Note: The narrated video above is hard to see because its dark. It is easier to see it on full screen. See the non-narrated version of the same event (below) taken 5 minutes earlier. It is a bit easier to see.

A few days after a man was arrested in front of my building with gasoline tanks and various items that could be used as weapons (see pictures below), a largish Toronto G20 protest took place under my window.

There were about 75 to 100 sit-in style protesters on Toronto’s The Esplanade, between Scott and Lower Jarvis (about 1/2 mile from the G20 fences). The protestors blocked the road, stretching about 5 people wide, between the Keg on one side of the street and the Novotel (where low-level G20 officials are staying)  on the other. Easily 100 to 150 police in full riot gear showed up in successive waves. While an initial group of police surrounded the protesters (2 lines, 2 officers deep), another phalanx of police organized at Front and Scott. They marched in formation (about 5 x 25), banging batons on shields with each step. After that group arrived, the police arrested the protestors one by one – dragging them into a dozen or so waiting paddy wagons as two helicopters hovered overhead. While all that took place a dozen or so police per street corner blocked all adjacent streets ensuring that no more protestors could arrive.

Non-Narrated Version of Video recorded 5 Minutes Earlier

At first the protestors chanted ‘Peaceful Protest’, ‘Peaceful Protest’. After most were dragged away, the  chant changed to ‘Let us go”, “Let us go”. That didn’t get them very far. All those that were sitting on the road were taken away. There seemed to be a smaller group that had been standing on the sidewalk that were permitted to stay – surrounded by police for hours after.

Of course this shut down our normally happy, bustling neighborhood. During the event, which lasted a few hours, I was a prisoner in my building. I wasn’t permitted to go out the front door – even to go to the convenience store 20 steps away.

The pictures below are of the man arrested three days ago (June 24) for having a weird car with gasoline cans in it and weird makeshift weapons including a cross bow.

Gas tanks, chain saw, cross bow, pick etc.

The man that was arrested

Hazmat Suit Guys
(there ended up being no hazardous chemicals or bombs)

Odd Looking Car and lots of police
(my building in behind)

According to a CBC News report that aired on “The National’” on Wednesday May 26, the teen pregnancy rate in Canada has declined 37% in the last 10 years. The report cites improved sex education and access by teens to contraceptives as the primary reasons for this large decline.

Canada now has less than half the teen pregnancy rate of the United States – 2.79% of Canadian teenaged girls 15 to 19 compared to 6.12% of teenage girls in the United States.

There is no better proof that the Bush-era policies of ‘just say no’, abstinence only programs and restricted access to birth control for teens have failed American teens.

Source: The CBC’s source was the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality.

Bell offered me a one year promotional deal for their Internet Max 16 service where I would receive (in theory*) download speeds of up to 16 Mbps and 1 Mbps upload for $41.90 a month. At the time, my theoretical 10 Mbps down service from Rogers (with a 95 GB cap) was costing me $59.95 a month.

As with Rogers, all of Bell’s plans have data caps – much smaller than comparable U.S. ISPs I might add. The data cap for the service under the Internet Max 16 promotional offer is 100 GB. 

Periodically during each month, I check my Bell Internet usage meter** (shown below, after the jump) to make sure I’m staying within the 100 GB cap. This becomes particularly important towards the end of the month where I am always running up against the cap.

As you can see in the picture below (circled in red after the jump), Bell’s ‘My Internet usage’ meter contains fine print which reads:

Note: Current total Internet usage activity shown may be delayed by up to 60 hours.

Despite assiduously checking the meter each month, making sure I stayed within the cap, I have twice received invoices from Bell saying I went over the 100 GB cap. How is this possible when I personally verify that I stay under the cap each month?

Until today, I hadn’t noticed this fine print warning – I’m not even sure it was there before.

Now, of course, I know why. Turns out it’s the fault of Bell’s Internet usage reporting tool. The tool shows data that is up to 60 hours (two and a half days) old!

Clicking on the record for Apr-May*** of 2009 the tool now shows an overage for the that period:

As you can see, it shows I used 102.74 GB. 

However, I know I looked at the tool during the last couple days of that period and I purposely lowered my usage during those days to stay under the limit. On the last day it showed me at somewhere around the 98 or 99 GB usage. The 4 GB difference between what it showed me then, and what it shows now, and what I was billed extra for, can only be accounted for by the meter’s delay.

This isn’t right. What good is an Internet usage meter, when the meter isn’t accurately reporting usage on the very days I need it to be accurate the most?

* 16 Mbps Theoretical Download Speeds

I say that the 16 Mbps download is theoretical because I have tested it using SpeedTest.net (among others) several times since March and only once**** did it show I was getting more than 10 Mbps.

**My Internet Usage Page Buried

<Mini Rant Start>

On a related note, I’d like to point out that, just like Rogers, Bell makes it very difficult to use their ‘My Internet Usage’ meter. It is buried a half dozen pages deep on their site. You cannot link directly to it and save it in your browser’s favorites/bookmarks. If you do, the link just pulls you back to a main sign on page that forces you to navigate your way back through their maze to get to it. It also signs you off just minutes after you login. During the course of writing this post, Bell signed me out of the meter three times. I had to log back in, and navigate back through their maze three times to complete this post. Grrrr!

</Mini Rant Stop>

*** Note, for whatever reason my period runs from the 4th day of one month to the 3rd day of the next.

**** It showed 11.94 Mbps once – at about 2 O’clock in the afternoon.

[Note: Rogers is somehow still blocking Pandora and Skype even when I removed the SIM  card. Grrr! Here’s a Skype iPhone App workaround for Canadians – I haven’t tried it yet.]

Setup is a breeze. It took me about two minutes. You essentially set up a VPN connection to the U.S. through the HotSpot Shield servers. This, of course, would also be useful for safe surfing at coffee shops and other wifi locations.

Once you have set up your account, configured and activated the VPN (see instructions below), navigate to the App Store on your iPhone. Search for the app you want and (if its there) download it. It’s that simple.

Survives Desktop Sync

I was concerned that if I downloaded apps this way, they would be wiped out after I synced my iPhone with iTunes to my desktop. Not so. The sync went fine and the apps remained on the iPhone.

No Need to Keep VPN Turned On

You only need to activate the VPN to download the app. Once downloaded, you can use the app with the VPN shut off.

SETUP INSTRUCTIONS

These instructions were cribbed from the Hotspot Shield site here. See that site for pictures and any updated instructions. You’ll need to go there anyway to get an account (with only one mouse click) as described below.

Configure iPhone

Make sure that Wi-Fi is marked "OFF" in: 
Settings -> Wi-Fi

Then find the VPN settings in:
Settings -> General -> Network -> VPN -> Add VPN Configuration:

• Select the L2TP tab/pane
• Description: HotspotShield
• Server: 64.55.144.10
• Account: [insert account number – see below]
• RSA SecurID: OFF
• Password: [insert password – see below]
• Secret: password
• Send all traffic: ON

Get Account & Password

Getting an account is easy. Click on the GetAccountID button on this page. With one click you’ll have your account and password. You’ll need to fill them into the appropriate place as indicated above.

Save Settings

You are now done. Save the settings and hit the "HOME" button to quit. Make sure to turn Wi-Fi back "ON".

Activate

To activate Hotspot Shield on your iPhone, the VPN setting needs to be turned on. From "HOME" menu, go to Settings and click the "On" tab for VPN. Your Status will change to "CONNECTED" and the VPN icon will appear on top in the iPhone Tray when complete. If you cannot connect to the VPN immediately, power down your iPhone, turn it back on, and turn the VPN to "ON".

If you cannot connect to VPN immediately, power down your iPhone, turn it back on, and turn VPN to "ON" in "Settings".

Following recent reports (see here, here and here) on the growing number of U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives that use Twitter (about 120 right now), I decided to look into which Canadian Cabinet ministers, party leaders, Senators and Members of Parliament use Twitter. Below are my preliminary results as of May 12, 2009. I have included the number of each person’s Twitter followers in parenthesis.

This list is not exhaustive. If you know of other Cabinet Ministers, Senators or MPs using Twitter, please add them in the comments with a link to their twitter profile. Many thanks.

Cabinet Members

Stephen Harper – Prime Minister:

http://twitter.com/pmharper (12,219)

Jason Kenney – Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism:

http://twitter.com/MinJK (702)

Tony Clement – Minister of Industry:

http://twitter.com/TonyClementMP (501)

[Update: This must be someone spoofing a Tony Clement profile.]

