Why you should care about Net neutrality?

So what exactly is net (Network) neutrality and what is all the fuss about? Well, in its most simple definition, it simply means that all internet traffic should be treated equally.  So if you send me an email and  I was surfing the web then your email won’t be treated any differently than my request for pages from the Globe and Mail for example. All traffic is treated the same way.

Net Neutrality no way!

Opponents of net neutrality, typically the carriers, provide a different argument – essentially, there are cases where it makes sense to discriminate against traffic on their networks. For example, if Health Canada is using the Internet to transfer data over the network that could potentially save someone else’s life then that data should be treated with a higher priority than the email you sent to me asking about my vacation.  Makes sense. The argument also includes P2P or peer to peer traffic which degrades the network at the expense of all other traffic – currently providers do impose restrictions on peer to peer traffic as part of bandwidth shaping polices (we’ve heard about Bell, Telus and Rogers throttling their network to limit the effects of peer to peer traffic).  Even with the growing popularity of VoIP protocols and services, their is an argument that says 911 calls should be prioritized over the network after all these are emergency calls.

Yes for Net Neutrality!

Proponents of net neutrality see things different – in terms of freedoms. In fact, Google has been one of the strongest supporters of net neutrality because of their need to protect their search and affiliated sites. While these examples listed above would lead you to agree to some form of a network priority system, it comes down to trust. Do we trust the Telcos and Cablecos to act responsible in this manner?  Given their financial bias if they are given the keys to network priority we can easily make a case that it would be in their best interest to limit VoIP calls on their network and degrade it to such an extent that it makes sense for each customer to purchase their more expensive home phone solutions. Or they may limit your access to a competitor’s website because it would be in their best interest to do so.

With the advent of fibre optics Internet connection speeds have jumped to as high as 100 MBps or more. Carriers have upgraded their networks to keep up with the demand for high speed internet in customers’ homes. As a result, there is enough bandwidth to accommodate all forms of traffic without degradation of traffic. Verizon recently came out in support of Net Neutrality on broadband lines because of this reason.  But what about wireless networks?

On Wireless – Yes or No?

Net neutrality arguments have moved feverishly to wireless networks. Given the limited bandwidth available to the large number of cell phones and on Internet access hungry smartphones these arguments have started to resurface.  A priority system is being recommended for wireless traffic.  The biggest surprise in all of this has been Google which supports Verizon’s position of some form of limitation on wireless traffic. Go figure! Now that Google has Android and a closer relationship with the carriers, it seems that once its interest is protected so be it. So much for “do no evil” mantra that Google supposedly lives by.

My Thoughts

Again it comes down to trust! Do we trust the carriers to act in our best interest.  Our do we believe they will act in THEIR best interest. Take a look at Skype – allowing the Skype app on phones will mean that customers will not likely use their long distance plans and reduce their dependence on voice and move to a data only option on their cell phones. This will mean millions of dollars in lost revenue for the carriers while putting more money in your pocket. Given Verizon’s behavior on the use of the Skype application I will certainly push for net neutrality on my cell phone – won’t you?

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A review of Chatr Wireless Plans

The wireless market in Canada is heating up with some competitive cell phone plans. Rogers responded on Wednesday, July 28 with its own discount brand aimed at the same customers as Mobilicity, Wind  and Public Mobile. And they launched despite a threat from Mobilicity’s Chairman about taking Rogers to court if they proceeded with the launch – I guess we will have to see what happens.

What do I like about these plans?

Chatr is a prepaid brand which is almost identical to the offering of the other brands – no contracts, no fees and no credit checks. But with one main advantage – an already established network! So here are the key aspects of Chatr’s offering that I like:

• The Network – because this is Rogers network – it covers over 90% of the Canadian population – and is arguably the best in Canada (according to them!). This means their are no roaming hand offs or dropped calls when you travel outside of a zone and roam on another network as you would with Mobilicity, Wind Mobile or Public Mobile. It’s all one network.  Chatr calls it the “no worries” network.
• Simple plans – unlimited $35 plan, which essentially is unlimited calling to numbers in your province and a $45 plan which is unlimited calling in Canada, providing of course that you stay within your home zone.
• A larger home zone that the other players so customers will be able to go further with their phones without having to worry about out of zone fees
• Cheap phones – Most of their cell phones are under the $100 mark which is good for the truly discount crowd

What don’t I like?

