Diaries of a Nokia Fan Boy

Ok, so it was going to happen sooner or later, and in fact there were indications of this previously, but that’s all besides the point now.

Telus, rather quickly after launching their HSDPA+ network, sued Rogers over their claims as being “Canada’s most reliable network.” Of course this all makes sense. First off, I should probably be referring to this as the Bell/Telus network, but that’s besides the point. So in my personal, and totally non-law-based, opinion I strongly believe that Telus has a case. I mean their network covers most of Canada – not sure how that compares with Rogers, should see sometime soon – their network is also just as fast as Rogers, that being 21 MBps.

Bottom line is that the judge sided with Telus on the matter, saying “the present network technology is at least equivalent between Rogers and Telus.”

But really the most entertaining part is going to be the commercials. It will be really entertaining if the gloves come off and we get the same thing going as AT&T and Verizon are doing in the states. Guess I should look into how the two networks compare, eh?

-Nokia FanBoy

via: Engadget Mobile (read)

Ok, so for those who do not know, Rogers has been running running an initiative called Rogers urVoice Panel. This is basically a website where Rogers puts up various surveys and registered users can fill them out, and leave their opinions. One of the initiatives on there has been the “Android Revolution” sequence of ads that have been running for all the Android phones. For answering the surveys users get entered into a chance to win a gift worth on average $50, however I would imagine that most that do it, do so because they want to have the input.

Well the latest, and rather very exciting panel, has been regarding roaming data plans. That is, if you go to the US (and US only so far) you can use your data without roaming charges. There were basically two ways they were looking at this: a dedicated data plan (presumably incompatible with the current data plans), or an add-on that takes care of the roaming charges so you keep your current plan. Now I have the 6GB data plan, and I’m getting a discount on that plan, so I think my choice is pretty clear: no way in hell am I giving up that plan. Now the idea is fantastic, I would totally go for paying an extra $5 or so per month and be able to use my data in the US, however if its going to be $15 extra per month, then I will be cheap and only add it when I need it.

What peaked my interest in this, however, is the close proximity of this particular Panel to Google’s announcement of Google Maps Navigation. If you recall, I noted that the solution wouldn’t work for me since I would have to have something else for the US so as not to incur data charges. Well this changes everything. Of course this makes me think that Rogers knew about this for a little while (or a long while), and this is their response: a way to increase your monthly fees while providing you with more service. I’m definitely happy that they did so, but I do wish that it wouldn’t take companies like Apple and Google to force Rogers to bring in cheap data plans, and realistic roaming rates.

But I guess at the end of the day I am just a consumer, so I will stay happy with whatever services I can get. I’m already getting an amazing deal from Rogers as it is, so I won’t complain too much.

-Nokia FanBoy

via: the strangeness of my mind

Well this is some interesting news on a Tuesday afternoon. While Rogers may not be the first to do this, the fact that we will soon be able to use these kinds of speeds is quite amazing.

But lets be realistic for a minute. I am currently running a 7.2Mbps-capable phone, and my tests are returning about 2.4Mbps. When I was using a 3.6Mbps-capable phone, my tests returned 1.2Mbps. So we can make the naive assumption that when Rogers rolls out 21Mpbs, we will “only” be able to effectively use about 7Mpbs of it. Now I mean that is mighty fast, but its only 33% of advertised speed.

On the other hand, how much do we really need it? Most cellphones can’t handle those speeds, I was surprised mine could handle 2.4Mbps. This is mostly going to be noticed by people with data cards and USB modems, and I would question just how useful it is to have such a boost in speed on a laptop, especially when overage charges are quite high. What I would much rather see is improvements in latency (response time), as most packets that go in and out of phones are fairly small, so its the response time that plays the bigger part in effective throughput.

-Nokia FanBoy

Source:
Engadget Mobile (read).

So the lack of Wordpress on my new Magic continues to force me to write up my posts via computer. Fortunately for me readers, this means that my posts now have some photos included in them.

This post is in relation to tethering and Roger’s policy on doing so. As recently posted by Engadget Mobile (read), Rogers is currently permitting tethering for those with a data plan of 1GB or higher. This policy is said to last until December 31st, at which time those that need tethering abilities will have to call in to Rogers to have it enabled for their account. Now this raises a couple flags to me, the biggest one being “Will I have to pay to have tethering enabled?”. I first signed up for the 6GB/$30 data plan last year when the iPhone came out and drove the pricing down, however when I signed the 3 year contract required to get that promotion, I did so with the understanding that I will be able to use my phone for tethering to my computer. If Rogers goes and forces users such as myself to now pay even more for the service which we signed a contract for to begin with, well let’s just say there will be a large number of Retentions calls. My other concern is how will they track tether via programs such as JoikuSpot? I mean with regular tethering I understand that the phone sends out a specialised code to signify that there is a computer using data via the phone, however with the program there is no such signal being sent out. Of course Rogers could start looking at large amounts of data being transfered over a short period of time, however using YouTube, internet radio or SymTorrent could easily surpass what any laptop browser could require.

Finally, I believe that this policy will only affect those that signed up for a data plan before June 8th, 2009. Presumably this means that those of us that have had the same data plan since before that date can continue to tether without any issues (including those with less than 1GB of data). What is not clear, however, is what happens come December 31st – will everyone have to call in and confirm/sign-up for tethering, or just those that signed up after June 8th?

The mobile space seems to be getting more and more interesting, and I will be sure to follow it every step of the way.

- Nokia FanBoy