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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) -

Almost all McDonalds restaurants in Canada now have free Wi-Fi and many other coffee shops, etc. do as well. http://www.mcdonalds.ca/en/news/releases/release_May-18-2011.aspx Before you buy a SIM/sign up for a plan, check out the big three's web sites for their coverage maps (just search for coverage map or give them a call). I have a feeling your remote island may have extremely limited access. Our cell telcos state they cover 90+% of the population but that's because most Canadians live in lage urban areas or near the USA border. http://www.telusmobility.com/ http://www.bellmobility.com/home/ http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=WRLS_HOME

I'm not a Telus customer, but they have an addon for their pre-paid service. It's $20 for 250MB of data an unlimited texting.

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/prepaid/messaging.shtml

And 3-year contracts are really common in Canada? I had never heard this before...

Yes. Very common. Usually you can take any of a 1 year 2 year or 3 year contract, but with iphone's it was 3-year only.

But even then the pricing structure is typically heavily skewed to induce the consumer into 3 year contracts. Here's an example from Telus:

529.99 - no contract
479.99 - 1 year
429.99 - 2 year
149.99 - 3 year

That's still pretty messed up.

http://www.telusmobility.com/en/BC/samsung_fascinate/index.shtml

Well, it's a little bit more complicated, but basically the vendors and not Microsoft.

Its divided. vendors support the hardware, and deal with the end users. But Microsoft still actually does -all- the OS support. You go to windows update, and get your patches direct from microsoft. OEMs rebrand the OS a bit, but Dell Windows 7 isn't really any different from Acer Windows 7.

With androids the situation is a bit different. The vendors are doing more than simply rebranding them, and the vendors are taking responsibility for pushing software updates in addition to hardware / customer support.

I see your argument vis a vis Microsoft Windows, but I think the android situation is markedly different.

I think the impact of fragmentation will get worse. The fact that you say "Its the manufacturers that decide" what Android is going to be like on their phones is rather telling!

Fair enough. But it -is- the handset manufacturers not android now who are responsible.

each vendor is responsible for supporting (modifying! etc) Android on their own. That's the very definition of fragmentation.

I'm not saying fragmentation isn't occurring. It has occurred. Because it has occurred its invalid to say that android has a problem updating its software, because its not androids problem.

Its Motorola's problem. Its HTC's problem. Its Samsung's problem. And its up to each of them individually how well they address it.

If a defect is found in webkit, we don't say 'webkit' has a problem due to fragmentation. Its simply up to Apple to update Safari, Google to update Chrome, etc.

And we certainly don't go around lauding Microsoft's Trident engine as a superior model, exclaiming that if a bug is found in Trident only Microsoft has to fix it, and everyone who relies on it can get the update via windows update and how much better that is.

Welcome to Canada, he almost got a better rate then we do here Rogers Wireless which is the only provider of GSM unless he was with Bell or Telus for CDMA / TDMA. In Canada you have to deal with one of the three (there is Fido but they are really Rogers) for 1GB(yes o.n.e) it is $30/month with a 3 cent overage calculated per KB, this is from the Rogers and Telus is actually 5 cents per MB. If you can figure out what Bell is actually offering your likely a natural genius but all the plans start at $45.

You can tell I'm slightly bitter but paying this kinda dough just to have 'the right' to do what I want and have the same kind of access other places in the world have the opportunity to use it kind of makes me feel silly being Canadian.

I'm surprised that, given all the posts in response to this story, I haven't found any which have pointed out one simple fact.

Yes, GPS is a fixed feature in most mobile phones. HOWEVER -- it IS possible, in every phone I've ever come across, to configure it such that it will only report your location when you dial 911.

This link provides only one example. My own phone, a Motorola W385, has the setting under 'Phone Settings' and 'Location.' You simply change it from 'Location On' to '911 Only.'

It often amazes me how much hype is given to a simple subject with a simpler answer.

From

http://www.telusmobility.com/about/mike_pcs_pt_policy.shtml

18.

Changes

These service terms (including any rates and charges) may be changed unilaterally by TELUS from time to time on at least thirty (30) days' notice to you, and such changes shall become effective once you use the service after such thirty (30) day period (which use shall be deemed conclusively to indicate acceptance of such changes.

