Aingaran's Tech and Biz Blog

It’s been in the news for the past week. UBB (Usage Based Billing) and the CRTC ruling to approve Bell’s request to apply UBB to independent ISPs.

Most of the general public has absolutely no idea what any of this means.

Here’s a great explanation of what’s going on. This is a comment posted in response to an article on The Globe and Mail’s website by a user with handle, DB1848

The service that Bell wants to charge UBB on is for the use of the copper wires into everyone’s house, not for the bandwidth from the telephone interchange into the internet backbone. The independent ISPs have always paid separately for this connection and this is not changing.

The fairytale that Bell sold to the CRTC (and to everyone else apparently) is that those copper wires that are almost 100 years old in many neighbourhoods somehow cost more to maintain based on how much data travels over them. This is simply not true.

There is a fixed cost to replace and maintain copper wire and it is not proportionate to how much data travels over them. The copper wires (and associated hardware) do have a certain capacity, but since nobody can have more than one ISP over the same wires, reaching that capacity isn’t going to have too much effect on the bandwidth of other users, and certainly doesn’t incur any new costs.

It’s important to note that at least some of the CRTC commissioners recognized that Bell is already recouping these fixed costs under the existing wholesale regime.

DB1848

Here’s a great deal from Dell and Bell!

Get 4 months of internet for free when you purchase a Bell “Grab and Go Kit” from Dell for $30.

You can choose 1 of 5 different Bell plans (detailed below).

Obviously the smart choice would be the Fibe 25, which gives you speeds of 25 Mbps download and  7 Mbps upload. (Call bell and verify this service is available in your area).

Link to Deal

In response to Telus’s promotion from a few days ago, the other Big 2 carriers have decided to match the promotion.

Telus offered new clients 6 months of unlimited local calling, free calling on early nights and weekends starting at 6pm (regularly $7/month) and free activation ($35 fee).

That offer is now available at Bell, Fido and Rogers for new clients signing new 3 year contracts.

Officially, this offer is not available for existing clients looking to renew their contracts.

The Nexus one comes unlocked directly from Google and will support Both Quad-Band GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz) and Triband HSPA/UMTS (850, 1900 and 2100 Mhz) 3G networks. This means, the phone will work on all 4 major Canadian carriers: Rogers, Fido, Bell and Telus.

After a couple of months of exclusivity for the TMobile network in the US, Google has opened the market for its Google Nexus One.

The TMobile version will work on the Wind Mobile Network (900/AWS/2100 MHz)

You can order your phone at: http://www.google.com/phone/

In response to Wind Mobile’s promotion $150 promo, Bell is offering current Wind Mobile customers $150 to switch their wireless service to Bell.

In an attempt to lure customers from Wind, Bell will apply a $150 bill credit to your account upon signing a 3 year contract.

Unlike Wind’s promotion, where they apply the credit over the course of 5 months in 30 dollar denominations, Bell will apply a one-time lump sum credit of $150 to your account.

Many Telus and Bell 3G (Apple iPhone, Blackberry Bold, HTC Hero) users experienced a 4 hour outage in the Greater Toronto Area yesterday.

Service was resumed last night. The cause of is the issue still remains unknown, but Telus says it was caused by a “3rd party vendor”.

All users are advised to perform a soft reset on their handset.

It appears Bell is getting rid of their overstocked CDMA device lineup.

They’ve listed the Blackberry Storm 9530 for $249 on a month-to-month (no contract) purchase.

Details

Just two weeks after Rogers lost a ruling versus Telus in BC Supreme court, Rogers is taking Bell to court this week.

Rogers is suing Bell Mobility for its use of the term “largest, fastest, and most reliable network” in its advertising.