A re-cap of the 3 new carriers coming to Canada this Fall / Winter. 2 are doomed !

Competition will not only be fierce between the new carriers, but even more so as the incumbent carriers stake their position and fight aggressively to hang onto their market share.

In the last few weeks TheTelecomBlog.com has profiled all 3 of the new carriers in separate blog postings, and on Tuesday we started a 4 part series looking at which of the 3 carriers would survive. This is part 2.

A re-cap / summary of the new carriers are as follows:

Public Mobile:
After announcing their plan to provide Canadians, well for now only those that live in Toronto or Montreal, an alternative to the big 3 cell providers, Public Mobile is looking to jump in bed with Wal Mart to ensure that they continue to become known as the low cost, high-frills option in the Canadian cell phone market. The company is interested in placing their products in the hands of Canadians in Ontario and Quebec, and feels that their target market is available at Wal Mart and other convenience location.

Public Mobile scooped up the G-band for only $53 million in the wireless spectrum auction last year – nearly 80% less than what the other parts of the spectrum went for. Public Mobile has been able to show that they are serious about providing real competition to the big players: Telus, Rogers, and Bell. The question is: can they afford to be the affordable cell phone provider? With no hardware designed to be used in this spectrum, combined with a target market of 2 million customers, this will be an interesting company to watch. But everyone loves an underdog!

Wind Mobile:
After spending $442 million on spectrum in the Canadian wireless auction Globalive is poised to provide an exceptional customer experience at discount store prices by partnering up with Wind Mobile. They hired Alcatel-Lucent to create the 3G network required to launch the Windmobile products across Canada to ensure that the network is able to meet the demands of today and the needs of tomorrow.

Globalive has asked Canadians what they want, and is now in the process of finding a way to provide it.
With over ten years of experience in the telecommunications field, Globalive is well suited to meet the challenge of upsetting the Big Three – Telus, Rogers, and Bell.

Globalive is funded by Orascom, an Egyptian based cell phone conglomorate with spectrum and operations all over the world, Orascom has deep enough pockets, skill, and experience to make a real go of this. The problem – Globalive has been plagued with issues regarding Canadian ownership which could threaten their launch. Globalive’s cell brand will be called Wind Mobile.

Dave Wireless:
Dave’s acting President is Dave Dobbin, previously of Toronto Hydro Telecom. For those that live in the Toronto area you might remember Dave from his radio ads urging customers to come to one of his seminars on network security. Incidentally, the fact that DAVE Wireless and DAVE Dobbin both share the same name is completely coincidental, although very convenient. DAVE is headed up by John Bitove, controlling shareholder of XM Radio in Canada, and KFC Holdings, Director of Priszm Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell franchises across Canada.

The Dave wireless team says that they are on track to launch their product line in early 2010 in 5 Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa. By opting to roll out HSPA+, the Dave team is hoping to be able to offer speeds of 21 megabits/sec.

With no information about pricing and plan options on their website, the Dave mobile team is going to be answering a ton of questions prior to the launch. They seem to have provided the least amount of information, and will probably be the last of the 3 to launch.

These are the players, and these are my predictions. One will play and two won’t stay.
Check back next Monday to find out which two new-comers have already had a public spat debate.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

CRTC screws Canadians. It’s normally Bell Canada that’s screwing us.

This email just landed in my inbox. It’s an appeal to speak up about new cable fees being proposed by the CRTC – ironically, this came from Bell Canada. Of course you see the irony in this email – it’s like the “Pot calling the kettle black” isn’t it ? Bell Canada asking us to speak up about new fees.

My question to Bell – how about all of those hidden fees, charges, surcharges, excuses, and years of bad service. Wait, you’re still screwing us – hidden charges, mistakes on bills, and this whole Net Neutrality thing has really got me frustrated.

Either way, it sure looks like another tax.

Dear Customer,

Help stop your TV fees from increasing. CTV, Global and the CBC have recently asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to significantly increase TV taxes.

The CRTC has been asked to do this by having Bell and the other operators pay more, which would result in higher fees for you.

We don’t think that’s right, you shouldn’t either. So please speak and have your say.

This is what’s happening.

The CRTC has told satellite and cable companies to hand over $100 million a year as of September 1, 2009. These fees are being passed on to you.

This money is passing through something called the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) ˆ straight to media giants like CTVglobemedia and Canwest Global, straight to the CBC.

No new local programming, no improvement to anything other than the bottom line of broadcasters.

You are now likely paying for this on your TV bill.

You should also know that hot on the heels of that campaign, CTV, Global and the CBC are now lobbying for even more.

Each year, satellite and cable companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars to broadcasters. We contribute to the CRTC’s operating budget. Although to date these fees have not been broken out on monthly bills, you need to know they exist ˆ especially because the TV networks still want more.

