Look at the share price of the telecoms, they fell in the tech bust and with the financial crisis and while they aren't as volatile as pure tech stocks, they also have no where near the stability of utilities or banks. Their earnings per share are half of utilities (like Fortis) and banks (Royal Bank). Also check out the sure and steady increase in Fortis' stock valuation compared to Shaw.
The telecoms have had to invest heavily over the last 30+ years, first transitioning and building out fibre, then buying bandwidth and setting up towers, and then constantly improving capacity to handle 3G, 4G and now 5G which is extremely capital cost heavy. They have had to respond to consumer demands with every advancement in tech, how often do utilities have to do a rebuild?
At the same time they have faced competition from each other, while utilities are generally monopolies, and their cable business has been eroded by streaming services and pirating.
The ever-upwards push for 3G, 5G, 5G is pretty absurd. Meanwhile, rural high speed service is always promised but never delivered, perhaps because they are constantly playing catch-up in the urban areas.
However, the problems I mentioned have nothing to do with any of that. Been a Telus internet customer for many years (since Sympatico, LOL) and never had problems there. Been a Telus phone customer for many more.
The Optik channel selection is decent, the ordering system, and have more options for shows and movies than I could ever actually watch. (I get Amazon Prime for the first time now, as it can be ordered as one of the minor service pack options.)
Not so great on the sports side though - you can either order TSN or Sportsnet, but not both basic ones together, and they will dump a ton of useless sports channels on you you might now want (like golf channels, or TSN/Sportsnet from other time zones, etc). Or else you get a Premium pack that gives you all the sports channels. Hard choice between being an uber-nerd (no sports) or ultra-jock (all sports), with little recourse for the occaisional watcher like me.
But when it comes to Optik's billing fuck-ups , they just seem unable to get it sorted out. I'm not a techie, but after mulling it over (a lot) I swear the problem must be with the ordering method their TV service/ equipment uses. It is just not structured well, and you would think there would be some "Are You sure?" kind of thing or emailed notification/verification process whenever your account is being hit with something that charges money beyond the basic level you are paying for. Instead, the system has a lack of clarity, and no warning for these phantoim orders. Makes me suspicious, that it is deliberate.
