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Bye, bye Phone Bundle Discount

5K views 18 replies 14 participants last post by  JamesK 
#1 ·
Just received a notice saying:

Last year Bell invested over $3 billion to improve the quality, functionality, reliability and reach of its network. That’s more than any other provider in Canada and results in a network millions of people count on. To support these continued investments, and to recognize the increased costs associated with delivering a world-class network, your $3 Home phone bundle discount will be discontinued as of August 1, 2016.

I was quite happy with my phone service and did not / do not need any improvements to the quality, functionality, or reliability. But that is immaterial. My speculation on what the the Bell business model:

1. Need to expand the network to be able to support additional clients (this should be paid for from profits of the additional business)
2. Need to increase functionality to keep up with the competition (this is price of doing business, fund it from your profits)
3. Need to replace old networks that may start to fail (again price of doing business)

In general, the cost of technology is going down not up taking inflation into account. What can be built and provided today should cost less than the equivalent from 10 years ago. But Bell has not figured out how to do this, so here comes another price increase.
 
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#2 ·
4. Bell is gouging all of it's traditional phone customers to pay for wireless and internet upgrades, including the Toronto FTTH upgrade. That Toronto upgrade alone is going to cost a bundle and will not benefit most of Bell's customers.

We haven't seen an upgrade to "the quality, functionality, reliability and reach of its network" near here for 12 years. We dumped Bell DSL several years ago due to a drop in speed and reliability.
 
#4 ·
Home phone service is regulated (to a point).

Internet is not regulated.

Could the bundling discount removal (I got the email yesterday) be a subtle nudge to subscribers to move away from POTS based phone to the internet.

Their "Call Answer" service is horribly archaic, and lacks features a home based answering machine has, but that's another thread.... :)

Cameron
 
#7 ·
It's not just the bundle discounts that are affected. I have home phone only with Bell - and I got the same message, for the same spurious reasons - but in my case it's a straight-up price increase of $3 starting August 1. It has pushed my home phone costs past what I currently pay for a smartphone plan. It looks like I'll be investing in another iPhone and dropping the POTS line.
 
#10 ·
Some people like POTS for the reliability and lower cost than wireless. Though Bell POTS is overpriced there are alternatives. POTS is much cheaper than wireless for large or extended families. Not everyone can expense their wireless plan and some just don't need it.

maybe for the old folks who are stuck in their old ways.
Keep the ageist remarks coming. You will appreciate them in a few years.
 
#15 ·
Pots over FTTN (Fiber to the node) wont go down after 4 hours. Power being supplied by the central office. FTTH (Fiber to the home) will after a certain time since you have a home UPS.

With old pots line, it will always be a good idea to have a corded phone for emergency. You never know when it could save someone you love. 911 over lan line can't be beat. One day, we had a friend in our driveway with a very bad open broken leg. We were really nervous and called for an ambulance but drop the call. Emergency services were able to block/lock our line to prevent us doing another call. They rang us on it and from there they were in position to send someone over. 5 minutes later, help was there. We didn't have to identify our address. They had our information handy.

No voip or cell services can beat that, at this time. It might be more expansive but it's not the same security. I don't agree the raise but my familly worth more than 3$ a month.
 
#16 ·
I am pretty sure that cell phone calls save more lives. Any accident or incident outside or inside the house can be reported using cell phone which can not be said about home phones.
There is very small chance that my house will have no power for more than 4 hours so my VOIP stops working and at the same time all of our cell phones will stop working and somebody in the household will be having a heart attack or other emergency.
So no, I am not going to waste over $30 a month for the home phone.
 
#18 ·
thenewdc said:
Is it maybe fair to assume that Bell wants its customers off of POTS altogether to go for wireless ? Why would anyone still want POTS except maybe for the old folks who are stuck in their old ways.
Gee, off the top of my head I can think of a few reasons to keep a landline, and not insult "old folks" at the same time.

1. Young children in the home who aren't old enough to own a cell phone yet, they need to be able to use a phone or be contacted.

2. Voice quality. Cell phones are quite poor in that department. I hate yelling on my cell phone to be heard. It sounds like the other person is in the bat cave.

3.You often have to pay for a dry loop if you remove a landline and have internet over the phone lines.

4. If the power goes out for a day or two or a week you would have no phone.

5. If you live in an apartment, a landline is connected to your address including aprtment number. Cell phones use a GPS system to locate you on 911 calls. They'll know exactly where to send help with the home phone.

6. Home security systems generally use a landline for monitoring. Extra costs are usully involved to add a cellular capability.

elyk
 
#19 ·
Why would anyone still want POTS except maybe for the old folks who are stuck in their old way
Cell service is barely OK at one end of my condo and poor at the other, so I can't rely on it. I have a "POTS" line from Rogers that's actually VoIP and the terminal has built in battery backup.
 
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