Earlier quoted context omitted.
6GB is not unlimited
Hence why I said "basically". I tether daily (including streaming the occasional leafs game, radio, etc) and haven't gone over 6GB.
That's you. Sometimes I need to pull down a giant repo.
Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
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Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#72By way of comparison, I'm living in Melbourne, Australia, and pay $55/month for the Nexus S w/ unlimited calls within Australia (including to other mobile phones), unlimited texts (IIRC) and 500 MB of data. That's for a one-year plan w/ Vodafone, and I didn't pay anything up-front for the phone. Needless to say I'm looking forward to upgrading to the Galaxy Nexus soon. :) My wife has the the same phone and same plan…
The typical Canadian will irrationally defend any policy that differs from the equivalent policy in America, because the typical Canadian's sense of national identity is 10% hockey and 90% 'we're different from the Americans'. We're never going to deregulate and allow a little free-market competition to lower prices as long as these proposals can be criticized as 'Americanization' or 'the American way'. It's not comp…
You think American markets aren't oligopolistic, especially telecom?
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Data costs in canada are even higher than voice costs! skype is only available on some androids and charges calls against your voice minutes.
I had a t-mobile blackberry flip phone in the USA that could make calls over wifi. when it was connected to an access point I could turn off the carrier connection and just use the wifi, but it did still use my minutes and the quality was not good. Does anyone know if a SIP soft phone app like X-lite and a smartphone that can use a wifi connection to so that at least outgoing calls could be made over data without lon…
I'm not sure if this is what you're asking about, but the Nokia business-oreinted phones E-series come with SIP capabilites natively (or one can use a third party client). I've used it on my E73.
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hence why I said "basically". I tether daily (including streaming the occasional leafs game, radio, etc) and haven't gone over 6GB.
That's you. Sometimes I need to pull down a giant repo.
On your iPhone? If you're trying to use 3G as a replacement for a home or office internet then I certainly see why you're disappointed.
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#75By way of comparison, I'm living in Melbourne, Australia, and pay $55/month for the Nexus S w/ unlimited calls within Australia (including to other mobile phones), unlimited texts (IIRC) and 500 MB of data. That's for a one-year plan w/ Vodafone, and I didn't pay anything up-front for the phone. Needless to say I'm looking forward to upgrading to the Galaxy Nexus soon. :) My wife has the the same phone and same plan…
The typical Canadian will irrationally defend any policy that differs from the equivalent policy in America, because the typical Canadian's sense of national identity is 10% hockey and 90% 'we're different from the Americans'. We're never going to deregulate and allow a little free-market competition to lower prices as long as these proposals can be criticized as 'Americanization' or 'the American way'. It's not comp…
People are driven to play one side of the fence or the other. As an example, many had fought to deregulate our banks. Now, after the recession, where are all these people? crickets Our banks in Canada were one of the only in the world to not suffer serious hardship coupled with millions of dollars lost in foreclosures, lost benefits and savings. This was, without question, due to regulation. Canada would not be in the position it is today had it deregulated the banks. This is a fact served by many, many examples throughout the world.
Admittingly, not all regulation is good. Matters like these should be investigated on a individual basis with due process. It isn't a matter of deregulation vs. regulation. Or Canada vs. USA. These mindsets are dangerous as they rubberstamp behaviour without consideration to the influences these actions may or may not have.
The CRTC needs good reform, but full deregulation is not my preference. The CRTC must encourage (require?) innovation for Canadians. That's the problem. We're unhappy because we don't have the innovations we should - and we pay top dollar for archaic services.
Deregulated media only means Bell/Rogers/Shaw will eventually be in the hands of conglomerates. There are financial advantages to this, but a boat-load of disadvantages not seen immediately. Do you think Comcast or AT&T would continue to employ 50,000+ people in Canada to uphold their Canadian operations had they the opportunity to purchase our telcos? Doubtful. What about our programming? What about censorship in the media - would we eventually adopt the American model if it's less work for them to uphold our model with theirs? With SOPA, we'd essentially inherit American policies without force. Not something I'd consider an improvement.
