Thank You Globalive

I got my phone bill from Rogers today.  It's $300.

I blame it on the many long distance calls I've been making and my time away in the US.  I need to stop making phone calls and sending text messages + checking emails while I'm outside of Canada.

What I just said, is what a customer would say if they have been conditioned.  It's hard for me NOT to be conditioned when roaming minutes are at $1.45/min and international text messages are $0.75/message.  I added $150 to my bill from international activity.

Now, because there's a new wireless carrier on the playing field, I may no longer have to pay a premium for Rogers' services.

Thank You Globalive.

Globalive will offer wireless services as soon as this week in Toronto and Calgary, according to this article in the Globe and Mail. It will operate under the Wind Mobile brand, which helped it make the regulatory cut to be recognized as Canadian company. 

Wind Mobile CEO Ken Campbell says Globalive won't charge its customers system access or 911 fees. Though it will not offer Apple's touch-screen iPhone, available from competitors, it will offer the BlackBerry and other smart phones.

As long as they don't charge that $7 system access fee I'm good.  To this day I have no idea what I'm paying for with that...am I paying to cover their overhead for keeping me as a customer?  Ridiculous.

I know it's going to take some time for them to get a firm footing and to make the industry much more competitively priced than it is now but at least there's hope.