'Select WiFi' Shows Canada's Net Neutrality Crisis

On a recent visit to the local ice cream parlour, my wife and I were going to connect to the free WiFi to share the latest pictures of our boys with their ice cream filled faces on our social networking accounts.  We found that the free WiFi the ice cream parlour was providing was replaced with 'Sasktel Select WiFi' a WiFi service available in public areas such as restaurants, hotels sports arenas, etc. that is only available to Sasktel's smartphones.  Since my wife and I are Telus subscribers, we were cut off at the ice cream shop.  

Providing what is supposed to be a free public service to subscribers of just one cellular provider is akin to building a highway on public land and then telling drivers that only Ford owners can drive on it.  By contrast WiFi hotspot services offered at Tim Horton's, McDonald's and at Candian Walmarts provided by Bell doesn't place any restrictions on who can access the Internet through their hotspots.   

Net Neutrality hasn't reached critical mass as a hot button issue, but as the days if being able to access anything on the Internet from anywhere from any device start to slip away, Saskatchewan is becoming Canada's Net Neutrality coal mine.  The canary must not be allowed to die.

Countdown to CDMArmageggon

For those who haven't made the upgrade to a modern smartphone, hanging on to their old trusty flip phones may have to upgrade or lose the service they have by this time next year.  Subscribers on Bell, Telus, MTS, and Sasktel who are using phones made before 2009 running on CDMA networks will have to upgrade to more modern phones or lose service.  Like analog cellular networks just a few years ago these Canadian cellular carriers are going to shut down CDMA service on December, 31, 2015.  

Carriers maintain that the increasing cost of maintaining CDMA networks for a decreasing number of subscribers is not financially viable.  While the cost operating CDMA networks is increasing while the revenue that supports it is evaporating it is the radio frequency spectrum that CDMA networks are using is the real valuable commodity that carriers need to repurpose for their modern HSPA and LTE networks.  

To find out if your phone will lose service at the end of 2015 turn it off and open the battery compartment remove the battery.  On the label with the barcodes and long numbers if one of those long numbers is labelled ESN then you have a CDMA phone that will need to be replaced.  

Cellular subscribers who are keeping an old phone probably doing for a number of reasons.  Those who are just using the cellphones just for making phone calls and maybe basic texting can get a feature phone for use with modern HSPA networks.  Others holding onto old handsets are doing it to hold onto an older cellular plan that give more or charge less.  Cellular carriers are going to unwilling to upgrade hardware leaving an older plan in place.  If this case the solution is to buy an off the shelf prepaid cell phone and ask the cellular carrier to transfer service to the purchased prepaid phone.  

Some especially in rural areas are often hanging onto those old cell phones get service where newer phones do not.   Current CDMA uses the 850 MHz band which is best for rural areas because the signals travel farther than higher frequency bands.  When CDMA gets shut down the newer network technologies will take over 850 MHz band the performance of HSPA and LTE will match today's CDMA phones get today in rural areas.  

American visitors to Canada on Verizon or Sprint will need to know after December, 31, 2015 their phones that use CDMA for voice calls will no longer functional, however LTE data service will be available.  Sprint and Verizon subscribers with compatible phones that have dual CDMA/GSM voice radio hardware will have to their Verizon or Sprint to get a SIM card that will enable voice roaming on Canada's HSPA networks.  

The end of CDMA service may just seem like a cash grab for cellular carriers but it's just like other transitions in technology.  In order to advance to what is new it means letting go of what's old.  

Rogers Beats Sasktel Bringing LTE To Saskatchewan

The wait for Long Term Evolution (LTE) the true fourth generation of cellular communications in the land of the living skies is over.  On Monday, October 1st. Rogers Wireless turned on LTE service in Regina and Saskatoon.  For iPad 3 and iPhone 5 users subscribers on Rogers will get the faster download speed that LTE brings. 

Subscribers on other carriers should get LTE service eventually.  Telus and Bell have been rolling out LTE across Canada, but in Saskatchewan Bell and Telus may have to wait for their landlord, Sasktel to upgrade their tower sites for LTE.  So far, Sasktel hasn't given a straight answer when LTE service on their network will launch. 

Sasktel subscribers will waiting later rather than sooner for several reasons, radio frequency spectrum allocated for LTE is currently being used for an aging fixed point wireless broadband system that Sasktel was starting to phase out and then had to give a one year extension ties up that frequency band for that year. 

