Cell Number Portability on the horizon!

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Finally - the end of Mobile phone company tyranny is on the horizon!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...echnology/home

"Businesses should mark their calendars for March 14, 2007, the day when wireless customers will finally be able to keep their cellphone numbers when they switch carriers.Next year's introduction of portable wireless numbers means customers who are unhappy with their current service, but unwilling to part with their cellphone digits, will be free to move. And those who want to stay put could gain leverage when it comes to negotiating phone contracts with service providers, observers say."


I can't wait until I get to stick it to my cell phone provider when they say "sorry, that deal's for new subscriber's only.". I paid the full $600 for my Blackberry despite the fact I've been a good customer for 6 years while a new subscriber gets it for $50.

[REDVAN]

I have an older telus phone, and I don't want to extend my contract to get a new phone because frankly, all the telus phones suck. I'll be glad when I can up and move to another provider. Unless telus gets better phones.

For me, I've had no problems with telus, they just don't have any good phones right now. I know lots of others on this board will be happy to change their provider as soon as possible.

[Josh]

Good grief you guys get hosed up there. I used to get a new phone every year at the new subscriber price.

Now I only get one every two years.

[Canada 02]

A step in the right direction. I'd like to see Phone Portability, so to speak. If I hate Telus (and I do), then let me take my phone, pop out the sim card and put in a Bell sim or Rogers sim or whatever. It ridiculous that I have to buy a new phone if I switch providers.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

A step in the right direction. I'd like to see Phone Portability, so to speak. If I hate Telus (and I do), then let me take my phone, pop out the sim card and put in a Bell sim or Rogers sim or whatever. It ridiculous that I have to buy a new phone if I switch providers.

Well, Rogers will still be the only network with SIM cards... so you won't just be able to 'pop out your SIM' card and switch.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

I can't wait until I get to stick it to my cell phone provider when they say "sorry, that deal's for new subscriber's only.". I paid the full $600 for my Blackberry despite the fact I've been a good customer for 6 years while a new subscriber gets it for $50.

Wow, you should've talked to me... If you're on Telus that is.

I'll reiterate that for ANYONE who thinks they're 'getting hosed' by Telus, feel free to contact me to see if I can help.

[STeeLy]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Well, Rogers will still be the only network with SIM cards... so you won't just be able to 'pop out your SIM' card and switch.

Well.. Sim Cards are doing really well worldwide with the except of N.America I believe... most asian countries and european countries are...

Had Rogers not bought Fido, there would be two... and technically there still is... since Rogers and Fido share one network but kinda like two different companies... anyone here using virgin mobile??? are they sim card as well or no??

sooner or later I believe Telus will switch to sim card becaues their selection of phones are getting pretty bad... I'd probably take the crappiest phone that Fido offers right now over any Telus phone. (sry... but that is the brutal truth to me)

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

Well.. Sim Cards are doing really well worldwide with the except of N.America I believe... most asian countries and european countries are...

Had Rogers not bought Fido, there would be two... and technically there still is... since Rogers and Fido share one network but kinda like two different companies... anyone here using virgin mobile??? are they sim card as well or no??

sooner or later I believe Telus will switch to sim card becaues their selection of phones are getting pretty bad... I'd probably take the crappiest phone that Fido offers right now over any Telus phone. (sry... but that is the brutal truth to me)

Telus now has a world phone, and apparently the technology is in the works to combine the two types of networks. Telus won't make the complete switch until then because CDMA is more secure than GSM.

And I'd take a Telus phone over any Rogers or Bell phone any day. They don't have the same features Telus does and I rather like my TV and satellite radio on my phone. But it's all a personal decision and for every client that complains about Telus there's one that does the same for Rogers or Fido or Bell....

Virgin is supported by Bell, so is not SIM based. Telus' MiKe service is SIM based.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

A step in the right direction. I'd like to see Phone Portability, so to speak. If I hate Telus (and I do), then let me take my phone, pop out the sim card and put in a Bell sim or Rogers sim or whatever. It ridiculous that I have to buy a new phone if I switch providers.

First how do you put a SIM card into a Bell or Telus phone? They use CDMA which will not work with a SIM card since GSM is the only type of technology that can work off them. It would not be possible unless the carriers switched all their technology OR if the companies worked together and used each others towers and brought over phones from Japan that can switch between the two. BUT VERY EXPENSIVE!!!

Second the provider has the right to lock the phone. So even if you did take your Telus phone to Bell (which it would work with the code) there is nothing they can do since there is a 6 digit lock code that Telus will not give to a customer or Bell.

Third even if we did have unlocked phones in this country the prices of phones would SKY ROCKET! You think that the $200 phone you bought at Bell the other day cost Bell $200 or less? HAHA NOPE THINK AGAIN It probably cost them 2 to 3 times more.

Forth it will be nice to keep your same number but if you are still in contract then you will have to pay the ridiculous 'cancelation fees' which I could see going up with number portability so you don't have much of a choice. Right now we are looking at $100-400 for cancellation.

Fifth like the guy a few posts ago was saying down in the states he gets a new phone every year and gets it for the same price as a new customer. Of course that will come here...cell phone companies are going to be more competitive than ever. We just have to hope that Rogers, Telus and Bell don't come to terms with working together to still get as much as they can out of every customer.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Wow, you should've talked to me... If you're on Telus that is.

