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The parent AC is mostly incorrect. The major telecoms only emphasise post-paid plans, but do have pre-paid available without the need to purchase a phone. They don't want to sell them to you however, and will only tell you about pre-paid if you visit their website or ask them specifically.

In Canada there a dozen or so MVNO's, most of whom operate on a pre-paid model in addition to the 'big three' incumbent companies. Each of the 'big three' providers (Rogers, Bell, Telus) owns one or two MVNO's. Rogers has Fido and Chatr, Bell has Virgin and Telus has Koodo. There are also several highly regional carriers (SaskTel, MTS, Lynx, TBayTel, ICE Wireless, etc.) that offer services where the 'Big 3' do not operate (Northern Quebec, Northwest Territories, Northern Ontario, etc.).

All that being said, there is only one major GSM network, the Rogers/Fido network. Thus, (until 2008/2009) only Rogers/Fido were offering pre-paid plans you could use with a GSM phone. Telus and Bell were CDMA. In the last few years Telus and Bell have built their own HSPA+ network. Now that they have a network that takes SIM cards, all three of the major players are offering inexpensive pre-paid SIM cards, with fairly expensive per-minute rates (40c/minute, unless you get a pre-paid 'plan'. Some of the plans are even 'free' if you top up frequently enough).

Further muddying the waters is the fact that most of the MVNOs don't specialise in pre-paid 'long distance' rates or pre-paid 'local' rates. Part of this is because of foreign ownership restrictions. These have been recently eased, but are still tighter than most other countries. Canada is also extremely large, with a small population. Canada is the size of Europe, with 10x fewer people. England, is approximately the same size as Southern Ontario (130,000km^2), but England has 50,000,000 people and Southern Ontario has 12,000,000. Let us not forget that a large part is because the owners of the networks don't want to give anyone a better deal than they give their own customers, at least not appreciably.

All that being said, the 'big three' all offer prepaid SIMs for $10-$20 dollars, so do most of their sub brands. The MVNOs Petro-Canada Mobility and 7-11 'Speak out' wireless are reasonably easy to find and offer prepaid services depending on where you are visiting.

Rogers Wireless - http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/plans#,Tabset1--4
Telus Mobility - http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/prepaid/rate-plans.shtml
Bell Mobility - http://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Cell_phone_plans/Prepaid_plans

Big three 'sub brands' (frequently with regional restrictions ie: major cities):
Virgin Mobile - Bell Mobility - http://www.virginmobile.ca/en/plans/prepaid-talktext-plans.html?itcid=NAV:58
Koodo - Telus Mobility - http://koodomobile.com/en/on/plansandboosters.shtml
Fido - Rogers Wireless - http://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/Fido/PrepaidPlans?forwardTo=prepaidPlans
Chatr - Rogers Wireless - http://www.chatrwireless.com/web/chatr.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PlanBrowse

Regional Operators:
Sasktel - http://www.sasktel.com/personal/mobility/prepaid/index.html
MTS - http://www.mts.ca/mts/personal/wireless/mts+prepaid+wireless ... etc.

Independent MVNOs:
Petro Canada Mobility - (Rogers Network) -

This news comes on the heels of some of the larger Mobile carriers recently launching their GSM (most 3.5G) networks.

Before very recently there was only one company in the entire country that utilized GSM and that was Rogers. Every other company was CDMA. There were a few other company names that used GSM, but they simply bought/rented bandwidth off of Rogers towers. The largest of which was Fido, however they were eventually bought up by Rogers.

This sounds like a good thing to me and I hope it goes through. It probably wont because Telco's here have a lot of power just like they do in the USA.

My provider is set to launch their GSM network in a few weeks and I'm pretty excited.

..and, by that logic, maybe cut long term costs overall given that they will realize up front that a subset of their customers cannot even use their site because it is not supported by common mac browsers, etc. I know I had this problem with http://fido.ca/ -- it appears as though they fixed the site now, but how many calls to tech support and how much re-inventing or patching up a poorly engineered site after the fact?

Note: The networks you're mentioning from Telus and Bell are UMTS only, with no 2G GSM support at all. Won't matter in 5-10 years, but just a heads up.

The problem people don't really seem to get about mobile pricing and "competition" in Canada is that it really is a system with only two sides Rogers and Telus/Bell. Telus and Bell themselves barely compete as their pricing structures are nearly identical beyond minor differences, which makes sense given their Network Sharing Agreements.

Fido is effectively the WestJet of our carriers, cherry picking the majority of their clients within high population density areas, which did make them a competitor within the major cities and a large portion of the market until about 2004 when they became wholly owned by Rogers.

Some people may mentioned the MVNO's Koodo and SOLO Mobile not realizing that Koodo is effectively a slightly lower margin Telus, and Solo Mobile is Bell (down to the same exact 'customer service' tools, except I believe Solo CSSR's are primarily through Canadian based subcontractors only).