Sasktel's growing debt load will further inhibit LTE upgrades.  Upgrading their HSPA cellular network upgrade and their recently announced fibre to the home upgrade will put the provincial government owned telco a billion dollars in debt, making securing financing another upgrade to the cellular network more difficult.   

Delays by Sasktel may force Bell to invoke a clause in their tower sharing agreement with Sasktel that allows Bell to install equipment on Sasktel's tower sites to begin offering LTE on their own.  As demand grows for the increased bandwidth on mobile devices that LTE delivers, switching providers maybe the price to pay to access the extra speed that LTE delivers.  That's the price that early adopters often pay.

Will an Unlocked American LTE Phone Work in Canada?

More than 15 years after the cellular industry divided itself under different network technologies after a decade under a common standard analog technology, cellular carriers will once again will be on a common standard network technology called Long Term Evolution or LTE. 

One of the advantages of GSM and newer HSPA networks is that phones can be unlocked and used on another carrier's network just by changing the SIM card.  Subscribers on GSM and HSPA networks were not limited to the phones offered by their carriers.  

Cellular carriers across North America are currently upgrading or planning to upgrade their networks to LTE.  LTE phones use SIM cards just like older GSM and HSPA phones.  Since many Canadian LTE subscribers on Rogers, Telus and Bell may be looking south of the border for unlocked LTE phones they like better than what their own carriers offer. 

Unlike buying an unlocked GSM or HSPA phone, one thing that needed to be considered when buying an unlocked LTE phone is original carrier that sold the phone.   All three of Canada's cell carriers offering LTE uses HSPA as their fall back legacy network for areas that do not have LTE coverage.  LTE handsets originally sold by AT&T are universally compatible on all three LTE networks in both LTE and HSPA coverage areas.

Those phones originally used on Verizon and Metro PCS are another story.  LTE equipment from Verizon and Metro PCS are designed to use CDMA as a fall back outside of an LTE coverage area.  If an unlocked LTE phone from Verizon or Metro PCS is used in Canada it will only wherever there is LTE service available.  If an attempt to use that phone in an area that doesn't have LTE service it will try to connect to any available CDMA network.  The legacy CDMA networks on Bell, Telus, MTS or Sasktel will recognize the phone as being foreign from it's Electronic Serial Number or ESN.  That phone's ESN will not have an active account with it's home carrier, an message "You are roaming on the Bell/Telus/MTS/Sasktel mobility network and cannot place calls at this time" message will be heard when attempting to make a call.  Unlocked LTE devices can cost well over 500 dollars on Internet auction and classified sites, Now in the biggest way, buyer beware, and check to see if you live in an LTE coverage area first.

Which Canadian Carrier Will Get Samsung's Galaxy S-III?

Now that Samsung's Android based smartphones are outselling Apple's iPhone in many markets around the world, the latest must have phone is Samsung's recently announced galaxy S-III.  The S-III sports 1.0 GHz quad core processor, up to 64 GB of onboard storage, expandable up to 128 GB and 1 GB of Ram, and 8 megapixel camera.  The Galaxy S-III ships with Android 4.0 preinstalled.  The vast majority of American cellular subscribers will have access to the Galaxy S-III, Samsung having distribution deals with both AT&T and Verizon.

With all the early enthusiasm comes the usual questions on this side of the 49th parallel such as when will it come to Canada?  Which carrier will distribute the S-III?  The leading rumour that supposedly coming from Samsung is summer of 2012, which carrier(s) is not yet known. 

The Galaxy S-III being an LTE device will be compatible with Rogers, Telus and Bell in certain areas where the carriers offer LTE service.  Subscribers on Canada's regional carriers MTS and Sasktel will miss out, since Neither MTS or Sasktel have LTE yet.  MTS will not be launching LTE until 2014 and Sasktel won't have LTE until 2015 or later. 

Since LTE is a standard across all carriers there is no reason that all three can't offer the S-III at the same time.  The exclusivity agreements that handset makers now last about six months now.  The most likely situation would be one carrier will launch the S-III in the summer and then another if not the other two big national cellular carriers will get it at the end of the year.

Bell having sold a lot of Samsung handsets over year would make them the most likely to get the he S-III first, Telus would follow since they really need a real popular high end smartphone for their lineup.  Rogers may also pick up up the Galaxy S-III as well.  The days of popular must have smartphones that got people to switch cellular providers are well past, but given the early popularity that Samsung's Galaxy S-III has already earned, it will be deja view all over again.

