Roland Tanglao's Weblog

The ongoing Fido (and Rogers) r*poff continues. The math: 0.10/0.15 = 66.67%. In a world where every other form of electronic messaging is decreasing in price, Rogers and Fido continue to raise their messaging prices. Needless to say the knock on effect for businesses and innovation and Canada is a net negative. I h*te SMS but it's essential for today's real time business and this is a tax by a member of the Canadian bandwidth oligopoly on businesses and consumers.

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U.S. TEXT MESSAGING RATE CHANGE

Please note that effective July 15, 2008, the rate for sending a text message from Canada to the United States is changing to $0.25 (from $0.15). This change also applies to Text messaging options and certain Value packs, as text messages sent to the United States will no longer be included in the options. Pricing does not include applicable taxes.

Visit fido.ca/text for text messaging rates and other important information.

...

International text message Options

25 international text messages $4

50 international text messages $7

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Better late than never, Globe and Mail. Here's to Rogers coming to their senses and offering the iPhone at an affordable price to Canadians soon.

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Canadians would have to pay $400 for the iPhone, and to use all the iPhone features, about $300 a month in voice and data fees (the iPhone is a heavy user of mobile data transfer). By comparison, AT&T, the sole company offering the iPhone in the United States, allows a plan for $100 that includes 1,350 minutes of voice calls, unlimited data, video voice mail, 200 text messages and unlimited use nights and weekends.

The iPhone would be too expensive for Canadians to buy even if they had a data plan that charged them $100 a month.

So far, Rogers has been sitting on its hands, unwilling to cut its rates because it is still unsure whether there would be enough of a market for the iPhone to offset such a major cut.

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Courtesy of the Hill and Knowlton (Hill and Knowlton Blog) Motorola Bloggers Relation Program, I picked up my free trial Motorola KRZR K1 phone (complete with new phone number and unfortunately locked to Rogers) yesterday. Bottom line so far: for the power multi-media creator user, Nokia's phones are much better and I would pay my own money for a Nokia N95 or N93 or my mythical N999, I wouldn't pay my own money for the KRZR.

Cool

1. Came in an awesome aluminum briefcase
2. Great form factor and light weight
3. USB Charging
4. Text Auto Complete even with ITAP turned off
5. Camera has a nice mirror for self portraits

NOT COOL:

1. Cheesy Operating System (ugly to me but YMMV)
2. Adapter for normal headphones must be unplugged to answer a call!
3. no flash for camera - Nokia flash is not great but better than nothing. Sony Ericsson flashes are much better!
4. the web browser doesn't allow you to change the home page (Rogers bug not Motorola bug?)
5. the web browser is primitive and bad - sorry to be harsh, but compared to Nokia's Web kit browser or Opera, this browser is a toy: it doesn't support upload of attachments to mobile gmail, no way to enter a URL to surf to (you have to create a bookmark), many, many problems
6. ShoZu doesn't work on this phone (Rogers bug?). A phone without ShoZu is like a phone without sunshine :-) !
7. No WiFi - I wouldn't pay my own money for a phone without WiFi
8. No obvious way to upload your photos or videos without going through USB or Bluetooth "chain of pain" - I prefer ShoZu but there's no support to upload photos to flickr and photos and video to Vox which the built in Nokia gallery app on all recent N series phones does
9. Voice Recognition doesn't work for all commands (e,g, I can't turn off Bluetooth with a voice command)

Yes, cellphone fees are a r*poff in Canada compared to both the USA and Europe and data fees even more of a ripoff. Go oligopoly go! NOT!

FROM globeandmail.com: High fees prompt Canadians to leave cellphones on hold (article will go behind paywall; Globe and Mail please change this misguided policy.)

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The report breaks the market into three categories of users. The high-end business user, who uses 1,200 minutes of voice plus data monthly, pays 150 per cent more than a subscriber in the United States.