I won’t repeat the fact that I’m not a big fan of prepaid plans – I guess I just did – but here are my thoughts on what I’m not so sure about:

• Eliminate the zones – don’t limit people in a zone if the network is already covered. I think there is an opportunity for a $65 plan without any zones – but we’ll see.
• The cell phone selections are limited – I guess this is the point – cheap, simple and limited phone choices. While this may be so, I’m sure Rogers can have a wider selection of sub $100 plans for customers to choose from – let’s see what happens in the future
• $0.25 to retrieve voicemail on the $35/month plan! C’mon throw in the voicemail or just don’t have it at all.
• 50 text messages in the $35 plan is too small, what I suggest is a $25 dollar plan with a limited text bucket of say 50 text messages and the $35 dollar plan with something like 2500 or unlimited.
• I would like to see a better offering on the long distance side. More creativity along the likes of Mobilicity and Public Mobile with their unlimited LD packages.

Conclusion

So it seems to me that Chatr is simply a copy of what’s already there in market – no real surprises and nothing innovative here, its essentially Rogers response to a space that they do not play very well in. Do I blame them, no! This was in the works for a some time and while it provides an additional choice for consumers it also adds to the confusion.

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Apple’s rivals quick to respond to Apple’s accusations

Apple’s antenna saga continues with some strong responses by its rivals who were uninvitedly brought into the iPhone 4 antenna issues via a presentation from Steve Jobs during their press conference yesterday.  In Jobs’ presentation, Apple claimed that the iPhone antenna issues were not isolated to the iPhone but also to other cell phones (smartphones) in the industry like the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, Samsung Omnia II and during the question and answer period highlighted Nokia phones as having similar issues.

Well as expected, the response from the manufactures of these phones was swift and pointed. RIM’s co-CEOs released a joint statement defending their designs and essentially shifting the focus back to Apple:

“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”

- Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie

HTC was a little more coy in their response, indicating that only 0.016% of customers called in for antenna related issues much lower than Apple’s 0.55% rate. Nokia also responded and in their statement they indicated that while the antenna performance of its phones may be affected by a tight grip, their phones were designed for practical use and that thousands of man hours go into the design and placement of their antennas.

So there you have it, “antennagate” continues, let’s hope that Apple will focus on its own problems and come up with a solution that puts this issue to bed.

iPhone 4 to launch in Canada on July 30th

Today Apple held its iPhone 4 press conference to address the issues associated with iPhone 4 signal defect, jokingly coined by Steve Jobs as “Antennagate”. During the press conference Steve Jobs also indicated that the iPhone 4 will be available to 17 other countries including Canada on July 30th. So the iPhone will be finally here at the end of the month – Bell has confirmed that the iPhone 4 will be available on July 30th, so it is confirmed.

Apple’s Bumper phone 4

So back to the iPhone antenna defect, essentially there will be no recall of the 3 million iPhone 4 cell phones sold to date, instead Apple will address the issue as follows:

• Apple will provide a free “Bumper” or rubber case to each user who purchases an iPhone 4
• If you have purchased a case already from Apple it will be refunded
• Full refund to every user who is unsatisfied with their iPhone 4 experience

This promotion will be available until September 30 at which point Apple will consider whether to end the promotion and move forward or to continue the promotion.

My Thoughts

This is clearly a band aid solution to a problem which has plagued an otherwise ground breaking cell phone launch.  The “Bumper” solution buys Apple more time to figure out a software fix that will adequately address the issue. In addition, what the free case does, is provide a non-conductive barrier between the user of the device and the antenna of the phone, very similar to Consumer Reports “duct tape solution” only nicer.

In my opinion this is clearly  a design flaw, too big to recall at this stage and the fact that it has been highlighted to such an extent only shines more light on a glaring weakness.  What I didn’t like about the way Steve Jobs made his case is to indicate that the other smartphones in the industry have a similar design issue – c’mon don’t bring the BlackBerry Bold into this discussion, deal with the key issue at hand – the iPhone antenna!

My prediction is that Apple will come out with a major software update for the iPhone 4 that will alleviate or reduce the signal attenuation problems currently being experienced before September 30 – they have to come up with a better solution.  Let’s see how this saga unfolds.

Of course we will be in a prime position – myCELLmyTERMS – to see if this issue affects the number of iPhone 4 proposals we see in the upcoming months and we will keep you posted.

Wind Mobile’s Cell Phone Plans

After much brouhaha regarding Wind’s license and ability to operate they have finally launched and are available in Toronto as of Dec 16. Wind currently operates in Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton.

So now that they are in market I’ve had a chance to review their plans. So what do I think? Not many surprises but it’s a good start. We knew that Globalive would be entering the market with unlimited type plans around the $45 price point and they did.

What do I like!

