Have your say on a national wireless consumer code – Phase II

Last year we told you that the Canadian Radio- television and Telecommunications Commission (CTRC) was looking for comments on the idea of a national wireless consumer code and encouraged you to make your views known.

We believe that having a single set of standards across the country is important because it would provide equal protection for consumers from coast to coast no matter where they live.

Now the CRTC has taken the comments they received and made them the basis for a draft code that they've posted on-line to encourage further discussion.

We think the CRTC's draft code is a great start and hope it will generate comments and suggestions from Canadians across the country.

When the CRTC released its draft code they highlighted four key areas to be included in the code: easy to understand wireless services and fees; reasonable unlocking policies; ability to set a cap on certain fees; and online tools to monitor usage and any additional fees.

We agree that these are important areas. In fact, we've already incorporated many of those key ideas at Rogers:

• So you know what your monthly bill will be, our ads include all-in pricing, and we provide you with easy to understand cancellation fees.
• You can choose a term commitment or no term. If you choose a term, we give you the option to leave at any time. With our Flextab program, you pay a low price for a smartphone and we spot you the rest. You can upgrade anytime just by paying off your device subsidy.
• You can change your price plan, up or down, at any time during your term, with no fees and with no requirement to extend your term.
• As of March 2013 you can unlock your subsidized phone after 90 days of service, as long as your accounts are in good standing.
• You can easily track your usage. For example- when you travel outside the country you're sent a text that outlines roaming rates and gives you the option to buy a package. We also send you texts to let you know how much data you've used and when your package has expired. You can go to myrogers anytime to track your data, voice or text usage.
• And we've just announced that we will offer an easy, worry-free pay-per-use rate for roaming in the U.S. At $7.99 for access to 50 MBs of data over a 24-hour period, you'll be able to do everything you do at home - surf, tweet, send photos and check maps -  without worrying about extra charges.

Join the online discussion now. The CRTC is accepting comments until 5 p.m. (PST) on February 15, 2013.

We look forward to providing our views at the CRTC's hearings that start February 11. What do you think?