The average user, defined as someone using 500 minutes a month, pays a 33-per-cent premium. And the light user, someone who keeps the phone packed away most of the month and spurns add-on features such as voice mail and call display, actually comes out ahead, paying 27 per cent less.

However, Canadians pay more in all three categories when compared with Europeans, the report said.

“Canadians aren't tech laggards, as has been suggested in recent discussions on the country's state of wireless phone competition. Instead, they are rational economic beings. Canadians hesitate to buy cellphones or to hit the send button on a cellphone knowing full well the cost at the end of the month will be breathtaking,” it said.

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Best "Why you should buy an unlocked phone" rant ever!

FROM AAS Feature: Unlocking the Mobile Phone: Why we need to go SIM-Free:

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How to free the phone

This is all easier said than done, of course, and much of the change has to be cultural as well as technical or legal. Here are three suggestions that would help bring about this change:

- Phone-locking should be completely illegal.

- Phone network operators should not be allowed to sell phones.

- "Free" phones should not be called free, but labelled exactly like any other product bought on installments with the real total price and interest rate clearly marked on all advertising.

As the Finnish example showed though, the phone operators have a tremendous lobbying power which is difficult to overcome. While we're waiting for enough politicians to realise and accept that the operators are worth taking on, we can make a difference right now by doing the following:

1. Don't buy phones from operators

2. Don't sign long term contracts with operators

3. Buy phones SIM-free from high street and online electronics retailers and other non-operator shops

The more we do those three things, the less power the operators have, and the freer, cheaper and better the phone world becomes.

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[NOTE: Since I don't believe in whingeing :-), this will be my last post complaining about high mobile internet rates in Canada. My last post about this was: Wireless data in Canada is ridiculously expensive | Boris is right.]

I am very lucky to have my grandfathered unlimited mobile data plan from Fido of $50. Last month I used 252 MB of traffic (I am guessing about 75% was transmitting N70 cameraphone 2 megapixel photos via Shozu to flickr and 25% transmitting N70 cameraphone videos MPEG 4 of between 1-3MB each via Shozu to roland.blip.tv)

1. 500 KB plan: $5 + 251 * 30 = $7535
2. 5 MB plan: $25 + (252 - 5) * 10 = $2495
3. 25 MB plan: $50 + (252 - 25) * 30 = $6860
4. 50 MB plan: $75 + (252 - 75) * 30 = $5385
5. 100 MB plan: $100 + (252 - 100) * 30 = $4660

I guess the $50 that I pay is a lot cheaper than $2495 or even $7535 that others have to pay, eh :-) ?!?!

Not to mention the fact that you have to pay "4 ¢ per KB while roaming internationally" (which I guess includes the US). I don't have to pay this roaming fee in the US with my grandfathered plan.

Very interesting and very depressing for Canadians who actually want to create and share their mobile phone's photos and videos using the mobile internet i.e. without going through the "mobile phone to PC via Bluetooth or USB" chain of pain. Can somebody do the math for Rogers, Telus and Bell? Love to know if they are any cheaper! But somehow I doubt it!

From Options you can add.:

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Mobile Internet options
Within Canada and the U.S.

Combine any of these options
with your monthly package. 		Monthly charge
500 KB 		$5
5 MB 		$25
25 MB 		$50
50 MB 		$75
100 MB 		$100
hiptop option - Unlimited data
hiptop device required 		$20

Note 
	

Data transmission charges of 4¢ per KB apply for downloads. Options also available without a monthly airtime package (except 500 KB option and hiptop option), in which case, a system access fee of $6.95 per month applies.


  $5 per month for 500 KB
Combine this option with your monthly package
500 KB of data transmission
Mobile Internet enabled handset or PC Card required
4 ¢ per KB while roaming internationally
Each additional MB costs $30

Taxes, international mobile Internet roaming charges, system access fee ($6.95), and other applicable charges not included.