Stockwell Day Minister of International Trade:

http://twitter.com/Stockwell_Day  (2 – hasn’t posted anything yet)

Steven Fletcher – Minister of State (Democratic Reform):

http://twitter.com/stevenjfletcher (377)

Party Leaders:

• Michael Ignatieff (lib) http://twitter.com/M_ignatieff (6,973)
• Jack Layton (ndp) http://twitter.com/jacklayton (6,311)
• Gilles Duceppe (bloc) http://twitter.com/gillesduceppe (1,423)

Other Members of Parliament

1. Niki Ashton (ndp) http://twitter.com/nikiashton (95)
2. Dawn Black (ndp) http://twitter.com/Dawn_Black (179)
3. Kelly Block (cons) http://twitter.com/KellyBlockMP (65)
4. Peter Braid (cons) http://twitter.com/peterbraid (148)
5. Lois Brown (cons) http://twitter.com/loisbrownmp (102)
6. Patrick Brown (cons) http://twitter.com/brownbarrie (87)
7. Paul Calandra (cons) http://twitter.com/PaulCalandra (112)
8. Chris Charlton (ndp) http://twitter.com/chrischarltonmp (120)
9. Olivia Chow (ndp) http://twitter.com/oliviachow (420)
10. Siobhan Coady (lib) http://twitter.com/SiobhanCoadyMP (169)
11. Denis Coderre (lib) http://twitter.com/DenisCoderre (316)
12. Don Davies (ndp) http://twitter.com/dondavies (266)
13. Libby Davies (ndp) http://twitter.com/LibbyDavies (210)
14. Paul Dewar (ndp) http://twitter.com/PaulDewar (181)
15. Ruby Dhalla (lib) http://twitter.com/MPRubyDhalla (174)
16. Ujal Dosanjh (lib) http://twitter.com/ujjaldosanjh (245)
17. Rick Dykstra (cons)  http://twitter.com/RickDykstra (59)
18. Hedy Fry (lib) http://twitter.com/HedyFry (55)
19. Martha Hall Findlay (lib) http://twitter.com/TeamMHF (1,503)
20. Royal Galipeau (cons) http://twitter.com/galipeauMP (113)
21. Jim Maloway (ndp) http://twitter.com/JimMaloway (21)
22. Brian Masse (ndp) http://twitter.com/BrianMasseMP (140)
23. Dan McTeague (lib) http://twitter.com/danmcteague (2,449) – seemingly only tweets about gas prices
24. Bob Rae (ndp) http://twitter.com/bobraeMP (1,165)
25. John Rafferty (ndp) http://twitter.com/johnraffertyMP (76)
26. Brent Rathberger (cons) http://twitter.com/brentrathgeber (149)
27. Blake Richards (cons) http://twitter.com/WildRoseMPBlake (138)
28. Denise Savoie (ndp) http://twitter.com/denisesavoie (53)
29. Peter Shurman (pc?) http://twitter.com/shurmanator (198)
30. Michelle Simson (lib) http://twitter.com/MichelleSimson (53)
31. Chuck Strahl (cons)  http://twitter.com/ChuckStrahl  (221)
32. Glen Thibeault (ndp) http://twitter.com/GlennThibeault (104)

See also:

• Which Canadian MPs are on Twitter?
• Canadian Politics Twitterers

I just tested it and indeed I’m blocked. I’ll still use Hotspot Shield for the plethora of other free services not available in Canada (eg: Pandora, last.fm) for so long as it works. But, once again, it sucks to be a new media enthusiast when you live in Canada!

Until hulu comes to Canada (if ever) we still have TV streaming from CTV and Global.

See: Control Freaks: Hulu Now Blocks Anonymous Proxies Too (TechCrunch)

Case in Point – GlobalTV.com’s increasingly impressive array of full-episode primetime and daytime TV streaming offerings. Global is one of Canada’s three nation-wide broadcasters. It carries about half of all U.S. primetime network content. 

The index of shows available from GlobalTV.com is here. Only clips are available for some shows like Survivor and ET Canada. But recent full episodes (plus indicated bonus materials) for the following shows are available:

• 24
• The New 90210 (plus interviews)
• Bob and Doug
• Bones (plus interviews)
• ‘Da Kink in my Hair’
• Days of Our Lives
• Family Guy
• Harper’s Island
• Heroes (plus webisodes and Heroes Unmasked)
• House
• Howie Do It
• Live
• Prison Break
• Project Runway Canada
• Saturday Night Live (plus best-of footage)
• Sit Down Shut Up
• The Guard (plus behind the scenes videos)
• The Office (including webisodes)
• The Unusuals
• The Young and the Restless (including classic episodes)

As with the CTV.ca offerings:

• episodes can be watched in full screen;
• episodes are chopped up into parts (typically 6 parts for an hour long show);
• commercials that cannot be skipped are shown before the start of each clip/segment
• users can click around/fast forward/rewind within a clip/segment
• the quality is nowhere near as good as Hulu.

If anyone is aware of a CBC TV episode streaming service, please let me know in the comments.

See also:

• Who will cash in on Canada’s love for online Video? (cbc.ca)

The new service is available here (see the ‘Watch Online at CTV.ca’ heading to the right). Episodes can be viewed full screen, though the resolution is quite low by Hulu standards. Episodes are divided into segments/clips, presumably matching how shows are segmented between commercials when broadcast. Canadians can fast forward and rewind or jump from segment to segment. Users cannot, however, fast forward through the short commercials (about 10 to 15 seconds each) that play before some, but not all, segments. So far I haven’t seen many commercials. Below is a picture of the interface:

A FAQ is available here. Multiple seasons/episodes of some shows, like ‘The Daily Show’ are available. Only the most recent of others, like Lost  and Grey’s Anatomy, are available. I’ve tested several shows and so far the system works well – though the resolution certainly needs a boost.

Below is a list of the shows currently available:

• The Colbert Report
• Comedy Now!
• Corner Gas
• Daily Planet
• The Daily Show
• Degrassi: The Next Generation
• Desperate Housewives
• ER
• Fashion Television
• Flashpoint
• Fringe
• Gossip Girl
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Instant Star
• Lost
• Mad Men
• Paris Hilton’s My New BFF
• Private Practice
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars
• Two and a Half Men

This is no Hulu, but its a start.

[Update: For Global’s on line lineup, see ‘Canada’s Global Network Also Offers Full Primetime TV Episodes Online’]

FYI, Global carries only full episodes for seven (rather lame) online show right now:

• The Guard
• Global Currents
• Focus Ontario
• X-Treme Sports
• Global National
• ‘da Kink in my Hair
• 90210

For more information on the availability of full TV episodes in Canada see:

• How to Watch full Episodes in Canada

For most of today there has been a protest below my window (Young and Front – Toronto) driving me crazy, frazzling my nerves and inhibiting my ability to get work done.

I decided to find out what the heck this was about and typed in “Toronto Protest” into Google News. The FIRST result that came up was this CBC article, ironically containing the picture to the left.

The picture shows the protest directly below me. The arrow (which I added) points to the building I am typing this from.  I feel like I’m being personally protested.  These guys are insanely loud!

According to the CBC article linked above, they are protesting the Canada’s adding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to its official list of terrorist organizations in 2006 for the group’s use of suicide bombers and child soldiers in the conflict.

[June 25, 2009 Update: I was able to download Lose It! using Hotspot Shield on the iPhone. See my post: “How to Use Hotspot Shield to Get U.S.-only iPhone Apps” for details.]

As a Canadian long suffering the woes of countless U.S. web-based and other consumer applications, products and services not being available here, I had been extraordinarily happy with the understanding that iPhone apps would not be blocked by national borders.

After hearing so many comments on how terrific the ‘Lose It!’ iPhone App was, I decided to try it out today. When I tried to access it I got this error message:

Sad, very sad!

Varietal: gewürztraminer/riesling blend– Price: $10.95 Cdn – Winery: Birchwood Estate – Vintage: 2007 – Region: Niagara Peninsula Ontario – LCBO No 572156
 
This wine is very good – especially for the price. It is one of ‘the’ better balanced gewürztraminer/riesling blends I’ve tasted. Each varietal complements the other. The reisling tempers the sweetness of the gewürztraminer while the gewürztraminer ‘almost’ tempers the tartness of the reisling. I say “almost” because there was just a hint of a tart, dry midpalate taste that is characteristic of less-than-stellar reislings. But its barely there. I very much enjoyed this bottle.

This wine is not sweet enough to be a classic desert wine. It should go well with pork, chicken and curry dishes, or, in front of a fire relaxing with someone special.

Here’s a typical message I get when I try to access this type of MC functionality from Canada:

Virtually none of the movie, TV, or other media-related services our American friends take for granted in MC are available in the Great White North.

Much to my surprise, as I was testing out the Xbox 360 media-extended piece of the latest MC upgrade (the upgrade got my MC working again for the first time in over a year), I saw the msnbc.com item (circled below) on the 360’s MC screen.

Fully expecting the usual ‘Not Available in Canada’ notice, I clicked on it anyway. To my surprise, however it worked.

For the next half hour I played around with the content. Watching the various clips, making them full screen, pausing, fast forwarding etc. Given we Canadians get very little of this functionality, I felt like a kid in a candy store.

I happily set about to write this post (originally with a title proclaiming that msnbc.com media-center-based  iVoD functionality worked in Canada). I fired up the Vista version of Media Center to get some screen shots. Since it worked on the 360, I expected it to work on the Vista version of Media Center.