Sasktel joins 4G Flim Flam

Just before the announcement of the mega merger south of the 49th, cellular carriers T-Mobile and AT&T started questionable advertising that touts their current HSPA networks as '4G' Even though Neither company has turned on any towers that have been upgraded to LTE a true fourth generation cellular network technology. 

Now just eight months after introducing 3G, Sasktel is promoting their HSPA network as being 4G.  Actual true 4G service in Canada is still a couple of years away, one of the frequency bands required for LTE, the 700 MHz band doesn't officially available until after August 31st when the television broadcasting industry requinishes that frequency band. 

The first LTE 4G services in Canada ared going to come from the big three carriers Telus, Rogers, and Bell that will be a few years.  LTE service from the regional carriers are several years away.  Even Sasktel isn't planning a network upgrade to LTE until 2015 - 2018. 
Word coming through the grapevine is that Rogers is planning to start offering LTE in Saskatchewan by 2012.  Despite bashing Rogers gets in Saskatchewan that is unjustified, stupid, and just plain wrong.  It's real 4G and not the same 3G with a 4G label that's dishonestly slapped on.

Dual Mode iPhone 5? Potentially Yes

Just a couple of months out of the gate the CDMA based iPhone 4, is going to be supplanted by an iPhone 5 as early as September an early sign that there will be a single model iPhone 5 that supports both CDMA and HSPA networks comes from an announcement from the Chief Financial Officer, Fran Shammo of Verizon Communications that next iPhone will be a Global model that would support both CDMA for Verizon's network and GSM for roaming outside of North America. 

Would it make sense to make a iPhone CDMA/GSM hybrid for Verizon and a HSPA only version for AT&T?  Would it make more sense to make a single model that supports both CDMA and HSPA to sell to all carriers that sell iPhones?  It would be cheaper for Apple's manufacturing partners though. 

A hybrid CDMA/HSPA iPhone would be beneficial to Canadian subscribers on Telus and Bell that still have some parts of their networks in remote areas that have not been upgraded to HSPA that are still CDMA only.  For smaller Canadian carriers MTS, Sasktel and TbayTel that launching the iPhone on April 26th, they still have large portions of their networks that will be CDMA only for a year or two to come. 

What Needs To Be Known About NGP's 3G

The much rumored follow up to the Playstation Portable codenamed the Next Generation Portable or NGP by been officially been announced by Sony.  Sporting a screen that displays 720p high definition graphics and two analog thumb sticks, Sony promises the NGP will deliver a gaming experience only matched by the PS 3.  One feature that surprised many analysts and journalists that follow the video game industry is the built in 3G capability. 

Onboard 3G will bring online multiplayer gaming to anywhere there is 3G service available.  What isn't known is if Sony will be selling the NGP using a business model similar to Apple's iPad making the end customer subscribe to 3G service on their own or will be more like Amazon's Kindle where the cost buying content pays for 3G service.  Since the onboard 3G will be used for playing online, not just for downloading content it's extremely likely that Sony will choose the former rather than the latter. 

Another of the first of the early questions about the NGP's 3G is going to be which carriers' networks are going to be compatible the NGP.  If Sony chooses make the end user responsible for subscribing to their own 3G service it will be most likely that HSPA/UMTS/GSM networks will be compatible.  American gamers will need to subscribe to data service from AT&T and possibly T-Mobile if Sony chooses to support Advanced Wireless Spectrum bands on the NGP.

Subscribers on Verizon and Sprint are once again SOL, Even though CDMA subscribers make up about half of the cell subscribers in all of North America, putting in CDMA would increase the cost and would be next to impossible to get service hooked up since both Verizon and Sprint don't activate devices they didn't originally sell through their authorized retail outlets.

For Canadian gamers, getting online through 3G will be pretty easy, since the NGP will be compatible with Rogers, Fido, Telus and Bell right out of the box.  If the NGP comes compatible with AWS Wind Mobile and Mobilicity will also be compatible.  MTS may also be compatible if they can get their HSPA network that they have been promising up and running before the NGP launches at the end of 2011.  However subscribers on Sasktel may have problems getting an NGP online, not because of an incompatible network, just incompatible customer service.  Sasktel even after switching to an HSPA network still refuses to activate unlocked devices on their network.

