Canada's Wireless Spectrum Aution Rules Announced

This afternoon the Canadian Minister of Industry, Jim Prentice,  released the rules that will govern the 2008 wireless spectrum auction. This auction will help determine the new entrants to the wireless (cell phone) industry in Canada.

Mark Goldberg has all the dirt!!

Update on Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 07:49AM by jules

The CBC’s Take

CBC's Marketplace Puts Canadian Broadband Speeds to the Test

Last week, CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) aired a segment of Marketplace that delved into the intricate, technical dance required to achieve broadband speeds in for internet services in Canada.  Marketplace is more of a consumer advocate, anti-corporate expose show than anything else, and it’s often a delightful bit of entertainment, wrapped up in good-to-know news bits.
You know you are mainstream when you are featured, either negatively or positively on Marketplace. ;-) What you don’t want to have is Wendy Mesley or Erica Johnson sniffing around your recycling.

The Marketplace investigators hit the streets of Toronto (albeit, a very old street, where you can tell that the squirrels have had the past few decades to wreak havoc with copper phone lines) to interview a variety of folks who have *high speed* internet services, but are stuck with low speed downloads.

Bell, Rogers, TELUS and Shaw were pitted, head to head against each other in a battle of the downloads. Using the snappy pause button on my PVR, I was able to actually catch the download speeds:

• Rogers was the fastest, with an average download speed over 800 kb/s - but we couldn’t tell what neighbourhood it was…
  
• TELUS and Shaw were fairly even with over 600 kb/s - and that’s pretty darned impressive, considering they were using different technologies, and it would have likely been a TELUS DSL service, unless it was one of the nifty new Toronto condos that is wired for TELUS….
• Bell came in last, not terribly surprising, but with a speed of less than 70 kb/s

Erica Johnson managed to snag an unsuspecting Bell spokesperson to speak to the disparate speeds, and the marketing use of “up to” in selling broadband internet services… The Bell rep didn’t stand a chance. Her next step was to call Bell tech support, to see if she couldn’t resolve the speed issue with a wee upgrade or tweak. Alas, it’s the 21st century, and tech support has dropped to the level of fast food servers in most cases. Nuff said. Hey - I was in tech support, but in the ’90s. It was different then.  Erica was able to finally reach a 2nd level technician, who was able to confirm that the slow speeds with Bell were a direct result of the resident being FAR from the Bell C.O. Of course, they didn’t spell it out like that, but that was the general jist.

The Marketplace coverage was fairly decent.  Of course, they didn’t play fair with Bell, but that just makes better viewing pleasure for the folks at home.  They did indeed share a few of the gotchas of trying to get high speed, [computer hardware, quality of installed copper or co-ax lines into your house, your distance to the service provider’s high speed equipment, how many folks in your neighbourhood are on the internets at the same time] and if even 15% of the watchers have a better understanding that it’s more than just the *service provider* who is responsible for the speed, or lack thereof, then I believe their mission has been a success.

Funny - over at the CBC’s website for Marketplace, there have been 155 comments left so far in response to the Broadband Internet episode. Ranging from hard core tech folks poking holes in most of the story, to quite a few irate folks complaining about Erica Johnson’s faux pas of driving and talking on a cell phone. The comments are even better than the original story. Such is life.

The Russians Have The Money

Over the weekend, the wiz and I were gallavanting through various different electronics retailers on the way to eat massive quantities of wings. You can’t make this kind of stuff up, really. They were going to be really good wings.

We were on the quest for Guitar Hero 3 (which we have since discovered are completely sold out in North America, let alone Canada. The only way to get it is via the ebay grey market - which we did.) Regardless, I was able to get my hands on a snappy Jabra bluetooth earpiece for the wiz for christmas, and yes, I’m convinced he will approve, as he walked it up to the cash register at Best Buy for me.

The checkout line was immense. I grinned. I’m not good at checkout lines, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had the last Jabra in the store in my hot little hands, we would have dumped it and headed on to the wings. Really good wings.

