Tag Archives: Rogers

Canadian Cell Phone Rates Throttle Mobile Web Innovation

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Canadians pay among the highest cellphone rates in the western world, according to a new international report by the OECD that has reignited calls for greater competition and regulation in Canada’s wireless sector.

Any way you slice it, technology consultant Jesse Hirsh said Canadians aren’t getting a good deal from the country’s three large carriers because the trio — Telus, Rogers and Bell — make up an oligopoly that “are all ex-monopolies and they think and act like monopolies. They’re less interested in innovation and more interested in the least amount of effort that they can make to charge the highest price.”

That is why the iPhone was so long delayed here in Canada and you should not expect that the exciting innovation represented by Google Voice will be available in Canada anytime soon.

The Mobile Web is a major sector for technological investment and innovation. It is heart-breaking that Canadian involvement is severely weakened by the dog-in-the-manger attitude of the Canadian cellphone oligopoly. Their short-sighted focus on maximising short term revenues from existing customers does both them and the Canadian economy a major disservice. One can only hope that the Canadian Government puts a high priority on changing this situation. In terms of reward on effort, it would be one of the most important dossiers they have.

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Canada’s Mobile Web, Once More Behind The Rogers Ball

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Will Canada lose out on Google phones too?

The big news today is that Google will not have a Gphone but hopes to provide open-source software that will power cell phones around the world. That’s very exciting but apparently Canada is not included.

Google will offer free software to anyone who wants it under the relaxed terms of an open-source license, which will allow developers to view the source code for that software. “Today’s announcement is more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’ that the press has been speculating about,” Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in a statement. “Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.” This will all happen under an umbrella group called the Open Handset Alliance.

Eight carriers have agreed to ship handsets based on the Google platform: Sprint and T-Mobile U.S.A. in the United States, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in Japan, T-Mobile International in 10 European countries and the United Kingdom, China Mobile, Telefonica in Spain and Telecom Italia.

The list of the supporters of the Open Handset Alliance includes most of her the movers and shakers in the industry: Aplix, Ascender Corporation, Audience, Broadcom, China Mobile, eBay, Esmertec, Google, HTC, Intel, KDDI, Living Image, LG, Marvell, Motorola, NMS Communications, Noser, NTT DoCoMo, Nuance, Nvidia, PacketVideo, Qualcomm, Samsung, SiRF, SkyPop, SONiVOX, Sprint Nextel, Synaptics, TAT – The Astonishing Tribe, Telecom Italia, Telef?nica, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile, Wind River

One perhaps not surprising non-participant is AT&T, the sole U.S. carrier to offer the Apple iPhone. Since Rogers is associated with AT&T in the iPhone and Rogers has been extremely tardy in supporting the Mobile Web, there are no obvious signs that Google Phones will be here any time soon. It would seem to be a glorious opportunity for one of the Rogers competitors to take an end run around Rogers and offer such Google phones. How else will Canada ever develop any strength on the Mobile Web?

Related:
Google unveils mobile-phone software strategy – Mercury News
Google confirms its mobile Linux plans – ZDnet
Google’s Android Arrives: Not Gphone But An Open Source Mobile Phone Platform – SearchEngineLand
A ?phone for Christmas
Where’s my Gphone? – Official GoogleBlog
Mobile Web – O Canada
Mobile Web Canada

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A ?phone for Christmas

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Comwave owns the iPhone trademark in Canada

Will the iPhone be here for Christmas? If so, what will it be called?

Matthew Ingram spreads a rumour started by The Boy Genius that the Canuck version of the iPhone could be in the shops for Christmas. Supposedly an ad will be appearing from Rogers that promotes the iPhone at a price of $499 with a three-year contract. That’s very steep but is in line with their other pricing arrangements for anything connected with the Mobile Web.

Apparently Rogers and Apple are being very coy about the timing. Since Comwave owns the iPhone trademark in Canada, undoubtedly there is some keen negotiation going on at present to free up the name. It would be a shame to have some other first initial and G may well be taken.

Related:
Mobile Web – O Canada
Mobile Web Canada

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Friendly Manitoba Telephone Service

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Friendly Manitoba is now Spirited Energy

As we drove across Canada on our move from Montr?al to Langley BC, one of the pleasurable surprises was the way our Telus cell phones operated for much of the way. Our 4000-km trip along the TransCanada Highway passes through some very rugged and beautiful country and it was not surprising to lose reception from time to time. However in general we felt connected with the world.

