ignorant of the amount of this data and got a whopping bill. My complaint is that Rogers should alert the customer when their add-on plan is used up so the customer can choose to still use or not. They did text me upon my return home to say I'd racked up $636 in charges thus far, before the 30 day plan that I'd got. So my question is why on earth couldn't they text me when my $50/10mb was used up? There's no way on earth I would have continued to use had I known. No. 2, they will not give me an itemized detailing of my bill. I want to know what cost what and to break it down. You'd think I spent my whole holiday surfing. They cite privacy laws and the fact they don't know where I went, it's impossible to tell me. I say how do they know what to charge me then. They can just charge me whatever they want and I have to accept it. This doesn't seem right to me.
Disgruntled

My monthly phone bill runs about $25 to $30. My phone has a cable (it is NOT a cell phone). After reading the comments by others I am very happy with what I have (even if you think I am behind the times).

My contract was over; still Bell Mobility charged me for an extra month in order to keep my number when I was switching to another provider. CRTC rules, I was told.

Something that came to my attention recently is the insane return policy that cell phone companies have.
I signed up for a 3 year contract with Bell and got a Palm Pre. I didn't like it the very same day that I got it activated. That day I had used it very little (22 mins), and the next morning I decided to return it after using it for another 5 minutes. I had a feeling that I should look closer at the return policy.
The return policy said that you can return to the place of purchase ONLY if you have used the phone 30 days or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. This means 30 minutes of call time, and I was at 27 minutes.
I reactivated my old phone online through the Bell.ca website because my cell is the only phone I have.
Obviously, the 30 minutes will come before 30 days, and then they leave you jumping through hoops.
The Source has a similar policy except theirs is 20 days or 20 minutes.

Ah the wonders of Rogers. I have been a long time customer, suffering through inumerable charges for texts using US rates when travelling close to the border (which I had to resolve line by line until eventually they told me how to stop it happening). Lately my horror story is that I have 5 phones on my account. I was supposed to pay for 2 and 3 by my ex for himself and the kids. He lost his job. I got stuck paying for 5 phones and since he had no phone service at all except for the cell, I kept paying. The cheapest way was My5. Last summer I partially paid a bill intending to pay the next payday. Got phoned by Rogers demanding to know exactly when I said payday, they cut me off before it and then charged me that month, the now current month and the next month, and it took me a month to get that much money so I paid for over a month of no service. Same thing happened this December, and I am now faced with an $800+ bill and only received $350 service on it (of which I paid $150). They sent me a letter saying I am cut off and contract will be cancelled? My reaction right now is: good. They will get paid when they get paid. They've already wrecked my credit rating and will eventually have received payment for 3 months of no service on 5 cellphones. The hell with them. My question, isn't illegal to charge for no service???

Whatever you do, do NOT sign up with Virgin Mobile. They have some good rates, but they have this funny little policy where for any reason they can suspend your service without notice for as long as they like. Mine was suspended for no reason for three months, during which time I continued to be charged. They wouldn't let me even cancel my contract during that time. Needless to say I have left Virgin.

I signed up with bell aliant last year and got a new blackberry curve. I got a BB 20 bundle on 2 phones. I chose not to use the internet browser because I was under the impression that it would be very expensive. Last November, after talking to some of my friends who said web browsing was not expensive, it was the downloading that cost, I decided to have my browser activated. Web browsing was included in my BB 20 plan and I was under the impression that i was paying for it already and should be able to just turn it on.

When I spoke with the cust service rep I informed him of what I wanted and he said I could not do that because the BB 20 plan was no longer offered.
he said I would need a new plan.
I explained that I already had that feature on my plan, but no one would listen.
Finally, he said he could do it, but there would be a small extra charge, 5 to ten dollars.
I agreed and thought that I would resolve the issue later when i could talk to a reasonable person. (never found one yet.)

My bill went up $40 per month for a feature that I was already paying for.
When I call them they say its too bad but they can't change anything, no matter whose fault it is.
I have made many calls, and get nowhere.