I was wrong. Instead of Chris Matthews, Keith Oberman and Rachel Maddow,  I got this, more typical, Canadian message:

I went back to the 360, t0 double check it was still working there. As you can see, it still was:

Ah, the vagaries of Canadian online media! What Microsoft accidently giveth, it purposefully taketh away. No doubt Microsoft will soon patch whatever hole exists in WMC that allows this to work on my 360. I’ll enjoy it while it lasts. But I should have known it was too good to be true!

Bell and Telus have announced the joint development of a long-rumoured, fast, nation-wide, HSPA wireless network to begin service as early as 2010.

In the near term, the network will support both existing CDMA mobile handsets used by current Bell and Telus customers, plus GSM–based handsets.  GSM is the global standard currently used by Rogers in support of the iPhone, among other mobile devices.

Over the longer term, this 4G network could ramp Canadian wireless download speeds to as fast as 100 Mbps. Current Canadian 3G networks have 7 Mbps maximum download speeds.

Not only will this provide direct competition to Roger’s GSM network and faster data pipes for mobile devices (at ever decreasing price points), it could also serve as a third competitor for in-home high speed data connections.

As the WiMax standard flounders, this type of network  holds the promise of both: (i) providing high speed data networks to non-wired Canadian neighbourhoods, such as in rural areas; and (ii) being a viable high speed alternative where only one form of high-speed network is currently available.

With the recent successful completion of the Canadian 2008 Spectrum auction, Canadians can soon expect to see even more competition in the high-speed wireless voice and data markets. Competition is good!

Sources: Toronto Star | Globe & Mail | Montreal Gazette | Edmonton Sun | phonemag | Calgary Herold | Canada Press | Reuters

Two months after purchasing my iPhone I set out to finally transfer all of my remaining contacts from my old Nokia phone to the iPhone. This required me to remove the SIM from my iPhone and put it back into my Nokia phone (the Nokia would not turn on without the SIM). In doing so, I tested Rogers’ theory that the iPhone would be completely bricked with the SIM removed. I discovered this was untrue.

While I couldn’t, of course, use the functions that required the SIM, the telephone and SMS functionality for example, I was able to do all of the following:

• Surf the Net – using WiFi connections
• Send/Receive email – again, using WiFi connections
• Use All my Installed iPhone Apps – whether they were local apps or net-oriented apps – they all still worked
• Take Pictures
• Sync with iTunes – my music, podcasts, contacts, pictures etc. all continued to sync just fine.
• Install Apps – I downloaded a test app (the Facebook app) using iTunes – it installed properly and was completely functional on the SIM-free iPhone – again using WiFi

Essentially, all functionality that does not require the telephone to work, worked just fine. So, the statements of Rogers representatives were completely untrue. Whether I could have activated my iPhone through iTunes in the first place without the SIM installed is a question I do not have the answer too. But, its nice to know if I ever cancel my Rogers iPhone service, I’ll still have a functioning iPod Touch-like device.

[Oct 1 Update: The service is working intermittently right now.]

Once you put your number on the list, telemarketers (with exceptions listed below) cannot call you. If they do, you can report them. They face fines from $1,500 to $15,000 per infraction.  The do not call list will not, however, stop calls from:

• registered charities seeking donations
• newspapers looking for subscriptions
• political parties and their candidates, and
• companies with whom you have an existing commercial relationship; for example, if you have done business with a company in the previous 18 months––such as a carpet-cleaning company––that company can call you.  The biggest offenders like your bank, telephone company, cable company etc. can still call and harass you. Grr!

Unfortunately your registration lasts only three years. Mark your calendar to register again three years from now.

Questions and answers about the national do-not-call list are available on this government website. For more info, you can read about it here on Wikipedia or here on Michael Geist’s site.

iOptOut Option

Canadians may also wish to register with Michael Geist’s free “iOptOut” service which allows Canadian consumers to opt-out of calls from those organizations mentioned above that are otherwise exempt from the national list (click thumbnail for larger view).  iOptOut’s FAQ is here.

The legislation that created the national do not call list mandates that when consumers contact an exempt organization requesting not to be called, they too must take that consumer’s number off their call lists. For most consumers contacting each organization one by one would be an onerous task. Most don’t know this is possible, how to do it, where to email or who to contact. Geist’s free iOptOut service automatically contacts those entities on the consumer’s behalf. Slick!

After signing up, you provide the number(s) you want taken off the lists. You are then presented with categories of organizations that you can opt out from. You can opt out of entire categories (like airlines and banks) or opt out of individual companies within any given category. It took me one minute to sign up and another few minutes to fill out the form. I opted out of every company in every category except pollsters. I enjoy participating in polls. As of the date of this post, some 5,279,531 opt-out requests were sent by the service on behalf of more than a million Canadians.

The CRTC has ruled that iOptOut requests are enforceable (see Geist’s post on the ruling here for more information).

[Sept 30 Update: True to Canadian form (can you say "gun registry"), the National-Do-Not-Call list website crashed within hours of starting up this morning and the 1-800 number was deluged by Canadians trying to sign up but unable to get through.  As of this moment, the website has yesterday's page back up saying the service will start today - ha!  My suggestion is to give it a few days and try again.  For more info click here, here or here.]

Please see my “Rogers Canadian iPhone Plans – The Fine Print” post for the details on: (i) the actual (vs. advertised) hardware pricing; (ii) Rogers’ 30 day Buyers Remorse option; (iii) the applicable $125 to $500 Early Cancellation Fees (ECF); (iv) bricking on cancellation; (v) the jailbreak option/issue; (vi) the option to transfer the iPhone to a third party (and avoid the ECF); (vii) Canadian iPhone shortages; (viii) upgrading to future models; (ix) data roaming in Canada; (x) the 365 day warranty; and (xi) moving your SIM between phones.

Below I describe: (i) how I resolved my purchase impediments; (ii) the Rogers Buyer’s Remorse Option; (iii) my first impressions (I’m loving it); and (iv) the all-in Rogers iPhone and data plan cost.

Overcoming Obstacles to Purchase

In light of my strong aversion to cell phone contracts (let alone Rogers’ infamous 3 year iPhone contract) and early cancellation fees, there were several major obstacles I had to resolve before I felt comfortable enough to ‘purchase’ the subsidized 3G iPhone.

• 16 Gig iPhone is Too Small – Upgrade Dilemma: I carry around about 25 GB of music, 50 or so podcasts at any given time, workout and a few other videos/movies on my current video iPod (most of the storage is used for music). I’ll need storage space for the App Store applications I download. Plus, I’ll need space for email, contacts, pictures and visual voicemail. To manage with a 16 Gig iPhone, I’ll have to give up carrying most of my music around. So, I will inevitably want to upgrade to a 32 GB iPhone when it comes out. Resolution: As you can read in my ‘fine print’ post, the Rogers rep assured me that future models will be released for purchase at retail (as opposed to subsidized under contracts as is the case now). So, if he is right,  at that time I’d be able to purchase and use the newer (larger capacity) unit under my current contract (and sell my 16 Gig iPhone). I rarely listen to music on my iPod anyway. Instead I use it mostly to listen to and watch podcasts. For now, I’ll use my current iPod for the rare times I want music while travelling.
• Rogers Dataplan Issue: The initially announced Rogers data plans were ridiculous (see here). Resolution: I took advantage of the $30/month 6 GB limited time offer. Home WiFi data usage is not counted against 3G dataplan limits. The free Rogers/Fido WiFi hotspot usage is also not counted against 3G dataplan limits. I expect most of my data usage will be through WiFi so I’m hoping/expecting that the 6 GB limit should be enough for my needs – but I’ll only know for sure after a few months of use.

• Possible Moves to the U.S.: It’s always possible that I will move back to the U.S. If I do, I’ll have to pay the Rogers Early Cancellation Fees (up to $500) to get out of the contract – and be left with a bricked phone. Resolution: Contrary to my initial impressions there will be an aftermarket for used iPhones in Canada. Anyone I sell my used iPhone to would be able to subscribe to a Rogers voice/data plan without the need to commit to a three year contract – a highly desirable none-existent option at the moment. To boot, it is not illegal to unlock an iPhone and use it in the U.S.. I think it highly likely that, if I did move back to the U.S., I’d unlock the iPhone and use it on the AT&T network.

