So I finally couldn't take it anymore. I cancelled my mobile with Rogers. I was subscribed to the Family Plan, which I was told would allow me to have two phones sharing one account with free calling between them for $20/month. I was told that and that was why I switched to that plan from my previous plan of $25/month that I was paying for just one phone.

I have never been satisfied with the price of my Rogers services - I was never getting what I paid for. My bills would always be at least double of what my package was advertised as.

Anyway, the past few bills have put me over the top when it comes to being complacent and understanding.

Is that our problem as Canadians? Are we just too accepting of what's the norm that we won't challenge it and force change? I heard Richard Branson on the radio a week or two ago on my drive to work and he was basically laughing at how badly we as consumers are being taken advantage of by mobile phone service providers - which is why, he says, he brought Virgin to Canada - to make things interesting and "save" us from this treachery. Regardless of his company's motives, Virgin's entrance into the market does make things interesting.

For instance, my latest bill for the month of February is $96.78. Now, $18.50 of that is long distance (at $0.75/minute(!)) so I accept that much.
But that's only 6 calls worth, totalling 32 minutes worth of airtime. That means I only used 74 minutes of my 100 day, evening and weekend allotment. So, essentially, I didn't have any local airtime charges but $18.50 for long distance... which is fine, I knew I'd be paying for the long distance calls when I made them.

Where did all the other charges come from? Well, it seems I was mislead on the phone when I was encouraged to switch to the Family Plan. I was never told that BOTH phones would be $20/month EACH. I'll say again, I was clearly informed that it would be "$20 for both phones" not "$20 for each phone".
Regardless, $20 to them is not $20 to me. One of the phones wasn't even being used - in fact, it stayed turned off for the whole month of February - and it was charged $39.62. So double of what they advertised. I can accept the fact that I was locked into a contract and that despite the phone not being used I would still have to pay for it being registered. Fine.
What am I paying double for then? Here's a copy of the bill for one of the phones - the one that wasn't turned on.

Rogers Wireless Family Plan (Feb 28/05 to Mar 27/05) $20.00
Call Display (Feb 28/05 to Mar 27/05) 5.00
911 Emergency Svc Access Fee (Feb 28/05 to Mar 27/05) 0.50
System Access Fee (Feb 28/05 to Mar 27/05) 6.95
Essential Value Pack (Feb 28/05 to Mar 27/05) 7.00
Total Wireless charges $39.45
...

I received a $5 credit for the call display which brought it down to $34.45, but after taxes it was back up to $39.62.
So a fee of $6.95 for accessing a system which I didn't access. Essential value pack of $7 which I didn't subscribe to - and if it's so essential than why isn't it bundled into the $20 cost of the package.

My bill for January wasn't much better at $79.24 and I barely used both phones that month, too.

So yesterday I was in the mall and stopped by a phone store - and after a couple quick calculations in my head I decided it'd be more cost effective to cancel from Rogers right now (and pay $200/phone) and switch to Virgin than to stay on with Rogers for the last remaining 11 months of my contract.

Basically, I'd be paying $800+ if I stuck it out with Rogers and I'd still have to find a new carrier after the contract expired, whereas I can pay the $400 to cancel, plus my last bill of $96.78 AND buy a $159 phone with Virgin and I'd be saving money.

For those unaware, Virgin offers pay as you go for $0.25/minute with no contract or signup fees or any of that and whatever credit you add to your account lasts for 120 days - and the services offered from Rogers in their "Essential Value Pack" at $7/month like voice mail, call display and call waiting are all included in the $0.25/minute Virgin offer.
Oh - you get a $10 starting credit when you go Virgin, too.

This works for me as I don't normally make many phone calls and the calls I do make don't last long. 106 minutes for the month of February was a lot and I don't see myself using nearly that much in the future - but then again, 106 minutes at $0.25/minute is still only $26.50 total - not $96.78.

I guess this makes my Blackberry obsolete - Good thing there's eBay.