iPhone headed to Telus and Bell's fancy new HSPA networks next month?
By Paul Miller 
posted October 5th 2009 10:07PM
posted October 5th 2009 10:07PM
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posted October 5th 2009 10:07PM
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How about an end to 3 year contracts instead?!
How bout someone buy this guy a drink!!
While I agree 3 year contracts are ridiculous and I am stuck in one right now, they won't go away.
We're a nation of 33 million people and so it's foolish to compare pricing with America. There are more people in America and so they can afford to give 2 year contracts because there are nearly 300 million plus people.
I also have Bell for satellite because Shaw got ridiculously expensive. I pay nearly $130 a month for HD and most channels. People in India get about the same amount of channels for roughly $10 dollars canadian compared.
Remember last year Rogers made a big deal about how they wouldn't charge for incoming texts like telus and bell and that they look out for the consumer? Well they saw the money being made and as of June this year Rogers also charges for incoming texts unless you subscribe to a plan.
Here's hoping that the inclusion of Bell and Telus allows for some sort of unlimited data plan for the iphone.
@Soulsaber,
People is stares at your avatar. O_o
How about opening the border and allowing cell phone carriers from around the world to come into Canada and compete!
Yea I know, how can a carrier sell a device that has a 1 year warranty on a 3 year contract that has a data plan that can ONLY be used on said device?
at least in the US of A you can buy extended warranty to cover the 2 year period of the contract..
Canada is a joke. Time for ROGERS to take it in the ass!!
Anyway I dont care, I use $100 365 day prepaid cards on the 1 cent evenings and week-ends plan and the $7 unlimited data plan.
AHAHAHAHHH
gotta love SSH nubz!
Fakk iPhone! I got a sweet Telus unlimited data plan using HTC diamond and I would die for a HTC HD2 (Dream). Come on Telus.
The argument that Canada gets 3 year contracts because of the low population base is garbage. Here in Australia (with even less population than Canada), I got a phone on a 1 year contract and was then offered at the end of that a new phone on a new 2 year contract with more value for the same monthly spend.
But you must also take into account the size of Canada and Australia geographically speaking.
unfortunately this isn't the greatest news. Prices are already outrageous on all wireless carriers i can only imagine what kind of scam the 4 majors are cooking up to raise prices even more.
big 4? I only count 3 Rogers Telus & Bell
@Piz
+fido
even though a subsidiary of Rogers. Fido is still a major having more subscribers than telus as a whole.
You can't count Fido. That would be like counting Boost Mobile as a major in the US.
not even close! Fido was independent until a few years ago Rogers Media bought out Fido in order to use it as a way to make more money because the company was doing so well compared to the others.
Fido is a major service provider, though I don't have exact numbers, Fido was bought by Rogers a few years ago and it is (as it was) a major provider in Canada with many subscribers...
More like when AT&T bought Cingular
a little different. they didn't take over fido. they kept it a 100% independent company form there first brand. unlike AT&T who renamed and re branded the company.(if im right? i thought hats what AT&T did.)
Get your facts straight before posting false information.
There are only 3: Rogers, Bell and Telus. MTS is a far 4th.
Fido = Rogers.
Subscriber numbers are never published for Fido because Fido = Rogers.
Fido is just a value brand of Rogers but it's 100% owned by Rogers.
It does not matter whether they were an independent company before they were bought.
All revenue/profit that Fido now makes is reported under Rogers.
Just like Bell has Solo and Virgin as value brands. And, Telus has Koodo.
It's not uncommon that companies keep a separate value brand, that does not mean that they are a separate company!
The subscriber numbers are as follows:
Rogers: 8,156,000
Bell: 6,572,000
Telus: 6,288,000
MTS: 446,293
If you say that Fido has more subscribers than Telus, that means that the Rogers brand has less than 1,868,000 subscribers???
(8,156,000 - 6,288,000)
Get real! Do your research:
http://www.cwta.ca/CWTASite/english/facts_figures_downloads/SubscribersStats_en_2009_Q2.pdf
How about we just make a CDMA iPhone since it has better coverage in the US than GSM and not tie it to a specific shitty provider.
I believe your a bit confused. You can use a GSM phone on ANY GSM network. I have the original AT&T iPhone on Rogers. CDMA is locked down to a specific carrier.