Buyer’s Remorse Option

I describe Rogers Buyer’s Remorse option in more detail in my “Rogers Canadian iPhone Plans – The Fine Print” post. Suffice it to say it was comforting somewhat to know there is a buyer’s remorse option that allows me to return my iPhone for a full refund within 30 days of ‘purchase’. The biggest catch is I can’t use the voice part of the phone for more than 29 minutes. So, I’m purposely not talking on the phone during my testing period. Which is just as well. I rarely use my cell phone for talking anyway.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Rogers makes a big change after August 31. For example they could make a purchasable iPhone available in September. If so, I’ll return this phone and purchase a different one to avoid the 3 year contract. And if that U.S. dream-job is offered …

First Impressions

Needless to say I love the iPhone. Below, in no particular order, are my initial 2-day impressions:

• iMap / Google Apps Email Integration: I was most looking forward to accessing my fully synched Office 2007 – iMapped – Google Apps hosted – email via my iPhone. It works like a charm. Perfect. Exactly what I was expecting. Love it!
• Texting / SMS: I was not an SMS user before. My “iPhone Value Plan” includes 2,500 SMS messages. I didn’t think I’d use them. But after two days of SMSs, I’m sold. It’s IM on my phone. Love it.  One nit-pick: The “Send” button in the upper right of the virtual keyboard is where the “backspace” button is placed on PC keyboards. I’ve sent dozens of SMSs by accident when I was just trying to press the backspace – grrr!
• Touch Keyboard: One of the biggest complaints about the iPhone is the touch keyboard. I’ve never used a blackberry so I’m not missing it. While it takes a little getting used to, after a day or so I was typing away pretty quickly. The predictive keying and error correction is much better than I thought it could be. The more I get used to it the faster I go. It’ll never replace a keyboard but I’m happy with it so far (though, as others lament, it too wish I could turn the virtual keyboard sideways for use in all applications).
• WiFi Use: While I have used the 3G radio for data access, I expect that I’ll mostly be accessing the Internet via WiFi (either at my home office or at hotspots). I’ve only used the WiFi radio in my home office so far. The iPhone accessed my home office WiFi network without issue. I typed in my WAP password and away I went. Completely seamless. I’m looking forward to trying the free Rogers/Fido hotspots in the next few days.
• Outlook Calendar/Contact Sync: Owing to my very ’special’ Outlook configuration, it took me about an hour to figure out how to sync my contacts. The problem was with Outlook 2007 – not iTunes. Once I solved that problem the contact sync worked flawlessly. All 731 contacts were copied to my iPhone in about 20 seconds. It took me many hours to manually type about 100 contacts into my last mobile phone. The calendar synched without any hitches.
• H.264 Movie Syncs: I’ve synched a dozen or so DRM-free H.264 movies to my iPhone without a hitch. Playback was great. I particularly enjoy the external speaker (compared to my video iPod that required earbuds).
• Podcast Syncs: My audio and video podcasts are now syncing seamlessly across my PC, my iPod, my iPhone and Apple TV. When I finish watching/listening on one device, the podcast is automatically deleted on all the others. Again, flawless! One Hiccup: HD video-podcasts that I subscribe to and watch on my PC and Apple TV do not sync to the iPhone. You can only sync standard-definition video podcasts to the iPhone.
• Integrated Camera: I’ve taken a few pictures then emailed them from my iPhone to friends. It’s terrifically easy. You can also take a picture of a person and add that picture to their contact info so that when that person calls you, or you call them, their picture appears on the iPhone as the phone is wringing. Terrific! I’m looking for an App that will allow me to: (i) crop/resize pictures on the iPhone; and (ii) send more than one photo at a time via the integrated email. Be warned friends and family. I’ll be snapping a picture of you to add to my contacts the next time I see you.
• [Aug 16 Update: YouTube: I've recently tested YouTube video access on my Series 3 TiVo, on my Apple TV and now on the iPhone. The ease of use and quality was best on the iPhone of these three. I don't expect I'll use this functionality much but it seems to work really well.]
• [Aug 17 Update: Battery Life: I travelled around Ontario yesterday and the battery didn't last for a full day of what I would consider normal usage: audio podcasts, a couple video podcasts, using the GPS to find my friend's house, general SMS and email usage, taking a few photographs. I couldn't find an explicit way of turning off the GPS radio. I'm not sure if its only turned on when I'm using GPS or if its always on and sucking the life out of the battery.]
• [Aug 18 Update: GPS: I used the GPS Direction function to point the way to my friend's new house. I just clicked on the address in the contact list and the iPhone gave me directions to his home. I followed them in my car and the directions were flawless the first time. I love the real-time blue dot showing me where I am as I'm driving.]
• [Au21 Update : iPod Functionality Issues: Since I used my iPhone/iPods more to listen to podcasts than anything else, the lack of dedicated hardware iPod controls is problematic. If I'm doing anything else on the iPhone I have to navigate through several menus to get back to the iPod software to pause, rewind etc. On my 5G Video iPod it was very easy to jump ahead or go back 30 seconds to avoid podcast commercials or re-listen to something. On the iPhone its almost impossible to move around in a podcast by such increments. The touch slider is very difficult to use and impossible for my large fingers to position myself within a podcast wherever I want. So, I'm stuck listening to podcast commercials for the first time. You cannot go into screen saver mode when 'watching video podcasts'. I subscribe to many video podcasts that I don't need to actually watch. Unlike audio podcasts you cannot navigate away from the video podcast or put it in screen saver mode. The second you do, the podcasts stops playing back.]

There are so many more functions and features to test. I haven’t yet tested the GPS, stocks, Youtube etc. I’ve only briefly used the integrated Safari web browser (the Daleisphere loads too slowly even on WiFi). The browser syncs bookmarks with either IE or Safari. I use Firefox. I’ll be using foxmarks’ web-hosted bookmarks until I find a better bookmark synching solution. I haven’t used the phone itself (see ‘Buyers Remorse Option” above) nor the visual voicemail feature. I’m looking forward to downloading and testing apps for twittering (see Twinkle for example)on the iPhone, using it to track my runs (see RunKeeper for example) with the iPhone’s integrated GPS, and blogging via the Wordpress iPhone App.

Cost Breakdown

• $324 for the 16 Gig Phone: The subsidized phone cost me $324 instead of the expected $299 on the mandatory 3 year contract. Regrettably there is no option to purchase a non-subsidized phone. See all the details here.
• $30/month – 6 GB Data Plan: I took advantage of Rogers $30 per month 6 GB data plan available until August 31, 2008. I would never have purchased an iPhone under the initially announced data plans which, regrettably will be the only available data plan options after August 31 (though Rogers could change that at any time). The Rogers reps have ‘assured me’ that if a better data plan comes around, I can move to that plan without penalty. We’ll see.
• $15 iPhone “Value Plan” will Cost me $3 Net: The $15 iPhone value plan includes 2,500 sent SMS messages, unlimited received SMS messages, call ID/display, 2,500 call forwarding minutes, caller ring trax and visual voicemail. I previously paid $12.00 for voicemail, call display and 75 SMS messages under Rogers “Essential Value Pack” plan on my Nokia phone. Moving to the iPhone value plan gives me all the extras for $3 more per month. That seems fair.
• Net new $33 – $87 All-In Fee When Piggy Backing My Current Plan: Before taxes and after my Rogers bundle discounts, my prior monthly mobile was approximately $54.00 (including the $6.95 system access fee, the 50 cent 911 fee and a $12 “Essential Value Pack” fee). Moving to the iPhone with the $30 6GB data plan, will cost me $33.00 more ($30 for the data plan plus the net $3 iPhone value plan) per month for a total monthly fee before taxes of $87.00.

But for the ridiculous 3 year commitment, no option to purchase the iPhone at full retail, the early cancellation fees, the 16 MB memory limitation and the 6GB data limit, the ultimate cost structure isn’t so bad.

[This post is a rewritten version of an earlier July 28, 2008 post. I 'purchased' a 3G iPhone on August 13. In the mean time I spoke at length with two Rogers representatives on the telephone and spent a couple hours of quality time with "Jay" at the Rogers Store at Bay & King in Toronto. Click here for my prior summary of the Rogers 3G iPhone Rate Plan Offerings]

$199 and $299 Price ONLY on New Activations

I was  unpleasantly surprised when I ‘purchased’ my 16 GB 3G iPhone, that they charged me $324.99 instead of the $299 advertised price. The Rogers rep (Jay) told me that the $199 and $299 prices are available only to new Rogers customers. I had been a month to month Rogers subscriber since November 2001. The representative explained that I was getting a special deal given that I’m a high-value customer. I was told that ‘lesser value Rogers customers’ face up-to a $50 premium over the advertised $199/$299 prices.  I didn’t feel special!

30 Day Buyer’s Remorse Returns

Summary: iPhone purchasers can return an iPhone for a full refund and without having to pay the Early Cancellation Fees discussed below provided all of the following conditions are met:

1. the iPhone is returned within 30 days of activation to the store where it was purchased;
2. you have used less than 30 minutes of airtime (no more than 29 minutes);
3. you provide your proof of purchase (receipt – contract); and
4. the iPhone is undamaged and returned ‘like new’ with all pieces and original packaging.

Contract Provisions: The Buyer’s Remorse provision in my contract (printed out at the store – you’ll need a magnifying glass to read it) says:

Rogers may allow for the cancellation of your Service without an Early Cancellation Fee with the following conditions: 1) device is returned in complete and original condition to the store where it was purchased (if customer owned) hardware, this condition does not apply) and 2) cancellation is requested within 30 days from date of activation and 3) your account has incurred less than 30 minutes of airtime usage. You will be billed for all charges incurred up to the point of deactivation.

Warning: If you want to rely on this Buyer’s Remorse option while you are testing the phone, do not use the voice services of the phone. Twenty-nine minutes go by extremely fast. While testing I recommend letting all calls go to voicemail and call in to get your voicemail from a land line.

