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Rogers' iPhone Exclusivity in Canada to End Next Month?

I'd like to buy an iPhone, but the contracts (especially Data) are priced beyond absurdity. Hopefully with a few extra carriers prices will come down. That said in Canada with the sale of various frequencies there should be at least 2 more national cellphone companies next year.
 
numbersyx said:
I don't know about that. Telus's data rates have been much better than Rogers. I could easily see a price war between them.... And the new carrier will only accelerate that...
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I'll agree with Telus data rates. I have a $40 all you can eat data plan that allows tethering. I'm not sure if the tethering is because of the WinMo ROM I have on my phone, but I don't get billed for it.

Not that I want an iPhone, but it's nice that you might not have to sell your soul to satan to get one in Canada.
 
DARKiLLUSiON said:
take that Rogers and to the people never believed that Bell/Telus to change their network and carry the iPhone 😀)
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Bell and Telus aren't changing their networks for the iPhone. They are upgrading their networks to support GSM in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

The following is from a 9to5mac article http://www.9to5mac.com/canadian-iphone-monopoly-busted and has more information:

"This is a shocker to us down here south of the border because until recently, Bell and Telus didn't have GSM/EDGE/HDSPA Networks. According to the report, Bell and Telus have rushed to get their new network in place before the holiday shopping season and the Vancouver Olympics. Bell argues that its version is more advanced than Rogers' because it uses the latest version of the standard, called HSPA+, which is capable of download speeds of up to 21 megabits per second. Rogers, which has used GSM technology since 2001, is still in the process of converting its entire national network to the HSPA+ standard. Last month it said the new technology is in place in five cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

You hear that AT&T? The Canadians will be riding a 21Mbs network next month! We're fumbling along on 3.6Mbs - if we are very lucky. That's two generations we're behind."
 
Finally, thank god. Rogers is the most overpriced provider there is. Hopefully this will tremendously lower the cost of a monthly plan.
 
Canada's coverage, carriers, and plans are all quite shocking. I travel to Toronto for business and can't believe the amount Canadians pay for mobile services.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to pricing after Rogers and Bell get some real competitors (ie beyond sub-companies Fido and Telus). WindMobile and Public Mobile launching should help normalize mobile prices. (And maybe then I'll be able to get a travel prepaid plan that doesn't come with a $100 setup fee)

Until that day Canadians will have to stay bent over to receive their 'service'.
 
TEG said:
It is going to take some time before Tellus or Bell can even handle the iPhone, as both are CDMA carriers. Rogers/Fido only had it because they were/are the only GSM carrier(s) in Canada. This also leads credence to the rumor of T-Mobile Canada starting early next year.
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You are SO wrong.

Bell & Telus already have working HSDPA towers across the country in testing since last November. I've personally been able to pick-up their towers here in Toronto for the past month. Do a search on your iPhone 3GS, BB Bold, Nokia E71 or similar 3.5G device and you'll pick it up (Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver which'll launch officially before December and for Winter Olympics there). you cannot build a network nationwide or even in 1 province in just 3mths.

1. Telus official announcement to go HSDPA & LTE for the future is here.
http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/news_viewer.cgi?news_id=956&mode=2&news_year=2008

oh and HSDPA codes:
220 Telus
221 Telus Mobility Temporary
610 Bell Mobility
640 Bell Mobility
720 Rogers Wireless
860 Telus Mobility
880 Telus/Bell shared
370 Microcell (Fido now owned by Rogers for the past 7yrs)

(Source: http://www.cnac.ca/other_codes/imsi/imsi_codes.htm)
& Yes they'll be operating on the SAME 850/1900Mhz HSPDA/HSPA bands that Fido & Rogers are already established on.
PS this news was first posted early afternoon over at HowardForums.
 
sydcansam said:
Canada's coverage, carriers, and plans are all quite shocking. I travel to Toronto for business and can't believe the amount Canadians pay for mobile services.
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Oh! Didn't you get the "memo"??!?? Smaller local calling areas, courtesy of Rogers & Fido. This SHOULD be enough for you to FINALLY cancel your countract without obligation or cancellation fees because your Contract is ACTUALLY materially changed as of October 1st 2009.

I'll keep Rogers for a short time more - just signed another 3yr contract just to have my precious (iPhone 3GS but it seems I may have been too early).

Its ok because iPhone 4HS will have HSPA 10Mbps Down/2-4Mbps Upload speeds. If Nokia can do this on the E72, E55, E52, 5630XM then I KNOW Apple can get this down. The need for a Rocket usb-stick for data surfing is getting closure to a moot point now.

numbersyx said:
Virgin is owned by Bell? When did that happen??? I just thought they piggy backed on Bell's network...
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Bell owns the network towers in the Eastern Provinces in Canada, while Telus own's those in the West. They've had a binding and LONG, large contract to share each others network for ALL their customers since 2000.