If the CRTC gives in to the broadcasters’ latest demand and lets local TV stations charge for their currently free over-the-air local signals, it would more than double the portion of your Bell TV bill going to government fees ˆ and into the bank accounts of the broadcasters, like CTV, Global and the CBC.

In fact, if the CRTC lets broadcasters have their way, then government-imposed fees will be just shy of one billion dollars.

It’s time to say enough. Help make it stop. Let the CRTC know what you think about new TV taxes – have your say.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

3 new cell companies coming to Canada. My guess – 2 are doomed. Public Mobile, Wind Mobile, or Dave Wireless ?

Do you remember that old University “first day” story about the professor that gets in front of the class and says “look to your left, now look to your right. Next year one of you won’t be here”.

I’m going to do some forecasting and make a similar statement about the future cellular market. We have 3 new companies opening shop in the next 6 months, and my prediction is that two of the 3 cell companies won’t be around in 1 year.

Here’s my prediction of what the market will look like next year at this time:

One of the cell companies will have trouble launching. Their technology will be rife with problems, which in turn will strain their customer service department with phone calls. A negative sentiment will set-in fairly quickly – they won’t make it past the one year mark.

One of the cell companies will launch successfully, but, they will struggle to differentiate themselves from the competition and will find it difficult to fund the expansion beyond the first year. Plans won’t materialize as expected, and they will be forced to sell the business at a discounted price to one of the incumbents.

One of the cell companies will launch successfully, will understand the marketing, customer service, and pricing model, and will become a formidable competitive force in the Canadian cellular marketplace.

My crystal ball suggests that – one year from this December, we will have 4 well established cellular players in Canada. Bell, Telus, Rogers, and ______________________ (FILL IN THE BLANK)

Who might that be ? Read on …

And, check back Thursday for the continuation of this post. This posting is part of a 4 part series on a re-cap of the new cell companies (Pubic Mobile, Dave Wireless, and Wind Mobile) coming to Canada, a round-out, analysis, and perspective on who will succeed, and who will fail.

More: TheTelecomBlog.com has profiled all 3 new carriers in previous posts. You can read about them:
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Public Mobile
Coming to Canada this Fall – profiling Wind Mobile
Coming this winter to Canada. Profiling Dave Wireless.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

No Kanadian Kindle ? When will Amazon bring the Kindle to Canada ?

“This is the future of book reading. It will be everywhere.” Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and Liar’s Poker.

Yes, everywhere but Canada.

It looks like Amazon’s ebook reader, the Kindle, is going to be shipped to 100 countries, but Canada isn’t one of them. The reason? Amazon is still shopping for the best deal on the wireless carriers available in Canada. Now that Telus and Bell have HSPA+, there are more options for Kindle users. Amazon wants to go with the cheapest best option available among the available international carriers.

What is Kindle ?

- Revolutionary electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper.
- Simple to use: no computer, no cables, no syncing.
- Wireless connectivity enables you to shop the Kindle Store directly from your Kindle—whether you’re in the back of a taxi, at the airport, or in bed.
- Buy a book and it is auto-delivered wirelessly in less than one minute.
- More than 350,000 books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs available available, including more than 105 of 112 current New York Times® Best Sellers.
- New York Times® Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
- Free book samples. Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.
- Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
- Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times—all auto-delivered wirelessly.
- More than 5000 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN’s Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post—all updated wirelessly throughout the day.
- Lighter and thinner than a typical paperback; weighs only 10.3 ounces.
- Holds over 200 titles.

The Kindle sounds great. Now, what’s wrong with Canada ?

A few weeks ago, who would have guessed that there would be too much competition in the Canadian cellular market ?

Is this another instance where Canada is snubbed due to the high price of our cellular providers? The Globe & Mail seems to think so, comparing the Kindle delay to the iPhone situation that saw Canada get the phone almost a year after it was launched.

It will be nice to see the options that the new entries into our market will bring. Public Mobile, Wind Mobile, and DAVE Wireless can’t get here soon enough.

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Even my Mom is reading this Blog ! And yes, Mom, Rogers did show up !

I called my Mom on my way home from work yesterday evening and she asked me how the Rogers installation was going. She said she had read this blog. My mother ! Reading a Telecom Blog !! (Click here to catch up on this story)

My immediate thought – Oh No. If my mother is reading this blog then I must be completely off base. This is a Telecom Blog. You know – technical stuff. No disrespect toward my mother, but, she reads Canadian House and Home. I have been in Telecom for 20 years and she’s still asking what it is that I do ! That would be cool though – in a month or so I might be talking to my mother about Net Neutrality. Can’t wait.