No Data Limits: There was originally to be a 150 KB data limit during the remorse period. As of May 16, 2008 Rogers changed the policy and there are now no data use limits (except for your dataplan limits). So, unlike the 29 minute voice restrictions, you have no similar arbitrary data limit that will limit your buyers remorse return rights.

Early Cancellation Fees ($125 Min – $500 Max)

Bottom line:  If the Buyers Remorse Return rights do not apply and you want to cancel your iPhone contract, you’ll be paying an Early Cancellation Fee (ECF) that at the  minimum will be $125 and at the maximum will be $500 .

Contract Provisions: Below are the mandatory 3 year contract Early Cancellation Fees provisions provided to me when I purchased my iPhone on August 13, 2008 (you’ll need a magnifying glass to read them):

3G iPhone Device Early Cancellation Fee:

And Early Cancellation Fee (ECF) applies if, for any reason, your service is terminated prior to the end of your service agreement. The EFC is the greater of (i) $100 or (ii) $20 per month remaining in the service agreement, to a maximum of $400 (plus applicable taxes) and applies to each line in the plan that is terminated.

Data Plan Early Cancellation Fee:

In connection with your wireless data service, a Data Early Cancellation Fee (DECF) also applies if, for any reason, your service is terminated prior to the end of your plan’s commitment term (Data Term). The DEFC is the greater of (i) $25 or (ii) $5 per month remaining in the Data Term, to a maximum of $100 (plus applicable taxes) and applies in addition to the ECF for termination of your service agreement. If you subscribe to a plan combining both voice and data services, both the ECF and DECF apply.

Despite the foregoing I was told verbally that I could adjust my dataplan (I subscribed to the 6GB plan for $30 a month) up or down during the term without paying a DECF – just so long as I subscribe to a dataplan with the iPhone.

iPhone Bricked on Cancellation

[Nov 6, 2008 Update: As you can see from my post here, contrary to the assertions of Rogers representatives, the Rogers iPhone is not completely bricked without service.]
If you cancel the contract after the buyers remorse period, despite paying some $924 for the device ($324 up-front plus the $500 cancellation fee) your iPhone will be bricked. You will not be able to use the iPod Touch features of the iPhone. You won’t be able to use it as an iPod. You won’t be able to use it with another carrier or with AT&T in the U.S. unless you jailbreak/unlock it (see below).

You could, however, sell the iPhone to a third party who could activate on Rogers with or without committing to a three year contract.

Jailbreaking the iPhone after Cancellation

Jailbreaking/Unlocking the iPhone, of course, is an option that Rogers will point out breaches their terms of service. We can hope that the Canadian government might one-day soon follow the U.S. lead, and explicit permit consumers to unlock their mobile devices for personal use – despite Byzantine contractual provisions to the contrary.

You could also sell your jail-broken Rogers iPhone to an American where it is explicitly legal to unlock the iPhone for use on their AT&T network.

Third Party Transfers Without Early Cancellation Fee

If you can find someone to take your iPhone and commit to a three year contract (or whatever current contract Rogers makes available to iPhone customers at the time of the transfer), there will be no ECF payable.

The upside is obvious, no cancellation fee. The downside is, who would take up a used iPhone under a full 3 year contract – with a non-replaceable battery that is loosing its charge over time? The only benefit to the transferee is whatever discounted price you agree on for the iPhone itself. It may work out to your benefit to pay the transferee, say $100, to take the iPhone to avoid the cancellation fee.

Warning: Transferring the iPhone will result in your loosing your phone number.

iPhone and Rogers Bundles

The iPhone and data plan can be purchased as part of a Rogers bundle. You can, for example, purchase Rogers Internet, Rogers cable and Rogers mobile etc. under one bundled bill. If you receive percentage discounts off the regular stand-alone fees for each of these the bundle discounts will apply to monthly iPhone fees as well.

Current iPhone Shortages and Aug 31 Deadline

If you want to take advantage of the current Rogers $30 – 6 GB dataplan offer, which ends on August 31, 2008, you’ll need to have purchased the iPhone, signed the contract and activated it on or before August 31. I mention this because there is currently a shortage of iPhones across the country. If you wait until the last minute and their are no iPhones available (or the model or colour you want is not available) at the end of August, Rogers will not extend the plan beyond August 31st until the unit you want is available. If you want in, start your planning/searching now.

Note: The Rogers representative told me this won’t happen because they have sourced enough units to satisfy demand to the end of August. We’ll see.

Upgrading to Future 32 Gig iPhone

Upgrades WITHIN the First Year (if no Full Retail iPhone Available): When the inevitable 32 Gig iPhone comes out, if Rogers does not make it available as a purchasable item at full retail, if you want it, you’ll have to: 1) cancel your current iPhone contract (paying the full $500 Early Cancellation Fees), 2) pay for the new iPhone; and 3) sign up for a new three year contract. Eek!

Upgrades WITHIN the First Year (if iPhones Available for Purchase at Retail): The foregoing would not be the case if Rogers makes the 32 Gig model available for purchase at full retail price. If they do and you purchase the new unit at the full retail price, you’ll be able to port your current 3 year plan to the new iPhone without having to pay Early Cancellation Fees and you’ll still have the old iPhone that you can sell to another person that could activate it on a month-to month plan.

Note The Rogers rep, Jay, at the King and Bay Rogers store says he believes Rogers will be selling iPhones at full retail before the end of 2008. We’ll see.

Upgrades AFTER the First Year: Rogers permits only one upgrade in a 12 month period. The 12 month clock starts ticking from the date the iPhone is activated. The various Rogers representatives could not tell me what the upgrade fee will be because the fees will vary depending on a host of factors including the price of the new hardware; the length of the new replacement contract; whether Rogers considers you a high value customer at the time etc.; and the phase the moon is in (that last point was a joke ).

Data Roaming in Canada

As you can read in my original post, if Canadians roam to the U.S. and abroad there are hefty roaming fees on the iPhone data plan.

So, remember to shut off your 3g radios when travelling abroad!).

Happily there are no data roaming fees when Rogers customers wander around in Canada. So long as you are in Canada and you can get a signal, you can use your iPhone dataplan from anywhere in the country at no extra cost.

365 Day Warranty

If your iPhone dies or malfunctions and Rogers determines it wasn’t your fault (you weren’t jail-breaking, you didn’t drop it on concrete or drop it in the toilet), Rogers provides a 365 day warranty.

Warning: Unfortunately, if you are responsible for breakage, or if the unit malfunctions after the first 365 days, the warranty doesn’t apply, you will not get a free replacement unit but you are still responsible for your 3 year contract!! I went round and round with Jay (the Rogers rep) on this point. Since you cannot currently purchase a replacement iPhone to use with your contract, you will have to cancel your contract (and pay the ECF – see above) if you want out of your contract after you break your iPhone.

As mentioned above, Jay (the Rogers rep) believes there will be iPhones available for purchase by the end of 2008. If this is true than this is not such a problem. But Rogers has not committed to that. You could also, of course, transfer your three year contract to another phone that isn’t an iPhone.

Moving SIM Between Phones

I confirmed that the SIM in the iPhone will work with any other GSM phone. So, for example, if you are travelling with you iPhone and the battery runs out, you can move the SIM from the iPhone into any other GSM phone and your voice service will work with the other phone. This is important because there is no user swappable battery in the iPhone.

Reference: Rogers iPhone Facts | RuinedPhone.com
[August 15, 2008 Update: Many of the questions and concerns discussed below are addressed in my newer post: Rogers Canadian iPhone Plans - The Fine Print]

[October 6, 2008 Update: As of October 3, 2008 Rogers has changed their iPhone plans again. Details are available here.]

Rogers has announced its (and its subsidiary Fido’s) long awaited Canadian 3G iPhone (details here) data plan pricing. The iPhone will become available in Canada, and around the world, on July 11.

Unlike AT&T and other international carriers, Rogers is not offering an unlimited data plan option. Rather it is bundling rather meagre data tiers to tiered voice plans at considerably higher prices than charged in Europe and the United States (see here). Here’s the details:

• Minimum 3 Year Contract (AT&T offers U.S. customers the option: (i) of a 2 year contract; or (ii) to purchase of iPhone outright with no contract- see below)
• $199 for 8GB 3G iPhone; $299 for 16GB (same as U.S. – announced by Steve Jobs but not yet officially confirmed by Rogers)
• No Unlimited Data Plan. Rogers offers the following mixed monthly voice/data plans:
  • $60 – 400 MB Data - 75 outgoing SMS - 150 minutes*;
  • $75 – 750 MB Data - 100 outgoing SMS - 300 minutes;
  • $100 – 1 GB Data - 200 outgoing SMS - 600 minutes;
  • $115 – 2 GB Data - 300 outgoing SMS - 800 minutes;

*Minutes are weekday minutes. Rates do note include $15 or $20 a month for an options such as Caller ID, more text messages and call forwarding.