When I talked to a supervisor he gave me an address in Ontario and said my only recourse was to write a letter. They would not give me any tel num or email to follow up this issue.

I am p---ed off and have decided not to pay my bill untill this is resolved.

To those who believe that 18,000 txts is impossible, just watch a teenager txt. most take (far) less than 10 seconds to type and send + another (under) 10 seconds while they get a reply + maybe 1 second total transfer time = less than 21 seconds for a full loop txt between only two people.

I know people who have 4-5 txt conversations going at any given time and can organize a barbecue; guests invited (and confirmed), food on the way, in under 3 minutes. They easily beat the 600 txts/day barrier. With only 60 minutes to an hour and 3-15 txts per minute between 4-5 people...

Remember: 'bbq?', 'ok when?', '7' and 'ned stks. u get?' take 1-5 seconds to type and send for an experienced texter. and while they're typing that txt, they're recieving one from someone else. someone who wasn't invited but heard 17 seconds ago about a bbq and thought they should be there.

Don’t get mad get even. Contact the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) www.ccts-cprst.ca CCTS is an independent agency with a mandate to receive, to facilitate the resolution of and if necessary resolve eligible consumer and small business complaints relating to certain retail telecommunications services. Complaints are what put the lemon law in place for the auto industry. I’ve somebody close using SOLO and due to financial hardship have fallen behind in payments and was not allowed to adjust the contract to a lower more affordable one as originally told was allowed to suiting their needs and was suspended. The consumer is now being billed for months not allowed to be used with late interest charges. I also recall a friend without a phone for weeks on a contract they were paying for on monthly bases because it wasn’t operational and needed repair and after searching I’ve found endless problem and complaint of other providers as well. Interested in hearing feedback on resolutions being SOLO, Bell, Telus, Rodgers, Fido, KOODO, Virgin, etc.

My husband and I each have a cell phone through Bell Aliant, and he is on the road a lot, so we went for the Fab Five package. The person we talked to told us we could talk between the two of us anywhere in North America. He went to California just a couple months ago and we just received a phone bill for over $2,200.00. I don't know whats worse, the phone bill itself or what I have been going through to try and talk to someone about it. I was on hold for roughly 2 hours and spoke to about 5 different people and I'm still no further ahead then when I first picked up the phone to inquire on it. The last person I talked to said that they will have to do up a report that they will send to this one who will then look at it and send it off to that one.......I'm now awaiting a phone call from them!! calling Bell Aliant is like calling the Government, you just go round and round in circles and deal with their BS.!!! How's that for a worst phone bill?!

In response to all..how do all of these companies get away with what is nothing less than extortion!
For every one that does not pay or questions their bill can you imagine the numbers that just go ahead and pay!
They set up kiosks and shops in the malls and prey on the young people offering "great deals" with a "just sign here" push. It doesn't end there, for example...our son tried to cancel his contract with Rogers, his bill was over $600. They agreed on a set payout of $446. we paid it, but Rogers turned around and said they did not recieve the full amount from the bank!! Rogers forwarded the balance to collection and now our son has a poor credit rating and a fight to get it all cleared up. How do they get away with this day in and day out...someone has to put a stop to their abuse.

In December 08 we bought our daughter an I-phone from Fido. The phone worked a few months and broke, we sent it back and they replaced a new phone that was still under warranty with an old refurbished phone. Good enough, the phone broke again, calle and they sent another phone, third time and forth same thing. At one point, I had three phones to return to Fido and was told by their customer service to put two phones in one box and the third in another and just ship back two boxes as it will be a cost savings to them. OK, I did that in August of 09. In November of 09, I received a bill from Fido for over one thousand dollars! almost nine hundred of it was for a phone that they said they never received, although they recorded two packages going into their system in August, they claim only two phones were returned. I did not keep the shipping reciepts after about a month, as I figured I hadn't heard anything so they must have been received. After I got the bill I literally spent days on the phone with them trying to plead my case but only to deaf ear. In the end I paid the bill, so I guess I bought myself a broken phone that I do not have. Fido is the worst and the network in our area is down more than not.