Putting 3G on the NGP will bring an online component that will help Sony compete against Nintendo's 3DS and will undoubtedly be game changing.

Canada's Long Term Wait for LTE

Any Canadian cell phone junkie who watches any American television has undoubtedly has seen the commercials for Verizon's 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network and is already is wishing that it was available in Canada.  LTE is going to be one of those technologies that Canadians will get that familiar outside looking in feeling.  Like Small dish satellite TV, Tivo's and iPhones Canadians will have years to wait until LTE will make it's way over the border. 

The first barrier to getting LTE in Canada is the 700 MHz band needed for LTE is currently occupied by TV stations operating on channels 52-69.  The 700 MHz band will be cleared when Canada's DTV transition happens on August 31st. All TV stations will have to move to lower channels, even the rebroadcast relays even though those will be allowed to stay on Analog will have to move to a lower channel.  Once the spectrum is cleared, then Industry Canada in consultation will hold an auction to sell licences to operate LTE services in the 700 MHz band.  The process of the Auction could last a year or more.

After the auction process, the carriers that won licenses have to upgrade their networks in the case of incumbent carriers or build their networks in the case of startup carriers.  This could take another year or more.  At minimum it will 2013 before any LTE 4G service can launch in Canada.  Rogers and Bell are currently field testing LTE in Ontario but their networks are already traffic heavy with current HSPA traffic and legacy GSM and CDMA traffic which will remain on their networks for several years to come.  The incumbent carriers will need to win some licenses in the 700 MHz band before they can roll out LTE service.

Shaw Communications already owns licenses to offer wireless communications services using the Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) bands found at 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz. Shaw has stated that they intend to use LTE as the technology to deliver Wireless service to consumers.  It will be advisable that Shaw will wait to bid on 700 MHz spectrum to supplement their existing licenses on AWS.  Subscribers on Wind Mobile and Mobilicity have discovered AWS has proven to be notorious prone to dead sports in densely populated urban areas.  Service on the 700 band will be less prone to dead spots.   

Subscribers on regional carriers such as Sasktel and MTS, as well as subscribers on startup carriers Wind Mobile and Mobilicity will have a longer wait as financing network upgrades for LTE will be an additional issue that these carriers will have to face.  Building or upgrading networks to support current HSPA has added an incredible debt load that these carriers will have to carry for many years to come.  Upgrading to LTE will add to this existing debt which will lead to a couple more years of delay.

Long Term Evolution seems aptly named especially for Canadians, because we'll see LTE sometime- in the long term.

More information on Long Term Evolution (LTE)

Why Does Sasktel Still Hate Android

In a previous blog entry I pondered why Sasktel was apparently one of the last cell carriers (MTS being the other) not to offer Smartphones running Android.  In one of the comments to that entry the commenter said that Sasktel couldn't offer Android phones because of operating a CDMA network at the time.  Despite mentioning in the blog entry multiple times about the CDMA Android phones offered in the United States by Verizon and Sprint. 

Since then Sasktel launched a new UMTS/HSPA network that will expand province wide and eventually will replace the older CDMA network.  With a new network come new phones and one of them is the Samsung Galaxy S which does run Android, but that's the only Android phone they sell.  Sasktel sells Blackberries for both UMTS and CDMA like they are going out of style (That's because Blackberries ARE going out of style) 

Even MTS that telco to the east that still is CDMA only offers more Android Smartphones than Sasktel does.  MTS offers the HTC 6250 and a CDMA version of Motorola's Milestone, the same one that Verizon calls the Droid.  Not bad for a network "the couldn't support Android"

It's not just a surprising lack of hardware running Android that shows that the telco that believes that Saskatchewan is some kind of magic kingdom has some kind of chip on their shoulder towards Google and their smartphone operating system.  Mobile Apps from Sasktel for looking up phone numbers are available for Blackberry and oddly enough the iPhone considering that Sasktel hasn't been able to sell iPhones because Apple won't sign a distribution deal with Sasktel which isn't expected to change anytime soon.

As Saskatchewanians start looking for alternatives to their Blackberries as cellular service contracts expire, they will start to look for Android phones, iPhones, and even Windows Phone 7 handsets, to get those phones they will start looking for an alternative to Sasktel

Windows Phone 7: When Can Canadians Get Theirs

For those potential smartphone subscribers looking for an alternative to Blackberries, iPhones, and Android phones in the Great White North, Windows Phone 7 the smartphone operating system from Microsoft that is being watched with some interest by technology industry journalists and analysts launches on November 8th will be available in Canada on the Launch day through the big three cellco's Telus, Rogers, and Bell.