Still, I was getting close.
One of the cashiers hollered over the din of the crowd - Credit and Debit, Credit and Debit at this cash.
I made my way to the cashier - and again, he confirmed - Credit or Debit? Sure, I said, in a confused sort of way. And then asked: credit or debit - that covers just about everything - what’s the other option? The cashier replies: Cash. I choke: Good god, I say, that doesn’t count, no one has cash!

The cashier reples: The Russians do. The Russians have the cash.

Ok.
Blink.
I stand corrected, considering that I don’t have any cash, and I’m not Russian. That cashier must be onto something.

Contemplating Apple

I realized this weekend, after spending countless hours waiting for my home PC to slice and dice images for a project I’m working on, maybe it’s time to think about a new computer?

Once I tallied up the total time spent on the project (and I’m still only 1/2 done), I realized I could have been complete in a weekend if I had an Apple.

Gulp.
Dare I consider the possibiities?
I’m looking for an iMac G5 - it can be used, of course, I don’t need to drink from the Chalice of Macintosh just yet…. i’d like to dip my toes in though.

Feeling a Little SiCKO

Because of other life obligations, it took me 10 days to get my copy of the newly released Michael Moore film, Sicko. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been thinking about it for the whole 10 days, it was released to DVD on Nov 6th, but scheduling and chickadees and life made it difficult to rake together the time needed to go out and actually buy it, and then dedicate the 4 hours needed to watch it. No - it’s not really 4 hours long, it’s only about 2 - but then there are another 2 hours of extra features, plus, we had to pause that movie 7 times to talk about things and replay bits that were significant.

Wow.

I have never been so thrilled to live in Canada, to have the health care and the health benefits I have.  To know that if I’m sick, and a doctor recommends/decides I need treatment, that there isn’t a corporate body arbitrating that treatment. I thought that if you had health insurance in the US, that you were safe. However, SiCKO reveals that the US healthcare system is actually run by the insurance companies. It’s the insurance companies that accept or reject the medical treatment that you need when you are unwell. Since everything is for-profit, the real goal of the insurane companies is to deliver a profit to shareholders. The only way to deliver that profit is to deny treatment, and save money. Aie!

Don’t let anyone talk you into a for-profit healthcare system. Some call it *privatized*…. some call it privately funded. Don’t do it!

Throughout the whole film it was one tense scene after tense scene. The continuous thoughts of both the Wiz and I were ” Ohmygod, do we have enough health insurance”? Only to have to remind ourselves continuously that as Canadians, we are covered. Completely covered.

There was a time when I thought it would have made sense to go with a two tiered healthcare system in Canada, but now, after watching SiCKO, I’ve had to review and rethink that direction - Universal healthcare is really the only option for a country to undertake. Healtcare cannot possibly be about money, it cannot be a deciding factor between the haves and the have-nots. Full stop. It’s table steaks for progressive, civic democracies. It’s table steaks for any country. For all the griping I’ve done about the Canadian medical community and the lack of technological advancements (compared to the privatized dental indistry) I’m thankful for what we’ve got, and for the fact that we don’t need to worry about a significant illness rendering us homeless.

PayPal Sets Own Exchange Rate for Canadian $

According to the Bank of Canada - the Canadian dollar closed today at
1 CAD (closing)1.0151USD

And yet, my purchase of a neat quilt via PayPal has Paypal quoting the following exchange rate:
1 CAD = 0.993893USD

Ahem.
This isn't the first time I've come across wonky, phony exchange rates. Many American retailers and institutions are choosing to ignore the differences in exchange now. They think they can pretend and the nasty expensive Canadian dollar will go away?

Canadians Getting the Dirty End of the Stick with US Online Retailers

Earlier this week I spent some time shopping online. Christmas shopping. That’s right. Not even December, and already I’m ahead of schedule.

In an effort to take advantage of some of the gratuitous goodness of the Canadian dollar, I headed south of the digital border.
Clickity click, and presto, presents!
Not 30 minutes later, an email shoed up in my inbox - And yes - this is verbatim:

We have a few challenges processing international orders, so I hope you’ll be able to help me with some additional information.  Can you provide me with the name, telephone number (usually found on the back of the card), and location of the bank that issues your card? Thanks, that will be very helpful. We are not able to start processing your order until we receive this information.Also, because of the strict security guidelines issued recently by Visa and MasterCard, we need to ask you for additional identity verification information based on the large dollar amount of this purchase. If you could also fax us a copy of the credit card you are using (front and back) and a photocopy of corresponding photo ID, that would allow us to process the order much more quickly.  Our fax number is 801-XXX-XXXX. Please do not email this information—-email is not secure.

