Before I go any further, let me give you a background on the iPhone if you don’t know already.. the iPhone 3G is a GSM device…. Rogers/Fido are GSM.. meaning that well, for voice.. they are your only options.
That said.. the iPhone is also 3G, which is the data portion of the device, so we have Voice + Data.. these are also the two portions of most people’s rate plans with any cellular bill up here in Canada.. well, that and the system access fees, 911, sms bundles, etc.etc.. but I digress. The 3G portion is what they are upgrading to HSPA.
So the latest iPhone unveiled yesterday is HSPDA or HSPA, which stands for High Speed Data Packet Access, or High Speed Data Access which is a bit shorter.. and this, my friends.. is the network which Bell & Telus are teaming up to build all across Canada! The best part is, they want it to be completed before the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, or at least I would think that’s what they want to do. Think about it.. all the European and other countries which are coming over to Canada.. thousands and thousands of people likely.. and they all have GSM based cell phones which is the most common (if not only) type of service in those places. Do they want Rogers/Fido to get all the roaming business? Ha.. yeah I didn’t think so! Especially since Bell is one of the MAJOR sponsors of the Olympics!
So they are building this great new network which eventually will mean that you don’t own a GSM or CDMA device.. you just have a device.. and a cellular provider. You have an iPhone 3GS, and you can use it on Bell/Telus/Rogers/Fido, etc…etc.. which ever gives the best rates hopefully. And with all this competition, hopefully the winners will be the customers.. as everyone with an iPhone 3G right now will tell you, this would be a welcome addition to the ripped off data plans they are providing us with now up here in the Great White North.
See this? I got this from the HSPA GSM page here.
It kind of goes along with what I’m talking about eh?
I’m still a little fuzzy about how the ‘voice’ part of it will work.. but truthfully, I see the new devices being almost ‘data only’ as you can now use skype with iPhones, which is VOIP .. so why would you need a voice plan? Perhaps that’s why they are charging so much for the data plans with Rogers, they know that a lot of people could cut out the voice portion altogether if need be? Food for thought..personally I can’t wait to have an iPhone (I have a blackberry now and love it btw) as I’ve used a few of them and they are unreal devices for personal use. I still like the Blackberry for Business users as the typing is a lot better and faster.. but for entertainment and just a neat device.. can’t beat the big Apple’s iPhone.
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