I have to pay about 50$ for my smartphones bill.

as a mom with three children using cell phones, we have used bell, rogers and telus and have had various problems with each. my latest problem was with telus. my daughter called in july to tell them that when her contract was up at the end of august she was going to end it. "ok fine" . she checked her next bill on line and paid up to the end of her obligation. she then received her bill in the mail and it had a $100.00 early cancellation fee. leaving her to owe about $55.00. but she had paid what she owed to the end of her contract. i called them expecting them to see the error and correct the bill but all i get is no you owe this and that is final. i wrote to telus explaining the problem, no reply. in december i got a letter saying that the bill would be sent to a collection agency. i called them again and they said a supervisor would review the complaint and call me back. they called while i was at work, when i called them back they said, you owe the money, pay it, when i asked to speak to the supervisor i was told, the decision was made, you have to pay the bill. now i have gotten a collection agency letter. and i have to pay it or i will get a mark on my credit rating. i have never not paid a bill and i cringe at the thought of having to pay this big company for something they don't deserve. i work for a large bank and customer service is priority with us. i cant understand how these cell phone companies can survive by treating their customers like this.

I am with Telus...I personally think all cell phone carriers are taking advances of us "customers" I had 2 incidents one time i was making long distance call (of course using a calling card) whe i got the bill i was charged $2000 i immediately called them wondering why the bill is soooo high. I talked to the CSR she said it was because of the long distance calls. she said i talked over the minutes on the calling card and was using telus long distance? Hmm..i said then why didn't the call hang up after my calling card mins ended? she said it's not an option and that i must keep track of time.

Second time i was pissed with telus was when my 3 years contract was about to expired. I got a call from their customer service rep. telling me that i could get a new phone upgrade and just sign a new contract. I told them i would rather shop around for better voice and data plans before signing any more contract with any carier. The CRS (Mike) told me they would offer extra free monthly airtime, free texting, and free local incoming calls...and all i had to do was go into a telus store to sign the contract and pick up a new phone. I said wow...what a good deal!~ But lucky my guts told me to call before going to sign..I then talked to Anne she said who ever i talked to that day (well, the call was not recorderd on their system...and that such offer is impossible) So i told her okay...i will just leave it as it...and shop around first. WELL GUESS what after a week later (MIKE) called again asking why i didn;t go in to sign the contract...I explanied it to him that i was not happy and does not have any confident with \telus and that the CRS are not properly trained. I felt like they will try anything coming up with new tricks just so you can sign another 3 yrs...EVERYONE PLS BE AWARE!!!!

I have also had to argue with telus customer service many a time, not over my bill but over other things. It seems they don't like serving their customers very much. Or is this telus' way of jacking up our phone bills even more?

Many of the problems with cell phones center on the long term contracts (a year or more) people enter into. The phone companies sell customers based on small bits of the terms and conditions (call them 'headlines') that look and sound good. They point out the best advantages and skip everything else. Then they give you pages and pages of details with the full conditions (call it the 'small print'). Often printed in very small letters with lots of legal terms. The phone companies hope (and know) that most people will never read the full set of terms. They also know that many people will also fail to understand what they are reading. Consumers need to wake up and fully understand what they are getting into to avoid many problems. If you do not fully understand the terms and conditions of the contract do NOT sign up for cell phone service (or anything else) until you do. For example, most people never read their insurance policy until after they have a problem and think they can file a claim, only to find that their condition is excluded in the 'small print'.

