So today I received my Fido bill and noticed a new charge called “Other minutes.” I was confused since I have a 150 minute plan and only used about 60 last month.
I phoned in to customer support on my cell phone to inquire about the charge.
The rep wasn’t really sure, and had to put me on hold a few times to look things up, but guessed this was due to calls made “out of my zone.”
Now, I have a grandfathered plan from years and years ago (Sprint Canada before it was acquired) and I never used to have a “zone.”
Ever since Rogers acquired Fido, they’ve slowly (and without notice) modified my old plan to bring it in line with the current plans, which cost more and give you less.
The hugely ironic thing: Just as she was starting to explain to me exactly my “zone” was – the call was dropped.
So I went to my online banking and paid the bill. Even if I wasn’t leaving the country in a month, what could I really do? Switch to a new provider? Ha! Then I’d have an even worse plan.
This is the Canadian mobile market in all its glory – worse quality, less features, less minutes, and more dropped calls – for an ever increasing cost.