Timo — Page 18

809 Area code scam

August 27, 2013 By Timo

Time to remind Amitel customers about a classic scam to be aware of.
Beware of voicemail messages or texts from numbers that you do not know, especially from area codes like 809, 284, 649 or 876.

They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc.. You assume the number is in Canada or the U.S. because of the typical three digit area code; however you are actually connected to a phone number in the Caribbean (i.e. 809 is the Dominican Republic). When you return the call you’ll also get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges.

Amitel recommends the following tips to help avoid the scam:

* Return calls to familiar numbers only

* Check unknown area codes or country codes. Amitel will be adding a searchable list of area codes and country codes to our website soon to assist you at www.amitel.com

* Always carefully read your phone bill

For further information and for a history of this scam you can check out Snopes at
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/809.asp

Filed Under: Fraud

Common Carrier

August 20, 2013 By Timo

Since graduating from Engineering at the U of Waterloo, I have been in telecom all of my adult life. I was taught that telecom companies are “common carriers” and are subject to certain rules and regulations that other industries are not.

Simply put, in common law countries like Canada, industries like railways, airlines, pipelines and telecom firms that offer their services to the general public under a licence or authority provided by a regulatory body are common carriers. One of the biggest obligations of a common carrier is non-discrimination. A common carrier cannot discriminate, i.e. refuse the service to some members of the public and not others, or give prejudicial treatment to a favoured few.

Yet, I notice that in this day and age , telecom companies are discriminating, openly and blatantly and violating the principles of common carriage.

One example would be when a telecom company throttles your Internet service, slowing down bit torrent packets or videogame packets. Or when the companies that own the telecom facilities also own the content that rides on them (so called vertical integration). If they hoard that content and do not allow other carriers access to it at reasonable rates then it violates the principles of common carriage.

I would happily pay content providers directly for some content that appeals to me; say HBO or NBA basketball with their League Pass. Unfortunately, that is not allowed; I cant watch the Toronto Raptors on my computer by paying the league directly because the rights holder in Canada insists it be blacked out. They try and force me to purchase their offerings which I have no interest in.

When did we allow this to happen and what should we do about it ?

Filed Under: Regulatory

Treasures Versus Trinkets

August 13, 2013 By Timo

August has been very busy in my household. I have decided to finally clean and de-clutter the entire house; basement, garage, attics, closets .. the works.

There have been many loads brought to Goodwill and Worth a Second Look in Kitchener-Waterloo. I have brought an entire truckload of paint cans, batteries, oil and fluorescent tubes to the Regional dump for proper disposal. Countless items I left at the curb for my neighbours and other KW residents to enjoy. There was no need for a garage sale, some ads on Kijiji ensured that all went quickly.

The rest has then gone out in the weekly garbage.

It was the accumulation of almost 20 years worth of “stuff” from living in our home with my two daughters as they grew up into adulthood. It left me to wonder why I felt such a sense of relief to see it gone, to see our home now clean, spacious and orderly.

I was reminded of a quote by Jim Rohn, “We must teach our children not to spend their money a dollar at a time. If you spend your money a dollar at a time, you’ll wind up with trinkets instead of treasures. You can’t buy much of value a dollar at a time.”

Much of the accumulated stuff, was just that.. trinkets. The things that I treasure are far fewer.. my home itself, and especially the memories of my kids lives growing up here. The day to day experiences, the triumphs and the sorrows of lives shared with loved ones. Being present in those experiences is what I treasure.

Share with me in the comments below what you treasure, and are grateful for this lovely day.

Filed Under: Quality

Bundling – Who Benefits ?

July 17, 2013 By Timo

We hear a lot of ads on the radio and TV about the benefits to you of bundling your phone, TV and Internet service (and sometimes even your cell phone) with one company. Of course Rogers and Bell tout all the advantages to you of their generous offers; the savings, the convenience, only one invoice a month. But is bundling really such a good deal ?

For the carrier it certainly is. They get to lock you in via a contract for years of steady revenue. They get to sell you more services than if you were to pick and choose the best services for you from whoever provided them. Also, bundling locks up the marketplace and deters entry by new competitors, keeping the established companies safe from competition.

From a customer’s standpoint, bundling your service needs means you may not be able to get the best service for what your individual needs are. A better fit for your Internet access may be from an independent ISP, especially when you find that your bundle provider has hard data caps that discourage you from watching Netflix. Or their throttling practices make gaming over the net frustrating for your teenagers.

You may find that the quality of one of the services in the bundle is not to your satisfaction. Or there isn’t the selection of channels that you prefer. Some services that are important to you, maybe international calling aren’t even included in the bundle and you are forced to pay higher additional rates above your bundle.

So buyer beware. Be an informed consumer and do your research. Sometimes the hidden costs of convenient discounts are more than we expect.

Filed Under: Competition, Oligopoly

Canadian Telecom Summit

June 19, 2013 By Timo

From June 3 to 5 I was lucky to attend the twelfth annual Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto . Organized by Mark Goldberg and Michael Sone, the CTS brings together the prime movers of our industry for some thought provoking presentations. This year also saw some major announcements from the CRTC and also the Canadian government.

The CRTC issued a new Code of Conduct for the wireless industry to try to reign in some of the worst anti-consumer practices in the industry. Then the Industry Minister, Christian Paradis, sent a clear message to the industry by blocking the Telus proposed purchase of Mobilicity. The direction of the government and the regulator is clearly being signaled as “pro-consumer” which I applaud and support.

I am lucky to have been in the telecom industry for over 30 years and have witnessed incredible growth and advancements in that time period. When the Canadian market deregulated in the early 1990’s I was an executive at ACC. CRTC Decision 92-12 in 1992 opened the door to true long distance competition in Canada and many new entrants such as CallNet, fonorola, STN and ACC fought hard for consumers against the established incumbent telcos.

Fast forward to 2013… all those early long distance competitors are gone, bought by the telcos… our new wireless entrants are all in danger of being bought by the telcos. The Canadian telecom market is controlled by three companies Bell, Telus and Rogers. Some things have changed, some things have not.

Here at Amitel, we support the “pro-consumer” approach, and we strive to earn your business every day. We are proud to compete fairly in the market, using our premium quality as our competitive advantage. We don’t believe in long term contracts, or bundling, or unfair consumer practices.

We look forward to serving you, and being a vibrant part of the Canadian competitive telecom landscape and seeing what the next 30 years will bring.

Filed Under: Competition, Mobile, Quality