Those of you with an iPhone in Canada can now take advantage of the best GPS Navigator for the iPhone. However instead of being called AT&T Navigator its called Rogers Navigator.

The GPS App offers the same 3D Color maps that made the AT&T Navigator famous. For more information check out the blog post from Telenav
http://blog.telenav.com/blog/2010/04/attention-canada-rogers-navigator-now-on-the-iphone/

For the first time, Canadian mobile carriers are offering unlimited data plans for much less than the price of your arm and leg. Bell Mobility introduced the HTC Touch a few weeks ago with an unlimited data plan for 7 dollars Canadian, or $7.04 US. The plan is also compatible with other wap-based consumer phones, and only allow for wap-access.  Unlike the consumer based unlimited wap plan, the unlimited data covers unlimited HTML based internet browsing (through EV-DO/CDMA 1X) and unlimited email and instant messaging. For PDAs, the HTC Touch is currently the only phone that the $7 plan is compatible on.

Days earlier, Telus Mobility introduced an unlimited instant messaging/e-mail plan for $15 for all PDAs and Blackberrys, but many customers have been given free unlimited data as part of the package to compete with the plan by Bell. Currently there is very little information whether Blackberry devices are compatible or not.

Rogers Wireless introduced an unlimited email and messaging plan for exclusively Blackberry devices for $15, it does not include any web browsing data, nor has Rogers responded to Bell’s $7 unlimited data yet, and they may not until much into the future.

Many believe the unlimited data plans introduced by Bell and Telus are to prepare to combat against the iPhone that is to be released on Rogers sometime in the imminent not-so-distant future.

Two restrictions that the Bell and Telus data plans have is audio/video streaming and tethering to a computer, both carriers forbid customers from doing either on their phones due to the extreme pricing on the plans.

Today I recieved a press release in my inbox, and like always I read them and decided whether they warrant a post or not. Today I received one from a company called Yoober, and in the press release they promise free texting etc.

So I read the press release and visit their website to see what the catch is, and while there really is no catch you do need a data plan to use their supposed free text technology.

Basically you download their software and send messages to friends who are also using their software. They send the messages over the Internet. But you do not incur any texting charges. WOW Free texting!!! Yeah right.

The Yoober software uses your data plan to send the messages and data plans tend to cost just as much if not more than text plans.

The CEO of Yoober claims to be a texting addict who wants to make the Telco’s suffer by offering a free Texting alternative, but I think his software would just bring in more money to telco’s because it uses the more expensive data plans they offer.

Yoober does not offer free Texting, it just piggy backs on a more expensive service. 

I just received this information from a friend of mine, as of August 7, 2007, Canadian GSM carrier Rogers Wireless will be introducing an Early Cancellation Fee (ECF) and contracts for users who set up data plans on their accounts.  Rogers is introducing this since many PDA-phones such as the Blackberry Curve and HTC TyTn require a data plan for the best available purchase deal for the customer. When the customer purchases the phone, he/she could previously remove the data plan off their line (usually $60+ minimum data plan) and live without a data plan. The data-contract will deter customers from removing data plans off their accounts.

Contracts are to be set up in 1, 2, and 3 year intervals and are not tied to the regular voice plan-based contract. Month-to-month based data plans will be continued to be offered, however the contract based plans may provide lower cost data solutions for customers, although Canadian consumers pay some of the highest data costs for the wireless industry in the world, paying around $20 for a measly megabyte or two up to over $200 for half a gigabyte. 

If a customer does not fulfil his/her data contract, there will be an Early Cancellation of $5 per month, with a maximum fee of $100 total for cancelling the data plan.  If a customer is cancelling their account completely, the fee could cost the customer up to $500 with the voice & data cancellation fees combined.

However, if a customer cancels a data plan to migrate to another data service, such as a regular data plan to a Blackberry data plan or vice versa, the cancellation fee will be waived.

Canadians have been royally screwed on wireless services for many years now, however many are hoping that this change will introduce more liberal data plans in the near future.

Rogers Wireless‘ owned Fido carrier recently introduced a contest to find regular Canadians who resemble dogs for an upcoming advertising campaign.  Fido’s advertising campaign generally consists of a customer with their dog talking on the phone, with the customer having some resemblance to their dog.

This is the first time Fido allows for regular Canadians to have a chance to be featured on upcoming ads.  The contest is only open for Canadians, however anyone from around the world can vote on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. This is a parody of famous sexiness-scale site Hotornot.com. To date there are nearly 5000 people on the website who uploaded their photos to resemble their choice of a dog for the contest. Many of the top images have received as many as 10,000 votes from people all over the world. The contest will be completed on August 31 and anyone can vote for their favourite images, while only Canadians can take part in the contest itself.