Imagine my surprise.
Shock.
Anger.
Open and blatant hostility.

Yes indeed - the site wanted copies of my bank info, both sides of my credit card as well as photo ID. And the customer service rep has the cojones to suggest that email isn’t secure, yet a fax machine God knows where is?

I did what any good geeky girl would do.
I politely asked for copies of her company’s privacy statements, process and procedures for handling, storing and destroying personal information, and confirmation that all employees are bonded.

Pffft.
Alas, I suggested that if they could not process my order with the information I provided at time of checkout, the should proceed to cancel my order.

I appreciate your request and the position your are in, however, I will NOT be sending any of my detailed, personal information to an unknown destination. Your disclosure of email not being secure, yet sending you all my private information to a FAX number is a secure and acceptable process is laughable. The information requested above would provide you or anyone associated with your organization with enough information to completely take over my identity, financial or otherwise. There is no mention of your privacy policies, document management or any procedures that would be undertaken to protect any information that might be sent to you, how it would be stored or how it would be destroyed.

They cancelled my order.
And no - it WASN’T a huge dollar amount.

Rogers Enables an MVNO?

It’s curious - Rogers enabling another player in Canada for wireless service - Harmony Mobile. It’s also curious that this hasn’t hit my radar until this morning…..

MVNO=Mobile Virtual Network Operator. One of the only ways to become a wireless provider in Canada is to make a wholesale deal with one of the existing providers and “piggyback” on their national network.  The coverage maps on the Harmony website are extensive. The indigenous, existing providers are normally pretty wary of introducing competition into Canada’s wireless industry. The upcoming auction of wireless spectrum which will offer the potential for new entrants into the industry, without the partnering with existing players, means the introduction of Harmony is doubly interesting.

What twigs me even more is the fact that the Harmon handsets are dual wifi and GSM, meaning that if you are in range of a wireless hotspot - your phone knows to use the internet for service.

It’s lovely. It’s interesting to know that this sort of service is happening quietly already in Canada. Profectio also has coverage here…

Life is Measured By a Series of Good Dogs.

Sitting in my Vancouver Hotel Room (great room, btw). It's 8:42 Toronto Time, translated into 5:42  Vancouver time.  It took me an hour of wandering around, wide awake to break down and use the hotel's wireless internet. That's right. I've been up since 4 ish. Even then, it was a hard won 4:00 wake up.

I'm watching Ben Harper - and I had to capture a poignant quote - "Life is measured by a series of good dogs".... You either get it, or you won't. As we approach the 10th birthday of my wee smapp dog..... those words resonate with a different tone. We are on the back stretch now. A series of good dogs, indeed.

Booking with Air Canada

I spent a considerable amount of time on the Air Canada site last week, booking my flight to Vancouver. You have no idea how many people want to go to Vancouver on a Tuesday. I picked what I thought would be an innocuous time… noon.

Click, click and another click, and I had the flight booked (for some reason it says it’s going to take me 5 and a half hours to get there, but that’s another story). Then I was presented with the option of being able to pre-book a seat.  Wow!!! This is new, I thought. Alas - there were only 7 seats available. All were in the *middle* - meaning no window or no aisle options. Eww. Now, had I known that prior to booking that specific flight, I would have chosen a different time to fly. Why wouldn’t Air Canada let you see the seating *before* doing the final booking?

It’s like buying Ticketmaster Tickets before knowing you were going to be in the nosebleed section.  It’s like reserving a room in a hotel, and then finding out you are tucked behind the kitchen. Eww.  

Now, not only am I disgruntled because I *have* to fly on Air Canada, and not with the friendly Westjetters, but already I’m dreading being stuck in the MIDDLE of strangers. Both ways, I might add.