Originally posted by smuncky
Daily News Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Canadians Should Submit to Net Neutrality Hearings
I'm in the chat right now for the hearings, on the Globe and mail website. Some interesting talk, but it feels like it is a big waste of time tying to convince the CRTC of anything.
dEsidEL
quote:
Originally posted by Orko
I'm in the chat right now for the hearings, on the Globe and mail website. Some interesting talk, but it feels like it is a big waste of time tying to convince the CRTC of anything.
did u see their response to that whole Nation DNC list debacle? makes you want to rip the hair out of your head..
Orko
No, link? I read a response weeks ago, which stated the list was working as is, and is a great benefit to anybody that signed up. Thankfully it has worked quite well for my house. The only calls we are getting are from Indian call centers which looked up our last name.
dEsidEL
quote:
Originally posted by Orko
No, link? I read a response weeks ago, which stated the list was working as is, and is a great benefit to anybody that signed up. Thankfully it has worked quite well for my house. The only calls we are getting are from Indian call centers which looked up our last name.
here it is:
rabbitjoker
WinMo 6.5 is a big improvement. I can't wait for the new WinMo handsets to be released (Omnia, SE, LG, HTC).
We're going to be seeing a lot more of these devices in the future.
Orko
A big improvement on a POS is still not good enough. They need an entire redesign for Win Mobile 7. I've seen some of the leaked redesigned home screen, but unfortunately the underlying system is still there.
I have had PDA's from the Palm m100, all the way through to today, including Winmobile 2k3, 2k5, 6.1.... The windows mobile OS has been the least intuitive, least stable, and least enriching OS i have ever used. Poorly made tabs, tiny scroll bars, and slow response times.
Sorry RJ, I know you work, or have worked for MS. Lets wait till it actually comes out before we give it any kind of praise, because up until this point, they have not earned anybody's trust.
VERTiG0
Agreed, WinMo 6.5 isn't good enough. It's still just a polished turd. It needs to be completely rewritten from the ground up.
I won't touch WinMo until version 7.
E2EK1EL
Rogers’ Q4 results are a mixed bag
Early this morning Rogers Communications Inc. posted its fourth quarter 2008 financial and operating results. We’re not at all interested in Rogers Cable and Media and we know all you want to know is its ARPU, churn and smartphone sales so if you please bear with us while we get this out of the way we’ll get straight to it: Rogers posted a loss of $138 million CDN ($109.25 million USD). While it was mostly the Media/Print division that dragged Rogers down (Cable had double-digit growth), Wireless didn’t do much for Rogers in the way of short-term favors as retention costs once again ate up a large amount of cash. Net additions totaled 199,000 with 158,000 of those being locked into lengthy contracts causing a modest 2% increase in ARPU for post-paid subscribers which stood at $74.71. A 36 percent increase in demand for wireless data (which is where Rogers unsurprisingly looks to for 18 percent of its overall network revenue) was attributed as the main factor for the increase. Easily home to the best smartphone line-up in North America, Rogers sold 400,000 units with 160,000 of those going to new subscribers - something which costs Rogers a lot of money in the short-term. At least Rogers can comfort themselves knowing that churn dropped to 1.12 percent. It could be worse, right Bell?
dEsidEL
quote:
Rogers hikes Internet and cable fees Cable giant's TV unit takes $294 million charge as ad sales slump
February 19, 2009
Chris Sorensen
Business Reporter
Rogers Communications Inc., which yesterday posted a $138 million fourth-quarter loss, is again raising rates for residential cable and high-speed Internet services as customers scale back spending.
The cable and telecommunications giant recently mailed customers a card detailing residential rates, effective March 1.
Rates will rise between 3 and 9 per cent for Rogers' high-speed Internet services, with the exception of its $99.95 per month "Extreme Plus" tier. Several cable TV packages will also see prices increase, including a 5 per cent hike for basic cable services to $29.99 per month.
Prices for Rogers home phone, raised last year through a 30 per cent increase to a "system access " fee charged to subscribers, will remain unchanged.
The latest increases are necessary to "ensure continued investment in our network and programming" and to address "increased costs like those from programming providers, " Rogers spokesperson Nancy Cottenden said.
The changes come as Rogers feels the impact of a slowing Ontario economy on its Internet and home phone businesses.
Rogers added just 40,000 new home phone customers in the fourth quarter compared with 65,000 net additions in the same period last year. Executives blamed a slowing economy and increased efforts by Bell Canada Inc. to win back customers with special promotions and competitive rates.
