Wind coming to Canada

[adam917]

Originally Posted by rockjock

Stu it was pretty clear that Orascom was in charge. They held all the debt, had all the experts and none of the control? The CRTC could not get over that point. It simply made no sense They will appeal but that may take months.. So for now No Wind, maybe they will find another name..

I guess that now means even less incentive for manufacturers to make AWS-compatible 3G devices.

[bylo]

Last minute reprieve! Globalive to enter wireless market - The Globe and Mail

Ottawa has rejected a regulatory decision and allowed Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to enter Canada's wireless market, adding a fourth major service in an industry now dominated by three players.

Industry Minister Tony Clement said Friday the federal cabinet decided to “vary” an October ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that Globalive could not enter Canada because it violated ownership rules, finding that the majority of its equity almost all of its debt is owned by an Egyptian company.

Ottawa is keen to spark more competition in the telecommunications business and reviewed the CRTC ruling with input from the industry, although Mr. Clement said his decision was based firmly on legal ownership requirements.

[PhotoJim]

Wind could be up soon... as soon as Monday.

No joke.

CBC News - Technology & Science - Globalive says wireless network launch imminent

[Stu]

I was just reading the Wind cite and they are real interesting (if I was a Cannuck). First, when I first read about "home zones" on Wind's website, I thought that they were talking about a regional market like the competitors. (E.g. Toronto zone, Vancouver zone, Calgary zone, etc). They aren't, they are talking about "on network." A Toronto Wind phone roaming in Vancouver is on network. Away zone is roaming on other people's network and that is $0.25 a minute. The exception is their $35 "Always talk" plan which is province wide/home zone.

WIND Mobile | Support | FAQs

Wind will roam in the U.S. at $0.25 a minute. On network, you can get 5 gigs of on-device data for $35. It will be interesting to see what their tethering enforcement will be.

[VladS]

The Wind site is still being tweaked. There's quite a bit of confusion and I'm certain there are lots of issues to be worked out from both a marketing as well as a network point of view.

None of their voice plans includes off-network (ie Rogers) access. The $35 (province-wide) and $45 (canada-wide) plans only cover long distance from the home zone (on-network). Roaming on the Rogers network is $0.25/minute for voice, long distance included and $0.10 for a 25kb block for data.

There are still many unanswered questions such as what would happen if a phone locks on the Rogers network while in the Home area due to poor in-building coverage or other issues.

I for one plan to hold off until they iron out most of the start-up quirks.

[Stu]

Obviously, I meant "site" rather than "cite."

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by Stu

It will roam in the U.S. at $0.25 a minute. On network, you can get 5 gigs of on-device data for $35. It will be interesting to see what their tethering enforcement will be.

US roaming is on T-Mobile's native network only (e.g. no coverage in North Dakota).

Tethering is allowed specifically. A data-only plan costs $45 instead of $35, or you can have the $35 plan if you have a voice plan.

All plans are available prepaid or postpaid, although there is no normal prepaid offering where you buy a balance and then get charged for minutes as you use them. The prepaid offerings are monthly plans at the same rate and with the same benefits, but instead of passing a credit check and getting billed later, you get charged monthly out of your prepaid balance.

[VladS]

Originally Posted by PhotoJim

Tethering is allowed specifically. A data-only plan costs $45 instead of $35, or you can have the $35 plan if you have a voice plan.

The data only plan is $55 and requires the purchase of a Huawei E181 USB stick @ $150.

[BLC]

I bought a phone and activated it on friday. It still isn't working and they tell me they are having problems with their network. They have a 30 day money back policy so I will give them some time before taking the phone back.

[rockjock]

I agree the wait and see approach is a good one. So far my Rogers accounts have gone down in price, so Wind being around is good. But there is still the learning curve here. People do not want to pay 130.00 for a locked handset that will only work on Wind. This is a sore point. Also people are saying they get the phone and wait for days for service to be started. It is brand new so there will be glitches BUT with all the time they had one would have thought they would have tested things a bit. Even my Wind sim from Greece will not roam on them.. it will roam with rogers only.. They have work to do for sure.. and now a union is looking to challenge them in court which will complicate things. Since there is no contract people will adopt the wait and see stance.. There was a bloke who said that his store had several line ups.. some to get the new phones others to return them.

It will be interesting thats for sure.

Originally Posted by VladS

The Wind site is still being tweaked. There's quite a bit of confusion and I'm certain there are lots of issues to be worked out from both a marketing as well as a network point of view.

None of their voice plans includes off-network (ie Rogers) access. The $35 (province-wide) and $45 (canada-wide) plans only cover long distance from the home zone (on-network). Roaming on the Rogers network is $0.25/minute for voice, long distance included and $0.10 for a 25kb block for data.

There are still many unanswered questions such as what would happen if a phone locks on the Rogers network while in the Home area due to poor in-building coverage or other issues.

I for one plan to hold off until they iron out most of the start-up quirks.