Anyway, I didn’t have enough time to speak with my Mom about the Rogers thing, so, let me say something to her first. Mom, I’m sorry for rushing you off the phone last night. You spooked me. And yes, Rogers did show up. We now have Rogers cable.

Truth be told, the Rogers tech was fantastic. I actually didn’t meet him, but, when you come home from work and your kids, who don’t normally care about much other then Miley Cyrus, run over and explain how nice the phone guy was, you know he must have done something right. He showed up on time. Ran and fished the cables, cross connected the phone lines to the new Rogers demarc, tested the phone line, and even, now get this, helped my wife take in the groceries from the car.

We even got a call from “the President’s office” last night asking if everything was OK.

I knew this blog would come in handy for something. I think I’m going to make this blog into my personal gripe session. Problem at the grocery store – blog about it. Flight delayed – blog about it. Crappy Canadian winter – OK, I guess I’m getting carried away.

So, what’s the message in all of this.

Don’t switch carriers ? Start a blog ? Yes to both.

And the message for Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Telus, MTS, or any other carrier. Amazing service is an elusive goal, but if done right, will propel your company to the top. Your customers are craving straight forward billing with no hidden charges, well trained customer service reps, and technicians and sales people that understand the business. And no, a 20 minute hold time is NOT acceptable.

Now, I’ve got to figure out how to use this new Rogers remote.

More: I just discovered the show “Ice Road Truckers” on the History channel. Love it.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

The iPhone’s future is now friendly

The $1 BIllion shared network that Telus and Bell have installed will reportedly allow them to carry the Apple iPhone on their respective networks.

The eagerly anticipated High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network was scheduled to be completed for February 2010, but the early launch will allow the two cell giants to prepare for the time of the year that sees the most new wireless sales. Neither company would comment about any upcoming deals with Apple, but the promise of ending Roger’s monopoly on the smartphone must be top of mind for all three companies. The Globe and Mail is even predicting that Telus and Bell will start selling the phones next month.

Bell and Telus will be looking to acquire new and existing iPhone fanatics, while Rogers should be planning ways to provide better pricing/service to the smartphone audience.

More provider options should result in a more competitive environment for those of us that have sold our souls for an iPhone!

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

What is PRI ? What are carriers charging ? A sample quote from the US and Canada

Have you ever heard of PRI ? How do PRI rates compare from city to city ? Country to country ?

A brief technical explanation: PRI, sometimes also called Megalink, digital, or fiber, is a TDM, ISDN type (circuit-switched) type telco service which is rapidly replacing the older style analog line. A standard PRI service in North America has 23B channels and 1 D channel – if added together you have 24 channels. These 24 channels are comprised of 24 channels of 64 kbit / second, or 1.544 Mbit / second (24 X 64). The PRI is a similar service to the T1 – a T1 is made up of 24B channels, or 1.544 MB as well. The T1 has 24B channels, and the PRI has 23B + 1 D channel. The PRI is used for voice, and the T1 is used for data.

The PRI is a digital service, which means that the sound quality is near perfect. Unlike an analog line, which sometimes has a 6 to 8 dB loss, the PRI service has a 0 dB loss, making the sound quality that much better.

The technology has been around for some time – Digitcom.ca has been installing PRI circuits for our clients since the mid 90’s. It is a very mature technology, with obviously, a very high adoption rate in the small, mid, and especially enterpise Telecom markets.

Next question: Is your current PRI contract competitive, and how do American and Canadian rates vary ?

I did a quick price survey – 1 in downtown Miami (with the help of my friend TJ Spohn from CPT Florida) and the other in downtown Toronto, 2 typical North American cities. Prices from the carriers are as follows:

Down Town Miami:

Nuvox
Rate / month $425
Install charge $0
Contract term 24 months
Lead time for install 30 days
LD rate .05 intrastate / interstate

Paetec
Rate / month $550
Install charge $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for install 30-45 days
LD rate .03 intrastate / interstate

AT&T
Rate / month $650
Install charge $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for install 30-45 days
LD rate .05 intrastate / interstate

Down Town Toronto:

Allstream
Rate / Month = $615 (10 DID’s included)
Install = $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead Time for Install = 4 to 6 weeks
Long Distance = $0.02 / minute North America

Bell Canada
Rate / Month = $672
Install = $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for Install = 3 to 4 weeks
Long Distance = $0.025 / minute North America

Telus
Rate / Month = $653
Install = $0
Contract term 36 months
Lead time for Install = 4 to 7 weeks
Long Distance = $0.025 / minute North America

Rates were coming down for some time, but seem to have stabliized over the last few years. Paying more ? Call your carrier !

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

What on earth is social networking, and should you care ?

