CAM-NET CUTS PHONE BILLS 

It is no secret that a war is going on inside your telephone set. This war involves both individuals and businesses. It has a lot to do with cracking monopoly shells in a time of deregulation. It is also no secret that some of the revenue from long distance calls has been used by the previous phone monopoly in creative bookkeeping to subsidize local phone service. That is ending as we progress through the second year of the 1990s. Even those authorities on molasses-action, the C.R.T.C. (Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission), are finally recognizing that the elimination of communications monopolies is the only way to keep Canada from falling behind in global phone service.

I have been using the Vancouver-based CAM-NET phone service for about seven years. My April, 1992 CAM-NET phone bill listed 153 long distance calls, the majority to Canada and the United States, some (the most expensive) to Mexico, and a few to France and Austria. My total bill was $168.14 Canadian dollars! Just a fraction more than $1 a call. For years through B.C. Tel I never enjoyed such low long-distance rates.

CAM-NET doesn't just lease lines from the formerly monopolistic phone company. They have many of their own facilities in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. Their own switching centres allow CAM-NET to maintain their standard of quality and reliability.

Today, you can phone, via CAM-NET, anywhere you can direct dial in the world. Charges accrue in six second increments. This means that on a seven minutes and 6 seconds-long call, you pay only one-tenth of the one-minute rate for that six seconds, not for a full minute as with B.C. Tel. (Maybe it's because the CAM-NET President doesn't draw $400,000 a year). This also applies to foreign calls; previously only calls within Canada and to the U.S. offered the six-second rate. Another valuable feature is that CAM-NET subscribers can access American 800 numbers for a nominal charge. That alone is worth switching.

What does all this mean? It means that, finally, after years of procrastination and downright obstruction, the CRTC is obliged to allow Canadian companies to be at least partially competitive in the global marketplace. I welcome it. It can only get better. The alternative is to be like Mexico (note my bill shown here) where one minute calls cost C$3.19. B.C. Tel still charges C$6.90 for the first three minutes person-to-person to Hawaii (even if you only speak six seconds). CAM-NET is currently giving, as part of a promotional drive for new customers, a free 30 minutes network time to the U.S. or Canada in August 1992. Are they forgetting their old customers, like some phone companies I know? No. Old customers get the free half hour as well!

With monopolies breaking down, one day (hopefully sooner rather than later) some company will offer, unlimited calls anywhere for a flat monthly rate. When that day arrives, all calls will become local calls whether to New Westminster or New Delhi. Via satellite, the terrestrial distance is negligible compared to the 44,600 mile up and down trip the signal to the satellite has to t ake anyway. I can't understand why every home or business doesn't take advantage of this excellent service.

More information:

CAM-NET, P.O. Box 48660, Bentall Centre, Vancouver, BC V7X 1A3. Phone: 604/684-4111.

(Editor's note: Columnist Frank Ogden owns 200 shares of CAM-NET common stock enabling him to attend meetings as a shareholder to gather information).

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