[July 9, 2008 Update: Rogers announced a limited time $30, 6GB iPhone data plan that can be added on to any Rogers voice plan. This offer expires on August 31, 2008]

By way of comparison the cheapest US AT&T data plan costs $30 for unlimited data and $39.99 for voice which includes 450 minutes, no SMS messages, and unlimited U.S. long distance (for a combined $69.99 total) (See U.S. Plan details)
[See also U.K./U.S./Cdn Price Plan Comparisons]

• $6.95 monthly system access charge is charged by Rogers/Fido on top of data plans. (AT&T does not charge a monthly access plan but does charge a one time $36 activation fee for newbies, $18 for upgrades for existing iPhone customers)
• All Rogers plans include unlimited:
  • evening and weekend minutes;
  • access to Rogers and Fido Wi-Fi hot spots (typically coffee shops);
  • incoming SMS messages.
• ‘Subsidized Only’ There is no option to purchase the phone at full price to avoid the 3 year minimum contract and cancellation fees (a practice prohibited in some European countries and under review by the U.S. FCC). U.S. users will be able to purchase their iPhone’s without a contract for  $599/$699.

More Questions – Uncertainty

Many details are still unclear, including:

• Roaming: No iPhone specific data plan roaming fees were announced. Under existing Blackberry/Windows mobile plans, Rogers charges A roaming fee of $0.01 per KB (outside your local area?) and $0.05 per KB applies for data usage while roaming the United States and other countries, respectively (source).
• Metering: whether Rogers will provide a tool so you know how much data you have used so far in a month (they don’t with their current plans – you find out with your next mobile phone bill – ouch!). Update: A Rogers spokesperson said that users who are about to exceed their plans’ caps will be sent messages to alert them of pending overage charges for voice and data
• SMS Data whether using SMS messages eat into your allotted data plan or not.
• Upgrading: Will current Rogers users on fixed contracts be able to upgrade to the iPhone without breaking their current contracts? How much will that cost? July 2 Update: Yes. According to a Rogers spokesperson: "Customers will also be free to change their plans for either more or less data, without incurring a penalty or resetting their three-year contract" 
• Uploading/Downloading: whether data plans are inclusive of up and downloaded data.
• Bundled Pricing: to what extent these prices could be reduced in Rogers bundles with Internet/cable etc. (if at all)
• Cancellation Fee: what the early cancellation fee will be
• WiFi Hot Spots: Rogers/Fido WiFi customers currently have access to Telus/Bell and other competitive carrier’s hotspots as part of their WiFi plans. The Rogers announcement does not mention Telus/Bell etc. hotspots. Presumably users will pay extra to use them.
• Domestic Transferability: Can a Canadian sell her iPhone and plan to another willing to adopt the rest of the contract without paying a penalty/cancellation fee.
• International Transferability: Can a 3G iPhone purchased by a Canadian be used/activated in the U.S. if the user pays the cancellation fee and moves (and vice versa).

Observations

Rogers highest data plan (consisting of a paltry 2GB of data) will effectively costs about $65 + the $6.95 ‘access charge’ = $72, per month more than they are now paying – assuming an average $50 monthly mobile phone bill. This is more than double the $30 monthly data plan fee a comparable U.S. 3G iPhone user will pay for the vastly superior unlimited data usage plan.  See U.S. details here for comparison.

Linking the data tiers to voice tiers means that users with low voice usage need to subscribe to higher cost voice plans that they don’t need or want to get access to the higher data plan that they do want. Conversely those with limited data needs and high voice requirements must pay for higher data plans that they won’t use to get the minutes they want.

The mixed voice/data plans make it difficult for consumers to make 1-to-1 comparisons with the U.S. product.

How many Canadians know how much data they will use next month, let alone 2 years from now?

Conclusion

I may be sitting this one out for now.  I was hesitant to purchase the first 3G iPhone given the 16 Gig hard drive limit. I need at least 24 Gigs and ideally 32 Gigs to house my current and future music/video and iPhone apps collection. Still, I was willing to pay up to $100 for a 300 minute voice plan with unlimited data (or at least 5G per month) and possibly a 2 year contract – SMS is irrelevant to me.  But a three year contract with such a limited data plan?  I don’t think so. Not immediately anyway.

[August 15, 2008 Update: I purchased an iPhone. Details here.]

Sources: Fortune | Globe & Mail | TheStar.com | Reuters | cbcnews.ca |Calgary Herald | Canada.com | CBC | Michael Geist |Vancouver Sun | *CTV | Edmonton Sun |

[June 28, 2008 Update: Rogers announced its actual rate plans on June 27. Click here for the details. I'm leaving this rumour post as it was for posterity.]

This post on the ehMac.ca forum purports to have the details on Rogers/Fido rate plans for the 3G iPhone set for release on July 11. This was picked up by the Financial Post here, giving it enough credibility for me to blog about.

[July 20, 2008 Update: According to this article in the Toronto Star, the pricing plan set out below is wrong.  Here’s what the Star.com says:

Under the new model, smartphone users can choose between "flex" and "non-flex" plans with buckets of data that range in price from $60 for 1 gigabyte to $100 for 6 gigabytes. The plans are purchased in addition to a voice plan.]

[July 19, 5:28 pm Update: AppleInsider is questioning the veracity of this ‘leak’ here. They point out the purported leaked Rogers memo looks identical to an earlier AT&T memo. This could be a completely bogus cut and paste fake.]

Summary of the Salient Points

• $35 Unlimited Data Plan: Rogers (and its subsidiary  Fido) will offer an unlimited data plan for $35 ($45 for enterprise customers), on top of your regular cell phone bill.
• 3 Year Contract Commitment: Rogers will require you to commit to three years of service. No word on what the early termination penalties are.
• “No ‘No Commitment’ Option: There will be no option to purchase a non-subsidized phone without a commitment.
• $199 (8GB) and $299 (16GB) Device Costs: This is the same as in the U.S.
• 30 Day Return Policy: If you don’t like the device you can return it within 30 days without breaking the long-term contract.
• Mandatory In-Store Activation: Just like in the U.S.
• No Word on SMS: Since SMS is nothing but data it should be included in an unlimited data plan. But, AT&T is charging extra for SMS messaging. Sadly, I’d expect Rogers to follow suit. This just means I won’t use SMS

This Would be Terrific

If this is true, it would be generally terrific news and a huge departure from the exorbitant data plan rates of the past. I concluded in this post that I would be willing to pay up to $50 a month for a decent data plan.

Long Term Contracts – Ugh

I do not like long-term contracts. I have always purchased my cell phones at full retail price to leave my exit options open.

There should be a law in Canada, as there is in France, mandating that carriers provide an option to purchase the device without a contract. This tried-and true carrier lock-in-by-contract technique is anti-competitive. It will keep Rogers/Fido users from switching to Bell/Telus when they start selling IPhones on their GSM overlay systems – due to be completed in a year or so.

But, if the penalty for breaking the contract is around $200 or less, I’ll take it. I’ll just consider it a cost of the phone.

Cross Border SIM Card Question

One big question I have is, can I take the SIM card out of the iPhone and use a U.S. AT&T SIM if/when I move back to the U.S. Yes, I know I’d have to pay the penalty to break my contract but I’d like to know if I purchase the 3G iPhone (especially if I pay the penalty) that I can take it with me if/when I move South. It angered me greatly when I returned from the U.S. years ago only to discover that I couldn’t use my the AT&T Motorola GSM phone that I payed full-retail price for on Rogers GSM network.

• Limited 3G Availability: AT&T’s 3G HSDPA is only available in limited U.S. geographical areas (I don’t know how widespread Rogers 3G Network is)>
• Higher Dataplan Rates: The unlimited data plan price for U.S. consumers has gone up from $25 a month to $30 a month (a price point Canadians still salivate over) .
• SMS Not Included: AT&T will charge 10 cents per 140 bytes (characters). This is ‘odd’ because SMS is only data. But carrier’s excel at squeezing every last penny out of their users. This is clearly a cash cow they intend to milk as long as they can (Android, please come to our rescue).
• Turn by Turn GPS Prohibited: Not only doesn’t the 3G iPhone not provide turn by turn GPS,  but Apple’s SDK prohibits developers from writing turn by turn GPS programs. My guess is Apple intends to launch a for-pay turn by turn service in the future. One wonders whether the SDK prohibition violates anti-trust laws.

