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Comment by k4st | Hacker News Reader

Does that mean that the U.S. is already a digital ghetto?

Hah. You wish. I just spent 4 months living in Seattle, and here's how the cell service stacks up. In both places I paid $50 a month (give or take a few bucks).

In the US: - 300 minutes daytime - unlimited evenings/weekends - voicemail, call display, etc - unlimited data

In Canada: - 200 minutes daytime - unlimited evenings/weekends

Notice the big difference? :P America is behind the curve on technology infrastructure, but it's still a lot better off than Canada.

I pay $30 a month in canada for that canadian plan + voicemail and caller id. You have to get retention plans for that although. Data is the killer. And I think the infrastructre here is just as good, it's just they want to make more profit, and because of the duopoly situation, they can.

How about the fact that all American plans come with free national long distance. That's unheard of in Canada. You get billed long distance for calling a city an hour away.

Here's the deal I've currently arranged with Telus. This is after much haggling as well as the fact I've been a customer for 3 years already. The deals OK, but nothing like in the states. The thing that really pisses me off is the system access fee!

19.3 - 200 daytime mintues, unlimited evenings @ 5pm & unlimited weekends // $7 - 2500 text // $25 - unlimited data // $15 - unlimited long distance (Canada + US) // free - unlimited incomning // free - vm3 / call display

Plan Total: $66.3

Plus: $7.5 - System access fee // $.5 - 911 fee // $3.72- Tax

Grand Total: $77.30

The System Access fee is an outright fraud. If any other industry tried to do what the telcos did with the System Access fee they would be charged and convicted as criminals. In Canada the wireless cartel does whatever they want. They have a defacto oligopoly and are criminals in my mind.

more info: http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/services/cellphones...

Excerpt: "The verdict on the “system access fee”? It’s a made-up charge by the wireless companies disguised as a government fee – the only thing it accesses is your wallet."

I'm getting raped on my iPhone plan.

250 mins + unlimited Rogers to Rogers/Fido calling ($40) 6GB data ($30) Call display/visual voicemail/2500 txts ($15) System Access Fee ($6.95) + 911 fee ($0.50) Tax (~$11)

I read "Fido" and thought Fidonet and said "wow, Canada _is_ really out of date". Although it would be cool to go old school and get access to a fed Fidonet BBS on your phone.

er, s/ fed //; Not sure where that came from.

The article specifically pointed out how America has much more access to modern digital conveniences that are not available in Canada.

I should have been specific to Canada's two bills, C-60 and C-61, which both attempted to ratify Canadian IP law to the WIPO treaties. The U.S. already ratified to those treaties, which got them the DMCA.

Clearly our cellular plans suck, but the U.S.'s intellectual property laws remain more restrictive than ours (for now).

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