Reviewing Wind Mobile’s plans and features – these are the nuggets that I like:

• No Fees – no system access, no 911 fees, no activation fees
• No contracts – we saw this coming
• No nickel and diming on the minutes – Province Wide calling for $35, Nationwide calling for $45
• No extra charges for incoming text messages for all plans and no extra charges for incoming calls with the $35 and $45 voice plans options
• Nothing extra for Caller ID always included
• Unlimited data even with tethering that’s great

Wind also has some great promotions and these seem to be ongoing. I know there is a $150 port in credit from any one who comes from Rogers or their brands which includes Fido and Chatr up until Aug 15. Earlier they were targeting Bell, I think TELUS may be next. In addition, there is a 50% off all data add on promotion.

In essence unlimited calling plans are here and we can expect some certainty in billing. Another feature that I like is that the plans are relatively simple, though they could be presented a bit better.

What don’t I like!

Well given all these great features and nuggets its difficult to find anything not to like – unfortunately I did:

• Must be within your “Home Zone” – we are back to zones already! I understand the need as their coverage areas are limited and they need time to develop the rest of the network. Doesn’t mean I have to like it!
• $450 for the Bold 9700 – expensive. While this device price probably has some subsidy it remains to be seen if Canadians will fork out close to $500 for a new Smartphone. I would have loved to see some older models like the blackberry curve series for around the $100 – $200 price point. Maybe we will soon.
• $70 – $80 for an unlimited Smartphone plan – yikes!  Yes we do get unlimited data as part of it and “unlimited” calling but I would have loved to see a few options in the $50 – $65 range (Wind is now offering more data add plans and promotions from $5 to $35 for unlimited internet).  The mid to high tier users may find this plan attractive however.
• Limited coverage. I expected more coverage – while the GTA is covered, if you are travelling north of Vaughan and Richmond Hill you will have to pay roaming charges.  This is temporary and Wind will continue to build its network where coverage will no-longer be an issue.
• Voice mail add on – $5. No Voicemail in the plans – it is included in the $45 plan but not the others.

Conclusion

All in all this is a good start by Wind Mobile. We now have another choice in the market and competition will be good for the industry. I believe Wind will be a victim of great expectations and they will not be able to live up to them. With over $1 billion invested – they are a company that has to make money and repay their debts and obligations.  So while “saviours” of the wireless industry branding may be a ball and chain – let’s give them an opportunity to execute and grow.

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Rogers launches new wireless brand “Chatr”

On June 30, Rogers announced that it will be launching its own wireless discount brand targeted at the budget conscious talk and text crowd. This brand, “Chatr” – looks very similar to the new entrant in terms of makeup – unlimited calling and text within a particular zone, similar to Wind and Mobilicity, both of whom allow you to talk and text within a particular region, city or zone.

While Rogers’ intention is offer more choice I believe that this adds to the confusion in the marketplace and consumers will be thoroughly confused with all these brands.  Let’s take a quick look at the brands in the market place and the segment they are targeting:

With some 20 wireless brands operating in Canada this can become very confusing for a Canadian consumer. While not all of these brands are available nationwide, many do exist in the urban centres making a customer’s choice that much more difficult.

myCELLmyTERMS.com was created specifically to help alleviate this confusion and to help consumers wade through the many brands to find the right choice. myCELLmyTERMS is a one stop shop portal which helps consumers and businesses find the best cell phone deals through its reverse auction process. State your terms and let the cell phone providers compete for your business and you choose which carrier and which brand is best suited for you.

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Android in Canada – Part 1

This is the first in a series of blogs that we will share with you about the increasingly popular buzzword in the mobile industry called “Android”.   Given the questions that we answer daily, through our various customer interactions, this seemed like a great way to share with everyone at the same time.  You have probably heard that Android is quickly becoming a player in the wireless industry but don’t quite understand what all the hype is about, so here is a quick overview.

How come all the buzz about Android – seemingly – all of a sudden?

First off a little history – In 2005 Google made a move that many thought was the search giant’s big move into the wireless market by purchasing a company called Android.  While the initial purchase was largely seen as a move to combat Apple with its then pending iPhone, it was much bigger than that.  It wasn’t just about one phone or one company and in November of 2007, the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) – a consortium of 47 hardware, software, and telecom companies unveiled Android – a mobile platform based on the open source Linux operating system.

What’s the big deal about Android anyway?

With the rapid growth in wireless and smart phones, one major hurdle for customers and companies alike is trying to keep cost down.   Because Android is open source, the platform has many advantages for consumers and developers providing more freedom to tweak the software to meet individual needs, greater collaboration and in a way infinite possibilities from a growing open community.  Some examples of the creativity with Android are Motorola’s blur interface, which uses a widget called Happenings and displays one’s social networking activity on the home screen and Samsung’s Smart Life.   Smart Life comes with a social networking aggregator called “Social Hub” which manages all your social media from your texts to Facebook messages in one streamlined user interface.  The Samsung Galaxy S i9000 is set to be Samsung’s first Android device this summer in Canada.