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  $25 per month for 5 MB
Each additional MB costs only $10
Mobile Internet enabled handset or PC Card required
You can subscribe to the $25 package alone or you may, except in the case of a hiptop or world PC Card, add it to a monthly airtime package.
4 ¢ per KB while roaming internationally

Taxes, international mobile Internet roaming charges, system access fee ($6.95), and other applicable charges not included.

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  $50 per month for 25 MB
Mobile Internet enabled handset or PC Card required
You can subscribe to the $50 package alone or you may, except in the case of a PC Card, add it to a monthly airtime package.
4 ¢ per KB while roaming internationally
Each additional KB costs 3 ¢

Taxes, international mobile Internet roaming charges, system access fee ($6.95), and other applicable charges not included.

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  $75 per month for 50 MB
Mobile Internet enabled handset or PC Card required
You can subscribe to the $75 package alone or you may, except in the case of a PC Card, add it to a monthly airtime package.
4 ¢ per KB while roaming internationally
Each additional KB costs 3 ¢

Taxes, international mobile Internet roaming charges, system access fee ($6.95), and other applicable charges not included.

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  $100 per month for 100 MB
Mobile Internet enabled handset or PC Card required
You can subscribe to the $100 package alone or you may, except in the case of a PC Card, add it to a monthly airtime package.
4 ¢ per KB while roaming internationally
Each additional KB costs 3 ¢

Taxes, international mobile Internet roaming charges, system access fee ($6.95), and other applicable charges not included.

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  hiptop option - $20 per month
Unlimited data
To surf, chat, manage your e-mail, stay organized, take pictures and download.
hiptop device required

Available with the hiptop device only; must be combined with a monthly airtime package. The Unlimited data hiptop option does not include text messages and is subject to certain restrictions. Taxes, international GPRS roaming charges, system access fee ($6.95), and other applicable charges not included.

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Despite my lament for the Canadian mobile market, there's lots of people in Vancouver (and Canada in general) doing cool mobile related stuff so I am sure that the nascent MoMoVan (perhaps merged with Mobile Muse to make MoMoMuse :-) !) will be successful. See you on January 9, 2006 at Take 5 at 429 Granville at 6:30p.m.

From Announcing Mobile Monday Vancouver.:

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Lately I've gotten really tired of reading about all of the great mobile ideas floating around Helsinki, Sinagpore, Tokyo, Rome, London, New York, Austin, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and San Diego. After a couple of afternoons sitting around the Bryght office, and a few emails back and forth with Roland I finally decided that there is no reason we can't start pulling the mobile community in Vancouver together.

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The Canadian mobile oligopoly of Telus, Rogers and Bell will not innovate or produce anything in the mobile space that's innovative and hasn't been pioneered elsewhere (and they will kicking and screaming start to implement mobile number portability). They will also not introduce affordable (to the power users and geeks even) 3G and GPRS will still be a r*poff in Canada. TV phones will be a failure. But it's not all gloom and doom. Luckily cool mobile stuff will abound elsewhere in the world that the oligopoly can copy and we will start to see phones like the N91 that hopefully (fingers crossed) allow us to start routing around the Canadian mobile oligopoly.

Remember my predictions are worth what you pay for them :-)

Prediction number 1: There will be a usable (for early adopters, power users and geeks only unfortunately, the one for "humans" will come in 2007) Voice over WiFi client (using Skype or SIP) on a WiFi phone like the N91. All hail the start of the route around the mobile carriers.

The oligopoly and the CRTC compromise on a deadline that's too little too late. It shouldn't take 18 months! How about July 2006 for Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa and March 2007 for the rest of the country? That would be something that would almost be acceptable. Corporations always talk about the need for world class infrastructure and taxes; how about putting their money where their mouth is and implementing world class mobile number portability sooner rather than later?

From CRTC Shortens Wait Time for Number Portability - Michael Geist.:

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The CRTC yesterday issued its much-anticipated decision involving the implementation of wireless number portability. The Commission mandated number portability by March 14, 2007, about six months faster than the industry proposed, though not exactly the "expeditious" implementation that the government called for last February.

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