Not to contradict your point, because I agree fully, but given how concisely you put it, I'd be interested in what your thoughts are on Freedom Mobile? I know they're kind of independent, but also their coverage sucks.
But this was back when the best they offered was 3G, and their signal quality wasn't great. After a few incidents where I was downtown in Toronto, full bars of signal, yet couldn't open a single webpage or use my data, I decided it was time to ditch them. I loath the big-3, but I needed reliable service.
I've heard that after they installed their LTE/4G towers, most of those problems went away. Maybe I'll go back, eventually, but for now I'll be gouged like most Canadians.