Yeah, Canadian GSM rates are nuts... Here are a couple of graphs that really drive the point home:
Canadian GSM rates vs other carriers (US, Australia, Rwanda...): http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomaspurves/452679328/ 1GB of usage on Canadian carriers: http://flickr.com/photos/boris/453017593/ When I'm in the states, I use T-Mobile... my BlackBerry plan includes unlimited data usage and is $20 on top of my voice plan... However, when in Canada there is a roaming charge... it connects to the Rogers network, and I'm charged $0.01/KB, which adds up rather quickly, and isn't any cheaper than the Canadian carriers. The state of the Canadian mobile phone market is rather sad when compared to other countries... too bad there isn't any real competition forcing them to charge sane rates... Evan On 7/9/07, John E Jardine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Rogers has decent GSM coverage - I've been using if for a few years now. > A bit of good news is that I had no problem using my grey-market GSM > phone. Just had to buy the Rogers SIM and I was all set to go. Now all > we need is the cell carriers to lower their data rates. They are still > unbelievably expensive :( > > > Begin rant... > Check out > http://www.shoprogers.com/business/wireless/plans_services/business_plans.asp?plan=blackberrydata&cat=2&typ=2 > If you're willing to pony up $100/month on a 3 year contract > (guaranteeing Rogers $3,600) you can get their 'best' deal: 200MB/month > with $5/MB after that. Oh - and that's just for data service, your > voice service is on top of that. That's total price gouging but with a > duopoly (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) in place the prices won't be coming down > anytime soon. > > AT&T in the USA is the Borg of Telecom - they've functionally reversed > the divestiture and assimilated most of the original network. With that > level of waste, corruption and greed in mind, they still easily beat > Rogers best plan with this: > http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service//cell-phone-plans/blackberry-tethered-plans.jsp > > So - until something changes the data plan pricing models in Canada it > is often cheaper to get your service through the US and permanently roam > in Canada. We used to do this because it would save us 50% or more - > don't know if we still do it though. > > > On Mon, 2007-07-09 at 02:08 -0600, sgrover wrote: > > The OpenMoko phone is now available. This first release is more aimed > > at developers, but even then this looks like a great system. > > > > http://www.openmoko.com > > http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/131832054/article.pl > > http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/System_Developer > > http://projects.openmoko.org/ > > > > Can't wait to see the first few reviews. As is, I want one of the > > advanced models just so I can get the cool gadgets (aka development > > tools) and case. But, like any cell phone purchase I need to check if > > my provider has GSM coverage, and if the phone would work in Calgary > > (willing to change provider if I can keep the same number...) > > > > I believe this type of phone is going to be the catalyst for a massive > > change in the way telecommunications is done. It effectively opens up > > the market to open source software, has some decent connection options > > (bluetooth, USB, etc.), and even throws in some 3D accelerometers. The > > integrations projects for this gadget are staggering. > > > > My thoughts... > > > > Shawn > > > > _______________________________________________ > > clug-talk mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > > **Please remove these lines when replying > > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying > _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [email protected] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