You're right, CDMA is locked down to a specific carrier, but then again, my iPhone is currently locked down to AT&T. I believe you're a bit confused. I'm talking about having a phone that I don't have to jailbreak or unlock.
is this supposed to be a reason for me not to absolutely hate telus....huh canada, i should have chosen the south pole...no big difference
I have a 3G S on ROGERS, they are not the best, I guess its good to see a bit of competition since ROGERS and FIDO (the only carriers of iPhone 3G/3G S) are basically the same company with two different names.
They ARE the same company.
They are still run by independent management and have different targets on the market, where ROGERS focuses on more advanced cellphones and fido focuses on student/cheap plans,,
Though some of what you are saying is true, rogers and fido will eventually meet if you go high enough in the corporate ladder
oh well,Rogers still has better service than AT&T, 30% drop call rate is NORMAL??
Well, the service won't be that bad but paying $110/month is pretty bad.
I personally pay 50 dollars a month + system access fees + taxes which ends up to be about 60 dollars (hurray for free call ID,free rogers to rogers)
but i am a light user with only 250 minutes but is heavy on internet usage (6gb a month cap)
60 dollars is compared to AT&T's 70 dollar plan with unlimited data and 450 min plan
but seriously, if you pay 110 dollar a month, you have either been tricked by telemarketers or didnt do you research
how is this post relevant at all?
i was on this site at 10:08 and I did not see this article
refresh,,
Competition for one phone? Hooray for the Canadian Duopoly.
Eh?
You realise that most people don't even say 'eh' in Canada? And we don't live in igloos or ride polar bears and have pet beavers. And the RCMP (or mounties) only wear the red shirts and those hats as ceremonial items, and we don't drink maple syrup, although you can keep your artificial high-fructose corn syrup otherwise known as Aunt Jemima.
You realize that most people don't even say 'eh' in Canada?
Stupid comment system. That was suppose to say that isn't true.
@ Peter: I don't know where you are, but in Ontario (where > 1/3 of our population lives) the use of 'eh' is quite prolific.
I live in Toronto and love saying eh.
so many Canadians get so testy about others mentioning it like its a bad thing.
I say eh all the time. And I love maple syrup
with canada on the race soon apple store will reach 4 millions apps download
hear that balmer ,start your nail biting.
Finally. Something I tipped them showed up (even though probably hundreds sent them this).
The most important thing to take away from this is that Telus and Bell are finally rolling out their HSDPA+ networks and are now ready to get them active. Screw Rogers and their monopoly on GSM.
Finally, I can get a phone with a SIM and finally have the ability to swap out phones when I need to.
Contract runs out in November, sweet.
How are you able to post your crap all hours of the day?
Do you not work?
seriously.
iPhones might be nice devices and all. But paying for the phone contracts is worse than paying for extended warranties or renting to own. I might as well get a mobile phone from the mafia.
Great. Just my luck. After spending 8 years with Telus (which I enjoyed their service), I just switched to Rogers 2 weeks ago to get the iPhone 3GS. Now I find this out. Just great.. :-(
My Telus contract ended and I was planning on making the same move. Glad I held off. I still might switch to Bell though because although their voice plans are Identical to telus, they have package deals for voice and data which are substantially cheaper
Yes, I agree. A friend of mine just got the Palm Pre through Bell. According to him, he has the same voice and data plan that I have with my iPhone through Rogers, but he pays $15 less a month than I do.
It's true..my friend owned a Fido Show and since Fido sucks so much..he's transferring everything over to Bell - as he told me that Bell is ready for GSM and he will be getting his new phones..
"friendly northern neighbors" - Canadians are not that friendly, get with the times. We're badass and even have a city with hardcore American crime now...
@ Peter - you are wrong on most accounts, Canadians DO say eh, we DO love maple syrup (and many practically do drink - "more syrup on your bacon, why sure"!)
and although its a poor and old fashioned joke, no one actually thinks we live in igloos ... oh wait .. a small percentage of the population does.
Re: the actual post
I agree entirely with the idea that behind the scenes there are fat men smoking cigars, drinking schnapps, and talking together about how the can possibly make more money nickel and diming the lowly plebs to death. Internet and mobile phone providers are all, 100% absolutely rubbish throughout Canada, and Rogers is tops in this category.
In Canada's defense, at least it is not as bad as Australia, where they still live in 1994.