So according to this, they could change the contract so you agree to provide computer support to that cute girl in the next apartment and then suddenly turn her into your sex slave for all eternity. And if you don't like it, you have to submit to arbitration instead of going to court [well, you could go to court, but they would generally say [at least here in Canada], you agreed to arbitrate [clause 15].

So there! I would be surprised if a similar clause is NOT most other cell phone contracts (in the Americas, Europe and Asia and everywhere else).

Wanna hear something even more crazy? The "Basic" Voicemail only allows you to have 3 messages for something like 48 hours. If you want more than 3 messages, you have to upgrade to another tier.

Its actually 3 messages for 3 days, but still pathetic: http://www.telusmobility.com/on/services/pcs/mini_voice_mail.shtml

So you think this is a reasonable change from an unlimited plan: http://www.telusmobility.com/on/business_solutions/connect_megabyte_rate_plan.shtml

Note that "owned by Verizon" apparently means "20.5% owned by Verizon"

Note also that the TELUS mobile Web service in question is WAP-based, so it's not direct access to the "real Internet"; a lot of sites might be unavailable because they don't offer WAP or because any Web-to-WAP gatewaying TELUS might be using can't handle them.

(BTW, is there any evidence that anybody named "Dylan Patten" has ever written anything, or is writing anything, for Time Magazine? And has he actually talked to the sources that the I Power site claims he has? And did those sources say what that site claims they do, or did they say something else that was misinterpreted?)

The major providers in Canada are Telus, Rogers, and Bell. I can't speak for Bell, but I believe that when I was with Telus a year or so ago I got charges for both incoming/outgoing texts, while with Rogers my bill shows that only outgoing texts are counted towards my limit/charges.

Checking Telus' site, it looks like they're not currently charging for incoming text anymore, but are planning to change back to doing so on Text messages received from another mobile phone are free to receive until August 24, 2008.

With the data rates we pay in Canada, it's probably not going to be much of a viable option up here for awhile.

My phone is EVDO capable, but I make sure I turn it off (although I can't seem to connect with it anyway). If it did connect at EVDO speeds, it could rack up hundreds of dollars of charges in a few minutes, with the dollars-per-megabyte we pay up here.

Here's hoping the Canadian government's push to open up the spectrum to new competition will help make these things a bit more reasonable.

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

An example: http://www.telusmobility.com/bc/wweb/index.shtml What the real business success story will be is when we finally have our converged communications and media access systems: one user account to rule them all. Integrating cell phone downloads with PC downloads, media access in the car, on the television; economies of scale-based subscription fees, and funds finally funneled into the appropriate pockets! ... and now I'm waking up from my dream. :)

Telus in Canada still offers this Palm clamshell:

http://www.telusmobility.com/bc/pcs/kyocera_7135.s html

A friend of mine bought one, used it for a couple of years, then bought the Treo 650. The Kyocera is a little bulky, even for a Palm-based device.

Here in Canada, the mobile data rates are nothing short of horrid. Surfing the standard internet on a lil' widget would suck.

case in point

Rogers/Fido, Bell and Telus up in Canada make AT&T look competent and benign.

Rogers data plans : http://www.shoprogers.com/store/wireless/services/ voice/navigate-mobile-internet.asp?

Bell data plan examples: http://www.bell.ca/shopping/en_CA_AB/PrsShpWls_Rtp IRPList.page?wlcs_catalog_category_id=TreoPocketPC RatePlans

Telus data plan examples: http://www.telusmobility.com/ab/plans/pcs/talkemai l_all.shtml

Couple those rates with service that is slightly less friendly than AT&T's.

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.

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.

Just because telus's individual customer service member didn't have a photographic recall of every customer sign up and made a mistaken assumption (assuming at first they had signed up over the phone, then again that they had used the automated set up) doesn't mean they're wrong.

It's not like this guys parents pulled their computer out of the box, connected to an open wireless network and then a guy knocked on their door with a bill for 50 bucks, telling them that if they didn't pay they'd be subject to a $200 cancellation fee for getting out of the contract.

At some point somewhere along the line his parents must have said "we want this service. We agree to pay for it. Here's what we want."

