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TOTA Mobile/Wireless/Celluar/VOIP Thread (pg. 86)
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| Orko |
| quote: | Originally posted by dEsidEL
now imagine if everyone installed Skype on their smartphones and used that to make calls!
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The ideal set up is a smart phone with wireless G and VOIP. Then you just get a pay as you go for calls. That was my plan when I got my VOIP account. The only problem is that the only carrier with decent pay as you go rates is Virgin, but you cannot use smart phones with them. |
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| dEsidEL |
lol .. check out of the video the launch at Yonge and Dundas this morning:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/458592
| quote: |
iPhone launch in Canada could lead to change in data rates
Today's launch of Apple's coveted iPhone has been highly anticipated, with all the news coverage amid a public backlash against Rogers Wireless.
iPhone 3G
Customers have complained about being fleeced, while industry analysts universally pan the "Big 3"carriers' rates as being the highest of the world's developed countries. There was hope that the iPhone would be the one handset to turn the tide on data rates in Canada. After all, that could lead to a huge spike in adoption throughout the country, which in itself might lead to lower prices.
The disgust shown by Canadians shook Rogers enough to offer a "limited time offer" data plan that would give you 6 GB for $30/month. That's a full $70/month lower than what Rogers was originally planning to offer. The catch, of course, is that you'd have to sign up before August 31 and stay locked in for three years. If you miss out, here's a look at Rogers plans.
Cost certainty
But Rogers hasn't won everyone's trust just yet. Some public forums and message boards have postings suggesting that Rogers will simply raise the rates once everyone is locked in to the new offer. A Rogers spokesperson assured me that wasn't going to happen, largely because there are no real strings attached to the promotion. It will be $30/month for the duration of the contract.
Now, that doesn't mean the rates can't go up at any point during those three years. If they do, it would probably be an incremental increase, like $5-$10 rather than a full-blown cash grab up to $100/month. Or the rates might just stay put. If you've been through a contract with a carrier before, try to remember if you had to deal with any price increases. I'm sure some of you have voice plans that go as far back as 2002-03, when talk time was cheaper than it is now. Because this new data plan is specifically only for data, it would be possible to keep the old voice plan and just tack on the data to the final cost.
The cost of the iPhone itself is $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16 GB model. All of the pricing and plans Rogers offers are equally available to Fido users as well. In fact, Fido users have one advantage over their Rogers counterparts - they can use whatever "Fido Dollars" they've amassed to help offset the cost of the phone.
Another residual effect of this whole promotion is that customers looking for another 3G smartphone will be eligible for it as well. The $30/month data plan will also be an option for the Samsung Jack, Motorola Q9, Nokia N95, Palm Treo 750, HTC TyTN and the upcoming BlackBerry Bold.
Stuck in contracts
There's also some trepidation about how some customers might miss out on the promotion because they're already locked up with another contract. Rogers has said that anyone who falls into that category should call the company to see what kind of eligibility they have.
When opting out of a contract, the customer is usually slapped with extra costs to cancel it. It's usually a flat fee of $200 or $20 for each month you have left, whichever of the two is lower. But there are "eligibility windows" that would allow you to basically replace one contract with another. You would just have to call Rogers or Fido to find out where you fit in.
More question marks
It's common knowledge that any Apple Store locations in Canada won't be selling the iPhone. I tried to find out whether or not iPhone owners can bring them in to the company stores for servicing, but as of this writing there had been no response from Apple Canada.
Rogers has been fairly mum on the subject as well, only saying that "the manufacturer (Apple) would be the best to answer those questions". Soon enough, we'll know what the story is there.
And for those who want to buy one for themselves, and another for a friend - well, unless you're on a couples plan or sharing some kind of monthly plan, you'll be flying solo on this one. Rogers and Fido are stipulating that any iPhone purchase has to come with an activation, meaning that you can't buy it as a standalone item. That should make the already long lineups even more interesting.
Times are a changin' for data rates
This day may go down as the beginning of a new era for data rates in this country. Rogers and Apple have naturally stayed very quiet on that issue, but the public pressure did show that Rogers could be flexible when painted into a corner.
Part of the allure of the iPhone goes beyond its iconic status. This new 3G iPhone will do a lot to fuse two different worlds - the business types who need to stay connected for work - and the data-hungry consumers who want to be able to really explore the bevy of content available through mobile portals.
Increased adoption of data will likely mean an increased demand for services and content. Couple that with the onset of potential new players in Canada's wireless landscape in the next two years, and you have conditions ripe for real competition on data usage.