For subscribers on Wind Mobile and Mobilicity there will be a little bit of a wait, while the models launching on T-Mobile in the states will work on Wind and Mobilicity, the startup cell carriers will need to make deals with Microsoft and handset manufacturers before they can offer Windows phone 7.

For those on Sasktel there will be a wait for six months to a year, their new HSPA network supports the same Windows Phone 7 handsets that Telus, Rogers and Bell offer, the big national carriers will have short term exclusivity agreements with handset manufacturers to carry those phones.

Subscribers on MTS and Public Mobile are out of luck for a year or more.  Microsoft has chosen not support CDMA in Windows Phone 7.  Support for CDMA is supposed to be added sometime in the end of 2011, depending if handset manufacturers choose to make CDMA phones with Windows Phone 7 will remain to be seen.

When, Not If The Samsung Tab Comes To Canada

Tablet computers designed to compete with Apple's iPad have been rumoured to be in development for months now, It appears that Samsung's Android powered Galaxy Tab will be the first to go head to head with the iPad.  In a rare move for any manufacturer of devices that operate on cellular networks, the Galaxy Tab is compatible with both CDMA and GSM/HSPA networks.  Samsung has already announced that the Galaxy Tab will be available through all four of the national carriers in the United States.

What will remain to be seen if the Galaxy Tab will be sold through the regional carriers as well as the big national carriers.  Don't subscribers to MetroPCS, Cellular One and Cricket deserve access to the top devices just as Verizon or AT&T subscribers have. 

For subscribers in Canada the big question is if not when the Galaxy Tab comes north of the border.  There will be very little doubt that Bell, Telus, and Rogers will support the Galaxy Tab on their networks.  One thing that cellular subscribers in Manitoba will want answered.  Will it work on MTS?  The short answer is Yes if they sell it directly.  Canada's last CDMA only carrier will not activate any device they didn't originally sell. If the Tab is sold through general electronics retailers that don't sell or activate other MTS cellular products then it's highly unlikely that MTS would activate service on a Galaxy Tab.

For those in Saskatchewan wanting to use a Galaxy Tab on Sasktel, will be able to without any problem on the new HSPA network.  For those who need data service on the older CDMA network because CDMA coverage is more expansive since HSPA covers the cities and the highway corridors could be out of luck unless the subscriber lives in a CDMA only coverage area.

Competition from Samsung is exactly what the tablet computing market needs right now,  The cell phone industry's hardware subsidy business model may not appeal to some but it does make the cost of a tablet easier to take compared to the price that Apple charges to the iPad  which will make Samsung's Galaxy Tab an even more compelling competitor in both the United States and in Canada.

When Will The Blackbery Torch Launch in Canada?

Research In Motion, having just announced a new Blackberry, a new model called the Torch launching on AT&T on 12th, now technology analysts and journalists north of the border are wondering when the new Blackberry will be available in Canada and with which carrier.

The Torch is a GSM/UMTS/HSPA smartphone which means that it will not be available on MTS or Public Mobile.  It doesn't support Advanced Wireless Spectrum so Wind Mobile and Mobilicity won't be able to offer the Torch ether.  That leaves the incumbent national carriers, Rogers, Bell and Telus.  For Bell and Telus offering the Torch would let both carriers to retire CDMA based blackberries such as the Storm and the Tour.  For Rogers offering the Torch will help re-establish the reputation that Rogers had as Canada's Blackberry leader.

One of Canada's smaller regional carrier has a special interest in offering the Blackberry Torch,  Sasktel will be relaunching their network using UMTS/HSPA about the time that the Blackberry Torch is going to launch.  So far Sasktel's HSPA phone line up is pretty limited, With Blackberry Bold and Pearl that are the same that Rogers offers, There are a few Nokia models as well.  That's about as interesting as Sasktel's CDMA phone linup which is limited and sucky at best.

The smart bet is that there will be at least two national carriers, I would suspect Telus and Rogers are the most likely to land the Torch.  It would be highly unlikely that Research In Motion will enter into an exclusive agreement with a carrier.  Learning the lession from how the Palm Pre died in Canada because of only being available on Bell.  RIM needs to successful with the Blackberry Torch to claw back some market share lost to the iPhone and Android.  Fragmenting down to subscribers of just one carrier would be counterproductive to that goal.