I haven't tried to get that far in the Telus world (I don't want to look for a valid address or phone number for the ordering form, but they certainly don't seem to be hiding the fact that you're signing up for a contract. Look here http://www.telusmobility.com/on/promotions/index.s html and see how basically every activation special inlcudes the asterix saying it applies only for a contract of so long a duration.

Check http://www.mytelus.com/internet/highspeed/display. do where everything includes a link right below it including the terms and conditions (ie, "some conditions apply")

I wasn't able to get past the high speed sign up page without picking a length for my price "protection plan."

We're not talking about policemen pulling you over and handing you a bill for road services, or waking up in a hotel room next to a nice note saying "our cameras indicated you looked out the window. Viewing the beach is an added $10 fee." We're talking about someone agreeing to buy service, and then not liking the terms.

Whether or not the terms could have been more obvious I don't know seeing as how we don't know exactly what the plan was called that they signed up for, what the terms were at that time, etc.

BUT there are some parts where this story falls apart. First and most glaringly, almost any consumer would realize that an agreement for a discounted first year, with a higher rate following it means you're locked in for more than a year. He says his grandparents were members for "about a year" which, in the traditional construction means not a year (otherwise he would have said "over a year.")

No customer of even remote sophistication is going to believe that the company is going to offer a discounted rate for people who are members for 11 or fewer months, while sticking it to customers who stay for periods longer than a year.

They're going to have a hard time arguing (assuming the court is filled with smarter people than most of the slashdotters on this thread of course) that they believed they signed up for service that gives them a discount on regular service for leaving before one year is up, but charges them extra for the same service if they don't switch to another company before the end of the year.

As far as proving the agreement was entered into, there's tons of proof. There's the admission that they signed up for service, the fact that someone must have given Telus some money or banking information during the signup or when the first bill rolled around, the fact that someone must have given Telus the address to send the modem to. It's not like they just opened their door, saw a Telus modem sitting there and thought "hey, lets hook this up and see if this gives us internet" and even if they had, then you have the bigger problem of explaining why these people thought the company would give them a free modem if they had never asked for it.

Proof is on Telus's side. Proof says that GPs knew they were entering into an agreement, that they enjoyed the agreement for some time, that they had no problem with the agreement.

What is not proven is that the terms were in any

Well according to their press release http://www.telusmobility.com/about/press_room/rele ases/20051114_EVDO_network.html it is high speed wireless. To quote
Broadband data speeds
Wireless High Speed offers clients the broadband data access they've become accustomed to on their desktops, but now they can take that speed on the road. With typical download speeds of 400 to 700 kilobits per second, and possible speeds of more than 2 megabits per second, TELUS Mobility's Wireless High Speed network offers clients the speed they need for powerful mobile computing applications.

Rogers and Bell both operate HotSpot services in Canada.. Look for HotSpot stickers on the doors of your local Starbucks or Second Cup - as well as other places. They'll even charge it to your Bell or Rogers mobile phone bill...I think all the big Canadian mobile phone providers are in on the action.. even Telus.

http://www.shoprogers.com/business/wireless/plans_ services/hotspot.asp

http://www.bell.ca/shop/en_CA_BC/Sme.Sol.Wireless. Solutions.Hotspots.page

http://www.telusmobility.com/on/business_solutions /hotspot.shtml

http://www.telusmobility.com/on/wweb/mobile_tv_faq s.shtml
http://www.bell.ca/shop/PrsShpWlsFnsGnd_Mobitv.pag e

Then why does my cell phone have a colour screen, camera, scheduler, office software, etcc? My GBA plays games AND mp3's.

PCS service is available in several countries, besides the US. I'm in Canada with a local PCS provider that has roaming agreements with US carriers (Sprint in particular, I think, or at least it used to be Sprint.)

Other countries in which my PCS phone provides PCS servies include Hong Kong, Mexico, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, etc...

As an aside, I designed one of the digital baseband circuit boards in a particular model of those Sprint PCS basestations.

Dave

PCS service is available in several countries, besides the US. I'm in Canada with a local PCS provider that has roaming agreements with US carriers (Sprint in particular, I think, or at least it used to be Sprint.)

Other countries in which my PCS phone provides PCS servies include Hong Kong, Mexico, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, etc...

As an aside, I designed one of the digital baseband circuit boards in a particular model of those Sprint PCS basestations.