Given these details, you see we have effectively two sides only. Two sides which somehow magically conviced everyone in the country that it makes sense for them to have doubled the price (two-sided billing) of per usage SMS's from 15c to 30c a piece. Two sides that maintain suspiciously close pricing that tends to vary only by small amounts for specific cases. Two sides that maintain a consistent CHURN back and forth between the two sets of groups generating Long Term Contract Charges and a variety of fine print charges so that when One is considered the evil, users switch to the other (with similar THEY ARE THE WORST rants concerning the business model in either case, rogers OR bell). The only reason it works is that the worst things only happen to a low enough percentage for each carrier that after they ragequit and go to the other side, its unlikely for it to happen again to the same person (post 90 day billing errors that are considered valid so long as client wasnt able to ask the right question to a CSSR before the 90 days was up thanks to the Consumer Protection Act [HAH], defective merchandise that is considered not covered under warranty but still generated a contract with a valid LTCC charge if cancelled [*cough*AUDIOVOX*cough*], etc).

The long and short of it is Telco companies have us by the short hairs up here in Canada. Heres hoping WIND Mobile takes off, but given that they only launched in friggan December, i cant have an opinion quite yet.

it's been in Canada for years! My first cell phone was billed by the second with Fido http://www.fido.ca/web/Fido.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=MonthlyPlans/ .... There's only one problem with that: they only do it with suscription plans, meaning that you get billed by the minute if you're using prepaid like i am now...

>the UK is EXTORTIONATE in comparison

You think so?

How about $6/mb? Until just recently, that was considered "cheap" in Canada. I notice that within the past 3 months we finally have a 3G provider! Only $65/GB! How competitively priced.

Especially since Canada had unlimited cellular internet about 5 years ago from Fido for $50/monthly. That went away once Rogers bought them. Quelle surprise!

AT&T has always had overpriced data plans, and the iPhone plan is no exception ($20/month for unlimited).

I am using a hiptop2, which when set to vibrate, vibrates based on the selected ringtone. So when a silent tone is selected, it won't vibrate at all.

Fido http://www.fido.ca/portal/en/packages/monthly.shtm l
Unlimited incoming: $25
Any time: $20
Fido to Fido: $25

Telus http://www.telusmobility.com/bc/plans/pcs/index.sh tml
Talk a lot 20: $20
Urban Talk 30: $30
Or there's their prepaid plans which can be cheaper if you don't call much: http://www.telusmobility.com/bc/plans/payandtalk/i ndex.shtml

Rogers/Cantel http://www.shoprogers.com/store/wireless/services/ plans_and_options.asp
MegaTime from $20

I'm not sure how much you expect cellphone service to cost; but $20-30/month (note each plan has a system access fee of about $8) is pretty reasonable, and many offer free or cheap phones.

Be assured, $0.02 per kB is absurdly cheap compared to Canada. Here's one of the the easier to link provider's pricing page (their rates are nearly equal to the nearly impossible to link Rogers, who are the #2 largest provider in Canada, and Bell, the #1 largest cellular internet provider in Canada is more expensive).

$40 in Canada buys 7 megabytes of cellular internet through Fido. You can verify it yourself, but Rogers (if the link works) gives you 7 MB also, and Bell (LOL if that link works) gives you either 1 MB of data service for $45 on your Blackberry (dead serious), 4 MB of data on your Palm for $40, or 8 MB on a PC Card (they will not service anything else).

(Oh, and yes, I am considering purchasing a US cellphone and using it in roaming mode in Canada to save money. Stupid, but true. I looked up the pricing plans, and while I've not found anything as good as what you mention, $0.002 per kB is absurdly cheap here.)

Cellular internet *was* $50 a month flat rate from almost all the providers several years ago. However, the impetus for that rate was from Fido, who were purchased by Rogers to quash service rates like that. Aren't monopolies great?

http://www.fido.ca/

Ahha! Finally something that Canada can tout as having before the US. On the Fido network up here, there is a service called #DJ. It does the same thing. And at only $1 per call, it's a steal.

Ahha! Finally something that Canada can tout as having before the US. On the Fido network up here, there is a service called #DJ. It does the same thing. And at only $1 per call, it's a steal.

Not at all new. Fido (aka Microcell) now part of the Rogers family launched '#DJ' service last year around this time.

This type of service has been available in Canada from Fido for some time now.

On macslash.org, there was an Ask MacSlash about iTunes somehow figuring out what songs sounded good together using some crazy sonic algorithm. The guy was asking if it was plausible that iTunes analyzed the songs in the playlist to spit out the best mix possible.

