On Mon, Apr 27, 2026 at 11:56 AM D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
> From: Evan Leibovitch via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org>

> As someone who switched a few months ago from Teksavvy cable to EBOX fibre
> (the Bell flanker that was referenced) I shed no tears for the provider
> that I left.

The fact that there is no competition left is a very big problem for
consumers.

There is competition, the question is how much?
Right now we have had a duopoly of Rogers(cable) and Bell/Telus(fibre).
Freedom Mobile, now part of Videotron, is moving into home Internet. It's the main reason prices are cheaper in Quebec.
The documentation suggests that Bell and Telus are now encroaching on each others' turf.
And now, of course, we have Starlink, now in Canada.

There are other specialty options. If you're in one of the apartment or condo buildings that has Beanfield availability, you have access to some of the best value Internet in the city. 

The CRTC decision is bad.  Worse: the competition bureau has dropped the ball.

Both true.

Looking down the road there may be room for improvement. One of the truisms of telecom policy is that the Canadian south is expected to overpay for its Internet on the presumption that they are subsidizing access in the North. But i wonder if the newfound access to Starlink may change that paradigm in the medium term.

Wires are a natural monopoly.

Yes, but Internet access can come by DSL, by fibre, by coax and by satellite dish. With the exception of DSL each of those is offered by a different vendor. My house is wired for three of those four, plus I have a roof antenna.
 
The owneres of the wires should not be allowed to use vertical integration to make their monopolies dominant in  so many allied businesses.

We used to be uncompetitive as a country in cell rates but of late that has come down, maybe partially by the expansion of Videotron beyond Quebec. That is only in its infancy and I wish it well.
 
Teksavvy and other ISPs ought to be viable.  After all, that was the government policy.

I don't have experience with resellers beyond Teksavvy (and now EBOX). I repeat that my reasons for changing were non-monetary. Teksavvy is a reseller that is all-too-quick to blame its wholesale suppliers for its own bad actions.

My major anti-competitive beef with Robellus is more focused on being both carriers and owning primary creators of content (CTV, CITY, Sportsnet, TSN, MLSE, Crave, etc). That's an awful conflict.

- Evan