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#76By way of comparison, I'm living in Melbourne, Australia, and pay $55/month for the Nexus S w/ unlimited calls within Australia (including to other mobile phones), unlimited texts (IIRC) and 500 MB of data. That's for a one-year plan w/ Vodafone, and I didn't pay anything up-front for the phone. Needless to say I'm looking forward to upgrading to the Galaxy Nexus soon. :) My wife has the the same phone and same plan…
BC insurance, from my experience, isn't really a problem. Most quotes I've received in markets where there is a free(r) market for insurance often are considerably higher than what BC drivers pay through ICBC, especially if the driver is under 25. Case in point, I renewed my auto insurance today with ICBC and paid $1470 for 12 months of insurance for a 2007 Mazda 3. The policy includes $2,000,000 liability, collision…
The reason you are paying lower rates is because the gov't has stepped in and ensured it. Well that and the gov't pays out insurance claims, so it can often limit the huge payouts.
The problem is is that when you benefit one group (young drivers), you're usually making someone else pay the difference (lower risk drivers).
There is no free lunch.
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
>In fact Rogers put out a statistic that something like only 3 people went over 6GB in the first month they offerred it. Rogers has a long history of blatantly lying about stuff like this, to skew the narrative in their favor. >Youtube data rate is 300kbps high definition video is far in excess of 300kbs >You're trying to tell me that that isn't "basically unlimited"? I think we use the internet in very different way…
I don't doubt that Rogers embellishes things like that. I'm still happy with $30 for 6GB. I'm equal to any "power" user, I work on the road and tether daily while using the iPhone for basically everything. I'm still not getting anywhere near 6GB. You'd literally have to use the iPhone connection as your main internet source to get above 6GB. I'm not torrenting or streaming a TON while on my phone, but I watch mobile…
>You'd literally have to use the iPhone connection as your main internet source
why is this so crazy? its perfectly possible in areas without insane rates and no competition
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#78By way of comparison, I'm living in Melbourne, Australia, and pay $55/month for the Nexus S w/ unlimited calls within Australia (including to other mobile phones), unlimited texts (IIRC) and 500 MB of data. That's for a one-year plan w/ Vodafone, and I didn't pay anything up-front for the phone. Needless to say I'm looking forward to upgrading to the Galaxy Nexus soon. :) My wife has the the same phone and same plan…
The typical Canadian will irrationally defend any policy that differs from the equivalent policy in America, because the typical Canadian's sense of national identity is 10% hockey and 90% 'we're different from the Americans'. We're never going to deregulate and allow a little free-market competition to lower prices as long as these proposals can be criticized as 'Americanization' or 'the American way'. It's not comp…
Australia isn't exactly America. In most ways we are much closer to Canada than the US.
For example, we have strong financial sector regulation, a public health care system etc etc.
In the telecommunications sector we have a powerful regulator (the ACCC) to enforce competition policy (usually against the old incumbent telco).
Another difference to the US is that the incumbent telco (Telstra) is legally obliged to give access other players access to its exchanges. That has enabled other players to do things Telstra said were impossible or uneconomic (for example, smaller players rolled out ADSL2 much quicker than Telstra said was possible using this access).
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#79I've never understood why in many western industrialized countries telecommunications has not been regulated the same as sewage, roads, electricity, etc. It is a vital piece of infrastructure in the 21st century and it should be the responsibility of the government to manage such infrastructure.
I've never understood why in many western industrialized countries telecommunications has not been regulated the same as sewage, roads, electricity, etc
Because the technology required for telecommunications changes quicker than that required for sewage, roads, electricity etc.
Highly regulated markets are slower to react than less regulated markets, and government owned monopolies are usually the slowest of the lot.
In general the model that seems to have generated the best outcome for consumers is government-mandated competition. This takes many forms (eg, local-loop unbundling in the UK and Europe, partial forced access regulation in Australia), but enables companies to compete on services, innovation and price whilst keeping the government involved to enforce consumer interests.
Re: Canada's Telecom Market is Rigged, says Wind Mobile backer Naguib Sawiris
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
we used to have that, and while the service of providing roads, electricity, or sewerage hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, telecommunications certainly has. while networks might lend themselves to natural monopolies, government sponsored telecommunications monopolies couldn't keep up with the pace of innovation these days and as a result consumers would be left paying high rates for antiquated service.
This is going to sound like trolling, but compared to the European mobile telecoms services, you in the US are paying high rates for an antiquated service (specifically, non-GSM use is still common, everyday data speeds are slower, dropouts are higher, call quality is lower). Judicious government investment into telecoms infrastructure in certain European countries has led to fast, cheap and stable communications. Go…
I don't think there has been significant government investment in mobile telecoms in Europe (citation requested if I'm wrong).
There is much higher levels of competition, enforced by government regulation though.