Why Sasktel Will Keep Charging The System Access Fee

The System Access Fee is as Canadian as maple syrup, beavers and lumberjacks.  That extra fee 6.95 that gets charged on top of cell phone plans that Canadians know and hate is on it's way to becoming a part of history.  It started when subsidiary brands such as Fide, Koodo and Solo from the national cellular carriers started dropping the fee.  At the end of 2009 Rogers dropped the system access fee on new activations and contract renewals, Telus followed suit eventually Bell and MTS have done the same leaving Sasktel as the only carrier to charge the system access fee. 

The revenue typically generated by the system access fee went to pay for the phones that carriers offered to subscribers for free or at a deep discount.  Since Rogers, Bell and Telus are the large cell carriers they buy handsets in the largest volumes which allows them to get lower prices than smaller regional carriers such as Sasktel. 

Sasktel operates a large number of towers in very sparsely populated areas of Saskatchewan which adds cost to operating their network, revenue from the system access fee charged to subscribers in more densely populated areas goes to subsidize the operation of cell towers in the middle of nowhere. 

In order to update to newer technology so that Sasktel can offer phones that don't suck as bad as the phones they offer now is in the process of upgrading to a UMTS/HSPA network (sort of the son of GSM technology).  The cost of this network upgrade is being financed on the open market and has put Sasktel in debt.  The days of network upgrades paid by Saskatchewan taxpayers has come to an end under the Brad Wall government.  

Cell phone subscribers in Saskatchewan who may find system access fee objectionable do have alternatives such as Rogers and Telus.  There is word that Bell Mobility will be coming to the land of living skies within the next couple of years.  Wind Mobile and Mobilicity are also going to be coming to Saskatchewan as well.  Cheaper alternatives are here now with more on the way.

Who Will End Up Saving SCN?

Saskatchewan Communications Network, the provincially owned cable network that was slated to fade to black on the 30th of April was given a stay of execution when twelve interested parties stepped forward to acquire the broadcast license from the provincial government.  It would only seem natural that other broadcasters or broadcast distributors would be interested in a channel that is normally carried on analog cable on one of the lower channel numbers.  Here's some likely candidates of potential both local and national companies that could become the future owner/operator of SCN:

Access Communications: Saskatchewan's cable television co-operative has a large amount of locally produced programming through the many community channels they operate.  By amending the SCN license to turn SCN into an advertising driven network, would give Access a revenue stream apart from subscriber fees.

Shaw Communications: That other Cable TV operator in the province could be looking picking up the SCN license as yet another troubled broadcaster they they can use to build their broadcasting empire.  Shaw is already in the process of buying Canwest Global for more than two billion dollars.

Sasktel: The government owned telco is already getting SCN's broadcast assets handed over to them for free why not get the license to and own the whole thing?  It would be another channel to plaster with Little Red Riding Hood commercials but that would probably lead to SCN getting dropped by cable and satellite companies.

SMPIA: The membership Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association produces a large portion of the programming on SCN.  Getting the license for SCN and running it as a commercial network would give members a place for their shows and feature length productions to be seen and a revenue stream that could be put back to fund new productions.  Saskatchewan made productions both present and past would fill the SCN schedule,  and you thought The Comedy Network was full of Corner Gas reruns.

CTVGlobeMedia: Getting SCN's broadcasting license would allow CTVGlobeMedia to replicate in Saskatchewan what they did with Access Alberta, the educational cable channel that CTVGlobeMedia got when they acquired ChumCity television. 

CBC: On the surface there may not seem to be much value in getting SCN's broadcast license, after all the CBC is supposed to be everything to all Canadians in both official languages, but given the political climate what it is, getting the cable network license and move CBC's french language television to spot on cable and satellite TV where SCN used to be, and shutting down the transmitters that spread CBC french television across the province would save a lot of money.  The cost of Electricity to run those transmitters is very high given the very small size of Saskatchewan's french speaking community.  Any bean counters looking to save their jobs could do exactly that.

Those are just a few of the most likely suspects that could save SCN, it will only take another three weeks to find out if somebody can save SCN.

Could Microsoft's Kin Phones Make It In Canada?