Visit the website at Fidoduo.ca

When the iPhone was announced at MacWorld San Fransisco in January, many Canadian news sources were predicting the iPhone to be introduced in the Great White North not long after the American introduction.  Clueless Rogers’ Customer Service agents were also confirming the iPhone was coming to Canada very soon after the American introduction, however these was information the representatives learned themselves by reading online.

Canada may not get the iPhone for a long time, not because Apple may believe that the Canadian GSM market is too small, but because the costs for data plans are too high in Canada for the iPhone to sell well. In Canada, none of the major wireless carriers currently have an unlimited data plan offered to its customers, however in the past Fido did have unlimited data, before Rogers Wireless bought the company a few years ago.

The only real option for the iPhone to enter the Canadian market is through Rogers Wireless, which is the only major GSM carrier in the nation.  Rogers’ data plans may prohibit Apple from selling the iPhone in Canada. Firstly, in most of Canada voice minute plans are mediocre at best, for a $30 voice plan on Rogers you would get 100 day time minutes, 1000 evening & weekend minutes (starting at 9PM), and unlimited local Mobile to Mobile/Rogers Landline/Fido, long distance is extra. Secondly and finally, Rogers’ data plans are expensive with the highest end data plan being half a Gigabyte costing around $200/month. With the use of wireless data becoming more and more popular, half a Gigabyte is below a minimum needed for many customers.

If Rogers wants to bring the iPhone to Canada, the pricing structure will need to change, even if a special pricing structure needs to be created for iPhone customers alone in regards to data.

Source: Canada.com

Our Canadian Correspondent Cody has again pointed out to us that the MyFaves, Fab5, My5 battle is raging in Canada.

Today a third wireless provider has added a MyFaves program to their plan options and this time it’s Telus Mobility.

Their MyFaves plan allows for their customers to talk and text as much as they want to 5 people, the MyFaves plans start at $25 dollars (CAD) a month.

For more info visit: http://telusmobility.ca/on/plans/pcs/myfaves_all.shtml

Tonight’s the final night that Rogers’ TDMA/Analog network will be online ever again, instead of charging $5/month like Cingular was for TDMA access, Rogers decided it was just more affordable to shut down the old towers on the network.

There will be a few people who will be peeved by it, plus some of the GSM coverage is spotty at best in some of the TDMA/analog areas.. but who knows if Rogers will bring in new GSM towers to those areas.

TDMA Coverage
Rogers Wireless will no longer operate the TDMA/Analog network

Rogers Wireless will shutdown the TDMA/Analog network on May 31st, 2007 to focus on expanding our GSM network, the world global standard. In fact, our Rogers GSM network is proven to be Canada’s most reliable network with the clearest reception and the fewest dropped calls of any Canadian provider. We are the only Canadian carrier to offer voice and text messaging coverage in over 185 countries and data roaming coverage for e-mail and Internet access in over 100 countries worldwide. So whether you’re on a cross country trip, traveling overseas or walking around town, you’ll always stay connected with family and friends.

What should you do if you have a TDMA/Analog phone?

If you have a monthly billed account:
Get a FREE Nokia 6061, with no new service agreement required, or
The Nokia 6133 for just $30 with a 36 month service agreement.

Simply visit rogers.com/migrateme for offer details.

If you have a prepaid account:
You’ll receive a FREE Nokia 2610 as our thank-you for switching. Plus, you’ll also be able to keep your current phone number, airtime plan and account balance.

Simply visit tdmarogers.com for offer details.

Please allow up to 3 weeks for delivery of the new phone. To ensure you receive the phone by May 31, we recommend you contact us by May 1, 2007.

FAQ

By Cody

Cody a member of our forums has brought to our attention that Bell Canada has recently launched Fab Five.

Fab Five from Bell Canada is similar to My5 from Rogers. The service allows for unlimited calling between 5 people of your choice no matter what their service provider is. But unlike My5 which allows unlimited texting between your 5 people, Fab Five will only give Bell Canada customers 100 text to each.

The offer in my opinion is pretty good, the Fab Five plans start at 25 dollars a month.

For more info about the Fab Five plans click here.

A member on our forums Cody has pointed out to us that Rogers Mobile (Canadian Service Provider) is now offering a My5 plan.

The My5 plan is similar to the T-mobile MyFaves plan which allows unlimited calling to 5 people of your choice on any carrier, however unlike the MyFaves plan from T-Mobile, My5 from Rogers gives unlimited texting to those 5 people as well. The plan cost an extra 10 dollars a month.

For more information about My5 click here.