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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) -

Define real, when there's ISP's http://www.mts.ca/ outsourcing their email systems to hotmail, what exactly is real?

Manitoba Hydro built, maintains and operates two microwave networks that run from Winnipeg to the north. They use them to control northern dams from the central control office in Winnipeg. I know someone who was involved in the implementation of remote switching of manually operated dams back in the 70's who was actively involved with the microwave system. He said the latency is VERY low. They can switch things almost instantly from Winnipeg, over 1000km away.

They have used it in the past (maybe still do) to send TV and radio signals to repeaters up north so the folks up there could watch live TV/hear live radio. They also use it for phones as well until quite recently (upgraded to fibre optics since). Which is why the phone company (MTS) helped pay for/build it too. Much cheaper than running thousands of kilometers of copper. The guy I know had a friend in the control office in Winnipeg who sent up various Winnipeg radio stations over the microwave on a subcarrier of the CBC TV signal. Apparently the CBC never even noticed hehe. I think they had to modify their radios, but there were all electronics specialists anyways working on the remote switching stuff, so it was peanuts for them.

I'm not sure where the poster is located or where his remote sites are, but perhaps there's a utility company that might have some spare capacity on an existing microwave network they'd be willing to sell?

You're really totally off, some channels aren't subsidized by other channels, this ala carte pricing scheme already exists here in Canada, and is pretty popular. You can check out http://www.mts.ca/ MTS TV. The 'geek' channels cost the same amount as all the other channels, which is proof that they are not being propped up by the 'popular' channels in some way. The bottom line is, by having a tiered setup, cable companies make a lot more money, they are NOT being forced into it by content providers. Interestingly, the expensive channels such as playboy, and the extreme niche channels cost the same amount on MTS TV as they do at the traditional cable company (who still have a tiered setup).

I'm sure the others will soon jump on the bandwagon.

Where I live, we've had this for years. I am a subscriber to it.
I didn't think this was something new.

Here is their tv service web page:
http://www.mts.ca/tv/

I get my internet (DSL), telephone (analogue) and television (via set-top-box) all through my phone line from the local telephone company.
They are in direct competition with our local cable provider which provides the same three services.

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, population about 600,000, which is in Canada for the less well reasearched.

First, thanks for your reply, you are pointing out reality better than my slant about no competition.

But, i was talking about meaningful, high-bandwidth competition. I currently use Shaw, a cable service, which provides me, at extra cost, with 10Mbps down, 1Mbps up. It's less at peak times, and getting worse. The last few days i've been downloading (from a computer at my ISP's office) 120KB/s (about 1Mbps) between 20:00 and 23:00. Even though i paid the extra for "X-treme".

So, i could go with DSL from MTS, but then it'd get only 400kbps up, and 3Mbps down. Plus, i'd have to run PPPoE, which resets every 24 hours, altering my IP address (extremely annoying for hobbiests, and completely pointless, too).

I can get oversubscribed wireless, T1s, Dial-up and ISDN. But those are all bad options, either for cost or performance.

There are also no major alternate DSL or Cable ISPs in the market, not that i'm aware of.

In other countries (Japan) people can get real, 100Mbps fibre connections, for $50/month. I want that. I thought my country had world-class communications. Well, we used to, with our phone system, but our internet is only fair, i would judge.

Manitoba Telecom Systems have been serving digital television over DSL lines for a while (in Winnipeg only right now, but if a "small" operator like MTS can make it work in a small city like Winnipeg, that's probably good news for the rest of us.)

MTS TV, and FAQ.

Manitoba Telecom Systems have been serving digital television over DSL lines for a while (in Winnipeg only right now, but if a "small" operator like MTS can make it work in a small city like Winnipeg, that's probably good news for the rest of us.)

MTS TV, and FAQ.

Here in Canada, at least in Manitoba, they've had TV over the phone line for a little while now.

Here's their website.

I don't know first hand what people's experiences have been with it though.

I'm in Winnipeg, Canada.

http://www.mts.ca/mtstv/index.html

Since I have a hatred for Shaw I have been using MTS digital TV/Internet/Phone service for about a year now.

The quality in the TV channels far surpasses Shaw's digital package as ALL of my channel are digital and not just a select few. I have never noticed my internet connection go down and have never gotten complaints about excessive bandwidth usage from MTS. I do not understand how you "suffered" with MTS internet.

Signed Proud MTS customer.
MTS http://mts.ca/

2005 appears to be a year early here.

I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada where we have a governtment endorsed monopoly for our local telephone service. This provider (MTS) is among the cheapest costing telephone service in North America, and yet they still had time to develop MTS TV, which is pushing (based on inside information from their techs) 14Mbps video signal down the twisted pair for their TV service which has been around for several years now. It can feed three TV's signal concurrently (more if the different TV's are tuned to the same channel), plus PPPoE at 3Mbit plus voice on the same line.

Here is their Website

Basicly, this technology is in no way new, and AP should get some sources first before making such claims.

Disclaimer, I do not work for, or endorse this company. I'm simply aware of it's products, and make reference to them solely for informational purposes. I personally use Shaw Cable, their main competitor.

The 'telco' that is carrying the VoIP traffic is a national carrier. It is Allstream - Canada's 3rd largest telco, owned by MTS

The traffic will be carried over their national fibre network - has nothing to do with a 'local' telco...

Until recently Manitoba Telecom Services was government owned, but even now that it has been privatized it has remained relatively innovative.

Until recently Manitoba Telecom Services was government owned, but even now that it has been privatized it has remained relatively innovative.

Let's face it, cable companies can offer one thing that the phone companies can't, and that's television.

Really? I think my local telephone company would want to argue that point.

All the same, they could block Sasser if they wanted to. Granted my ISP is absolutely terrible (MTS) when it comes to customer service and network maintenance, it should be something they consider doing.

1. Shaw (The cable company)
2. Rogers (Another cable company)
3. MTS (The phone company)
4. Skycable (Wireless RF)
5. Bell Expressview (Satellite)
6. Star Choice (Satellite)
7. Probably a bunch more I'm forgetting

Makes me almost happy to put up with Shaw's mediocre mail servers

Trust me, as a former Shaw customer, and current MTS ADSL customer, their mail servers could be a LOT worse. LOTS worse. My guess is spam probably has a whole lot to do with the situation, but the mail server here goes down for an average of 2 hours per day, and at times its been down for several days straight.

130 KB/s down and 20 up is terrible compared to what I used to get with Shaw too.

Shaw! I've learned my lesson! I'll be coming back soon!