Canada

Things in Canada seem to be getting better for cell phone owners, and surprisingly fast. Not long after the announcement of the formation of a new Canadian wireless carrier as a result of a recent spectrum auction, Canadian carriers Bell and Telus have both announced plans to drastically transition their entire networks from.

For those of you still unhappy about Rogers Wireless's iPhone plans in Canada, there may still be hope. An auction for the 2GHz spectrum in Canada has resulted in the creation of a new Canadian cell phone carrier that may be a game changer for the industry in the country. Globalive Communications Inc., which currently operates Yak Mobile in Canada offering landline internet and home phone services, will be paying $442 million for a license giving it the rights to provide cellular service over the purchased spectrum in all Canadian provinces except for Québec.

It appears that Rogers Wireless may have finally heard the complaints of its thousands of potential customers. Earlier today Rogers and sub-brand Fido announced that they will be offering a limited-time promotional plan for the iPhone 3G. Customers that sign up before the end of August will be eligible to sign up for a $30 monthly data plan that includes a whole 6GB of data per month when purchased with a voice plan.

It looks like Apple is taking this anti-Rogers thing more seriously than we thought. According to AppleInsider, Apple has decided that, due to the crappy and hugely overpriced data plans being offered by Rogers Wireless and Fido for iPhone 3G customers in Canada, and the resulting overwhelming negative public response toward them, Apple will not be selling the iPhone 3G in any of their Canadian stores. The news came during a private conference call Monday evening from Apple representatives.

There has been a lot of unrest surrounding the rate plans offered by Rogers Wireless, all of which has culminated in the gathering of 41,000 signatures on a petition protesting their high prices and low data ceiling. Rogers' competitor Bell Mobility has even decided to take advantage of the bad PR by offering the Samsung Instinct, the iPhone's chief competitor. As a result, rumor has it that Apple is unsatisfied with Rogers and is diverting shipments of iPhones away from Canada.

Rogers is notoriously disliked by their customers for what they consider to be stingy, and likewise very expensive, data plans. So, not surprisingly, when Rogers announced their plans last week for the iPhone 3G, none of which had unlimited data plans but all of which were fairly expensive nonetheless, most of those who were anticipating getting an iPhone were pretty upset. Upset enough that they have decided to rally together to demonstrate their displeasure with a petition at RuinediPhone.com. Since then the response has been awe-inspiring.

iPhoneinCanada.ca has posted what they claim is a leaked Rogers Wireless internal memo explaining the Rogers iPhone 3G activation process, which they say they received from an anonymous user. The memo mentions that iPhones will be arriving to stores in a "bricked" state, and that a special "activation only" version of iTunes 7.7 will be required to activate the device and un-brick it.

Many iPhone 3G-hopefuls and residents of Canada yesterday seemed to be less than satisfied with the announcements from Rogers and Fido. Controversially, none of the four plans for the device they announced came with unlimited data, and many of them decided to make their dissatisfaction publicly known. In response to the public outcry, Rogers has felt the need to defend their data plans.

So, Rogers will be brining the iPhone 3G to Canada. And if you live up there, that's a good thing. Still, formal pricing had yet to be announced until today. Update: Fido announced their price plans as well, which are identical to the ones announced by Rogers Wireless.

Someone on the ehMac.ca forums has found what they claim is a leaked data sheet sent out internally to employees of Rogers and their subsidiary Fido, the iPhone carrier come July 11th. The authenticity of the information is unknown, but if it is accurate, then iPhone plans available in Canada will be almost identical to those in the US under AT&T.