I signed a 3-year contract two months before the iPhone came out with fido. Now the 3G will cost me 599 plus Quebec & Canadian taxes and the 3Gs will cost 699 + taxes ... this is like torture, I see everyone with an iPhone and I cannot get one until the end of 2011
Hopefully this will spark some plan competition (options to forgo data, shared family plans, etc). The biggest hinderance to greater iPhone adoption IMO is the fact that you can't really get a plan for it which costs you much less than $1k per year. And if two people in your household have one, then it's double.
I don't hold out any great hopes for decent price competition between Bell/Telus and Rogers/Fido for the iPhone.
As much as I'd love to have one (and have developerd seven apps to date for them) there is no way my better half will allow me to sign a three year contract and spend nearly $3000 on a phone over that timeframe. Not gonna happen (sigh). [Eds. note ... yes, yes, I know it's no more expensive than BlackBerry etc etc.]
I can't see Bell/Telus rates undercutting Rogers/Fido by more than a few dollars, if at all. The respective CEOs all golf at the same private clubs, are greedy as hell, and have the CRTC by the short and curlies ... no way either will undercut the other and precipitate a price war. Sad but true.
Citing sources within both companies, The Globe and Mail reported that Bell Canada and Telus Corp. will begin selling the iPhone in November, bringing the previously exclusive contract held by Rogers Communications for more than a year to an end.
That was quick. November 2009 is next month.
Videotron will launch its own cell phone service in Toronto and, on a brand new network, relaunch its service throughout Quebec in February 2010. I am sure that Videotron will carry the iPhone as the newest cell phone network will not want to be without it.
I don't hold out any great hopes for decent price competition between Bell/Telus and Rogers/Fido for the iPhone.
I can't see Bell/Telus rates undercutting Rogers/Fido by more than a few dollars, if at all. The respective CEOs all golf at the same private clubs, are greedy as hell, and have the CRTC by the short and curlies ... no way either will undercut the other and precipitate a price war. Sad but true.
How do you know she will hate the coverage? Have you been using an iPhone, or even any cell phone recently on the AT&T Network in the areas you/she plans to use an iPhone?
I have been with AT&T for years and have been totally satisfied with the service I have had previously with a Motorola and the last 15 months with an iPhone 3G. I travel the west pretty regularly and yes there have been few drops but truthfully no more than I see from my friends/business cohorts on other systems. As for the 3G service, just rarely have I gone into the Edge system...oddly enough, in downtown San Fran in a high rise hotel (Hotel Nikko)!
Yes... some areas are obviously worse than others but remember you are hearing these negatives from some people here that don't even have an iphone. There is not a "perfect" cell system.
My biggest criticism of the iPhone, as many others do, and that is battery performance. But you will also hear that none of the good smartphones have "great" battery performance yet. As long as you use 3G, wifi, apps, etc etc... all good smartphones will suffer battery performance.
The largest reason she would know the coverage sucks is because I have purchased an iPhone on Day 1 of every release. Feel good about your coverage because it sucks in my neck of the woods. She also had an AT&T phone for work and it sucked. I was at Hilton Head last week with limited coverage. None inside my hotel complex, beach, or just about anywhere we were on the island. Her Verizon phone could receive text inside and talk outside with no problems.
My battery life is fine. I don't use bluetooth for anything even though I can with my car. I keep my screen brightness down too. If Skype is updated to ring me when the app is closed, that may change. ;-)
Your are SOL man. AT&T and Verizon's 3G technology are incompatible as a previous user already described. That means that IF (very big IF) Verizon gets the iPhone, your existing iPhones, whether 2G, 3G, or 3GS, would not function on Verizon's network anyway.