Dave

Turbo codes have been used in consumer electronics for some time now. In my service area it's called 1X and if you have a new-ish CDMA phone you already have a turbo code'n consumer electronic appliance. Turbo codes are only used for data (because of the processing delay), and I don't know anyone who connects their phone to their computer (or pays the extortionary prices) to get the theoretical 144kbs. Oh, there's a pcmcia card as well.

It's Nokia's latest offering, full of innovation that would be best-placed in something that is either one or the other. It's a GSM cellular device, so it only works with two cellular providers in Canada, one of which isn't really available anywhere except the major cities, and it's a game console that doesn't play any games you'll want to play for more than ten minutes.

Interested? Well now you too can enjoy this medocrity for only twice the price of a PS2 or XBox, 2.5 times the price of a Gamecube, a little over three times the price of a Game Boy Advance SP, or five times the price of a regular Game Boy Advance.

Sound too good to be true? Well, let's look at it from another angle, and you'll see that this advanced technology can be yours for a mere ten times the price of an ordinary cellphone or only twice the price of a premium cellular phone at street market prices.

CDMA is actually deployed fully in the USA, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and Japan--that I know of. It's probably in many other countries too. I talked to the rep from my local CDMA company (Bell Mobility--the other CDMA company up here in Canada is Telus) and he rattled off a nice long list of countries that they have CDMA roaming agreements with.

The biggest problem with CDMA, though, is that the handsets aren't as consumer-friendly as the GSM handsets. If CDMA handsets had an equivalent of the GSM SIM chip, they'd eat GSM alive. I think that's a large part of why GSM is still kicking here--the phones are so much more hackable than the CDMA phones.

Me, I'm hedging my bets; I have a GSM handset and a CDMA handset. GSM because there's more choice available, and CDMA because it's techically superior, and it still works in analogue-only areas. If anything half as cool as KDDI's AU handsets turns up over here, my primary handset will be CDMA again.

The only catch is that they reserve the right to limit you to 100 mb ... so they have already thought about bandwidth demons using it to get onto kazaa.

Sure you can! This is already available on 1xRTT networks in Canada. Although they currently reserve the right to limit your 'unlimited data' subscription to 100 mb per month. Bleh.

One other thing worth noting is that the provider I linked does not charge per minute for wireless web. I have it right now and you can browse online for a flat fee for as long as you have battery left as long as you stay within the 'free sites area' which gets gets bigger depending on the fee you pay. Otherwise, the services are 'per-use'

So my north american mobile phone (Telus mobility in Canada) has a sticker that says Qualcomm 3G CDMA on it and the service is advertised as 1xRTT. You're saying that this was renamed to 3G because they couldn't pull of the 'true' 3G for various reasons?

Supposeldy 'true' 3G offers 384 kbit/s downstream, while what Sprint is deploying (1xRTT) is part of the upgrade path to 3G an peaks at 144kbit, averaging 50-60kbit.

Interesting, I have read that this 1xRTT service that sprint is deploying is the first step on the upgrade path to 3G. Maybe there are different definitions depending on the country or something. I've got this on my mobile phone right now and the voice quality is pretty amazing when the other person is on a landline. (I haven't phoned anyone else yet with a mobile that supports it.)

The phones themselves are OK (the GSM providers sell some of the nicer Nokias too) but the service terms are clearly not that good, probably because there is far more incentive here in Canada to use a land line than in Europe.

And here's something ... my SMS price is lower than yours. I only pay the equivalent of 6.49 euro-cents (10c canadian) per sent message and nothing for received messages. Of course you'll save more than me on the talk-time anyway. And I do believe my phone (which is one of a fairly-nice-but-not-as-nice-as-yours selection) is at least as good as yours as well.

The phones themselves are OK (the GSM providers sell some of the nicer Nokias too) but the service terms are clearly not that good, probably because there is far more incentive here in Canada to use a land line than in Europe.

And here's something ... my SMS price is lower than yours. I only pay the equivalent of 6.49 euro-cents (10c canadian) per sent message and nothing for received messages. Of course you'll save more than me on the talk-time anyway. And I do believe my phone (which is one of a fairly-nice-but-not-as-nice-as-yours selection) is at least as good as yours as well.