Roam Mobility to offer cheaper alternative to high roaming charges (Canada)
In an attempt to counter the increasing roaming charges for Canadian mobile-phone users, Roam Mobility Inc is offering consumers a better alternative.
According to a report by Globe and Mail, the Vancouver-based upstart, marketing itself as a rogue mobile company, is aggressively ramping up its rollout of cellphones, SIM cards and other devices to entice Canadians looking for cheaper alternatives to high roaming rates the major wireless companies charge when customers travel to the United States with their smartphones in tow.
Roam Mobility’s chief executive officer Emir Aboulhosn, said that they will not tell users to switch from Rogers, Telus and Bell – they’re just asking users to stop using them when they cross the border. Roam estimates that Canadians spend $800-million a year on international roaming fees, with roughly $450-million spent on U.S. roaming alone.
As per the report, Roam Mobility launched its service in January, competing with the major carriers by offering Canadian travellers unlimited talk and text plans from $3 a day, including free calls to Canada. Its data rates start as low as 2 cents a megabyte.
With the summer travel season just around the corner, Roam is in expansion mode. It will announce a new partnership with Allegiant Air to sell its products during flights starting June 1. Allegiant is a U.S. airline that services border airports such as Niagara Falls, N.Y., and offers discounted fares to popular U.S. destinations.
Roam’s products are already available at a number of Canadian and U.S. airports and at major land border duty-free shops. They will also be sold at Future Shop starting next month. Its product line includes a cellphone for talk and text; SIM cards that can be used in a consumer’s own unlocked phone; and personal “hotspot” devices that provide a high-speed data connection for up to five wireless devices (like smartphones, tablet computers or laptops) at the same time.
The report reveals that Roam has already attracted close to 20,000 customers and is on track to hit the 100,000-subscriber mark in the second quarter of 2013. Even though the vast majority of its customers are people who travel to the U.S. in short spurts, Aboulhosn says Roam can afford to be aggressive with its pricing because its capital expenditures and overhead costs are relatively low.
Wireless carriers begin trials for RIM’s PlayBook (Canada)
Wireless carriers in US and around the world have begun testing the PlayBook 3G and 4G with OS 2.0.1 according to a report by Berry Review. The report reveals that the launch has been scheduled for May around the same time that RIM (Research In Motion) would be hosting BlackBerry world 2012.
As per the report carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have begun testing the PlayBook in the Unites States; while Rogers, Bell Mobility and Telus have begun trials in Canada. Further, Orange UK and StarHub Singapore are also rumoured to be involved in the trials.
Rogers faces $10M fine over ad campaign (Canada)
Canadian Competition Bureau has begun legal proceedings against Rogers Communications to stop misleading advertising of Rogers’ Chatr discount cell phone and text service.
The Competition Bureau, as an independent law enforcement agency, ensures that Canadian businesses and consumers prosper in a competitive and innovative marketplace.
Rogers’ Canada-wide advertising campaign claims that consumers subscribing to Rogers’ Chatr brand would experience fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers and have no worries about dropped calls.
The Bureau’s inquiry involved an extensive review of technical data, obtained from a number of sources, which led the Bureau to conclude that there is no apparent difference in dropped call rates between Rogers/Chatr and new entrants.
According to Melanie Aitken, Commissioner of Competition, they take misleading advertising very seriously. Consumers deserve accurate information when making purchasing decisions and need to have confidence they are not being misled by false advertising campaigns.
The legal proceedings are being brought before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the misleading advertising provisions of the Competition Act. The Bureau is asking the court to order Rogers to immediately stop the advertising campaign and refrain from engaging in similar campaigns and pay a $10 million fine. The Bureau also wants Rogers to pay restitution to affected customers.
Rogers would mull over Network Sharing Opportunities (Canada)
Canada’s largest wireless carrier, Rogers Communications Inc. claims that it would consider opportunities for sharing network development cost with other cable and telecommunications companies as it tests new technology.
According to Chief Executive Officer Nadir Mohamed, the company would look at the options for sure; Rogers see themselves in the leadership position.
Rogers began trials for a new LTE network last month that would offer faster Web browsing and accommodate an expected increase in smartphone traffic. Sharing network construction costs would save Rogers money as it aims to fend off competition from four new local wireless operators.
BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., Rogers’s two biggest rivals, built a faster network together last year which allowed them to introduce the iPhone and end Rogers’s Canadian monopoly on the Apple Inc. device.
Rogers Customers offered GetJar Apps
Independent app store GetJar has announced that it will make its entire library of more than 60,000 free mobile applications available to Rogers customers at no charge. The customers of the network will be able to access GetJar’s applications library via a GetJar link on the Rogers Application page on its mobile Internet portal.
The app includes games, social networking, sports, entertainment and productivity applications.
According to GetJar CEO, Ilja Laurs, the company is thrilled that Rogers is working and cooperating with GetJar to meet the demands of its customers.
This agreement is much like their recent announcement with Sprint Nextel, allows Rogers to immediately connect all its customers with over 60,000 free applications with very little effort, opines Laurs.
Rogers Samsung Galaxy Spica unveiled, Shipping with Android 1.5
The Rogers Samsung Galaxy ‘Spica’ has been officially launched with the pricing starting at $79.99, on a three year contract. The device is planned to ship with Android but it comes with a stock Android 1.5 experience.
The full pricing details of the phone are as follows: for a three year contract the phone will be priced at $79.99, for 2-year at $349.99 and for 1-year or monthly at $3999.99.
The Rogers Samsung Galaxy will feature Android 1.5 (blarg), 3.2MP camera with video, WiFi, 800MHz processor, 3.5mm headset jack, A-GPS, 3.2” touchscreen display and microSD expansion to 32GB. The box will also contain the battery with a talk time of up to 7 hours, travel changer, stereo headset, data cable and 2GB microSD card.
Samsung gravity to come to Fido on March 16
The Samsung Gravity is expected to come to Fido on March 16 this year. Priced at a measly $25 on a 2-year contract, the official date of the launch has not been disclosed as yet. However the off-contract price tag can vary later. As Rogers originally launched the Gravity on their main network just over a year ago, the move to Fido would be sensible for it.
Most of the time big daddy Rogers will pass select devices down to his dog ‘Fido’ to make an end-of-life run at a discounted price. The few prominent features of the phone include 1.3mp camera with Bluetooth, Bluetooth, QWERTY keyboard and build-in MP3 player.
Rogers Navigator for iPhone to hit the market soon.
New iPhone navigation app from Canada’s ‘Big Red’ is on its way to hit the markets very soon. After launching the Samsung Galaxy ‘Spica’ powered by android 1.5 and the new Rogers ‘RedBoard’ the Rogers is all set to launch ‘Big Red’.
The navigator for iPhone will be made available by March 26th and it will be priced around $4.99. The prominent features of the set will be voice turn by turn directions, real time traffic alerts, one touch reroute, 2D or 3D maps, business finder, listen to music while navigating, and integration with address books.
The turn-by turn directions is expected to be voiced by Kenny Rogers.
Video calling interoperability completed by Canadian telcos
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Two-way mobile video calling trials has been successfully completed by Canada’s big-three mobile networks – Bell, Rogers and TELUS. With the launch of inter-carrier mobile video calling, video calling will be possible across multiple carrier networks and will create North America’s largest two-way mobile video calling community.
According to Stephen Howe, chief technology officer for Bell Mobility, by breaking down the barriers between video calling clients in Canada, the company anticipates strong demand for the service as it saw with past inter-carrier initiatives such as text and picture messaging.
Video calling handsets that support the internationally accepted open 3G-324M Video Telephony standard are offered by Bell, Rogers and TELUS, ensuring compatibility with other systems and carriers supporting the standard.
Telus files suit against Rogers over ad claims
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A legal action has been launched by Telus Communications against Rogers Communications for allegedly misleading ads claiming Rogers provides Canada’s fastest network.†As per the complaint, since a Nov. 5 upgrade, a network run by Bell and Telus offers faster and more reliable service than the Rogers network.
Rogers introduced the advertisement in 2007 and continued after November 5. Rogers claim of Canada’s most reliable network,†has also been declared as false by Telus.
A declaration has been seeked from Rogers by Telus confirming that its advertisements breached Canada’s Competition Act, in addition to injunction from distributing the ads, damages and compensation.
Telus, Bell and Rogers control about 90 per cent of Canada’s wireless telecommunications market.