I am with telus mobility. I got my bill for the month of Dec/09 and almost dropped to the floor. It was $1382. I called customer service and I told them my bill was wrong and clearly explained why. The day in question turned into minutes then hours then days. A total of 3418 minutes = 2 days and a bit straight talking on the phone. I said this was impossible and look at my previous bills with telus and you would never see a bill or conversation like this. He said they would wave the $500 and their records indicate that I did make this call. I also would have to pay the other portion of the cell call $500+. I said this call is impossible. I asked to speak with his supervisor he was not listening and just wanted the money. Now she gets on the phone and says the same thing. I told her i would never be on the phone 2 days straight not possible. She said well I talk to my mother and it could be 5 minutes on the phone and it could be 2hrs she talks to her mother. you lose track of time. I said would you talk for 2 days straight? She asked me if I would like the fraud dept to investigate but if it was my fault i would be held responsible. I told her I would like this investigated and she said they would get back to me with their findings. She called back within 5 minutes and said sometimes these things happen I would not have to pay for the 3000+ min call. The person I actual talked to just got their bill in and we talked for a total of 4 minutes. Now what kind of customer service is this! That I had to argue for 30 mins stating the truth.

As a user of Bell for many years, I ran into an issue in November with them. My bill normally runs around $85-$95 per month, however in November, my bill was up over $300. There was a $200 free on my bill that didn't have a reason next to it, just an added fee.

I called into Bell to ask for an explanation what it was for, and found out that it was for the Blackberry 45 feature for data/messaging that they offer for $45. In August, I had added the Blackberry $45 feature to my account via the online web tool at the Bell website. In September, after monitoring my usage, I decided that it was too much, and dropped down to the Blackberry $35 plan. Little did I know until my call to customer service, that when I added the data feature to my plan, I was supposed to keep it on my plan for a full 12 months. When I added the feature through the online tool, it did not mention anywhere that I would have to sign onto the feature for 12 months or pay a $200 fee.

When I informed the customer service representative about that, she said that there was nothing that could be done, and that I'd have to pay it.

Needless to say, Bell will be losing a customer over this.

Although the topic is Canada's WORST cell phone bill, perhaps people in Canada are interested in an alternative. After being laid off this spring, there was no way I was going to take Bell up on their offer to continue the $40/mo service my employer had paid for. Instead, I purchased a pre-paid phone from Speakout Wireless (you can buy them at 7-Eleven stores). There are no fees, just by-the-minute billing for usage. If you buy airtime in $75 or $100 amounts, airtime costs 20 cents per minute, and doesn't expire for a year. $100 of airtime lasted 7 months, for me: less than $20 per month. I make about one short call per weekday, on average. And as a special promotion, when I purchased my second $100 of airtime, I got a free phone with $20 of airtime on it: I keep that in my wife's car in case of emergencies.
This service may not be right for your usage patterns, but frugal Canadians still have options.

In my opinion, my children are too young for cellphones, but when they're old enough, they'll start out on pre-paid plans, so they learn the hard lesson that when their time is up, they have to stop talking. This completely prevents them from running up ridiculous bills!

Greed! With little or no regulation the Big 3 were free to confuse consumers in a bid to maximize profits. Have you even tried to determine who has the best plan with the big 3? As long as fat middle aged white men rule this country nothing will change. We need a BIG shake up.

I LOVE my cell phone bill because I have no cell phone (and thus no bill)!

I can't believe the number of people who say they are "ashamed of their country" because of high cell phone bills.

Be ashamed of the companies or the gutless regulators or triply gutless politicians who do nothing about the problem.

Ashamed of Canada? Never.

Ashamed of some Canadians? Absolutely.

When in Europe, just pick up a new sim card, place it on your Unlocked Canadian phone, it's much cheaper

What irritates me is when I'm down by the water, I pick up American towers, and get charged for roaming, even though I'm still in my own Canadian city! Fortunately, Rogers has reversed those, as they can tell that I've not left the island - I'm good, but getting to Washington and back in minutes? Not that good. :)

Regarding the billing done by the cell phone companies,they should be investagated for price fixing.When cell phone came out ,they offered evenings which started at 5 pm for free and again free weekends.well the time clock here in atlantic canada is 9pm.who are we going to call?ghost busters as i am in bed by 10pm.In order to use my phone i have to pay a fee for my clock to start at 5pm.No matter which company i asked,i got the same answer 9pm.Again this is price fixing and no way there is any competition.This should be looked at and the crtc should be ashame of themself to let this bs to happen

No cell phone equals no problem.