One major advantage of open source is that Android isn’t tied to any single device like Apple’s iPhone, and that strategy might very well be Android’s competitive advantage.  Android also offers seamless integration with Google Apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps and Google Talk.  With more and more companies using Google’s productivity tools (for email, shared docs and calendars) the intrinsic link between Android phones and ones Google account is seamless.   You can draft an e-mail on your phone and it is instantly viewable in your drafts folder on the web, update an appointment on the web Calendar, and it’s reflected on your phone seconds later and see your co-workers shared calendar on your phone and so much more.

So you are probably thinking Android seems like the perfect extension to your already Google centered life and truth be told, this mobile OS is no joke.  Android is already a serious player in the mobile industry and embattled in a three way race for mobile supremacy with BlackBerry and iPhone.  With over 50K apps in the apps store and so many high profile devices running the Android OS in Canada (ex. Nexus One, HTC Legend, HTC Desire, Motorola Milestone and Samsung Galaxy) if you are looking for an Android cell phone make sure you get it on your terms.

In the next blog of this series we will take a closer look at the Android OS and its bell and whistles.

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iPad in Canada

With over 2 Million iPads sold in just 60 days I am starting to see what all the hype is about. The iPad is truly revolutionary! Apple does it again, first the iPhone now the iPad. Apple is changing the way we see and interact with the digital world. Reading a book or magazine will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to iPad and the way it makes reading fun and interactive. I can see this device popping up in every class room, in every school, in every grade.  It just makes common daily activities fun. So how do you get one and what are the data packages

Well, it may not be that simple to just run to the Apple store and pick one up; many locations are sold out with wait times of up to 10 days! You can purchase the iPad from your local Apple location, Future Shop, Best Buy and many online sites, if they have them available.

Keep in mind that there are 6 models to choose from:

iPad (Wi-Fi only) 16GB for $549, 32GB for $649 and 64GB for $749

iPad (Wi-Fi & 3G) 16GB for $679, 32GB for $779 and 64GB for $879

If you decide on the Wi-Fi 3G models you will need to get a data plan. Both Bell and Rogers Wireless offer iPad specific data plans with no long term contracts. You will find that the pricing is pretty much the same. Rogers offers 250MB a month for $15 or 5GB a month for $35 plus taxes. Bell’s pricing is similar except they give you the ability to get unlimited data in their Wi-Fi hot spot locations for free, which are located in several locations including Starbucks. Bell is also offering a subscription to Bell Mobile TV until August 31st for free.

The bad thing about Bell’s plan is it only lasts for 30 days, after that you will need to renew your plan; this can get pretty cumbersome after the first couple of months. You will also not be able to “roll over” your data to the next month if you did not use it all up in the 30 days. If you do happen to use up the data within the 30 days you will have to renew your account, I don’t like it!

The Rogers plan is much easier to deal with. You can pay in advance for a 30-day period and it will automatically renew every 30 days unless you decide to cancel your plan before the end of the 30 days.

We may see other carriers like Fido, a subsidiary of Rogers, and Virgin Mobile a subsidiary of Bell providing similar plans in the near future.

Review of Public Mobile Plans

Public mobile launched its network in Toronto on May 26^th and is planning to launch in Montreal on June 25^th.  Unlike Wind Mobile, Public mobile won’t be launching a national wireless network; it will more likely concentrate in the urban centres like Toronto and Montreal.

There value proposition seems very simple, unlimited plans with cheap phones targeted at the urban, ethnic communities.  Public Mobile paid the least amount for spectrum during the AWS spectrum auction in 2008 a mere $52 million (while the others paid 100s of millions) largely because they chose to go with the unpopular G-Block or unwanted PCS spectrum. Its seems that they were successful in sourcing inexpensive mobile devices for this unpopular spectrum.

What’s to like about their plans?

From the inception, Public Mobile has been talking about their $40 unlimited plans and true to their word, they launched with this plan, so here are the key things I like about Public Mobile:

• No SAF (system access fees), No 911 fees and no other hidden fees, no credit checks
• Unlimited plans at $40 which includes  unlimited local calling, unlimited US and CDN text messaging, Voicemail and caller id, call waiting, call forwarding and 3way calling
• For $45 you can have unlimited CDN long distance
• $55 for unlimited US and CDN calling
• their free unlimited CDN long distance for life on signup promotion when they launched, a $5 savings
• $32 Unlimited local calling ($24 + $8 for Caller ID and Voice mail) which includes call waiting, call forwarding and 3 way calling

What’s not to like?