Common guys, I thought you'd all be on top of this and a quick google should give you all you need. we're only some 10-13million users on cellphones across this country and less than half using data on those cellphones/smartphones.
 
sushi said:
I know one place that this will probably not happen, and that is Japan. 🙁
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Maybe it will - there is a new government in Japan who isn't as willing to bend over backward for corporate interests. Maybe in the next couple years you'll see an economy that emerges based on competition and innovation rather than the cronie capitalism that exists today.
 
while i do appreciate at&t taking the leap of faith to put the iphone on their network and therefore allowing for the creation and implementation of the iphone . . . at&t sucks. the network is abysmal, the customer service is about as bad as it gets, and they over charge. yes, they have their exclusivity monopoly deal, but i hope it comes to an end and consumers are given a choice for who their network provider will be. canada losing exclusivity for one company hopefully bodes well for the american consumer soon!!!
 
I've heard that Bell and Telus are somehow related (owned by parent company or something like that). Can anyone verify?
 
This is excellent BECAUSE it will show everyone what happens to iPhone service plans in North America when there is competition.
 
hNicolas said:
Bell and Telus have been building a GSM network and the have alreday been testing in some areas. Here in Ottawa I have been picking up a mysterious numbered network for a few months now. I can send a pic when I get on my Mac at home.
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Here's what I see...

3986591734_1075ebe6fc.jpg
 
uMac said:
I'd like to buy an iPhone, but the contracts (especially Data) are priced beyond absurdity. Hopefully with a few extra carriers prices will come down. That said in Canada with the sale of various frequencies there should be at least 2 more national cellphone companies next year.
Click to expand...

I'm with Fido, and I pay $70 / month for the following:

- 100 min
- Unlimited Early Evenings (5pm) & Weekends
- 6GB Data / Month
- IPhone Value Pack (visual voicemail.. caller id.. etc)

I wouldn't call $70 / month excessive at all.. it's better than what most of my friends pay each month for there much older phones.. with crappier plans. To go over the entry level 500MB plan each month you have to do a **** load of downloading... but then you can usually find a wifi hotspot to use in the city. Only reason I opted for the 6GB plan.. was so I could tether if needed. What a great feature.

The plans that Rogers debuted the iPhone at were insane... these days.. I think they are quite reasonable... especially if you are going with Fido.

just saying... could be worse... we could have to use At&t....
 
Same here, but I'm sure we'll see one more carrier choice by next month, unless this numbered carrier selection will be used by both Bell and Telus.
Anyway, competition is good!
 

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Stella said:
HSPA isn't GSM.. Vanilla GSM ( non HSPA compatible ) phones will not work on HSPA networks.
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Yes it is 3G GSM. Google is your friend. There are several different generations of GSM. Some countries decided to skip 2G (Edge) and go directly to HSPA or UTMS which are both 3G GSM standards. The iPhone supports both HSPA/HSDPA and UTMS networks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_Packet_Access

http://www.apple.com/ca/iphone/specs.html
UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Click to expand...

This page shows what Telus and Bell are offering soon:
http://www.gsmworld.com/ROAMING/GSMINFO/cou_ca.shtml

Note that it is from the GSM standards group and that they list Bell and Telus as offering GSM soon?
 
monke said:
Now lets just hope Telus doesn't bring back 4 year contracts...
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Four year contracts? Holly cow Batman!

macintoshtoffy said:
Maybe it will - there is a new government in Japan who isn't as willing to bend over backward for corporate interests. Maybe in the next couple years you'll see an economy that emerges based on competition and innovation rather than the cronie capitalism that exists today.
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Who knows.

After living for over 20 years in Asia, I don't see Japan changing all that quickly. Although I would love to be wrong. 🙂

BlueRevolution said:
I would! I pay $10/mo for 100 minutes (10¢/min) pay-as-you-go with Telus.
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That's a decent rate.

Here in Japan, with SoftBank, you can use the White Plan (WP) or Double White Plan (DWP). The WP costs 980 yen per month and each minute costs 42 yen per minute. The DWP costs 1,960 yen per month and each minute costs 21 yen per minute. The break even point is around 47-48 minutes.

One nice thing about SoftBank is that you can call from SoftBank headset to SoftBank headset for free from 0100 to 2100 daily. From 2100 to 0100, calls cost per the rates above.

The free calls between SoftBank headsets can come in handy. 🙂
 
I honestly don't see iPhone coming to Verizon or Sprint unless they use GSM technology. I personally think AT&T is better than T-Mobile (at least in my opinion), so if Apple thinks the same way as me, then they probably wouldn't open out the iPhone to them, with the logic AT&T is better.
 
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