Well, there is ways of analysing the song to figure out what type of song it is -- There is actually a very intelligent professor at my local University that has developed an algorithm/program that can tell with a pretty good idea what type of song it is. (that might not be a correct link, I was poring over their website to try and find any information about the software/visiting professor and I can't say that I recall all the details exactly.. =\ ) I saw a demo of it in a class one time when he was a guest lecturer and it was pretty impressive.

Not to mention that DJ thing you can do with a phone.

I've recently hooked myself up with a similar set-up, and have recently been writing about it in my journal. I'll detail it a bit here.

Here's what I'm running:

• Cell Phone: Sony Ericsson T610.
• Handheld: PalmOne Tungsten C
• Laptop: Apple PowerBook G4 (12")
• GSM/GPRS Provider: Fido
• Handheld SSH software: pssh

How everything is connected:

• The PowerBook is outfitted with WiFi (802.11g) and Bluetooth, using WiFi when at home/office, and GPRS through the T610 via Bluetooth when on the road.
• The Tungsten C is outfitted with WiFi (802.11b) and InfraRed, using WiFi when at the home/office, and GPRS through the T610 via IR when on the road (technically I can get it online via WiFi if I use the PowerBook as a bridge in ad-hoc mode, but it is exceedingly rare that I'd ever need to have both the laptop and the T|C online at the same time when outside WiFi range).

So far, this is a set-up I'm quite pleased with. The only way it could be better were if the Tungsten C supported Bluetooth as well as 802.11b.

I can't recommend Bluetooth highly enough for this sort of connectivity either. So long as I'm within 10m of the phone, I can connect to it from the laptop. And Mac OS X's Bluetooth support is excellent -- I'm able to synchronize my contact list and calendar, transfer files back and forth, send and receive SMS messages from my desktop, dial phone numbers, and connect to the internet -- all without wires, or any set-up hassle.

SSH has been important for me, as one of my primary uses for this sort of connectivity will be CVS source repository access through SSH.

I've only had the phone for a week, but I'm quite pleased with it in general. I could have done without the camera portion I suppose (the resolution and quality is terrible), but might come in handy for something someday.

Overall, the set-up appears to be working well, and I'm as pleased as punch with it. Everything is nicely portable, and I have instant access everywhere I go. Set-up has been a snap, and everything works as expected. Now if only I could get cable modem speeds out of this set-up, I'd never work at a desk ever again :).

Yaz.

Fido, a Canadian GSM cellular service provider is beginning to roll out a service called iFido... wireless 2.2Mbps internet access. Currently it's only available in certain areas of BC, but myself and a few others here in Winnipeg are (im)patiently waiting for it to come to the rest of Canada.

I'll be glad when I can finally move 100% away from the phone and cable companies here. Right now, I'm 100% off the phone company (MTS), using Fido for my phone service, but still stuck with Shaw (cable) for high speed internet access while using satellite for TV.

~jaraxle

There's similar service already running here in BC run by Fido (Microcell) Check out the link ifdo Not sure about the Technology it uses, the website is not very forthcoming about the specs.

In my experience, Fido is quite similar.

No, CityFido is similar. Fido's other popular packages include their cheap pre-paid rates, and their Fido to Fido packages.

Fido is also the only Canadian carrier to offer the HipTop, which seems to be popular among the young crowd.

In my experience, Fido is quite similar.

No, CityFido is similar. Fido's other popular packages include their cheap pre-paid rates, and their Fido to Fido packages.

Fido is also the only Canadian carrier to offer the HipTop, which seems to be popular among the young crowd.

In my experience, Fido is quite similar.

No, CityFido is similar. Fido's other popular packages include their cheap pre-paid rates, and their Fido to Fido packages.

Fido is also the only Canadian carrier to offer the HipTop, which seems to be popular among the young crowd.

OT:

Anyone else notice the ads for the "ROKU network music player" Quite a nifty looking device, and if I were looking for a network music player, I'd look into it. But you'd have to pry my audiotron from my cold dead hands.

We don't have wireless portability... Well, not exactly.

Some of the wireless carriers are also registered as CLECs. This means you can port wireless numbers to wireline numbers, then to another wireless carrier. It's kludgey as hell, and only one wireless carrier (Microcell communications) is a CLEC nationwide. They tend to push the ability to move your home phone # to a mobile, and unplug from a landline, rather than move your cell number from another carrier. It sometimes screws up text messaging services, and prevents analogue roaming because of billing problems, but it works.

Microcell's $50CDN unlimited mobile internet plan includes unlimited GPRS in the united states as well as canada. Good to know if you use them.