Compatibility will be a big one with the 3G iPhone. That fusion I mentioned will be on full display when executives can just as easily get full Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support, while everyday consumers will love being able to sync back and forth with their Mac or PC.
In the end, the buzz around this launch was expected. But it's what will happen long-term from here that will confirm whether or not this day was the beginning of something new.
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source:
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/1...5b92950/pg1.htm
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New 3G iPhone costs $173 to make, according to iSuppli
The mystery behind why the new iPhone is so cheap may be solved, with market researcher iSuppli saying it costs just US$173 to make.
Apple caused a stir earlier this month when it launched the new 3G (third generation mobile telecommunications) iPhone with a $199 price tag. Similar products from rivals cost much more. Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC), for example, has priced the Touch Diamond at NT$23,900 (US$785) for its home market, while Nokia estimates its new N96 smartphone will retail for 550 Euros (US$855).
All three handsets are due on store shelves soon.
There are two main reasons Apple can charge so little for the new iPhone, iSuppli said Tuesday. First, mobile phone service providers will subsidize the handsets by paying Apple about US$300 per unit, iSuppli estimates. The other reason is the low cost of materials going into the handset.
Apple did such a good job choosing components for the new 3G iPhone that it costs less to make than the old version, despite significant improvements, iSuppli said. The old iPhone cost $226 to make and did not include 3G nor GPS (global positioning system). Yet Apple sold the original iPhone for $499 initially.
The most expensive component on the 3G iPhone is the 8G bytes of NAND flash memory storage, at $22.80, followed by the touchscreen at $20, iSuppli estimates.
In all, the chips and other components in the handset add up to $164, and then iSuppli estimates Apple is paying another $9 for assembly of the device, for a total of $173.
Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, is making the new iPhone at factories in China.
The market researcher calls its estimate a preliminary one based on a "virtual teardown" of the new iPhone. The estimate is based on information available about the new handset. Once the 3G iPhone is on the market, iSuppli plans to open one up to figure out the make and model of each component inside, to more exactly determine the cost of the handset.
The initial estimate also does not include the cost of software development, shipping, distribution, packaging and accessories included with each iPhone.
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source:
http://www.pcworld.ca/news/article/...6662c7e/pg1.htm
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| VERTiG0 |
| quote: | Originally posted by exstasie
Now you can use it stream online music :D
That is of course if you opt to get the $30/6GB deal lol
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Not over 3G at least, my N82 doesn't support North American 3G. It's quad-band GSM but 2100MHz HSDPA. |
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| VDub |
Rogers rep told me today that they raised the $30 plan from 6 gigs to 8...
Anyone else hear this???
She was probably just wrong... |
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| me@t k@tie |
| quote: | Originally posted by VDub
Rogers rep told me today that they raised the $30 plan from 6 gigs to 8...
Anyone else hear this???
She was probably just wrong... |
Rogers can't change it like that in the middle of the day. |
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| Chris Allen |
Was there at 9am, there was a line.
Rogers servers crashed at 9:30, thus nobody got a phone.
I managed to get into corporate office as a selected customer with 7 other customers. Ordered the iPhone, but since I'm upgrading they would need to call it in to a separate line instead of the normal activation (after 2hrs on hold it was going no-where).
At this point, once everyone had filled out their paperwork, Rogers servers crashed yet again.
I ended up leaving at 2pm and corporate office is going to call me when it's ready to go.
Rogers really didn't plan correctly for this thing (surprise surprise) as though the O2 and China networks crashed, they were back running soon there-after while Rogers is still struggling.
Through conversation however, I did get some information from them that could provide useful for you guys:
- Out of contract iPhone in Canada will run you $850.
- If they sell out of contract iPhones at this time, the store will be prevented from selling them altogether and fined by Apple.
- Shipments WERE re-routed to Europe as rumored, and the stores are only receiving 50 phones max at each delivery (the store I was at was sent 38).
- Next delivery is expected in 2 weeks, though could be longer.
