Consumers of telephone services get a bill of rights from federal regulator

Well it is about time that we the consumers get some ammunition against the giants!

By Jennifer Ditchburn

OTTAWA (CP) - Did you know that you're legally not supposed to get calls from telemarketers hawking their goods and services with automated recordings?

Or that your phone service can't be cut off if you agree to a repayment plan for your overdue bill and stick with it? Or that you can have outgoing long-distance calls blocked from your home phone free of charge? The federal telecommunications regulator wants to make sure you do know your rights when it comes to local telephone service.

So Tuesday it released a consumer bill of rights that will find its way onto the websites of the traditional phone companies and into the next edition of the white pages of phone books.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission three years ago asked consumer groups and telephone companies to come up with suggestions for the bill of rights, feeling that the confusing tangle of rules and regulations were hard for the common person to understand or even find.

The phone companies had argued to the CRTC that it didn't need to duplicate information that was already available to consumers in white pages and in their "terms of service" - the small print that comes when signing on to any phone company.

But in the end the commission went with a new set of 16 rights, covering everything from the right to privacy when calling out to the rights of the disabled to phone service.

John Lawford of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre says it's a welcome development.

"The impetus was to make it clear all in one place and understandable for consumers so they could state their rights properly when they had a dispute with the company, and theoretically it should be making everyone happier," Lawford said.

Two of the main areas include rights regarding deposits for service, and when the phone company wants to cut off service - things that cause much consternation among consumers.

Where deposits are concerned, the regulator underlines that the phone company may only ask you for a deposit when you don't have a credit history with them and you don't have a satisfactory credit rating.

The phone company must explain to you why you're being asked to pay the deposit, and offer other options - such as getting a letter of credit from a financial institution. If all else fails, the deposit can't exceed the total of three months of service.

Where cutting off service is concerned, the phone company has to take a series of steps before it cuts off the line. For example, it must offer you the option of entering into a payment plan. And the company cannot cut off your service because you haven't paid your cell phone or Internet bill.

The catch is the bill of rights does not apply to the growing number of competitors for local phone service - Rogers or Primus, for example - only the so-called incumbent firms such as Bell, Telus or SaskTel.

It also doesn't apply to cellphones or long distance.

CRTC commissioner Barbara Cram said the hope is that consumers will be better armed now when they go shopping for local service, asking different companies whether their rights are protected.

"I think people will be able to take their own commercial relationship with their telephone companies into their own hands to a greater extent," Cram said.

The CRTC is encouraging the new players in local phone markets to jump on board with their own voluntary bill of rights, moving towards industry self-regulation. It warns, however, that if the industry can't get it together, it might have to step in with further regulations.

For more about the new CRTC bill of rights, see the following web address:

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-52.htm

Remember, remember the 5th of November!

All I can say is Ah!!! V for Vendetta is like a breath of fresh air after breathing smogg for a while. One of the few original movies after a long lone of crappy movies and remakes that Hollywood passes off as the best movie ever. The Wachowski brothers pull off another masterpeice of a movie. When I saw it in the theater the first time I was on the edge of my seat and loved every minute of the movie. When the DVD came out I rushed to get it and when I saw it again, it didn't disappoint.

I didn't think much of Natalie Portman in the Star Wars movies and didn't expect to see her act in any other movies, but was pleasantly surprised with her performance in this movie. Hugo Weaving's dialog was great. I rewound the part when V and Eve meet for the first time because I loved it so much.

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

Now without going back, how many words start with the Letter V. Post your answer!

If you haven't seen this movie, rent it! For sure, worth every penny! Enjoy!

Back Home!

Ah, back home in Ontario! Don't know what the difference is this time after I got off the plane. collecting my bags and hopped in my car. While I was driving to my Mom's place for a dinner and it hit me like a brick. I noticed the smells of the trees, the cut grass, that smell of mosture just before it's about to rain, the flowers and then I realized that I take all this for granted. like Being able to drive on more than 3 KM of paved road that they have in Iqaluit, plus not worry about hitting the massive potholes either(quite numerous to boot).

