Some folks are apparently upset that Rogers is inserting an information frame onto the top of some users’ web browsers. It is an added frame to let users know that their usage is bumping up close to the maximum under their plan or to let the user know that their old anti-virus software is about to expire.

How would you tell your customers that there is about to be a problem? With 1.6M internet subscribers, the alternative is to wait for tens of thousands of extra calls to the call centre after people get sticker shock from the extra usage charges or call technical support to find out why their free software isn’t working.

It is hardly a case of interfering with the webpage. From what I have seen, the message is directly associated with important information about the customer’s internet access service. Maybe the market research was correct that Rogers has found an acceptable and effective way to target those using its services?

Just like when the issue first arose in late 2007, this latest kerfuffle is much ado about nothing.

In a move that helps consolidate its 5-service bundle offering in Manitoba, MTS Allstream and SaskTel have exchanged some of their security customers. SaskTel’s SecureTek gave up its Manitoba customers in exchange for MTS Allstream’s AAA Alarm customers located outside Manitoba – mainly in Alberta.

According to SaskTel CEO Robert Watson

This agreement will allow SecurTek to focus on geographic growth in its target growth markets of Saskatchewan, Ontario, B.C. and Alberta.

In my question to MTS Allstream chief Pierre Blouin last week at The Canadian Telecom Summit, I commented about the prairie phenomenon of home security services as an adjacency to telephone, TV, internet and mobile services. Other Canadian service providers have 4 arrows in their quiver. MTS Allstream and SaskTel carry a fifth.

This announced swap of customers helps MTS Allstream offer more bundling to more Manitoba customers while providing SaskTel with greater scale in its operations outside its core territory.

Why aren’t more communications services providers offering home security?

Everyone in Canada has access to broadband internet access. This isn’t a forecast; it is a statement of fact. Most Canadians have access to at least three different facilities-based broadband suppliers (cable, DSL and satellite) and many have a choice of fixed wireless as well.

In the next few months, most Canadians will have a choice of a number of mobile broadband suppliers, all of which providing even more choice. This array of competition doesn’t include the companies that co-locate their DSLAMs to provide broadband over the telco loops or the companies that use the telco’s aggregated access service to provide broadband alternatives.

All Canadians can have broadband, but what is holding them back?

According to StatsCan, in 2006, three quarters of Canadian homes had computers; more than 90% of those households used the computers to access the internet.

Obviously, presence of a home computer sets an asymptote for broadband subscription. We need to hear more discussion of basic computer literacy for the Canadians that still don’t see the value of putting another screen in their homes.

As we wrote last November about PEI’s low adoption rates despite universal accessibility, increasing broadband penetration requires a more holistic, critical analysis.

Toronto’s urban WiFi has moved back into the news with the announcement that Cogeco Data Services’ One Zone has come out with a $5 per month plan for iPhone and iPod Touch users, a substantial reduction from its $30 monthly rate for regular computer users.

The iPhone/iPod rate plan provides a significant breakthrough in pricing, recognizing the characteristics of the device and the likely types of data consumption. Will the new pricing threaten mobile data revenues or is it a substitute for some fixed broadband customers?

One Zone also announced that its footprint has joined the iPass network, which provides an alternative to 3G data roaming to iPass Mobile Office customers. Hundreds of Global 2000 companies use iPass and in 2008, over 2 million unique users took advantage of iPass mobility services.

There is a brief commentary on the National Post blogs by Kelly McParland, writing about executive compensation at Nortel through all of its angst.

The article is worth a read.

Since Nortel began it’s disastrous fall from grace nine years ago, its CEOs have either retired wealthy, faced criminal charges or disappeared into the woodwork. None has managed to reverse the slide. Yet despite their uninterrupted record of miserable failure, they they all seem to get paid, and retain their unshakeable belief that people like themselves are essential, while everyone else is expandable.

And what about the board of directors, who acted on behalf of shareholders? Mark Evans and James Bagnall have more.