Will the U.S. Start Envying Canadian Wireless Subscribers?

Canadians have long prided ourselves on being passionately and frequently angered by our wireless phone carriers. As WIND Mobile Chairman Tony Lacavera put it during his keynote speech at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto last month: "Trash talking your mobile service provider has almost become as much a pastime as supporting hockey." It seems, however, that with the latest infusion of new carriers, combined with reduced plan pricing, and new initiatives like unlocked phones, the trash talking may be moving south, alongside Major League Baseball (MLB) or the National Football League (NFL) instead of the rinks of our popular sport, eh.

First, it was the unlimited plans. In Canada, none of the Big Three carriers, Bell, Rogers, and Telus, offer truly unlimited data surfing. And the argument from Canadians was always: "the U.S. carriers offer it, so why can't we?" Now that isn't exactly true. AT&T recently got rid of its unlimited option, replacing it with much less favourable options: 200 MB for US$15/mo. or 2 GB for US$25/mo.

Then, there's the whole phone exclusivity deal. While us Canucks still find ourselves waiting in the wings for at least a few weeks every time a new iPhone comes out, it appears that we're now snagging other devices long before the U.S. market does. Many Android-based phones launched in Canada before they did in the U.S.; in fact, Rogers was the first North American carrier to offer the HTC Dream and Magic Android phones; the second and third phones based on the Android platform to officially hit the market. Other carriers, like Sony Ericsson and LG, have launched devices through Canadian carriers before they've hit any carrier in the U.S.

Back to the iPhone, while Canadians won't see it until this Friday, July 30, Apple Canada has confirmed that it will sell an unlocked version online or through one of its storefronts. Sure, it's a bit pricy. But this means 1) you can go to any carrier you want; 2) you can switch carriers any time you want and pop in a new SIM card; and 3) you can travel outside of the U.S. and use an international SIM card. But note that when I say you can switch carriers, you're limited to the Big Three and their affiliate brands: both WIND Mobile and Mobilicity operate on the AWS spectrum, and Public Mobile (which doesn't offer data at all) operates on the G-band spectrum; both of which are different from the band on which the Big Three operate. This means you can't just pop a SIM card from one of these carriers into an iPhone and use it with one of their plans.

Then there's choice. We've always cried that customers in the U.S. have more choice when it comes to carriers. Now not only do we have several new wireless carriers, plus more regional players coming; we also have the iPhone, one of the most highly coveted devices, available through three carriers and five brands! In the U.S., those who want it must go with AT&T. No choice there.

All things considered, even if the new carriers aren't offering highly coveted devices like the iPhone, their voice, text, and data plans are encouraging other carriers to take a serious look at their offerings. And with Bell, Rogers, and Telus now all operating on the GSM HSPA band, thus making carrier-switching possible while using the same device, the future in wireless is looking much brighter here than in the U.S.

In other words, Canadians, while we still have a long way to go in terms of getting rid of hidden fees, reducing fees for things like SMS, and affording more access to data, we really should commit the trash talking to the Leafs, Canucks, and the Habs for now. Looking stateside, they might very well have much more to complain about.