O Canada! > Canadian > Canadian Broadband > The New Wireless Code Hearings. Live Stream @ 9-am

reply to icemasta

Re: The New Wireless Code Hearings. Live Stream @ 9-am

Perfect. Can't wait to hear them as soon as Bell's done from my stream.

reply to c2roth

reply to hm
Hey SaskTel - if your service was any good, you'd also be winning customers at practically no cost as they flee from Robellus.

It works both ways buddy. You aren't always on the short end of the stick.

reply to icemasta

reply to MaynardKrebs

Sample Page

2012-557-hea···on_2.pdf Download This

reply to hm

reply to MaynardKrebs

Re: The New Wireless Code Hearings. Live Stream @ 9-am

reply to hm
This US article is a great - and very current - read:

Contracts? We don't need no stinking contracts!
»www.zdnet.com/contracts-we-dont-···011299/?

....
All of this has changed, though, with the Nexus 4 on deck and unlocked iPhones increasingly available. The Nexus 4 in particular was never intended for sale through a carrier like most phones in the US. Rather, Google bypassed the restrictions, painfully slow Android updates, and other nonsense that carriers bring to the table.

And consumers have spoken. Google can’t keep this unlocked superphone in stock, even with the absence of 4G capabilities. Consumers also gladly plop down top dollar for unlocked iPhones, march out to their nearest convenience score, and activate their phone with a simple SIM card kit.

So why the change? Because contracts are expensive, restrictive, and rarely come with unlocked phones. .....

Most importantly, though, when consumers and businesses want to buy phones and tablets (the latter, by the way, will replace phones for many individuals who simply use VoIP and a headset to make calls through their tablet which is their primary computing and communication device) will go to the same places where they would purchase computers, networking equipment, televisions, or any other electronics. Consumers will buy unlocked devices from big box stores and businesses will buy them from VARs or direct from OEMs, and manage them in the cloud, allocating bandwidth as appropriate to users. Gone will be the days of buying phones at the Verizon Store.

Or, I should add, through expensive corporate contracts with Verizon or AT&T. And that's a good thing for everyone involved.

Can somebody tweet this ZDNET article to the CRTC? »zd.net/WMxlOx

reply to hm
I think the CRTC is slowly beginning to see that a single Code may be too difficult to properly implement because:
a) provincial codes are different and there may be constitutional issues
b) prepaid is different than post-paid
c) Big 3 and other incumbents will do anything they can to pervert the spirit/intent of any National Code
4) New entrants are offering the only relatively sane business practices/plan which are consumer friendly

Unless the CRTC is going to adopt the most stringent of each jurisdiction conditions and make it a mandatory condition of maintaining spectrum licences, this Code experiment is doomed to failure.

The only solution is for Parliament to legislate that handsets are sold separately from the service, and that the cell voice/data service is sold only month-to-month, or at most for a 1-year term.

That said, since the CRTC has said that competition issues are NOT on the table, we're going to wind-up with some bastardized Code which will be immediately challenged on constitutional grounds - jurisdictionally and interference in business practices. ROBELLUS will not go quietly into the night over this.

Bottom line - this week of hearings and all the effort leading up to it has been pointless. And I think I'm being optimistic in my view.

reply to hm
Here's an interesting US MVNO provider
»www.net10wireless.com/#/

reply to MaynardKrebs
Last day:
Friday, 15 February 2013

27. MTS Allstream (int. #1,072)

28. Saskatchewan Telecommunications (SaskTel) (int. #1,071)

29. Globalive Wireless Management Corp. (int. #1,045)

30. Quebecor Media Inc. (on behalf of Videotron G.P.) (int. #1,054)

31. The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) (int. #1,028)

The three I am interested in are:

- Wind. Will they state the Canadian Market isn't worth it?

- Videotron to see their stance on the Consumer Protection issue, and since they're a new player, their stance compared to the big 3 and the CWTA/PIAC. And,

- CCTS.

reply to hm
Didn't SaskTel already present yesterday?

reply to MaynardKrebs
They can enforce certain elements of the code, maybe not all. And I'm not sure they have any power to enforce the sale and distribution of handsets as they don't regulate equipment at all.

So maybe not everything can be done under the code but they do have quite a bit of oversight in Federal regulation under the Telecommunications act.