A unifying thread, linking cellular subscribers around the world, seems to be that people want lower rates. No matter what you are paying, it is human nature to want to pay less.

In Europe, with competitive wireless service providers driving better than 100% penetration, consumer group BEUC is calling for regulatory intervention because of high roaming fees.

The issue for the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs are the rates charged to consumers when they are out of their home country. BEUC commissioned a study that showed fees have not come down, despite new roaming schemes introduced last summer under threat of EU-wide price limits.

For Canadian cellular customers travelling internationally, it is small comfort to hear that Europeans are also complaining.

A Toronto-based colleague of mine was in Florida last week and he saved hundreds of dollars in roaming fees by picking up a T-Mobile pre-paid phone on arrival. For $50 (US), he was given a new handset and 450 anytime minutes to call or receive calls anywhere in the US. The minutes expire in 90 days, but when he adds just $50 more to his account, his minutes will be good for 12 months. Total cost: $100 for 12 months, 1000 minutes. No system access fees. No monthly charges. No contract. Additional minutes are around 10 cents or less.

Can someone tell me which Canadian rates are comparable?

Technorati Tags:
BEUC, roaming, mobile, T-Mobile

Typically, when you get a cell phone from your carrier, it is locked to their network. The rationale, I suppose, is tied to the subsidy that is implicit in your multi-year contract. The $49 phone obviously costs much more, but the price is subsidized by the carrier that you sign up with.

But, why can’t consumers use their phone with another carrier? After all, the contract commits the customer to keep paying. The subsidy will get recovered. And what about customers that don’t want a contract? Or who pay full price for their phone?

Is it legal to get the phone unlocked? Many independent dealers will unlock your phone for a negotiable fee. Unlocking a GSM phone allows a user to pop any SIM into the phone, enabling more controllable costs when travelling, avoiding often outrageous roaming fees.

The US copyright office recently had two rulings that affect this. One was to rule that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act covers the software lock on the phone, meaning that it would be an offense to tamper with the access control technology absent a specific exemption. However, they also granted precisely that exemption.

What are the rules in Canada? Who owns your cell phone?

Technorati Tags:
GSM, DMCA, wireless

It has now been a year since I began this blog. February 20, 2006.

Since then, I have written nearly 550 posts, providing fresh viewpoints related to telecommunications. Something new almost every day of the year.

I hope I have engaged you as readers, challenged you re-examine industry issues from a different perspective, provoked you to explore alternatives in your own policy convictions, and sometimes entertained you with trivia.

In the course of debate on certain issues, I hope that I have not insulted you and I regret anything that may have caused hurt.

I still consider myself to be new at blogging and believe that most of us, both writers and readers, are still trying to learn how to best use this medium. Thank you for joining me on this exploration.

Certain topics have attracted more attention than others; my posts about internet content blocking and the launch of iPhone drove spikes in traffic. What do you want to hear about?

Drop me a note or enter a comment once in a while to share your views.

In my posting earlier this morning, I asked “Any users willing to admit being antique suscribers?” The I read an article on PwC’s Communications Direct news digest, called “Oldies Phones: The Next New Frontier“, extracted from Telecom Web.

The story talks about a company that has a phone to meet the needs of the under-served seniors market – bigger screen, bigger buttons, easy-to-use menu. Market niche? Of 110 million seniors in Europe, only 17% have phones. There is an opportunity in this grey market.

Dig out those old brick-sized phones from the box in the basement!

Technorati Tags:
mobile, PwC, seniors

Friday’s Telecom Decisions from the CRTC consisted of approval of the withdrawal of a couple legacy services by TELUS and by Bell / Bell Aliant.

In TELUS’ case, it was granting authorization to halt its old Manual 150 Mobile Telephone Service from the ILEC serving territory in Alberta. At the other end of the country, the Bell group was authorized to de-standardize a legacy delivery of SMDR – call records.

These two CRTC orders serve as an opportunity to point out the regulations associated with withdrawing services, found in a May 2005 circular. It is a reminder that the ILECs continue to have an obligation to provide all of the services set out in their tariffs, even those that are obsolete, until the CRTC approves otherwise.

I was surprised that manual telephone radio still exists – you would think that customers would be embarrassed using it, instead of flipping open the latest cell phone. Any users willing to admit being antique suscribers?

Technorati Tags:
Bell, TELUS, CRTC