tewha.net

In Canada we have two GSM cellphone providers: Fido and Rogers. Well, actually, we don’t really. A few years ago, Rogers bought Fido. So these days, I’m used to Fido getting the short straw out of every cup.

I called service a few days ago for an unrelated reason was surprised to hear “If you are calling about the iPhone, press 2.”¹ After completing that call, I tried 611 again and hit 2.

I was expecting “The iPhone will not be available to Fido customers,” but I was surprised. The iPhone will be available to Fido customers. Don’t believe me? There’s actually a news story on CBC. This seems to be a big turn-around by Rogers in offering Fido customers a good phone.

I don’t know how affordable the data plan will be, though.

1. The message has since been removed; I guess the rush died down. [↩]

Gadgets seen as best way to tell white lies.

I think we finally have our phone lines and fax machine (better known as the money printer, since we get purchase orders through it) set up again.

I find it almost impossible to believe that our phone lines lagged behind our physical office move by two weeks. Our Internet is still not right here, and will probably take many more months. All of this after we gave Telus over two months notice of our move.

Luckily, VoIP works really well over Shaw, despite Telus insisting it was impossible to run VoIP over cable. In fact, it works so well that I plan to skip getting a home phone line next month when I move. I’ll either rely on cell phone (unlimited local calls via Fido) or get a VoIP line if I anticipate a lot of North American-long distance. A land line just does nothing that I need anymore.

I guess it goes without saying that all phone companies are inherently evil. What doesn’t go without saying is that ours in particular is also stupid enough to think they still have a monopoly on voice communications. Telus is going to be blind-sided, and it couldn’t happen to a better group of people.