I am an accountant and have yrs too of communication background and with as a matter fact cell phones and I have never in over 30 have ever had overages or blame my carriers and I am with Bell and Rogers and I am presently with Rogers from East of canada to west and have all their service and they are no#1 and great and this is from me and generations now into it third and never have we had what others blame their companies for so get with it people and be a good canada and a canadian ok "A"

My husband and I travelled to Florida last year. We decided to check out cell phone services so that we could call home. Our contract was over with Telus and after lenghtly conversations with them we decided to renew our contract. They promised us that the North American plan would be what we were looking for. Once in Florida we tried to use our phone and we could not get any service. We had to purchase another cell provider in the US. I e-mailed Telus and told them what happened and then put our phones on hold. However we were still charged for the time period that we did not use them and our contract was lengthened. When we arrived home I made a call to Telus to get out of the contract since it did not serve us well when we were away. They would not give an inch. They said that the phones had not be downloaded for this. These phones were brand new and the agent knew that we were going to use them south. Of course this problem ended up being our fault. They would not shorten our contract either given the fact that we had not been able to use them. I would never sign any kind of contract with a cell provider. They rip you off and there should be regulations and laws in place. If you decide not to fullfill your contract your credit rating is affected.

After six years of using a cell phone with Bell my monthly charges have increased substantially. I don't use it for online stuff. But I have a plan which allows me to send text messages.
My most recent bill had for the first time event charges of $2.00 a day for a service that I didn't ask for or want. After a call to Bell, they removed those charges. Seems a company got hold of my number and added me to their subscription service. How did they do this? I enter alot of online contests and somehow by providing them with my cell phone no. they started sending me a text message daily. So buyer beware, just another annoying way so people conduct their unsavoury businesses. Buyer Beware!

I studied in England three summers ago. I got a pay-as-you-go cell phone from Mobile World (Carphone Warehouse's house brand) which cost me 5 pence/minute (under 10 cents) to call LONG DISTANCE to Canada from anywhere in England. The phone was 20 pounds (and unlocked) if I agreed to pre-load 20 pounds on it.

Compare this to my pay-as-you-go phone in Canada, which costs me 25 to 40 cents/minute to call home when I'm standing in front of my own house!

I went back to England this summer, and the plan still existed (the phone was 10 pounds this time with no minimum top-up!) C'mon Canada, I shouldn't have to fly to England for it to cost less to call home!

I find the way Bell mobility operates is a bit confusing.. Did you know that bell charges $0.05 per KILOBYTE for pay-per-use data? That comes to about $50.00 per MEGABYTE of pay-per-use data! Thats about 3 or 4 webpages!! I don`t understand how they can justify a charge like that. For some odd reason they charge more for pay-per-use data in Canada, on their network, then they charge for using your phone roaming in the US. Its totally backwards... Customers of Verizon Wireless in the US can come to Canada and use their phone to access mobile data at a rate of only $0.002 per KB or $2.05 per MB, yet Bell charges 15 times more when we go down to the US and use Verizon`s network; so either someone got the REALLY BAD end of a roaming agreement...

I give Telus 10 bucks a month for my very seldon used Pay and Talk cellphone. Its there if I really need to make a call, which I seldom do. I accumulate the unused minutes monthly which now add up to quite a few hours of calls to make if I need to make them. Never text, never will.Pay and Talk from Telus is a great way for me to have cellphone capability.

It's time that Canadian mobile phone companies are made to benchmark themselves against those in other developed countries. Service and consumer pricing should be in the top half or top quartile of those developed countries with the best service and pricing.