Best guess for end of exclusivity would be when Verizon and AT&T move on to 4G LTE in the next few years, since that will finally give Apple the ability to produce a single phone that works throughout the world AND at home on the most networks. I've been hearing rumors flying about Apple dropping exclusivity in the US in 2010. Somehow that time frame just doesn't quite jive with what Verizon has been saying about widespread, nationwide availability of its 4G service, which is only slated to begin testing at the end of this year, with limited rollouts in 2010. Widespread rollout is not slated until 2011. That essentially leaves 1.5 years before Verizon's network is ready.
As for AT&T, they are even further behind, with testing not scheduled to commence until 2010, and beginning rollouts in 2011 through 2012. Luckily for AT&T, they can prolong the life of their 3G network by rolling out HSPA+ 7.2Mbps much like they prolonged their 2G network by deploying EDGE. Hopefully that stop-gap measure is sufficient as they begin their rollout of 4G.
I'll buy my contract out and buy a new iPhone. I don't give a crap. Apple can build a phone that will work with Verizon if VZW shows them the money.
So a couple more kids are in the club. Will not change the pricing one bit I imagine. Need someone from outside the old boys club to shake it up with an offering that will cause these guys to need to make themselves competitive. Not going to hold my breath.
So a couple more kids are in the club. Will not change the pricing one bit I imagine. Need someone from outside the old boys club to shake it up with an offering that will cause these guys to need to make themselves competitive. Not going to hold my breath.
Apparently over the next year, we'll be getting exactly that.
Apparently over the next year, we'll be getting exactly that.
I don't think so.
Other than Videotron and Shaw (who are delaying their wireless build), no one has real CASH to front a major build in Canada. These guys are starting from scratch, with no customer base. The aforementioned customers (including Bell, Telus and Rogers) all have wireline cash to fund their wireless expenditures.
This is the exact same as when everybody wanted to be a "carrier's carrier", thinking they could build a massive network carrying terabytes of data across the country and around the world.
What happened, not enough customers, price undercuts, companies go bankrupt. The incumbents are left to pick up the ashes for pennies on the dollar (Rogers w/Sprint Canada, Bell with Group Telecom, Level3 with Wiltel, Verizon with MCI).
Plus we are in an economic winter like no other.
Mark my words, other than the cablecos, the wireless guys are fat turkeys waiting to be plucked as they blew their load on the last auction and no spare cash to build and run. And the incumbents are just lurking, waiting to pick them up for cheap.
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IT'S OFFICIAL:
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Someone at Telus is fired. EL JOBSO will have the black ops guys take him out. Nobody announces iPhones cept El Jobso.
We're seen it before , We'll see it again.
As much as I'd love to have one (and have developerd seven apps to date for them) there is no way my better half will allow me to sign a three year contract and spend nearly $3000 on a phone over that timeframe. Not gonna happen (sigh). [Eds. note ... yes, yes, I know it's no more expensive than BlackBerry etc etc.]
I can't see Bell/Telus rates undercutting Rogers/Fido by more than a few dollars, if at all. The respective CEOs all golf at the same private clubs, are greedy as hell, and have the CRTC by the short and curlies ... no way either will undercut the other and precipitate a price war. Sad but true.
Citing sources within both companies, The Globe and Mail reported that Bell Canada and Telus Corp. will begin selling the iPhone in November, bringing the previously exclusive contract held by Rogers Communications for more than a year to an end.
That was quick. November 2009 is next month.
Videotron will launch its own cell phone service in Toronto and, on a brand new network, relaunch its service throughout Quebec in February 2010. I am sure that Videotron will carry the iPhone as the newest cell phone network will not want to be without it.
I don't hold out any great hopes for decent price competition between Bell/Telus and Rogers/Fido for the iPhone.
I can't see Bell/Telus rates undercutting Rogers/Fido by more than a few dollars, if at all. The respective CEOs all golf at the same private clubs, are greedy as hell, and have the CRTC by the short and curlies ... no way either will undercut the other and precipitate a price war. Sad but true.
Sadly, you are most likely right.