The exception was as we crossed the border from Ontario into Manitoba. Suddenly we lost the ability to receive calls or messages or to send them. Instead there was a message telling us that we must use MTS and a number was given for more information. Unfortunately at that number there was only a recorded voice to tell us that their offices were closed. According to their website, MTS Allstream is a major telecommunications company.

MTS Allstream has a unique position within the Canadian telecommunications market, as the only incumbent telephone company – as the former monopoly in Manitoba – to fully embrace a pro-competitive national growth strategy. MTS Allstream offers residential and business local, long distance, Internet, digital television and wireless services in Manitoba, and is the number one competitor to the other incumbent telephone companies in the business markets in the rest of Canada.

How could this be happening? After all, isn’t this Friendly Manitoba. The province is changing its tagline to Spirited Energy but this could hardly be the explanation for this poor service.

With a little research it turns out that the problem may arise with Telus. Apparently their coverage in Manitoba is only for the Metropolitan Winnipeg area, the area marked in red below.

telusmanitoba.gif

If we had stayed with Rogers, then Manitoba would not have been so unfriendly. Their coverage is greater in Manitoba (see red area below). However they still have gaps along the TransCanada Highway.

rogersmanitoba.gif

Despite this small shortcoming, we still remain extremely satisfied with our switch from Rogers to Telus. The service in so many respects, particularly through customer service, is superior. Our TransCanada journey was much improved by the end-to-end service.

Related:
Attention Gary Doer: No one knows what “Spirited Energy” means
Spirited Energy
Vibrant Energy – Montreal or Manitoba

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Mobile Web – O Canada

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Will Canada ever have a Mobile Web?

if you’re concerned about the lack of a Mobile Web in Canada, two items in the Montr?al Gazette may well deepen your gloom.

Pierre Karl P?ladeau, chief executive of Quebecor Inc., in a speech to a business group in Toronto, said new technology like Apple Inc.’s iPhone is being held back in Canada by the “oligopoly” of the three existing wireless operators owned by Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and Bell Canada Inc. With the lack of competition, data transmission costs are held at ridiculously high levels. As P?ladeau said,

Canada has to throw off the regulatory yoke and give the private sector the chance to be entrepreneurial. By restricting access to new media, we are condemning traditional media to mediocrity and decline.

Apparently P?ladeau was taken to task after his speech by Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility, who said Bell offers unlimited data transmission for $79 a month, and unlimited Internet surfing for $7 a month. That’s not how Mathew Ingram sees that offer in his bitchy Canadian telecom post yesterday.

It’s all well and good that our dollar officially hit parity with the U.S. greenback today, but it sure would be nice if we could get something approaching real competition in the mobile telecom market in Canada. Then maybe certain carriers who shall remain nameless – but whose names start with a B and rhyme with “hell” – wouldn’t be able to pull stuff like this.
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Bell is promoting a $75-a-month “unlimited” data plan that uses a wireless PC card – but it has some pretty ridiculous restrictions. Not only does it have an umbrella clause that says you can’t use your connection in a way that “consumes excessive network capacity in Bell’s reasonable opinion,” but it also tells you what you can’t do with your connection.

The Gazette story just below the P?ladeau item outlines another barrier in the march towards a Mobile Web. The iPhone, made by Apple Inc., has been available in Canada in a grey market. Rogers does not prohibit the use of foreign phones in its network, but the company has made it clear that devices acquired outside the company are not eligible for technical support. The device can be sold officially only through U.S. carrier AT&T, but last month a New Jersey student discovered how to hack it so it can work on other networks. According to some independent vendors of Rogers Wireless service, the cellular operator told its network of stores to stop activating accounts on the device, which has not been officially launched in this country. These vendors say Rogers wants to control the availability of the iPhone in Canada until it can sell the device in its own stores and on its terms.

According to the latest news Rogers is not buying Shaw despite the rumours. This would no doubt have given them similar organizational indigestion to that they exhibited in acquiring Sprint Canada. Hopefully they can now put their minds to how they can boldly grow the Mobile Web in Canada. It would be in their and our best interests.

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