Next week, Verizon Wireless subscribers will be the the first to get new phones that implement Microsoft's new mobile phone strategy, out with the downscaled version of Windows, and in with an interface similar that used by Microsoft's Zune portable media players.  On the 13th the Kin One and Kin Two will be available through Verizon Wireless stores.  Both the Kin One and Two are both are slider type phones, that do more than a regular cell phone but not as much as a smartphone. 

According to leaked information obtained through some reverse engineering on other blogs, there are provisions in the Kin phones' operating system for both the CDMA version that Verizon will be carrying but also for a GSM version that will be compatible with both AT&T and T-Mobile.  For Canadian subscribers looking at the Kin as their potential next cell phone, the same information extracted from the firmware of the Kin shows Fido as the only Canadian carrier for the Kin.  That's not to say that Fido will have the Kin as an exclusive.  It would just take a Firmware update to add other carriers to the Kin, since Rogers owns Fido, Rogers could end up with the Kin as well.

Bell and Telus could carry the Kin as well, since their new HSPA networks are compatible with that version of the Kin that Fido and potentially Rogers would carry.  Bell and Telus' older CDMA networks are also compatible the version of the Kin that Verizon will be carrying but for their main branded services launching new CDMA handsets would be highly unlikely since a GSM/HSPA version of the phones would also be available.  If the CDMA version of the Kin ends up anywhere it would be on the discount brands offered by Bell and Telus.  The lineups of phones offered by Telus' Koodo Mobile and Bell's Solo Mobile are still CDMA.

The CDMA version of the Kin phones can also find homes at the smaller regional CDMA networks of MTS and Sasktel. Microsoft is trying to market the Kin phones as having a younger cool factor, it's the young cool phones that the regional carriers have been lacking for a very long time. 

CDMA iPhone Could it Come to Canada?

The rumour mill is once again spinning the story that a new version of Apple's iPhone that runs on mobile networks that use CDMA technology will soon hit the market.  For most Canadian cellular subscribers this about face from Apple probably won't get too much attention.  Canada's two largest CDMA network operators, Bell and Telus have started a switch to GSM/HSPA networks and currently offer iPhones to their subscribers.  For Canada's last two CDMA only networks, MTS and Sasktel it may mean a chance of finally being able to carry the iPhone, but highly unlikely.

Most of Canada's incumbent CDMA carriers have traditionally partnered with Sprint to buy phones from handset manufacturers, MTS and Sasktel included carry the same lineup of phones that Sprint carries.  Since the CDMA iPhone is supposed to be coming to Verizon whose phone line had traditionally been offered by Telus in Canada.  The best chance of getting the CDMA iPhone in Canada would be if both Sprint and Verizon were to offer it in the states.  There maybe a possibility that Telus will carry the CDMA iPhone for Saskatchewan and Manitoba, since Telus has no HSPA in those provinces.  For the last two CDMA only networks on the Canadian prairies, one of them in the process of getting upgraded.  MTS is in process of building their own HSPA network in partnership with Rogers.

For some it may not seem right that one carrier can offer the in demand smartphones and another cannot but in these next couple of years of network upgrades that's the way it is.  To get the new hot in demand people will have to be ready to switch carriers despite any blind loyalty to the carriers they have now.  It's called letting the market decide.

Why Does Sasktel Hate Android?

Any flatlander who lives between the 102 and 110 degrees longitude West, and between the 49th and 60th parallel North, sees many, many TV ads featuring Little Red Riding Hood proclaiming the how great the smartphones from Saskatchewan's government owned telco, Sasktel.

Sasktel gives smartphone users two choices, Blackberries or Windows Mobile.  While Blackberries are still hugely popular, they are not everybody's cup of tea.  While Windows Mobile sticks out like the math league, chess team, glee club geek at the senior prom.  So far, the king of the smartphones the Apple iPhone is still only available on Rogers in Saskatchewan since Telus has not been able to offer their new line up of phones because they don't actually own their own network, they just piggyback off of Sasktel.  Since Apple refuses to even consider the thought of a CDMA iPhone because of the cost of paying licensing fees to Qualcomm, and the limited shelf life of CDMA in the United States there will not be an iPhone on Sasktel as long they stay on CDMA.

Other popular smartphones like the Palm Pre (Exclusive to Bell) and Pixi (Exclusive to Telus with HSPA coverage) pass right by and are not even available in The Land of the Living Skies.  The biggest rising star of smartphone operating systems, Google's Android can be found in Saskatchewan, but just like the iPhone it's only available on Rogers.  It's not like Sasktel can't offer an Android smartphone because of competing network technology, There are CDMA Android phones out there.  There is Motorola's Droid that is offered by Verizon in the United States, Sasktel chose to ignore it, and Telus grabbed the Droid's GSM/HSPA cousin the Milestone and is now the exclusive carrier for that phone across Canada even if they can't offer it in Saskatchewan or Manitoba.

Google's own Nexus One is coming out with a CDMA version in April with service in the United States provided on Verizon Wireless.  Since Canada's last two CDMA carriers have to let go of their we only activate the phones we sell before the CDMA Nexus One can be made available in Canada.  There is an economic incentive for Sasktel and MTS to do this, With the Nexus One the end user pays the whole cost of the phone, not the cellular service provider. HTC offers the Hero and Eris models running Android on CDMA.  Neither of these phones have a found a home with a Canadian carrier yet, if there's somebody listening to what subscribers want, then both Sasktel and MTS need to provide one of these HTC models a home on the prairies in order to prevent the kind of subscriber defections to Rogers to get an Android phone just like the migration to the iPhone that caused the subscriber loss that Sasktel has faced in the past two years.

What Windows Phone 7 Means For Canadians

In order to regain market share lost to Apple's iPhone and to hold off a challenge from Google's Android, Microsoft has unveiled a new smartphone operating system with a new name.  Windows Phone 7 was unveiled at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain.  Windows Phone 7 key features include a new user interface, and integration with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (who isn't doing this) digital media with the Zune Marketplace (never came to Canada) and online games through Xbox live. 

For Canadian Smartphone users access to phones running Windows Phone 7 should be pretty easy.  For subscribers to regional carriers MTS and Sasktel who have seen iPhone, Google Android, and Palm WebOS devices pass them by, Windows Phone 7 will be the next generation smartphone operating system that they will finally get a chance at getting.  For Canada's new cell carriers Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, smartphones running Windows Phone 7 could potentially hold a place at the top of the lineups along with Blackberries and Android based smartphones.  On the big 3 national carriers it's most likely that Rogers will be most likely to carry Windows Phone 7 since their lineup doesn't have a Palm WebOS device at this time, Bell and Telus will have Windows Phone 7 as well but could be pushed to the sideline to promote iPhones.

Unlike the recent past where potential smartphone users had to choose their cell carrier based on which smartphone they wanted, Windows Phone 7 may not be the smartphone OS that everybody wants, but it will be a smartphone OS that current cell phones can upgrade to a smartphone without changing carriers.

Is Bell Mobility Planning an Expansion Into Saskatchewan?

At a time when cellular subscribers across Canada await new competitors to provide cell service, meanwhile in Saskatchewan one of the new carriers arriving soon is actually one of the long time established cell carriers just about everywhere else in Canada.  Undoubtly many in land of the living skies have seen the commericals advertising for the iPhone on Telus and Bell on CTV and Global broadcasts including locally produced newscasts.  While Telus offers cell phone service in Saskatchewan, they are not able to offer the iPhone because the only GSM/HSPA network in the province is owned by Rogers, which Telus will not enter into a roaming agreement with.

Bell has never entered the Cellular market in Saskatchewan because of the network infrastructure sharing agreement they signed with Sasktel years ago.  The telco's share each other's networks in exchange they don't compete in each others service areas.  It could be argued that Bell has already effectively ended that agreement since their satellite TV services competes against Sasktel Max.  Bell mobility has brought in sideline revenue selling cell phones to affiliated carriers such as Sasktel and MTS, as Bell moves from CDMA to GSM/HSPA that's revenue that killed off as long as the regional carriers choose to stay on CDMA.

If or more likely when Bell mobility starts putting up towers in Saskatchewan, Telus is likely to share a GSM/HSPA network, so that Telus can offer their full lineup GSM/HSPA handsets.  Bell and Telus can bring a much better varitey of cell phones, smartphones, including the iPhone, Motorola Milestone (GSM varient of the Droid) and most other Android based smartphones that Rogers doesn't already offer.  Bell is a member of the Inukshuk alliance which offers WiMax based broadband service in the rest of Canada.  Bell mobility entering Saskatchewan will finally mean WiMax will finally come to the province.  Many from other provinces may have horror stories about high prices and poor customer service they get from Bell, but at least it competes against the high prices and poor customer service that we get from the service providers we have now.