In this case, Canadians deserve much better service/product at a much lower price.

ok ok we all get it, if you don't have a cell phone you don't get outrageous bills. but that's not what this is about so go pat yourself on the back somewhere else.
onto the real topic, I have had several issues with rogers, one being their self refreshing home page (fell asleep with my phone in my pocket and got a 300$ charge while i slept) as well as a data charge of 7500$ for one month when i was supposed to be on an 'unlimited' plan.
i welcome the competition in the market but it's just another provider trying to make as much money as they can off canadians. Globalive is not our white knight, they're just another business, and a business exists to make money.

my contract with rogers finished about a year ago and i went on a month-to-month basis until the fall when my usage patterns changed. i wanted to change my plan but now they (rogers and others) only allow plans that are at least one year.

that's anti-competitive. it's my opinion they're trying to kill the new competition by ensuring all their customers are locked in.

clearly the CRTC has allowed them to do this. i'm quite disappointed with the CRTC.

The worst call I took from a crying customer (a single mom) when she got a bill for her 13 year old daughter's cellphone. She only had a small text package, 250 texts to send and unlimited incoming texts for $5,
Well, her daughter SENT 18,000 in one month causing overage of 17,750 X $0.15 = $2662.50 in extra charges. (There were over 24,000 text received that were covered under this option thank goodness.) The mother had previously been offered unlimited text sent/received for $10 but declined it saying SHE trusted her daughter not to send more than 250 texts a month. Guess she should not have trusted her daughter with a cellphone? (and yes she was adjusted for the charges but had to keep the unlimited text package for the full length of her contract 3 years to avoid this happening in future.)Please note that cellphone providers are NOT your children's babysitters. YOU are responsible for the charges if you give your child a cellphone.

I have a great plan, ten dollars a month and I can carry forward all unused minutes. I never use up my time so I'm happy as a clam. Telus Pay and Talk, it's great!

you look at all these cell phone bills from Canada and they are outrageous. canada used to be the most expensive for telecommunications in the world, but now they are the second lol.
then you look at european countries and even the states where they have plans like "$49.99 for unlimited everything!" where in canada can we find something as good as that? that way we KNOW we can't be going over lol.

We need to pass legislation that will outlaw and cap certain cell phone fees. If the cell phone companies dont like it then we dont need them. In fact, a state owned wireless provider can do a better job

Sounds like a good story. I cannot wait to see it. My cell phone bill is, however, great every month! I have no cell phone and thus no problem. More people should follow me and start saving a lot of money.

Hi,
I have been looking for a cell phone that is free all days and nights for a set amount of money, and it is so sad no company offers.As I make way too many phones some months and some months above my 500 minutes during the days.
I feel so ashame of my country (canada),when I compare it with other countries and at times say why not just open the boarder to USA.In this way a whole lot of smart,hardworking canadians would be better set off,compared to the few privellage people

Since moving to the UK Ive been amazed at the difference Ive spent on cell phones. In canada my monthly fee was about $60 a month with bell. After converting pounds to canadian dollars im spending about $20 here for about the same features. its all about competition, which canada does not have.As an additional beef, I was forced to pay my 400 dollar buy out upon leaving and was left with a useless bell phone which cannot be used in europe.

In July 2009, I got engaged in Australia and uploaded photos via my Blackberry to Facebook and Twitter when I got back I relaised that I had $5600 in data overages! I travel, a lot, and I had never experienced a bill like this! I will be scanning and submitting my bill to the contest.

Virgin Mobile is the way to go. You can change your plan for once a month. I pay $56 per month including unlimited data and web browsing, unlimited evenings (starting at 7pm) and weekends, unlimited texting and 200 anytime minutes. I have never had a problem with Virgin Mobile. They have awesome phones, customer service, coverage, and prices. I left Bell to go to Virgin because I was sick of system access fees and 911 fees.

this bill from the states.may not qualify,but,wow!
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-big-bill,0,5540604.story

I don't have much sympathy for some of the "bad" cell phone bills stories I have seen in the media. Stories of people who "didn't know" that they would be charged for using their phone are no longer interesting. Sure you can run up a crazy high bill and that sucks but do you really need to broadcast to the world how ignorant these people are about the service they are buying?

