chowarmaan.com

An internal memo at Bell Mobility has been leaked. In this memo, Bell Mobility is considering interfering with the phone’s GPS receiver to prevent it from being that accurate, unless you subscribe to the service provided by Bell Mobility for GPS use on its phones.

From the Article:

Users of free GPS mapping applications (such as Google Maps or even the included Blackberry Maps application by RIM) will see the time required to establish a GPS lock increase to 2-10 minutes, up from the typical 15-20 seconds usually experienced. Additionally, there is some speculation that the resolution of GPS data will also be reduced to a 1-2.5km range as opposed to the existing 10-25m accuracy currently provided — not exactly useful when trying to find the location for your next meeting downtown in an unfamiliar city.

Bell Mobility and Telus have both announced that they are going to start charging $0.15 per received text message since the traffic has increased considerably on their networks. This will be used for SPAM and other advertising which you can not stop, the companies send, and now you have to pay for it. What a rip off. Did these companies not watch the fall out Rogers is facing over the data plan pricing for the new 3G iPhone when it comes to Canada?

I actually went to an NDP site to sign a petition they have started to stop this madness, before Rogers (my carrier) thinks it is a good idea to add this as well.

The funny thing is that these companies have recently allowed their customers to add unlimited text and data to their networks for a fee ($15 per month I believe), and now that people are using it, they are going to charge the people who receive the data that is sent (text messages) for the privilege. Did they not expect people to use a service they offered for a fee? Now that it is being used, they have found another way to make more money from it.

Do you think that the small text messages, contained in packets, is actually more network traffic than the 2 people talking on their cell phones would be? How can they justify this?

Thankfully, I am not on their network, but I am waiting for Rogers to follow suit. The good news is that should be breaking a contract, and allow me out from under mine, so I can go over to one of the new start ups that bought the wireless spectrum, and hopefully get a reasonable package.