Wind Mobile & the HTC Maple
So, I'm ending up back in Canada and having divorced myself from FIDO went in search for another provider up here, fully prepared to be paying twice the price for half the service you get in the USA. Alas, no - but with some caveats.
Wind Mobile, a new startup Canadian wireless provider, seems to have a better perspective on customer service than most of Canadian telco's I've dealt with.
Over the holidays they had a special promotion, $40 unlimited calls to the USA and Canada, (no long distance), and unlimited data, fair use policy in effect. What a deal!!! What can I say, a company up here finally gets it!
Great deal, and I like their take on customer service, as in, what's good for the customer. You get to unlock your phone after 3 months. I mean, really, why not. Why is this even an issue. There's a Canadian MP that's lobbying, has a petition to let customers unlock their phones, it's here if you care to sign it. But why is this like, oh really? I paid $600 for my f'n FIDO phone and those MF's wouldn't give me the unlock codes. AND I PAID FOR THE PHONE!!!! It's not that I was leaving them, I just wanted to use the phone when I went back to the US or to Europe on business. Why is 'f@#$ the customer' the MO up here?
So, I like Wind. They get it.
That said - I have had problems with the network, so, as the adage goes, you get what you pay for. I've had several dropped calls at my apt or walking around. And when I get reception, it's sketchy at best. I can only hope it's because they have had so many new customers and that it's only a matter of time before they address their network issues. There have been times when I actually have to use SKYPE, to make a phone call because I can't get through on WIND. Better look in to that WIND otherwise you'll start to lose clients, not because you don't have good, fair plans, not because you don't have a customer friendly service, but the underlying service, you know, providing phone service - isn't there. Pay attention.
As far as the HTC Maple, I guess you could say the same thing. It's 1/4 the price of an iPhone and 1/4 quarter as useful and cool. Its first mistake (or mine), was going with Microsoft for an OS. What a piece of crap. Does these guys know what year it is? So, it's cheap, and it's basic. You do get your email. Forget about surfing the Web, apps, or anything remotely cool, useful or intuitive, i.e., anything that Apple has done in the last few years.
The phone hangs, to the point where I have to take out the battery. It crashes. It flashes. What's with the flashing. Why do I need to see flashing green and red light all the freakin time. Do you need to tell me that way that I'm getting email? Or surfing the net? What? WHAT? WHY Tell me. I find it a crazy annoying 'feature'. I read the news, try, in bed, and there's this stupid flashing light in my face. This sort of bad design drives me mental. I know there are bigger problems in the world, but man, on a day to day, that such shitty products make it to market is always a head scratcher.
For those looking for a basic, no nonesense cheap phone. This is it. The battery life isn't great. The ear piece they give is crap. Although it has bluetooth I haven't been able to sync with one other device yet, including my bluetooth headset. For the $$ don't get it, really, go with an Android phone, or anything other than this POS. It's difficult to get the cover off to change the SIM card, it's difficult to remove the flap to charge it. The HTC must have been designed by first year engineers. Way behind, and no clue about user interface.
Oy gevalt!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sign a Pettition - Say NO to Internet Metering.
I heard on the CBC, some guy on The Current was suggesting average usage by Canadian was 15-20 Gigs and that 'heavy users' are 250-500Gigs, he did not want to subsidize them. That's a huge range, and this plant was obviously laying groundwork for the telco and cableco's to charge inordinately for those that use 20-100Gigs.
This is also laying the groundwork to stop people, i.e., YOU, the consumer, from choice of entertainment (youtube, Apple iTunes, and Netflix), so that you have to pay the telco/cableco to make up for their lost TV revenue.
The telco's and cableco's in Canada are like an extension of Revenue Canada. No matter what, they'll find a way to charge (tax) you, (screw you), for fees above and beyond what the rest of the Western world pays. Basically, whereever a competitor emerges (like Wind, or Yak) offering true value service, they get squashed. Can't fight the oligopoly.
But alas, we can try. Sign this petition, and there is another one, from an MP I saw lobbying to have cell phone companies let people unlock their phones. About time.
Please review and if you agree, visit the web site to sign the petition. Don't take it anymore, we pay enough in Canada without getting screwed more by the big cable and telco providers.
---------------------------------------------
Make a donation to help us stop the meter at http://openmedia.ca/drive (Donating to us will be less expensive than paying punitive fees.)
- The OpenMedia.ca Team
---------------
The CRTC just decided to let your Internet Service Provider put a meter on your Internet!
Bell Canada and other big telecom companies can now freely impose usage-based billing on independent Internet Service Providers (indie ISPs) and YOU. Big Telecom companies are obviously trying to gouge consumers, control the Internet market, and ensure that consumers continue to subscribe to their television services.