I'll reiterate that for ANYONE who thinks they're 'getting hosed' by Telus, feel free to contact me to see if I can help.

Not to protect Telus because I really don't like them...but customers are never happy. No ONE company can be perfect so if you think you are "getting hosed" by company A don't think that company B won't do the same!

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

Well.. Sim Cards are doing really well worldwide with the except of N.America I believe... most asian countries and european countries are...

sooner or later I believe Telus will switch to sim card becaues their selection of phones are getting pretty bad... I'd probably take the crappiest phone that Fido offers right now over any Telus phone. (sry... but that is the brutal truth to me)

Why would Telus and Bell switch to GSM? Japan who I believe is the world leader in ANY and ALL technology just spent over $100 Million switching their GSM network to CDMA.

GSM was suppose to be the new wave of the future for cell phones but they found out in a hurry that it is not near the quality and as secure as CDMA. Not to mention how easy it is to build on a CDMA network compared to ripping down a GSM tower just to build a new one.

[kermitology]

I think one of the major reasons for Japan going entirely CDMA is that it's lower power than GSM.

Anyways, getting unlocked phones doesn't mean that prices will skyrocket, just that people will probably buy phones from the service provider less. You can go to China and get unlocked GSM phones for dirt cheap. Name brands too.

I believe Motorola has a dual mode phone already that can do CDMA and GSM. One of our Chinese clients was telling me about it.. But something could have been lost in translation.

Edit: Also of note is that GSM is an international standard using TDMA signals, while CDMA is just a radio interface that is provider dependant.

There are advantages and disadvantages of either system, but to say that one is significantly better than the other at the moment is a pretty big leap. You can do some things with CDMA you can't do with TDMA, and vice versa.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I believe Motorola has a dual mode phone already that can do CDMA and GSM. One of our Chinese clients was telling me about it.. But something could have been lost in translation.

Nope, that's the World Phone I was talking about. Telus has it.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Nope, that's the World Phone I was talking about. Telus has it.

http://www.mobilegazette.com/motorola-a840.htm

??

This looks like the phone he was using.

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by FireFly

Well, Rogers will still be the only network with SIM cards... so you won't just be able to 'pop out your SIM' card and switch.

Obviously, I don't know the technical side of things, GSM, CDMA is all new to me. I mentioned sim cards cause that how the phones were when I lived and worked in Asia. I gather from the posts in this thread that a better way to have stated things would be to have 'unlocked phones'. Is there a technical reason why a phone purchased from Telus wouldn't work if I switch to Bell or vice versa?

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

Is there a technical reason why a phone purchased from Telus wouldn't work if I switch to Bell or vice versa?

Yeah.. CDMA is a modulation scheme. While the communication front end is the same, that's where it ends. Everything else is service provider specific.

[Tron_fdc]

From what I've garnered on cell phones so far:

- GSM is used in more countries than CDMA (my Rogers phone has worked in more countries than my Telus phone ever did).
- Rogers has better phones than Telus, but I've gone so far as buying wierd phones off the net (that are unlocked) and hucking my Sim card in with no problems. I think I'm on toy #3 this year, which is a far better version of Telus' new Nokia slider thingy phone.
-Telus' service and billing is light years ahead of Rogers (they have cut off my phone twice because I needed to confirm my postal code, and when I called the service center and lost my mind the bi*ch hung up on me)
-coverage within Western Canada is way better on Telus than Rogers

There's good and bad between both companies.....all in all I'm willing to take some of the crap I get from Rogers in order to switch my phones around all the time, and get better coverage when I travel overseas.

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Yeah.. CDMA is a modulation scheme. While the communication front end is the same, that's where it ends. Everything else is service provider specific.

so am I misunderstanding the idea of "unlocked phones"? Are these they just hypothetical in concept? Do you need a card or chip of secret password to make them work with different providers?

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

so am I misunderstanding the idea of "unlocked phones"? Are these they just hypothetical in concept? Do you need a card or chip of secret password to make them work with different providers?

AFAIK you can't "unlock" a Telus phone to work on another provider. They are CDMA specific, and won't work without some type of hardware change out. Telus also records all the serial numbers of the phones they sell, so it's impossible to activate phone on their network that is either not theirs, or reported as stolen.

Rogers on the other hand, if you have ANY GSM unlocked phone, you can stick your SIM card in it and it will work.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

AFAIK you can't "unlock" a Telus phone to work on another provider. They are CDMA specific, and won't work without some type of hardware change out. Telus also records all the serial numbers of the phones they sell, so it's impossible to activate phone on their network that is either not theirs, or reported as stolen.

Rogers on the other hand, if you have ANY GSM unlocked phone, you can stick your SIM card in it and it will work.

That's pretty much my understanding. The only other thing of note is the frequency plan of a GSM phone. Certain countries have certain frequencies that they use for GSM service (there are four). Most newer phones are 3 or 4 band meaning that you're generally covered around the world with at least 3. I found a website a few months ago that shows the GSM coverage for all the countries in the world (or relavant).