No, but it gives you more control. I admit I'm paying more right now, but I'm also free to port to any company at any moment I want to. (And since I bought my device unlocked, I can use it elsewhere, like in Australia in a few months.)
There are plans that include US voice roaming, and US texting. You just have to dig a little to find them.
The only thing I do differently in the US with my plan is to have data roaming turned off. I use text and voice normally and I don't incur any overages as long as I don't talk more than five hours a month while in the US - not hard to do.
You're in a contract by choice, though. We are not in a contract; we bought unlocked phones.
Given the automatic unlocking provision coming up, I might just get subsidized phones again, but it would be better if our carrier gave a discount for bring-your-own-device clients.
Consumers always have a choice. While I'm in favour of the new rules proposed by the CRTC, people knew what they were getting into. 3 years is just too long for me and even when I was under contract, I never went longer than 2.
I pay $70/month for 300 daytime minutes, unlimited 6 pm-8 am evenings and 24/7 weekends, including free North American long distance and US voice roaming (which always comes out of my 300 minutes but that's fine). Voicemail, call display, and unlimited data. Not all Canadian providers suck.
Bell wouldn't shut off your plan in general, only roaming. Your basic plan would continue in full force and effect if you were in your home network's coverage area.
In fairness to the cellular provider, as a consumer you have a duty to test this yourself before you lock into a contract. Ask your friends, or better yet, get a loaner phone. Also, most providers will let you cancel within the first few days without penalty, at least here in Canada.
Phone prices should go up - but carriers will now have significant incentive to provide discounts to customers who are out of contract and not using such a subsidy. All we need is one first mover to give a significant discount for it, and the rest will, of necessity, follow.
GSM and UMTS/HSPA phones can be locked to "home" network. As long as your provider uses the same network code nationwide, you can do this to prevent accidental roaming. I'm not sure if one can meaningfully do this on CDMA phones though.
I've never bothered doing this and never been hit for accidental roaming fees, though, because I keep data roaming off and I don't make voice calls (or answer any) if I show to be roaming. Well, that used to be true until a couple of years ago, anyway. My voice plan now includes US minutes - I just have to avoid the data roaming, which is simple.
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US airports are quite heavily subsidized, actually. Canadian airports are run on a cost-recovery basis and as a result, US cities near the Canadian border siphon a significant portion of the Canadian traffic.
Canadians thank you for subsidizing their trips. Have a nice day.
Re:I believe I speak for a dozen people when I say
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We certainly didn't pay $100. It was more like $50.
The bus is a pretty good deal but I have greater confidence in the safety of the train.
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One also has to consider the freedom to do what you want on the train. It's hard to surf the web while driving, unless you can talk someone else into driving.
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I was comparing the train to flying - my car was in Saskatchewan at the time.:)
Re:I believe I speak for a dozen people when I say
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The US northeast is the busiest rail transportation corridor in all of North America. It makes far more sense cost- and speed-wise to take the train between most destinations there.
We recently vacationed in the area (a year ago) and took Amtrak from Washington to Baltimore and back, from Washington to Philadelphia and from Philadelphia to Manhattan. It was reasonably quick, comfortable enough, and super convenient. I can't overstate how much nicer it is to walk on a train instead of having to pass through airport security. (As a nice bonus, flying home from Newark instead of Philadelphia or Washington saved us about $150 each.)
If the defect could have been triggered by excessively infrequent oil changes, then the request is relevant. If it isn't (e.g. it's about your brakes or suspension) then it isn't a relevant request.
The people who want to buy extended warranties that cover accidental damage tend to have accidental damage more often than those that don't. We call this moral hazard.
What that means? Being careful with your stuff will pay off disproportionately compared to the cost of this insurance.
Also, given that most residential insurance policies have deductibles of $500 or $1,000, I don't think the loss of a few-hundred-dollar smartphone is exactly a catastrophic loss compared to having someone steal your car or having a kitchen fire.
As long as their jamming signal doesn't leave their building and bleed into other properties, I don't have a problem with it either. The problem is that that is very hard to guarantee.
It's down the list, but it's stuff that has value, so it's not that insane.
On the same continuum would be photographs - photographs can have a great deal of historical value, both to a community and to a family. Having some sort of a plan to ensure that they get passed on to someone who will care about having them and value them is a good thing.
Unless I've missed something recently, this Wii-lite is only sold in Canada so far. The standard Wii with full online access is sold everywhere else, including in Canada alongside the new Wii Mini.
It's a US site with a ton of foreign users. It's a lot more appropriate to just surrender to this fact. "Almost everyone in the US" is not that hard to type.
Slashdot Mirror
He didn't have unlimited Canadian data. Or any at all, most likely.
No, but it gives you more control. I admit I'm paying more right now, but I'm also free to port to any company at any moment I want to. (And since I bought my device unlocked, I can use it elsewhere, like in Australia in a few months.)
There are plans that include US voice roaming, and US texting. You just have to dig a little to find them.