- Corporate office is loads better than the monkeys they have working at their retail outlets ;)
- Blackberry Bold is going to be $500+ with a contract (as far as they know at this point)
But, I DO have my iPhone as it's sitting there waiting to be activated and I have to say it was great finally getting a hold of it, even if it is a brick at the moment. Sitting in a room with 8 iPhones (2 16GB black, 2 16GB white, 4 8GB black) was pretty cool considering there were hundreds of people downstairs begging for them. Looking forward to whenever Rogers can sort out their activation situation so I can actually go ahead and use the phone :)
Point of interest; it was funny how the security guards kept trying to organize the line of people down the mall like we were being problematic. People were extremely polite and letting anyone through or into any of the stores, everyone was also very quiet, but the security guard was screaming at everyone. Was great when one of the people in the back yelled back at her "we're a bunch of nerds, what could we possibly do?" |
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| VERTiG0 |
lol apple lol
It was the iTunes activation servers that crashed. Or did Rogers' crash too? That rules.
Hahah, iPhones. |
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| Jem_hadar |
| quote: | Originally posted by Chris Allen
Was great when one of the people in the back yelled back at her "we're a bunch of nerds, what could we possibly do?" |
BWHAHAHAHA :stongue: :stongue: |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by Chris Allen
But, I DO have my iPhone as it's sitting there waiting to be activated and I have to say it was great finally getting a hold of it, even if it is a brick at the moment. Sitting in a room with 8 iPhones (2 16GB black, 2 16GB white, 4 8GB black) was pretty cool considering there were hundreds of people downstairs begging for them. Looking forward to whenever Rogers can sort out their activation situation so I can actually go ahead and use the phone :)
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i assume you plan on flipping them?
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| VDub |
Costco's all over the city have iphones in stock...
Ppl got peeved with the morning crash and left without their phones...
Heartland has like 10...8 and 16 gigs..
I got mine from Rogers on the phone to be delivered Tuesday...
And ppl lined up since yesterday...lol... |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: |
iPhone buzz fails to calm investors
Apple smartphone launched today against backdrop of new competitors
July 11, 2008
Chris Sorensen
Business Reporter
Rogers Communications Inc. is poised to reap the rewards of the most eagerly anticipated product launch in Canadian wireless history, but the coming of the iPhone has done little to soothe investor fears about the prospect of a more competitive industry down the road.
Shares of Rogers have slumped more than 13 per cent since chief executive Ted Rogers revealed in late April he had a deal to bring Apple Inc.'s iPhone to Canada.
The decline comes despite predictions by some analysts that Rogers' launch of the iPhone today across Canada will boost the growth of new post-paid subscriber accounts by 20 per cent over the next year.
John Henderson, an analyst at Scotia Capital, said yesterday he expects the iPhone to snare "at least" 100,000 more monthly-contract customers from Bell, Telus and other Canadian wireless providers over the next 12 months.
Rogers forecast in January an increase of 550,000 to 625,000 postpaid subscribers in 2008 before the deal with Apple – which is rolling out the iPhone in 22 nations today – was announced.
Henderson also predicted that Rogers and its Fido subsidiary would sell another 100,000 to 150,000 iPhones to its existing subscriber base of 7.4 million.
While some have attempted to link the slumping stock price with consumer dissatisfaction over Rogers' iPhone rate plans, Henderson said in a recent note the real culprit is the uncertainty created by the threat of new wireless competitors emerging as the result of Ottawa's wireless spectrum auction.
The process, which is nearing its final stage, was designed by the federal government to encourage new entrants to challenge the dominance of Rogers, Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp.
That's potentially good news for consumers, but bad news for Rogers and its current monopoly on GSM wireless technology, which gave it exclusive access to the iPhone in Canada.
Shares of Telus have also fallen more than 10 per cent over the past few months amid similar competition concerns. Analysts, though, are split about the impact of more competition on the existing players.
While some have argued that lower prices are inevitable, others such as National Bank Financial's Greg MacDonald say intense auction bidding – the total value of bids is nearly $4.2 billion, about double original estimates – means any new players will have far less money to throw around.
"Given the relatively high spectrum bill for the new entrants, we suspect they will look to partner as much as possible on network deployment and may even be less aggressive on pricing than the market currently assumes," MacDonald argued in a note to clients this week.
The biggest threat comes from Globalive Communications Inc., which is being backed by deep-pocketed European investors with previous experience in the wireless industry. The parent of the Yak long-distance service has successfully bid on licences across the country, with the notable exception of Quebec, and is expected to launch a GSM-based service.Another question mark hanging over the industry is the future of Bell Canada, whose parent is in the process of being taken over for $52 billion, including debt, by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and U.S. private equity investors.
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source:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/458316
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| malek |
got the samsun jack for 80$ with 2 years contract, unlmtd emails comes free because of a 15$/month credit i got and i get 50 more mins.
Not bad, all i want is emails anyways, surfing on the mobile is ghey. |
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