grahamwilliams dot ca

Thus it ends: not with a bang but with a lawsuit. All I can say is *sigh*. In an effort to desperately convince consumers that there’s some sort of competition in Canada, TELUS has filed a lawsuit against Rogers alleging that ads claiming that Rogers has the country’s fastest network are misleading. Instead of spending the time and effort to reduce fees for Canadians, or to provide better service, the telecom giants have decided to focus on who can lie to us better.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see ads like “lowest cost per minute” or “best rates for data”? How about “best unlimited plan” or “we’ve thrown in all the packaged extras that we used to charge you for”? While ultra high-speed data sounds great on paper I don’t know many people that get the speeds advertised, so in essence we’re being sold a bill of goods for something few of us actually use frequently (possibly because the service doesn’t deliver as promised). I don’t know about anyone else, but I get really tired of seeing “Loading 23/24kb” on my BlackBerry – to the point where I’ll occasionally just give up.

Can fault be found elsewhere in Canadian telecom advertising?

The Future is Friendly – TELUS
This line was retired this year; possibly because TELUS was acknowledging (with its charges for incoming text messages, the increase in roaming charges in the US, and jacking their rates on add-on bundles) that the Future is downright mean.

Canada’s Most Reliable Network – Rogers
Rogers claims their network is up to two times faster than anyone else – not exactly true now that everyone’s on HSPA (assuming, of course, that you upgrade your hardware and sign into a 3 year contract again). I’m still not entirely sure who gets to do the judging on reliability. Do we borrow the Verizon guy for that?

Surf the net on Canada’s fastest network – Bell
Wait… didn’t Rogers just say they had the fastest network? Has Bell really done anything worth noticing over the last year other than paying millions to get their logo changed from “Bell” to “Bell”? How about that “er” campaign that made everyone say “er… what the hell are you doing?”

This is all just a distraction – the hoopla about mobile speed is a shiny bauble to keep your eyes over there while all three (who, between them, control 90% of the mobile space) spend time picking our pockets. It’s a waste of time, energy, and money for everyone involved – but it makes a great news story.