The only thing I do differently in the US with my plan is to have data roaming turned off. I use text and voice normally and I don't incur any overages as long as I don't talk more than five hours a month while in the US - not hard to do.
You're in a contract by choice, though. We are not in a contract; we bought unlocked phones.
Given the automatic unlocking provision coming up, I might just get subsidized phones again, but it would be better if our carrier gave a discount for bring-your-own-device clients.
Consumers always have a choice. While I'm in favour of the new rules proposed by the CRTC, people knew what they were getting into. 3 years is just too long for me and even when I was under contract, I never went longer than 2.
I pay $70/month for 300 daytime minutes, unlimited 6 pm-8 am evenings and 24/7 weekends, including free North American long distance and US voice roaming (which always comes out of my 300 minutes but that's fine). Voicemail, call display, and unlimited data. Not all Canadian providers suck.
Bell wouldn't shut off your plan in general, only roaming. Your basic plan would continue in full force and effect if you were in your home network's coverage area.
In fairness to the cellular provider, as a consumer you have a duty to test this yourself before you lock into a contract. Ask your friends, or better yet, get a loaner phone. Also, most providers will let you cancel within the first few days without penalty, at least here in Canada.
To some American ears, our "about" sounds like "aboot" but to my ear, some of their "abouts" sound like "abauwt".
The irony is, being a 2G phone, the battery life (with a good battery) will be significantly better than what a 3G phone can do.
The data will come slowly... but the battery will do well.
Phone prices should go up - but carriers will now have significant incentive to provide discounts to customers who are out of contract and not using such a subsidy. All we need is one first mover to give a significant discount for it, and the rest will, of necessity, follow.
GSM and UMTS/HSPA phones can be locked to "home" network. As long as your provider uses the same network code nationwide, you can do this to prevent accidental roaming. I'm not sure if one can meaningfully do this on CDMA phones though.
I've never bothered doing this and never been hit for accidental roaming fees, though, because I keep data roaming off and I don't make voice calls (or answer any) if I show to be roaming. Well, that used to be true until a couple of years ago, anyway. My voice plan now includes US minutes - I just have to avoid the data roaming, which is simple.
US airports are quite heavily subsidized, actually. Canadian airports are run on a cost-recovery basis and as a result, US cities near the Canadian border siphon a significant portion of the Canadian traffic.
Canadians thank you for subsidizing their trips. Have a nice day.
We certainly didn't pay $100. It was more like $50.
The bus is a pretty good deal but I have greater confidence in the safety of the train.
One also has to consider the freedom to do what you want on the train. It's hard to surf the web while driving, unless you can talk someone else into driving.
I was comparing the train to flying - my car was in Saskatchewan at the time. :)
The US northeast is the busiest rail transportation corridor in all of North America. It makes far more sense cost- and speed-wise to take the train between most destinations there.
We recently vacationed in the area (a year ago) and took Amtrak from Washington to Baltimore and back, from Washington to Philadelphia and from Philadelphia to Manhattan. It was reasonably quick, comfortable enough, and super convenient. I can't overstate how much nicer it is to walk on a train instead of having to pass through airport security. (As a nice bonus, flying home from Newark instead of Philadelphia or Washington saved us about $150 each.)
If the defect could have been triggered by excessively infrequent oil changes, then the request is relevant. If it isn't (e.g. it's about your brakes or suspension) then it isn't a relevant request.
And people like this are the reason why people like me - who haven't killed a computer or smartphone or TV yet - don't buy coverage. :)
The people who want to buy extended warranties that cover accidental damage tend to have accidental damage more often than those that don't. We call this moral hazard.
What that means? Being careful with your stuff will pay off disproportionately compared to the cost of this insurance.
Also, given that most residential insurance policies have deductibles of $500 or $1,000, I don't think the loss of a few-hundred-dollar smartphone is exactly a catastrophic loss compared to having someone steal your car or having a kitchen fire.
As long as their jamming signal doesn't leave their building and bleed into other properties, I don't have a problem with it either. The problem is that that is very hard to guarantee.
It's down the list, but it's stuff that has value, so it's not that insane.
On the same continuum would be photographs - photographs can have a great deal of historical value, both to a community and to a family. Having some sort of a plan to ensure that they get passed on to someone who will care about having them and value them is a good thing.
I buy all my stuff on physical CDs and DVDs/Blu-Ray discs and then rip it (in the case of my music) for a few reasons, but this is a big one.
If ever I want to give away the media, I can - whether I'm alive or dead. No confusion, no complication.
Nintendoland is very good. ZombiU is very good. But I agree, more good games are needed.
Unless I've missed something recently, this Wii-lite is only sold in Canada so far. The standard Wii with full online access is sold everywhere else, including in Canada alongside the new Wii Mini.
It's a US site with a ton of foreign users. It's a lot more appropriate to just surrender to this fact. "Almost everyone in the US" is not that hard to type.