Nadir Mohamed, chief operating officer of Rogers' communications division and a leading candidate to replace the late Ted Rogers as the company's chief executive, said sales were also affected by a slowdown in Ontario's housing sector.
"Consumers are generally much more cautious," Mohamed told analysts during a conference call yesterday. "People are moving residences less and those are important sales points for us."
Rogers posted a fourth-quarter loss of $138 million, or 22 cents a share, on revenue of $2.9 billion. That included a $294 million charge related to the company's conventional television business, which has been hurt by steep declines in spending by advertisers.
By contrast, Rogers earned $254 million, or 40 cents a share, in the year-earlier period when sales totalled $2.7 billion. Rogers nevertheless increased its annual dividend yesterday to $1.16 from $1.
Rogers' key wireless business, which accounts for more than half the company's revenue, added 199,000 new subscribers in the fourth quarter.
The average cost of a postpaid user's monthly bill grew just 2 per cent to $74.71, driven mainly by a 36 per cent jump in network data revenue, Rogers said.
But operating costs were also higher in the wireless division as the company sold a greater proportion of high-end smartphones such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s various BlackBerry models. The devices carry a higher upfront cost for Rogers, which subsidizes the purchase price and attempts to recoup its money through three-year subscriber contracts.
Greg MacDonald, an analyst at National Bank Financial, said in a note to clients he expects average bills to grow 5 per cent.
Investors also appear concerned that Rogers' smartphone strategy – it sold about 400,000 iPhones and BlackBerrys in the quarter – may not be as profitable as the company has suggested.
Rogers shares fell nearly 8 per cent, or $2.65, to close at $31.70 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Rogers just finished a conference call ahead of its upcoming earnings call and you know your pals at BGR would have all the goods for you. The most interesting topic covered? LTE! That’s right Verizon, your buddies north of the border aren’t just going to sit back and relax while you go all 4G on us. Here are some key points regarding LTE from the Rogers call:
Rogers’ LTE network is currently ahead of its development schedule Recent tests have yielded 50 Mbps download speeds without any sort of optimization (woo!) Speeds at launch are expected to reach 70 Mbps The initial launch of the Rogers LTE network will take place in Vancouver and the surrounding area, in time for the 2010 Olympics (February 2010) The service will launch with a USB stick - Rogers is still talking to vendors - but it has no plans to have any 4G-enabled handsets available at that time The Rogers 4G network will expand outside of the Vancouver area during Q2 2010 Rogers will have 4G phones available by the end of Q2 2010 as it extends its 4G network Rogers noted that its 3G launch was a mess but it is taking measures to ensure that 4G goes much smoother Beyond LTE, Rogers discussed its cable business and the fact that it is currently running near capacity. At the same time, it knows it needs to expand upon its available HD content so Rogers wants to merge its three internet systems - cable internet, 3G and its Portable Internet system. The process will be slow going however as the current 3G system can’t handle the additional load but by Q3 2010 Rogers will have a stable and widely-deployed 4G network that will be more than capable of picking up the slack. As that time Rogers plans to move its cable internet network over to the LTE network in order to free up cable for more HD.
This migration will obviously take a bit of time as it must be staggered to avoid major outages, but Rogers cable customers should at least be happy to know that Rogers is working hard to beef things up and give you a more up to date service offering. Beyond that, Rogers will be dishing out dual-network modems — cable and 4G — and you know you can’t wait to get your hands on one of those puppies. This will allow Rogers to slowly move its internet service from cable to 4G, eventually shifting everything to 4G and using cable as a seamless backup in case of outages.
Thanks, RogersDude!
************************
Now didn't I tell you Roger's was ahead of development schedule from everyone else awhile ago? Very solid inside info I trust.
dEsidEL
fully wireless internet is the future there's no question
Orko
quote:
Originally posted by dEsidEL
fully wireless internet is the future there's no question
Certainly is a question. Maybe for crappy browsers like mom and dad, but for power users, and businesses, you will never match the speed and efficiency of a wired connection.
"i'm sorry sir, but we cannot improve the speeds for your internet connection, there is a building in the way".
Good job Rogers. Your profits slip due to a recession, so what do you do? RAISE prices! woooo. That will make people value their service even more. :rolleyes: . I would cancel my mom's cable subscription today, if i could teach her to torrent.