At least feature legitimately bad bills. The ones with constant billing errors that go uncorrected. The hastles people go through to get an error fixed.

If you want one of the best bills in Canada you can look at mine. I get almost $200 of retail priced features for free every month on my phones. You just need to know how to play against the providers fears of loosing a customer to get what you want.

this is hilarious -I'm just in the process of sending a complaints package to The Commission for Complaints for Telecommunications Systems, concerning my telephone bill. I was billed $305. My regular bill is $70.

While I am "somewhat" satisfied with my cell bill - I was not before - I can honestly say that I HATE cell phones!! Especially when I am out with a friend and they answer their phone in the middle of our conversation. Do you not have an answering service?! Also, as a teacher, cell phones are the bane of my existence!!

I had a billing error on my cellphone for $1400 when I had an account with Rogers. For 4 years I made numerous phone calls, sent 14 letters to Rogers headoffice, and eachtime Rogers ignored my concerns. I kept all of my bills, letters, and recorded dates of phone calls I made to each representative in a book for the entire 4 years. I hired a lawyer and within 2 days, Rogers corrected the error and cleared my account. Now out of the blue, I get a letter from The Shopping Channel, saying I owe them money for something I returned a year ago!. I have proof I returned it within the time period. They won't even consider my Canada Post tracking slip that proves it. I just found out they are also owned by Rogers. I really can't afford to hire another lawyer, since my husband lost his job. How else do you fight these companies when they make a mistake but refuse to admit it?!

At my previous position I received a company blackberry. But when they set it up, they put me into the wrong plan. I was supposed to have unlimited data but instead they charged me by the megabyte. Being a tech I was constantly on the phone. So when I got called into my manager's office to explain my $2200 cell phone bill lets just say no one was happy. I think it all got sorted out and Bell reversed the charges. But this happens in government everyday and usually they just pay it no questions asked. In some cases I have seen bills adding up to more than a person earns. But unless they are new and can sit the people down for a chat to control the problem they just consider it the cost of doing business. It doesen't make me feel good to know that almost all the income tax I myself paid in the last year only went to pay one person's government cell phone bill.

I've used up about $45 of my $100 prepaid last February. I'm aiming for 2 calls a month or less but haven't quite succeeded.

I have Telus pay as you i pay 10 dollars a month for unlimited text and 25 cents a minute for airtime. (unlimited text is now 15 dollars through telus) but no system fee and the monthly bill is predictable.

Hmmmm... I have no cell phone. I don't even wear a watch!!!

Not a major cellphone user but have been with all the major cellphone companies through monthly and pay as you go plans. Either way you go, the bill gets pretty high for a voice and data plan for a smartphone which I'm currently using. The worst part is that when my Fido agreement expires, they told me that my monthly plan rates may increase!

I have Canada's BEST cell phone bill. Mine is ZERO. Every month, ZERO.

How, you ask? Simple. I CHOOSE not to own a cell phone. No phone, no bill, no problem.

If you don't like the price, don't buy it.

I pay about $50/month. Unlimited inbound, 200day minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited week-ends. Oh ya and I've had the same phone for 4 year now. NO CONTRACT.I only sign contracts for bit ticket items and a cell phone is not in that category.

Here's one for you . My daughter was diagnosed with a certain disorder . I wanted to get her a phone and requested that Bell somehow put restrictions on my daughters phone use because she has difficulty making decisions of her own . After running up two consecutive bills for over 700.00 each (which I reluctantly paid) Bell informed me that they cannot place restrictions on phone use . Bell has clearly shown they have no loyalty toward any customer , only the customers money . I am currently switching to another provider . Others should too .

Great story idea. I don't mind my cell phone bill, but what irks me is the fact that I'm paying the same as someone in Toronto, for a quarter of the service