Increased rates!

I still remember the days when having a cell phone was a luxury not a necessity.  It was also very expensive to call a cell phone from a land line. If you realized that you only had a cell phone number for a friend then you usually spoke very quickly if you used a landline to call them.

Of course we are far removed from the days when only a few had access to cell phones. As the situation now is that even primary age children have cell phones.

Whereas back then there was the monopoly and customers had no choice but to stick with one provider newer providers have since come on the scene and broken the monopoly which has resulted in consumers having more options.

New rates

The rates for both cell phone providers have decreased over the years and customers celebrated each time the rates went down. For example, one cell phone provider Flow’had offered customers prepaid plans at a rate of  $3.99 per minute.

This rate had applied to Flow to Flow calls, calls to landlines and to phones from other networks.

There have been some adjustments that will come in effect on March 1, 2018. According to the information sent by the company to their customers via text messages, their rates will be increased to $5.49.

What services will be affected?

The company states that persons on the Talk EZ customers without a data plan and those purchasing the 275MB Flow Lyf Data Plan will be the most affected by the new rates. This means that persons on these plans will pay the new rate when calling landlines, Flow mobiles and other phone networks.

International calling will also be affected as that rate has been increased from $4.49 to $6.49.

The company has claimed that these increased rates are needed in order to  upgrade their system. They state that they will now be able to improve their service as they will provide LTE mobile technology, high-speed broadband and sophisticated television services.

Another advantage according to the company is that more customers will benefit from their service especially those in rural areas.

Reactions to the increase

I asked quite a few people who use the Flow  network if they were aware of the rate increase but most persons didn’t know about it. However, the company has been sending text messages to their customers and there is a message on their website.

When I informed them of the increase, most consumers were not happy as they expressed that they had liked the old rates.

I think it’s great that we will get upgraded and I am all for better service, however I am not looking forward to paying more for my calls.

My credit usually lasts long so it’s obvious that with the new rate increase I will have to buy more credit to talk the same amount of time.

So what’s your take? Let me hear from you!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner Online writer

Tags: cell phones, customers, increased rates, landlines, service