This means we're looking at a future where ISPs will charge per byte, the way they do with smart phones. If we allow this to happen, Canadians will have no choice but to pay more for less Internet.
This will crush innovative services, Canada's digital competitiveness, and your wallet.
We need to stand up for the Internet.
Sign the Stop The Meter petition at: http://StopTheMeter.ca
Want to know more? Here’s the lowdown:
This decision is a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to free expression. Independent Internet service providers (ISPs), such as TekSavvy, pay incumbent telecoms like Bell for access points in their networks. In applying usage-based billing (UBB) to these indie ISPs, the CRTC has allowed Bell to determine and limit how many gigabytes of usage their independent competitors can provide to their customers.
- This severely limits competition in the telecommunications market, which is bad for innovation and diversity of content.
- This also means that the cost will necessarily be passed down to you, the consumer.
- Usage-based billing or metering discriminates against certain forms of information insofar as it charges consumers more for content that requires the use of a large amount of gigabytes, such as audio and video.
- This also means that those who produce media-based art, and depend on the Internet to show the world their work, are less able to produce and disseminate their content freely. This means less innovation and more control of art, film, music, and other forms we may not yet know of!
Sign the petition and save the freest medium we have ever known (again!). Stop the Meter and save our net!
--
Read more at SaveOurNet.ca: http://saveournet.ca/content/what-does-usage-based-billing-mean-net-neutrality
Read more at OpenMedia.ca: http://openmedia.ca/blog/crtc-decision-all-bell-and-usage-based-billing-all
Read TV Versus The Internet by Steve Anderson: http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/10/06/TVversusInternet/
Read more at CBC.ca: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/10/28/crtc-usage-based-billing-internet.html
This is also laying the groundwork to stop people, i.e., YOU, the consumer, from choice of entertainment (youtube, Apple iTunes, and Netflix), so that you have to pay the telco/cableco to make up for their lost TV revenue.
The telco's and cableco's in Canada are like an extension of Revenue Canada. No matter what, they'll find a way to charge (tax) you, (screw you), for fees above and beyond what the rest of the Western world pays. Basically, whereever a competitor emerges (like Wind, or Yak) offering true value service, they get squashed. Can't fight the oligopoly.
But alas, we can try. Sign this petition, and there is another one, from an MP I saw lobbying to have cell phone companies let people unlock their phones. About time.
Please review and if you agree, visit the web site to sign the petition. Don't take it anymore, we pay enough in Canada without getting screwed more by the big cable and telco providers.
---------------------------------------------
Make a donation to help us stop the meter at http://openmedia.ca/drive (Donating to us will be less expensive than paying punitive fees.)
- The OpenMedia.ca Team
---------------
The CRTC just decided to let your Internet Service Provider put a meter on your Internet!
Bell Canada and other big telecom companies can now freely impose usage-based billing on independent Internet Service Providers (indie ISPs) and YOU. Big Telecom companies are obviously trying to gouge consumers, control the Internet market, and ensure that consumers continue to subscribe to their television services.
This means we're looking at a future where ISPs will charge per byte, the way they do with smart phones. If we allow this to happen, Canadians will have no choice but to pay more for less Internet.
This will crush innovative services, Canada's digital competitiveness, and your wallet.
We need to stand up for the Internet.
Sign the Stop The Meter petition at: http://StopTheMeter.ca
Want to know more? Here’s the lowdown:
This decision is a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to free expression. Independent Internet service providers (ISPs), such as TekSavvy, pay incumbent telecoms like Bell for access points in their networks. In applying usage-based billing (UBB) to these indie ISPs, the CRTC has allowed Bell to determine and limit how many gigabytes of usage their independent competitors can provide to their customers.
- This severely limits competition in the telecommunications market, which is bad for innovation and diversity of content.
- This also means that the cost will necessarily be passed down to you, the consumer.
- Usage-based billing or metering discriminates against certain forms of information insofar as it charges consumers more for content that requires the use of a large amount of gigabytes, such as audio and video.
- This also means that those who produce media-based art, and depend on the Internet to show the world their work, are less able to produce and disseminate their content freely. This means less innovation and more control of art, film, music, and other forms we may not yet know of!
Sign the petition and save the freest medium we have ever known (again!). Stop the Meter and save our net!
--
Read more at SaveOurNet.ca: http://saveournet.ca/content/what-does-usage-based-billing-mean-net-neutrality
Read more at OpenMedia.ca: http://openmedia.ca/blog/crtc-decision-all-bell-and-usage-based-billing-all
Read TV Versus The Internet by Steve Anderson: http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/10/06/TVversusInternet/
Read more at CBC.ca: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/10/28/crtc-usage-based-billing-internet.html
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