I would add to this list:

• No WiFi Sync: You’ll still need to cradle the iPhone to sync music and video content. One of the features that the Zune has over any Apple product is its ability to wirelessly and automatically sync music and video through your WiFi network.
• 16GB Storage Limit: Since my 5th Gen iPod currently has 24 Gigs of content on it, and since I expect that iPhone apps will take up a significant portion of my future iPhone’s storage, 16GB won’t be enough storage for me. I’ll need a minimum of 32GB. To make up for this shortcoming, I’ll have to limit the amount of music/video I carry around on my iPhone. It’s not so much that I can’t carry everything around that bothers me (since I use my iPod to listen to podcasts 95% of the time). What bothers me is that I’ll have to micro-manage what music, what videos, what playlists etc. are copied to the iPhone – a real pain in the B-hind.
• Mandatory in-Store Activation: All iPhones must be activated in the store when you purchase it. This means: (i) a 10 to 12 minute wait-per-customer; (ii) you won’t be picking one up for your friends; and (iii) you won’t be able to purchase an iPhone now with the expectation of unlocking to use on a different network later. Expect LONG, SLOW  lines on July 11.
• MobileMe for $99: Huh? Google provides most of what MobileMe does for free on the iPhone already. I’m sticking with my Google, gMail, Outlook, iMap solution – well, probably .
• No Podcast Delete: A feature I’ve wanted for years is the ability to delete podcasts on the iPod/iPhone when finished. Without the ability to delete, you need to use iTunes to constantly micro manage your podcast/videocast content. [July 19, 2008 Update: While there is no explicit delete function, you can set up the iPhone/iPods and Apple TV to auto-delete podcasts. See this post for details.]  
• No Front Facing Camera: The lack of a front facing camera means no video conferencing or easy self portraits – yet. This will likely be a future iPhone feature.
• No Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)
• No Landscape (or tactile) Keyboard [Aug 15, 2008 Update: Some applications do provide a landscape keyboard option.]
• No Cut & Paste between Apps (though this is likely to come in a future software update)
• No Voice Dialing
• No Video Recording 
• Still No Replaceable Battery
• No Basic Word or Excel document editing
• iPhone Dock Now Sold Separately

Despite all this, I still want one. But, we continue to wait for Rogers to announce its data rate plan in Canada. That will be the determinative factor for me. $50 or less a month for an all you can eat data plan (or at least a decent data plan of say, up to 5 GB per month) and I’m in. Otherwise, I’m not so sure.

[August 15, 2005 Update: Rogers data plan details are here, my Rogers fine print post is here and my post-iPhone purchase post is here.]

• New 3G iPhone: “Twice the speed, half the price” – Details on U.S. Apple Website here (Canadian details here)
• Launching on July 11: in Canada (on Rogers and Fido networks) and 23 other new countries  
• 3G Speeds Approaching wifi Speeds: U.S. details here (Canadian details here)
• Lower Pricing  (U.S. pricing – hardware price identical in Canada)
  • $199 for 8MB iPhone (to put this in context the 8MB iPhone launched at $599 just last year and was $399 up to today )
  • $299 for 16GB
  • $30/ month for U.S. Consumers AT&T unlimited data plan (on top of voice contract).
  • $45/month for U.S. Business Users.
  • [June 28 Update: Disappointing Canadian tiered data plan announced – see details)
• Built in GPS: Satellite GPS supplemented by data from cell towers. U.S. details here (Canadian details here)
• Increased Battery Life:
  • 300 hours (6 weeks) standby
  • 24 hours audio (music/podcasts)
  • 7 hours video
  • 5-6 hours 3G surfing
  • 5 hours 3G talk (10 hours 2G talk)
  • no GPS battery details yet

• New iPhone 2.0 software coming in July. Existing users update details here. More Details here and here
• MobileMe Service: $99 per year (incl. 20GB online storage). Wireless auto email, contacts, calendar, photo syncing across phone, desktop (including PC and Outlook) and web (at me.com) without having to sync in cradle. Watch tour here Dale’s Note: Most of this Google already does with iPhone for free
• Picture Geotagging: Producing geocoded digital photographs
• New Apps:  U.S. details here (Canadian details here)
• New App Store in September – Unlimited number of third party apps. 10 MB app downloads wirelessly (larger apps available over wifi or iTunes).  Unified global (62 countries) apps store (not segregated by country like music and movies are). Developers set price. Apple keeps 30%. Free apps distributed for free – U.S. details here  (Canadian details here)
• Enterprise Support: Integration with Microsoft Exchange and much better Enterprise support. Enterprise can push apps to all their users – U.S. details here (Canadian details here)
• All black with silver trim (white version available).
• Plastic Casing: to provide theoretical better voice/data reception than prior metallic casing
• Tiny bit thicker than prior iPhone – thinner edges
• Flush headphone jack
• Includes Wi-Fi (802.11b/g), UMTS / HSDPA,  GSM / EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• SIM ejector

What wasn’t announced:

• No front-facing camera for video chats
• No tactile keyboard
• No new iPods, AppleTV or Macs
• No new iPod Touch price (surely it won’t be more expensive than 3G iPhone?)

More Pics and Details here: Engadget | Gizmodo | Mac Rumours | CrunchGear

Despite Canadian dollar parity, as usual Canadians will pay more per rental ($4.99 for new releases, $3.99 for older titles) than our American friends who pay $3.99 and $2.99 respectively. In both countries ‘high-def’* versions cost $1.00 more when available.

Canadians will have 48 hours to view iTunes movies after pressing play. This is surprising because Americans have only 24 hours to finish watching iTunes movies. I expect the U.S. service to follow suit shortly.  As in America, Canadians have 30 days after downloading to start watching their rented movie before it is deleted.

I took a quick look at the iTunes Canada movie offerings. There seems to be a good selection of new and older movies. Unlike in the U.S., there are no current prime-time T.V. shows available for download through the service. The available TV shows are either shows you never heard of or older TV shows. I expect that to change over time too. Participating studios include Disney, Paramount , Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Universal, MGM, Sony, Lionsgate and Maple Pictures.

Below I discuss your iTunes movie play-back options and compare the iTunes movie service to Bell’s recently announced video download store, the Xbox 360 movie download service, the Amazon Unbox-to-TiVo video download service and the pending PS3 movie download service.

Supported Devices

Canadians can watch iTunes rented movies on their Macs/PCs, on Apple TV units connected to their TVs, on video iPods like the iPod Classic, on the iPod Touch and on the ’soon’ to be released Rogers iPhone.

The best way to watch these movies, however, will be on your TV through an Apple TV device. It retails in Canada for $249 (40GB unit) and and $349 (160GB unit).  Again, Canadians pay more despite dollar parity. The U.S. price for these units is $229 and $329 respectively.

With the latest Apple TV software update, Canadians will be able to order movies directly from their TVs through the Apple TV device. They won’t have to get off the couch to order from their PC as was the case in the past.

Compared to Xbox 360 Movie Downloads in Canada

Microsoft launched its Canadian Xbox 360 movie rental service on December 11, 2007 with just over 30 titles. As of today there are only 90 titles available (compared to about 400 in the U.S.).   When the arcane Microsoft Points system is translated into Canadian currency(Cdn $1.42 per 100 Microsoft Points if you buy in bulk at Best Buy), movies rented through the Xbox 360 Marketplace cost:

• $6.25 for new SD releases (440 MS Points)
• $8.25 for new HD releases (580 MS Points)
• $4.26 for older SD releases (300 MS Points)
• ?? for older HD releases (none currently available)

They cost even more if you buy your Microsoft Points through the Xbox Live Marketplace (currently $1.55 per 100 points compared to $1.25 in the U.S.).

A month or so ago I rented the high-def version of Blade Runner (Director’s Cut) through the Xbox 360 service. I was very satisfied with the quality and functionality of the service. The movie started playing approximately 7 minutes after I initiated the download. But, as I wrote here, I dislike their points-based payment system and look forward to its abolition.

More Info:  Joystiq: U.S. Xbox Live v. Apple TV Movie Downloads

Compared to Bell’s Video Download Service

On May 21, 2008, Bell Canada launched the Bell Video Store movie download service (see ). They advertise 1,500 movie and TV shows. But the movie selection was very poor when I looked at it and, predictably the TV shows were only made-in-Canada TV shows, most of which you’ve never heard of. (click picture for larger view)

Bell’s movie rental fees range from $1.99 to $4.99.

Out of the gate, the service was crippled because: (i) it only works on the PC platform (no Mac’s allowed); (ii) does not work with any video iPod, iPod touch or iPhone; (iii) can’t be accessed through Apple TV; and (iii) the only supported portable devices are Archos portable devices – which few Canadians have heard of much less own.

There is no way to get the videos to your TV unless you are one of the 100 Canadians that have figured out how to connect your Xbox 360 as a media extender to Windows Media Center. I tried for two hours to get this to work before I gave up. I will try again and will post my results here on The Daleisphere in the future.

Bell Video Store Reviews:  Globe & Mail |  Digital Home Canada

Compared to TiVo’s-Amazon’s Unbox Movie Download Service

I include this for reference only because Amazon and TiVo do not yet make their Amazon Unbox to TiVo movie/download service available in Canada. The service, which started on March 7, 2006, makes approximately 20,000 movies and TV shows available for Americans to rent at prices between $1.99 to 3.99. TV shows cost $1.99 per episode to rent. A good number of those movies/TV shows can be ordered directly from the TiVo (others can be ordered from your PC) and watched from an Internet-connected TiVo.  The rental viewing window is 24 hours after you press play. Depending on your broadband connection, you can generally start watching shows quickly after initiating the download. No HD content is available yet but On May 10, 2008 TiVo announced that HD content will be available in the ‘not to distant future’.

Watch a demo: here.

