Aug 10
27
I’m breaking tradition, this isn’t about Iceland. But by comparison Iceland for all its smallness has much more advanced telecommunication systems than we do in the big North America.
In the communication industries we are 3rd rate. I’m looking at you Canada and for that matter the U.S. too.
I almost said 3rd world country but that would be a disservice to poor countries that have better telecommunications. Unbelievable this telecommunications industry. There is so much wrong with it that I’d need my own server to list them all but this is just one story. Wait, I do have my own server, but that would be whistling in the wind and we all know how useful that is.
Today I tried to buy a smartphone (sic). Sounds simple doesn’t it? I skip past the large font price and go for the “hardware only / no contract” price. Great, “do you have these in stock?” “Yes sir” “I want one, no contract” “We can’t do that sir” “but it says so right here..” “sorry but policy says …..” signal lost, I’m already walking out the door.
Repeat this at 3 other retail stores. Nobody will sell me a freakin phone. So I go over to the official (insert carrier name here) store and I see the same phone for the same price. I even waited in a line that never seemed to move. “I’d like to buy a phone, no contract” “What’s your phone number sir?” “No, I just want the phone and not tie it to my account” “We can’t do that sir” “Why not, the sign clearly says the same thing on every phone in the store, $x no contract. That’s what I want, I’ll swap the SIM card all by myself” “We can’t do that sir because …….” signal lost, I’m already gone
They keep saying we need competition to fix the broken system. Bullshit, we need a lot more to change than that. Each “competitor” that appears is either bought out by the big boyz or does exactly the same as the other guys. Most of the companies are just market branded systems of the big 3. We do have one carrier that sells primarily as no contract but because of the broken system their coverage isn’t good enough to work at my house or where I need it and their frequencies are too limited so their phone selection isn’t nearly good enough. They don’t have what I want. We don’t have a phone store. We do however have “The Beer Store” (for those that don’t know that one, that’s the actual name). I can buy beer but I can’t buy a phone. pathetic.
Update on this saga; after some thought I went to a different area of town at a slow time of the day. Using the same kind of psychology that the salesfolk use I did the same back at them. Long story short is that they were ringing up the sale before they knew what hit them. With stars in their eyes they took my money and I made a hasty retreat before they could call me back. It’s a shame that I can’t purchase a product on the rare occasion that I want to. I have the phone and the contract laden nonsense that infects this land is one person short today. I pay my bills but I won’t be enslaved by the telcos.
The truth of the matter is that you need a beer or 2 or 3 or…. after going through this kind of crap. I lived in Mexico(3rd world country they say) and was able to buy a cheap, really nice phone and then buy a lot of minutes with no contract.
I keep hearing about free enterprise and “competition” in the states but I agree with you: “it ain’t happening!”