The price of food doesn't seem that outrageous down here compaired to the prices up North. $12.49 for 4L of 2% compaired to the $5 we pay down here. $3 for the cheap Bread that we pay $0.99 for. $12 for a Pineapple that is considered outragious at $4. I could go on forever, so I'll just tell you that a one bedroom Apartment the is furnished goes from $2000- 3000, heat and light extra! High speed cable is $80 per month.

This is a good thing that they only have Subway, Pizza Hut and KFC in Iqaluit. but at $21.49 for the one foot combo at Subway and $39.99 for 20 peices of Chicken at KFC it kicked my fast food habit quickly. Even with my cure from the grease monster I still had a need for a real pizza, not Pizza Hut's version of a pizza. I finally cracked and bought a $7 Cheeseburger that goes for $2 down here. I found a Chinese food place in Iqaluit! It wasn't the as good as the Wok house in Prescott, but they did have this elusive red sauce for the Chicken Balls that I've heard of, quite tasty!

This is the second time that I've returned home here in Ontario and realized that how very good we really have it here compaired to the places I've been. So the next time a guy/Gal is whining about some petty thing, I'm just going to slap them!

Snow in July

(inset: Me at Killinek July 2nd, no I didn't slip on the snow!)

I'm up here in the Arctic. I'm posting this from Iqaluit now (N 63 44 49.44 W 68 31 36.36 enter this in Google earth!)

This is my third Arctic trip up here and it has been quite the journey this year! It all started with boarding the CCGS Pierre Radissson in Quebec City. All I can say about spending three days in Quebec City is WOW! I have a new favourite city in North America.

I was a little worried about sailing since it was my first time aboard a ship on the open ocean. So I stocked up in Gravol and prayed that it would not have to be used. We sailed June 21st at 5 AM and it was smooth sailing till we arrived near the Straight of Belle Ilse that the Gravol was needed. I didn't get sick, thank you Gravol! Managed to get my sea legs and the next time the ship was rockin' and rollin' it didn't bother me that much. After Five days of sailing, three through ice, we finally arrived at Killinek ( 60°25'31.74"N 64°50'43.68"W).

I saw a Polar bear and a Seal on the ice when the helicopter was flying me back to the ship at days end. We had a Caribou come into the site at Killinek and was just lying on the snow, so I run back into the building and grab my camera to take some pictures. As I was walking up to the Caribou it got up and started walking away, then it stopped , turned toward me and started walking towards me! The first thing in my head was "crap, do they charge?" because I was about a hundred feet away from it and it didn't look like I could make the building if it did. Thankfully it stopped and I was able to take a few shots and a movie of it.

Well after six and a half days and fourteen helicopter rides at Killinek the work there was done and it was time to sail to Iqaluit. Now I understand why people pay thousands of dollars for a curise in the Arctic! Frobisher Bay was spectacular, the water was smooth as glass, the iceburgs, the mountains and the pack ice, spent hours just looking at it as it passed by the ship.

So, on July 4th one last helicopter ride from the Pierre Radisson and I'm in Iqaluit. Actually it was weird because the town (pop 6000+) is clean for a change. My normal trips to the Arctic is mid May to mid June, the snow has just finished melting and there is garbage all over the place. The weather is very nice +22C and I'm melting! Iqaluit hasn't changed, dirty, dusty and nasty as the last two times, if I wasn't saving money for the house you'd never see me here again. The weather is quite good and sunny, but the mosquitoes are nasty, it is like being gang tackled by a black cloud. Thank the Lord for bug Dope! One nice surprise was the Sylvia Grinnel park. Wow what a beautiful place.

This year I'm in Iqaluit to backfill for the guy here while he goes off to Coral Harbour to start it up for the season. It is a nice break in the 12-14 hour days that I normally do up here. It gave me time to scope out the bars for carvings and I bought four at a great price! I finished up here July 22nd for a nine day break, which wasn't much of a break. I drove 946KM in two days on my Motorcycle then of to Kapuskasing for five days with my wild friend Palmer and a few others. Back for a day to pack my stuff and I was back up here Aug 2nd!

This time it is an antenna replacment project at the transmitter site. The winters are very hard on equipment up here and breaks things all the time. The project went well, other than the contractor cutting the feed to another tower, but that was minor.

I will post my pictures on this Blog as soon as I can figure how to!

Welcome

Well here I am! Finally jumping on the Blog bandwagon to share my thoughts and deeds with everybody!