Why should you care ? Because your customers do.

Do you know what social networking is ?

If not, then why don’t you come join Avaya for this FREE social networking workshop being hosted on October 20th AM (time to be announced) at Seneca College.

This workshop will provide small businesses with the knowledge and practical skills required to excel in the social networking world. The session is a three hour crash course in social networking tools and application, and attendees will be led through an effective and efficient process for activating a social networking strategy for their small business. The seminar will be hosted by Richard Brasser, an acclaimed speaker, author and leading expert in social media and on-line marketing.

Each attendee will participate in a fast paced, hands-on workshop that takes them from start to finish in the use of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, the three mediums that are regarded as the most effective for business to business networking. Strategies and tactics are highly focused on ways to use social networking to drive measurable impact on sales, marketing and communications in small to medium businesses.

The series of social networking exercises are designed to help small and medium businesses effectively use the best tools to grow and increase communication with their target customers. Each exercise includes an overview of the approach, the opportunity, tips for getting started, examples of best practices and relevant case studies. These exercises help take the mystery out of social media and networking and also spark conversation and idea sharing.

Interested ? Your competitors are ! Space is limited, and will be done on a first sign-up, first serve basis.

Send an email to sales@digitcom.ca. Include your name, company name, and phone number in your email and someone from Avaya will be in touch with more details.

If she wasn’t so frustrated it would actually be humorous

I wrote a post on Saturday titled – My wife is moving us from Bell to Rogers. The switch happens Sunday night. Let’s see how it goes. At the end of the post I promised to keep the readers up to date with a status report.

Before I tell you what happened, I want to explain why I’m writing about this on TheTelecomBlog.com.

This is sort of an experiment for me. For my wife this is serious business. She really wants Rogers cable, and while she’s at it, Rogers Home Phone. Actually, the Home Phone service is more like a “throw-in”. The Rogers sales rep convinced her to get Rogers cable and get a better discount on our monthly bill. She figured “why not” ?

I told my wife I didn’t want to have anything to do with this project. I’m actually quite content with Bell, and told her to look after it. I figured, just being in the business for so many years, that this wouldn’t go that well. I think she was destined to prove me wrong. Either way, she’s a typical consumer, and I figured that her / our experience with this exercise would be somewhat comical (or frustrating).

And it was.

Rogers showed up at 7:30PM, more or less as promised. The technician called 20 minutes before arrival, as promised, and even fixed some outdoor dangling cables before ringing the bell.

So far so good.

Next, the basement.

He quickly traced the cable feed, cut some cables, and began the process of transferring our services over. He asked about our 2 lines. We told him we didn’t have 2 lines. He insisted we had 2 lines, and showed us his work order to prove it. The 2nd number is actually a Bell Ident-A-Call service, not a 2nd number. My wife spoke in great detail with the Rogers sales rep about Ident-A-Call and the Rogers rep insisted it wouldn’t be a problem. The technician called the office, spoke with dispatch for a few minutes, and then showed us his laptop. He had closed the service order – the words “call closed” appeared on his screen. He quickly packed up his laptop, and told us we would have to call Rogers, explain the situation, and open a new service order. No cable, no phone.

My wife spent about 20 minutes on the phone once the Rogers tech left. She was REALLY frustrated, first with their automated voice response system, and then with the end result.

She needs to call back Monday to re-place the support call.

I sympathize with the average consumer who has to call Bell, Rogers … for tech support, billing services, change of service … It can be extremely frustrating.

More: You would figure, based on how visible this blog is, and the fact that this information gets automatically propagated to Twitter … that Rogers would have made extra effort to get this service call done right. The marketing department either isn’t doing their job, or, they’re not speaking with the service department.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Five Reasons to Attend Meshmarketing

If you happen to be in Toronto, Canada on October 22nd, 2009, and have an interest in winning your customers hearts and minds on-line, then maybe you should consider attending Meshmarketing hosted by my friend Mark Evans.

What is meshmarketing ?

Well, it’s not Telecom related, but, it is social media, and web media related, and many of the readers of this blog have an interest in Tech and Telecom, so let me explain what Meshmarketing is:

meshmarketing is a one-day event focused on insights, tools and tactics to help you win customers’ hearts and minds, online. An insightful keynote will start the event, and lead the conference into a series of engaging conversations and “show and tell” presentations, as well as in-depth workshops.

You will interact with digital marketing thought leaders, connect with peers and prospects, and get a better understanding of the impact that new developments online will have on your strategy and your job. You will discuss best practices and the successful use of social media, online marketing, mobile marketing, search, video and word-of-mouth.

As a bonus, meshmarketing has agreed to provide a 10% discount – enter thetelecomblog as a discount code.

I hope to see you there.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed