Canada Spectrum Auctions 700 MHz band

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Today is the day where the mobile applications must apply to be part of the auction which takes place January 14, 2014. The applicants must submit beneficial ownership, associated entities information along 5% deposit which could be in the millions.

The word is Wind Mobile, Telus, Bell and Rogers are currently the only players in the auction. The hope is that there will be a foreign entity involved. As you may recal Verizon was the early entrant who backed out after they staked into Vodafone.

We won’t find out who the players are until October 22, 2013 who the entrants are, unless they somehow leak it. On November 8, 2013 we should know the actual publication of final list of qualified bidders.

Even if a foreign entity does win an auction, builds a telecom, and then finally starts to roll out the service, we will not see any discount and they will submerge as the other 3 (Bell, Telus, Rogers).

QUICK FACTS ABOUT 700 MHz band:

  • less towers required to cover the required space vs. other bands
  • penetrates objects such as walls easier vs. other bands
  • compatible with 4G

 

My Thoughts: Apple iPhone 5C Pricing (Canadian)

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I’m honestly a bit confused. The point of releasing iPhone 5C was to complete with cheaper Android models. Looking at Apple.ca website the 5C will be sold for $599.00. Essentially are there any cheap Android handsets that cost $600.00? It sounds to me that its priced too high to appeal to the “other” consumer. If you are going to spend $600.00 to begin with, whats an additional $120.00 to get the proper iPhone 5S? (iPhone 5S is listed at $719)

True Apple Fanboys will continue to purchase the high end product, iPhone 5C was supposed to be for “everyone else”. I doubt people will buy it for a mere $600.00.

I wasn’t going to speak about the specifications, but thus far it appears that 5C is a cheaper version of the original iPhone 5. Therefore, you are better off purchasing a brand new (or used) iPhone 5.

My current assumption as you gather by the short notes above is that Apple completely missed the mark on the pricing of the iPhone 5C.

The true price point should have been $399.00.

I know what you are going to say. People won’t buy the expensive version if it was that much cheaper. I disagree, as I previously stated the Apple fans will continue to purchase the high end product and with a price point of $400.00 you would get “everyone” else to buy into it.

Only time will tell, but I don’t foresee iPhone 5C a hot seller.

Rogers Trade-Up Program (cash for your phone)

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Ever wanted to avoid Kijiji.ca or Ebay.ca and just go to your local Rogers store and trade your old phone for cash. Now you can. Of course the trade-in value is not as high as you would get on the website mentioned above, however there are no hassles. As long as the screen is responsive, the phone powers up and it actually works, you will get the cash.

QUOTE YOUR DEVICE

Some common devices/prices:

Rogers iPhone 4 (16GB) = $90.00

Rogers iPhone 4S (16GB) = $185.00

Rogers iPhone 5 (16GB) = $280.00

Samsung S4 = $160.00

Blackberry Z10 = $150.00

Blackberry Q10 = $170.00

Retrieving deleted images/photos on iOS device ISSUE

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With an iOS device (such as: iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPad Retina, iPad 2, iPad Mini) I haven’t had issues retrieving Contacts, Calendars, Messages, Message attachments, call history, notes, voice memos, and bookmarks. However, photos is a different story. If a photo has been deleted from an iOS device and then further photos are taken, the photo appears to be gone forever. I could be wrong, but thus far I don’t see a temporary flash storage for the photos. Even though the photo is skipped in the naming process (ie. img_1001.JPG, img_1003.JPG), its permanently overwritten by the following photo that is taken by the device. I have tried every data retrieving technique used on flash drives, and the data is just not there.

Drop a comment if you have figured out a technique to retrieve deleted photos from an iOS device.

Wireless Wars Rogers, Bell, Telus

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Has anyone observed wireless priced plans on August 7 vs. August 8? Lets say that in one day data dropped from 6gb to 500mb and voice stayed the same. Oh and the price somewhat stayed the same. Why the change? Well it’s a tactic used by the big 3 telco’s to stick it to CRTC for lowering 3 year plans to 2 year max and by not allowing the big 3 to bid on the upcoming spectrum. Who got screwed? In the end the consumer did of course. Nothing new there.

What’s frustrating is that if you look at Bell Mobility website vs. Rogers wireless the pricing and the offering changed on the same day. Do the telecoms sit in one room and decide what they will offer? Isn’t that somewhat price fixing? I assume its legal, gas stations have been doing the same for decades.

Best part is the website Fair For Canada, it’s a complete joke full of lies and deception. Guess what, all 3 telecoms were in on the website as well.

In conclusion, I doubt that Verizon would lower the priced plans but at least it’s an alternative choice to the big 3, and my hope is that they don’t sit in the same room to decide what prices they will offer the following day.

Rogers wireless offering as of August 22, 2013

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Bell mobility offering as of August 22, 2013

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Facebook wall post exploit

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I’m sure everyone by now has read or heard about the wall post exploit where the a man from India posted on Mark Zuckerberg‘s wall without being authorized as his friend. The exploit has been patched up, however below you will see how easy it was executed. Is your information safe?

What this exploit is about
When you make a new status on Facebook, the default value of making a status is set to your profile. By changing a single value, you will be able to make a post on any wall you want.

Step 1
Open Facebook, write a status message but don’t submit it.

Step 2
Open the profile you wish to make a post on, and copy the username, or ID, right after the facebook.com part. Example:

http://www.facebook.com/zuck
Copy zuck and put it after this URL: http://graph.facebook.com/

http://www.facebook.com/zuck -> http://graph.facebook.com/zuck

Step 3
Go back to your Facebook status, and open Google Developer (F12) or Inspect Element (Firefox) and click on the status

Step 4
Scroll up, till you find an input-tag with name set to “xhpc_targetid”. It looks like this:

input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”xhpc_targetid” value=”12345″

Step 5
Go back to the graph.facebook.com tab you opened before, and copy the ID.

In that case, the ID would be 4.

Step 6
Go back to your Facebook status, and replace the value=”xxx” (from step 4) to your new ID. Example:

input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”xhpc_targetid” value=”12345″

changed to:

input type=”hidden” autocomplete=”off” name=”xhpc_targetid” value=”4″

Once that is done, all you need to do now is press “Post”. Your post will now be posted on the target’s Facebook wall!

Source: http://khalil-sh.blogspot.co.uk/p/facebook_16.html

Porting Issues (FreePhoneLine/Fongo) to Rogers

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Rogers Wireless Home Phone porting at first seemed easy. It took about 5 days for the number to be ported. I was porting a number that is originally from FreePhoneLine/Fongo to Rogers. After the number did get finally ported the first issue was that any phone call that came from FreePhoneLine/Fongo would not go through and there was a mysterious message saying “The number you have reached is not in service”. But with that same ported number I was able to call FreePhoneLine/Fongo numbers.

The support at FreePhoneLine/Fongo was pretty good. Took about 10 emails, and about 8 hours or so, and the problem was on their end. The main switch was fixed and I was able to call from FreePhoneLine/Fongo to the newly ported number that was at Rogers now.

New Problem: If you call the ported number from Skype, you will get that same message “the number you have reached is not in service”.

Not sure who to contact for that issue. I did speak with Rogers and they did do a number refresh, but that didn’t do anything (except reset my answering machine).

 

Rogers Wireless Home Phone

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An interesting email appeared in my inbox from Rogers Wireless which is one of the big 3 telecom providers out here in Canada. Their offer:

Wireless Home Phone Plan for $9.99 – (includes: Unlimited Canada Wide Calling, Call Display, Enhanced Voice mail)

I was impressed, and noticed that the service was not available until July 23rd (the email was received few days prior).

On July 23rd, I went to a local Rogers Store. I was asked if I was a current Rogers subscriber, I responded that I was. I provided my current wireless number. The clerk retrieved a device, placed it on the counter. The cost for the device was $29.99+tax (no contract). I paid for the device via credit card. The clerk had asked if I wanted to port a phone number. The number I provided to be ported was from FreePhoneLine (now known as Fongo). The system immediately accepted the port and apparently my port date was scheduled 5 days later. That was that. Well not really. (Porting Issues)

The device was easy to put together, there was a SIM card and a backup battery. The SIM card is the standard size and there was a label of LTE on it.

Wireless Home phone worked immediately. The router (or home phone device) has two telephone jacks in the back, a usb port and a power button. I had a wireless base that I hooked up to it and oddly enough an old Bell telephone taking up the second port.

The sound quality is superb. Its been a couple of weeks now, and I have not had any drop calls, no static, no issues. Nothing! The price point is incredible and will surely get attention from the Cogeco and Bell in areas such as Oakville and Burlington.


The target market is for areas where Rogers is unable to provide their regular Home Phone service.

 

UPDATE (Aug 28): The other party seems to hear a banging noise that lasts about 10 seconds and then it goes away. On my end I hear a tiny barely noticeable clicking sound, but apparently its really loud on the other end. I have the unit 200 meters away from the nearest electronic device (I have tried two different locations, and same result). It could be the wireless phone base? Another odd piece of information is that the problem doesn’t occur on every phone call. I can’t figure out what the heck it is. Anyone else experiencing this? Please comment.

UPDATE (Sept 11): I have swapped the current V-tech cordless phones and upgraded to Panasonic cordless phones. Both sets were DECT 6.0 and therefore I’m unsure if the knocking was coming from the handset or actual ZTE Home Phone device. Thus far with the new cordless phones there has not been any noise.