Long Distance - $45 per month
400 anytime minutes (Billed by the second)
250 minutes of long distance within Canada and to the U.S.
50% discount on (other)international long-distance rates
Voice Messaging with Instant Reply
Call Display
(other)Included services
Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Conference Call, Text Messaging, Instant Messaging, E-Mail Messaging, Information Messaging, Entertainment Messaging, Mobile Internet

Long Distance - $45 per month
400 anytime minutes (Billed by the second)
250 minutes of long distance within Canada and to the U.S.
50% discount on (other)international long-distance rates
Voice Messaging with Instant Reply
Call Display
(other)Included services
Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Conference Call, Text Messaging, Instant Messaging, E-Mail Messaging, Information Messaging, Entertainment Messaging, Mobile Internet

I recently signed up with Fido Canada for their City Fido service, which is unlimited local calling and costs only 40$ CDN a month. I've replaced my home phone with a cell phone it was so cheep.

Funny, using GPRS on microcell when in the states doesn't incur any additional roaming charges.. 3 cents a kb, or flat rates for x megs of transfer, or unlimited use for $50, anywhere in north america. and voice roaming in the states is only 20 cents a minute. If you travel a lot you might want to switch, the international roaming is amazingly cheap

(I used to have a cingular line just for use in the US, because telus roaming was so high. Not anymore.)

• $40/month (about $30 US)
• unlimited local calling within the city
• nationwide long distance 10 cents/minute (about 7 cents US)
• includes call forwarding, call waiting, 3-way calling

The link got screwed up CLICK!

Who is your provider?

And canada too, if the SMS is not sent from a phone. (i.e. someone sent it from a computer.) And I think Fido still charges 10c per incomnig and outgoing SMS. But then SMS spam is *very* rare here too.

Sure, they may not have an incredibly large coverage range, but they cover all the areas I tend to be in, and I can roam anywhere in the US.

In other words, after the first year, you are paying $3.50 a meg after 15 per month (that's 500K a day...)

That would actually be a GOOD deal, here.

Our GPRS carrier (in Montreal), Microcell Fido, has 3 plans:
1) $50 unlimited (the only reasonable plan)
2) $25 for 2MB, then "only" $10/MB
3) $0.03/KB ($30.72 per MB)

30 bucks a meg? heh.. RIIIIGHT.

S

Then your wife's never owned a Mitsubushi G310 ..

It hangs/locks up on me pretty much on a daily basis, and has about 36 hours of standby time (if you're lucky) and about half an hour of talk time to boot!

I think I understand the price tag now...

Sorry to let my patriotism show so blatantly, but Microcell has been offering GPRS on their GSM network all across Canada since April 4, 2001.

Not only that, but they don't bend us over nearly as much: C$75 (~US$50) for 25MB (and $3/MB thereafter) on the cheapest GPRS plan.

--

Microcell has had 2.5G GPRS running for at least a few weeks now. Expensive, yeah, but they're not going to go out of business at least.

http://www.fido.ca/NASApp/info/HomeFrame/Promotion 01.jsp?lang=en for the marketing junk.

MICROCELL FIRST TO DELIVER COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY OF 2.5G WIRELESS DATA SERVICES ACROSS CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES

And, of course, there's no need to mention that fact that this has been available in Japan and Europe for quite a while now. Is Slashdot the new vanguard boldly proclaiming America's technological backwardness to the world?

Microcell Solutions in Canada is offering 56k GPRS service at much cheaper rates:

$75CDN for 25MB
$100CDN for 50MB
$150CDN for 100MB

But I'm sure this is the same thing with most new technologies (especially wireless ones); the prices start out high and drop from there!

My cell phone doesn't *have* a vibrate mode. It's a Nokia 5160 -- the one that people like to give out for free with service -- and I need to buy a $100+ addon (actually a new battery, go figure) if I want it to be able to vibrate.

There was some chatter about this on alt.cellular.fido; Fido is currently Canada main GSM provider. (Technically Microcell Connections own this network.)

Paul

They're digital, they're Nokia's and I like it. You even have an analog module option. Just stick it under the battery, and you're in business.

According to Fido's website, you pay extra for using their analog service.

"Your Fido monthly airtime package includes calls that you make or receive within Fido's PCS coverage area, any time of the day or week. When you access the analog network (not available to Fidomatic customers), your calls will be billed to your Fido account, over and above your Fido airtime. These calls are billed by the second, at only 20 per minute for airtime and 20 per minute for long- distance, if applicable, anywhere in Canada. Please note that a 30-second minimum applies to all long-distance calls, in addition to airtime charges."

Reference.

I am using a very simliar setup. RH6.2 on a SONY Z505R (the modern one would be the HS or HE I think) with a Motorola L7089 tri-band phone. Works everywhere I've been (UK, Switzerland, Belgium, USA, Canada). No need for a modem either, just IR the phone to the laptop. Not the cheapest solution, but it does work well. Just make sure that you contact your local mobile provider and enable world-wide roaming. Some GSM providers have better roaming agreements than others. Shop around before you sign up if you are planning to roam in North America or Australia. I can't help much with that, since I am in Canada and use FIDO aka Microcell.