CRTC orders Bell, Telus and MTS to give consumers $310 million in rebates
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on Tuesday order Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream and Telus to rebate $310.8 million to its urban landline customers.
The rebate, payable to customers residing in urban areas, must be paid out in the next six months and will range from approximately $25 to $90 per subscriber. Details on how the funds will be sent out will be made available by the respective companies in coming days.
Half of U.S. mobile phone users don’t know when their contract expires
More than half of American mobile phone owners do not know the month and year when their current mobile phone contract expires according to a recent study commissioned by Best Buy.
In addition, only four in 10 say they received a reminder notice that their contract was about to expire, leaving many consumers in the dark about upgrade eligibility and the plan options available.
3G+ Wireless network now available in Saskatchewan
On August 16th, SaskTel went live with the first phase of its new 3G+ wireless network after a six week technical trial with select employees.
This week, thanks to a network sharing agreement signed in 2009, Telus Mobility customers in Saskatchewan also have access to the faster 3G+ wireless network.
Region surrounding Montreal gets new 579 Area Code
The Telecommunications Alliance has announced that, as of last Saturday, the new 579 area code is now available for new telephone numbers in the 450 area code in Québec.
The industry trade group says the increase in demand for new telephone numbers comes from the increased use of cell phones, wireless data services, the Internet and IP telephony among consumers and businesses alike.
Smartphone app downloads soar in first half of 2010
More than 3.8 billion mobile apps were downloaded worldwide in the first half of 2010 according to research2guidance. a Berlin-based research organization that specializes in the mobile industry.
That number was significantly more than the 3.1 billion apps downloaded for all of 2009.
iPhone app lets you order movies from Shaw
Canada’s largest cable provider, Shaw, has released an iOS app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, that gives its digital cable customer the ability to order Video on Demand (VOD) movies.
Features include the ability to: search Shaw VOD library by title, new releases or genre; maintain a list of selections to watch in My Picks; and order movies and TV episodes for viewing.
Best Buy Canada launches retail iPhone app
Best Buy Canada, owners of big box consumer electronics retailers Best Buy Canada and Futureshop, has released two iOS apps for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad which let users search the respective retailers products.
The nearly identical Best Buy Canada and Futureshop apps let iOS users search the respective retailers entire catalogue as well learn more about each product through ratings, reviews and enlarged views.
Solo Mobile now offering unlimited wireless plans
In an effort to try and keep up with new wireless brands such as Wind Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity, Bell Canada today announced that it’s Solo discount wireless brand would now offer unlimited prepaid voice and data plans.
The new plans are clearly an effort by Bell to stop the onslaught of Wind Mobile which now has over 100,000 customers.