As I stated in my previous blog on Mobilicity, I’m not a big fan of prepaid, if I’m one day late on my payment I shouldn’t lose my service, while I understand that there must be a balance for having no credit checks and flat unlimited plans – it doesn’t mean I must like it.

Here is my take on where Public Mobile needs improvement:

• As well as all the new start-ups coverage is going to be limited and given than Public Mobile ONLY bought spectrum in the Winsor – Toronto – Ottowa – Montreal corridor the service is likely to be limited to those areas, so it’s not designed for travelers. In Toronto,  their service runs from the 427 to the beginning of Pickering and goes as far as Steeles
• CDMA phones! To provide phones at a reasonable rate they used CDMA devices which were tuned to their spectrum which means other CDMA devices won’t work. I guess these devices are ONLY for Public Mobile
• No Smartphones! Well not as yet. Given that the industry is moving heavily in this direction I believe that in the future Public Mobile will have entry level data devices, in the mean time nothing here
• No roaming! They indicated that this may be coming; in the meantime don’t travel too far with these devices.

So what’s the bottom line?

Public Mobile doesn’t claim to be anything that it is not. Simple no frills phones targeted at those looking for fixed unlimited plans all within their local areas. And for this Public Mobile does its job. For those who are looking to Public Mobile to be a replacement for Bell, Rogers and Telus, I say, not quite yet. But I do expect that their flanker brands, Koodo, Fido, Solo and Virgin to respond to Public Mobile in the near future.

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Mobilicity launches new service in Toronto

Mobilicity formerly Dave Wireless, whose name is the joining of “Mobility” and “Simplicity”, launched on Saturday, May 15 in Toronto. Mobilicity plans to extend its service to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa.  Now Canada has 3 new wireless companies joining Public Mobile and Wind Mobile. The wireless landscape is getting very competitive and interesting.

This is a review of Mobilicity and its offers.

What Do I like?

Well I was pleasantly surprised at their plans and phones, at lot more diverse that I expected. In a nut shell these are the key items I like:

• Unlimited plans starting at $25 with unlimited local taking
• All plans include caller ID, great stuff
• Unlimited plans maxed out at $65 – with unlimited data, not bad
• No credit checks, no hassles to get a cell phone
• Unlimited global Global Long Distance plans to East Asia (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan…) and South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), quite innovative and targets a specific segment of the population that makes quite alot of calls to these countries
• US long distance calling included in the $55 and the $65 plan
• And finally smartphones under $200 mark, a good start

What Don’t I like?

Overall I don’t like prepaid, it forces you to always worry about your current balance and whether you need to top up or not. While these plans are unlimited plans and therefore you won’t have to worry – I’m mainly concerned about the add-ons and the pay per use features – data, downloads and global long distance charges, how do I approximate how much I will use? Nonetheless, I understand that you can’t have it all, unlimited plans, no credit checks and expect a postpaid service – I get it. So excluding this little beef here are the items that could be improved:

• Price points seem very much similar to Wind Mobile’s plans, no voicemail in the plans until the $45 plan, like Wind Mobile, unlimited local calling at $35
• No voicemail until the $45 dollar plan – may not be a big issue for some but it can be a nuisance not having it at the lower plans, this should be an add on as well
• While you get Caller ID with every plan, you can’t get call waiting or 3 way calling unless you take a $55 or $65 plan – this should be an add on so that customers at $25 can have call waiting
• While I like the Global add on Long distance plans at $2, you can’t get North American Long distance plans unless you take the $55 or $65 plans – this should also be an add on.
• Limited coverage – like Wind Mobile, Mobilicity is a start-up cell phone company so this is expected, but I believe they indicated that they will focus on the metropolitan areas and not expand their network outside of these areas which makes traveling outside of  Mobilicity’s coverage area an issue as customers will be subjected to roaming charges.

Mobilicity’s strategy is an interesting one. A largely prepaid offering which includes data cell phones or smartphones, which is not a typical prepaid offering but targeted at the low end cash based consumers. It remains to be seen however, if their target segment, low end, prepaid leaning customers will be willing to fork out the extra cash for a smartphone or will mainly stay in the sub $50 zone. And finally are there enough customers in this segment to make Mobilicity a success or will they have the same challenges as Wind Mobile initially. Maybe a postpaid brand in the future, no?

See how Mobilicity’s plans compare to the other cell phone plans in the market and get your next cell phone plan at myCELLmyTERMS by making the cell phone companies compete for your business.

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