How do you know she will hate the coverage? Have you been using an iPhone, or even any cell phone recently on the AT&T Network in the areas you/she plans to use an iPhone?
I have been with AT&T for years and have been totally satisfied with the service I have had previously with a Motorola and the last 15 months with an iPhone 3G. I travel the west pretty regularly and yes there have been few drops but truthfully no more than I see from my friends/business cohorts on other systems. As for the 3G service, just rarely have I gone into the Edge system...oddly enough, in downtown San Fran in a high rise hotel (Hotel Nikko)!
Yes... some areas are obviously worse than others but remember you are hearing these negatives from some people here that don't even have an iphone. There is not a "perfect" cell system.
My biggest criticism of the iPhone, as many others do, and that is battery performance. But you will also hear that none of the good smartphones have "great" battery performance yet. As long as you use 3G, wifi, apps, etc etc... all good smartphones will suffer battery performance.
The largest reason she would know the coverage sucks is because I have purchased an iPhone on Day 1 of every release. Feel good about your coverage because it sucks in my neck of the woods. She also had an AT&T phone for work and it sucked. I was at Hilton Head last week with limited coverage. None inside my hotel complex, beach, or just about anywhere we were on the island. Her Verizon phone could receive text inside and talk outside with no problems.
My battery life is fine. I don't use bluetooth for anything even though I can with my car. I keep my screen brightness down too. If Skype is updated to ring me when the app is closed, that may change. ;-)
Your are SOL man. AT&T and Verizon's 3G technology are incompatible as a previous user already described. That means that IF (very big IF) Verizon gets the iPhone, your existing iPhones, whether 2G, 3G, or 3GS, would not function on Verizon's network anyway.
Best guess for end of exclusivity would be when Verizon and AT&T move on to 4G LTE in the next few years, since that will finally give Apple the ability to produce a single phone that works throughout the world AND at home on the most networks. I've been hearing rumors flying about Apple dropping exclusivity in the US in 2010. Somehow that time frame just doesn't quite jive with what Verizon has been saying about widespread, nationwide availability of its 4G service, which is only slated to begin testing at the end of this year, with limited rollouts in 2010. Widespread rollout is not slated until 2011. That essentially leaves 1.5 years before Verizon's network is ready.
As for AT&T, they are even further behind, with testing not scheduled to commence until 2010, and beginning rollouts in 2011 through 2012. Luckily for AT&T, they can prolong the life of their 3G network by rolling out HSPA+ 7.2Mbps much like they prolonged their 2G network by deploying EDGE. Hopefully that stop-gap measure is sufficient as they begin their rollout of 4G.
I'll buy my contract out and buy a new iPhone. I don't give a crap. Apple can build a phone that will work with Verizon if VZW shows them the money.
So a couple more kids are in the club. Will not change the pricing one bit I imagine. Need someone from outside the old boys club to shake it up with an offering that will cause these guys to need to make themselves competitive. Not going to hold my breath.
Apparently over the next year, we'll be getting exactly that.
Apparently over the next year, we'll be getting exactly that.
I don't think so.
Other than Videotron and Shaw (who are delaying their wireless build), no one has real CASH to front a major build in Canada. These guys are starting from scratch, with no customer base. The aforementioned customers (including Bell, Telus and Rogers) all have wireline cash to fund their wireless expenditures.
This is the exact same as when everybody wanted to be a "carrier's carrier", thinking they could build a massive network carrying terabytes of data across the country and around the world.
What happened, not enough customers, price undercuts, companies go bankrupt. The incumbents are left to pick up the ashes for pennies on the dollar (Rogers w/Sprint Canada, Bell with Group Telecom, Level3 with Wiltel, Verizon with MCI).
Plus we are in an economic winter like no other.
Mark my words, other than the cablecos, the wireless guys are fat turkeys waiting to be plucked as they blew their load on the last auction and no spare cash to build and run. And the incumbents are just lurking, waiting to pick them up for cheap.
Same old, same old.