TiVo also supports playback of video podcasts on your TV through the TiVo Desktop software. See my review here.

More details: from TiVo here, Amazon here,  here, PVRblog here.

Compared to Sony’s PS3 Movie Download Service in Canada

In April 2008, Sony announced a pending PS3 movie download service (see here, here and here) to be made available through its revamped PS3 Playstation Store. The service is not available yet but I expect it to be available to Canadians this year.

Conclusion

The iTunes movie download service looks like it may be a winner.  It works with all the popular Apple video products including the Apple TV device which is easy to use with your TV. While movie rental fees are more expensive compared to U.S. prices (aren’t they always), the prices are comparable or less than competing online video download services and cable-provided video-on-demand services and not too much more that what you’d pay for a Blockbuster/Rogers movie rental. The selection is good for a newly launched service. As with their competition, I expect the selection will grow dramatically over time. And you can’t beat the convenience.

Given how fond I am of TiVo I would much prefer the Amazon-TiVo Unbox service if it were available. But, the Canadian iTunes movie download service looks like it will be the Canadian download movie rental market leader for now and for the foreseeable future.

I will post my results here on  The Daleisphere once I’ve had a chance to test out the iTunes movie rental service.  I may even be able to cancel my over-priced Rogers movie channel service soon!

* I put ‘high-def’ in quotes because, as with all the services discussed in this post, none of the offerings are true high-def videos. They would more accurately be called "higher-def’ videos. But for most consumers, at slightly better than DVD quality, the quality will be acceptable .

Two of my favourites, Davenport (not playing for ‘personal reasons’) and Roddick (out for a rotator cuff injury) are not participating. Three time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, one of my all-time favourites, formally retired from professional tennis this week after an early round loss (I’ll miss Guga). Clijsters’, Henin’s, & Agassi’s retirements have left big holes in the sport. Hingis was forced out of professional tennis due to a cocaine scandal. Baghdatis, Fish, Mauresmo, Safin, Blake, and V. Williams’ were all early round losers. Significant rain delays resulted in the poor already Super Signal coverage (see below) being even worse than usual.

On a happier note, it was a pleasure to see Hewitt go down to Ferrer and Serena Williams go down (once again with little grace or class) to Srebotnik. I was a Hewitt fan in his earlier years. But his success made him too cocky and arrogant for my tastes. Serena’s always been in my bad books with rarely a kind word for anyone.

Perhaps I was spoiled with the terrific first week of tennis at the 2008 Aussie Open. The early round Roddick-Kohlschreiber and Federer-Tipsarevic matches there were probably some of the best matches I have seen in years.

Canadians at the French Open

Seeing any Canadian make it into any grand-slam tennis event is a rarity! This year there were three: 112th ranked Frank Dancevic (whose had some minor successes recently), Stephanie Dubois and Aleksandra Wozniak. Dancevic and Dubois were predictably defeated in the first round by qualifiers. Wozniak was defeated in the third round.

Rogers – TSN – Super Signal Broadcasting

I’m generally delighted with how much coverage Canada’s The Sport’s Network (TSN) gives to all four tennis grand slams on Rogers Cable. But TSN’s weekday coverage of the French Open is always worse than the other three. For the second year in a row they opted to take the ridiculously poor Super Signal feed (its no doubt cheaper) over the far superior USA Network or ESPN 2 weekday feeds that TSN carries for the other three slams. Super Signal can’t seem to find commentators that are either knowledgeable about tennis or that can speak proper English? I’m not sure if it’s an improvement over last year where they provided no commentators – at all – for most matches.

USA and ESPN 2 must have the exclusive rights to carry weekday matches with U.S. players because Super Signal did not cover a single match with U.S. players this week. They did provide a few minutes of Blake’s early round loss to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia – but only when they had exhausted their other rain-delay backup programming.

I so look forward to the day when we are not reliant on network coverage – when we can use our TiVos, Xbox’s, PS3s or Apple TVs to order up the matches we want to see over the Internet. 

NBC’s First-Ever French Open HD Coverage

Prior to this last weekend, the only slam available in HD was the U.S. Open. I was delighted to see NBC provide weekend HD coverage of the French Open for the first time (click the pictures in this post). My TiVo Series 3 provided me with beautiful HD coverage of the Federer, Nadal and Djokovic matches. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll get first time HD coverage of Wimbledon in a few weeks.

Looking Forward to Week 2

With all my favourite women either retired, not playing or eliminated, I have almost no interest on the woman’s side. Ana Ivanovic is the only women’s player that holds any interest for me. She, along with Jankovic, has been too inconsistent to gain my admiration – despite being a cutie. With most of the competition gone (except Sharapova and the Russians) they stand a good chance of winning.

[June 2 Update: Week 2 just got more exciting on the women's side with Marat Safin's younger sister, Safina, taking out Sharipova! I didn' expect that. Safina recently won her first title in Berlin defeating the now retired Henin.]

If Robby Ginepri (the only American left) makes it past the round of 16, it will be a minor miracle. [June 2 Update: Ginepri was routed by Gonzalez.]

A final with any two of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal would be terrific. (Djokovic would meet Nadal in the semis if they both make it that far). Witnessing Nadal tie Borg’s record of four straight French Open titles or watching Federer win the only slam that alludes him would be gratifying.

Let’s hope Roland Garros come alive in the second week.

Shortly thereafter I found myself in the emergency room at Toronto’s Saint Michael’s teaching hospital getting nine stitches. I felt as though I was a patient on the television show ER. The med student that stitched me up did a terrific job with absolutely no pain. My thanks go out to the med student and the supervising doctor for a terrific job.

The injury has resulted in almost constant sharp pain, has inhibited my ability to use my computer for work or play and prevented me from: 1) completing the GTA IV campaign; 2) continuing my GTA IV diary entries; and 3) blogging as much as I would have liked to. Indeed, it’s astonishing how much I cannot do while attempting to safeguard my left hand as my finger heals.

On the upside, the injury has resulted in my having a practical need to test and use, on a sustained basis, the Windows Speech Recognition software built into Vista. In fact, I have written this blog post almost entirely through voice dictation. I’m keeping notes and expect to write a future post on my Vista voice recognition experiences. [June 3, 2009 Update: I never did write that post as typing / and controlling Windows by voice is still not practical for the able bodied typist]

I can’t feel anything above the cut to the tip of my finger on the inside. But both the emergency room doctor and my family doctor believe that the nerves will reconnect themselves within about two months giving me full feeling back.

As is normal with most any emergency room, I had to wait about 2 hours before I was served. I wasn’t happy that the emergency room doctor was unwilling to prescribe pain medication for me. I only asked for a day or two’s worth of pain pills but it seems like Canadian hospitals are required to treat regular patients as if they are drug addicts seeking their latest fix. Despite her assurances, over-the-counter Motrin, alone, was not enough.

Nonetheless, I was very happy with my treatment. Despite its problems, I still consider the Canadian health care system to be amongst the best in the world. The visits to the hospital and my family doctor cost me nothing and the treatment I received was first rate. I do not believe that American politicians and population truly understand how the Canadian system works when they criticize it as a socialized medicine that takes choice way from the patient. I much prefer it, warts and all, over the American System, with its 40,000,000 people either uninsured or underinsured.

On Tuesday May 27, 2008 between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa, and other prominent supporters  such as Michael Geist, will be sponsoring a Net Neutrality Rally on Canada’s Parliament Hill.

The net neutrality rally is intended to foster greater Internet competition, innovation and consumer rights:

1. Competition:

• To stop vertical market leveraging at the expense of new entrants
• To prevent incumbent cable/telco duopoly control of the Internet

(see, for example Geist’s Bell’s Throttling Plan a Threat to a Competitive Net)

2. Innovation:

• To promote an environment conducive to the development of new and innovative content and web services by Canadian entrepreneurs

3. Consumer Rights:

• to promote ISP transparency
• to promote consumer privacy
• to demand that ISPs provide the advertised Internet quality of service that consumers pay for

If you live or work in the Ottawa/Hull area, please consider participating.

Here’s Amber MacArthur’s April 2, 2008 “Net Neutrality in Canada” Video Update:

Below is the complete exchange (partially included in Amber’s piece above) on ‘net neutrality between MP Charlie Angus and Canada’s Minister of Industry Jim Prentice during Parliament’s Question Period on April 2, 2008. The conservative government has chosen to punt the issue despite significant known net throttling, deep packet inspection, traffic shaping and seemingly arbitrary bandwidth/usage capping by Canadian ISPs.

Here is a terrific primer on net neutrality called Humanity Lobotomy. It’s good despite being is a bit too conspiracy-theory, granola-eating, tree-hugging, bra-burning, Birkenstockish for my tastes.

 
For more information see:

• Michael Geist’s net neutrality articles
• cbcnews: Net Neutrality: FAQ
• Neutrality.ca
• 
• John C. Dvorak – What is Net Neutrality, Anyway?
• my net neutrality topic on my iMedia law blog
• Prof Ed Felten’s ‘Nuts and Bolts of Net Neutrality‘