Google voice started as an “Invitation Only” program; like Gmail, and has now become completely free to anyone with a Google/Gmail account.  Google voice allows Google users to make unlimited calls to US and Canadian phone numbers completely free of charge.  It was reported that currently, only US residents have access to this, however, people in Vancouver, BC and Edmonton, AB in Canada have said that it is working for them as well.  We put Google to the test from Toronto, and the sound quality and lag time were flawless! 

Google recently released some mobile apps including Google Voice for BlackBerry, iPhone and other smart phones.  This smart phone application allows users to make and receive calls anywhere in the USA and Canada free of charge by using their Data Services.  I had the chance to test out the app with a Rogers BIS account and it didn’t work, but US residents have been enjoying this great app.  Possibly a Canadian IP issue.  There is no set release date for Canada, but I’m sure it’ll be up in the Great North very soon.

The Google Voice mobile applications allow cell phone users to completely eliminate long distance calls within Canada and the USA.  Hold on a second…If this app is completely stable, what would prevent people from cancelling their voice plans and going on a data only plan?  Wait two seconds…What if Google Voice allowed phone number porting?  An even better reason for people to terminate their voice contracts and call anywhere in the world for extremely low rates and to have unlimited North American calling for a hefty price of $0.00. 

Now where does roaming fall into this picture?  If Google were to expand worldwide, people can essentially take their cell phone internationally, subscribe to a data roaming package from their wireless network carrier, and use their phone at their leisure.  We’re curious to know whether Google Voice will work if a user from a Canadian network were to go to the United States and load up the Google Voice app.  If anyone has tried this, please feel free to share it with us in the comments!  VOIP seems like the up and coming especially with today’s technology.

Wireless Roaming Charges are the fear of many while travelling.  We’ve all heard horror stories of people going on a relaxing vacation somewhere tropical, or perhaps a more scenic trip overseas to Europe only to come home to a cell phone bill racked up to hundreds to thousands of dollars.  For example, the famous Jason Boutang, of Albert Canada racked up a bill of $7763.70 on his trip to Europe.  Of all the possible ways to rack up your roaming fees, we’ve narrowed it down to…..the Terrible Two.

T1.) Data roaming charges

• it’s near impossible to calculate how much data you’re using.  iPhones were meant to be used for data, mainly with online media (YouTube, Podcasts etc). They were also built to be data sucking devices as well.
• although BlackBerries and other smartphones do not consume as much data, for the business person receiving hundreds of e-mails per day, the fees definitely rack up! Most people are on at minimum, a 500mb data plan and consume anywhere between 1/5 -> 4/5 of that data regularly.  Translation: at minimum $300 assuming you use about 100mb of data (Rogers rates).

T2.) Talk time and Non-Talk Time?

• Most wireless carriers charge anywhere between $1->$4 for wireless talk time.  For our purposes, we’ll focus on travel between the USA and Canada and assume that travel from North America -> Overseas will only cost more.  Keep in mind: seconds in a phone call are always rounded up to the nearest minute.
• Scenario 1: Jason, a Toronto, Canada student with a home carrier of Rogers Wireless decides to go to Miami Florida for Spring Break. Of course they need their phone to keep in touch with friends, family and fellow travelers.  In a 1 week span, they use 15 minutes/day.  15 x 7 = 105 minutes. The roaming rate to the USA is $1.45. $1.45 x 105 = $152.25 + their original monthly costs + any other surcharges + data (if applicable).  This student is now looking at a phone bill easily over $200.
• Non-Talk-Time: How could you possibly get charged for NOT talking on the phone? Let’s use Jason again to illustrate this picture. Within his regular plan, Jason is subscribed to a voicemail add-on. He receives a call from a telemarketer and decides to ignore the call because it’s not worth $1.45 to tell them he’s not interested.  Too bad!  Some network carriers such as Rogers Wireless charge their roaming rate; in this case, $1.45 if your phone goes to voice mail. This fee is incurred on the user because their phone ‘connected’ to the communication towers.  Now how does this affect US travelers to Canada?  AT&T and T-mobile’s primary roaming partner is Rogers Wireless.  As soon as you cross the US/Canadian border, your service provider changes to Rogers.  Now if you decide to ignore a call and have voicemail, you will be charged your respective roaming rate for 1 minute.

Solution:

First we’ll review the talk time issue.  Jason has 2 options to reduce his roaming charges. His first option, and possibly not the best is to add a data value pack.  Since he will be using about 105 minutes he will have to add the $40 travel pack which gives 70 minutes and an overage rate of $0.57.  His grand total will be $59.95 in roaming charges instead of $152.25 with a savings of $92.30.

His second option is to unlock his cell phone and purchase a prepaid SIM card in the USA.  It would probably be best to buy a T-mobile prepaid starter kit (SIM card & 10 min of airtime) which will cost $10 and recharge his card with $10 giving a total of 110 minutes.  He will receive a local number in Miami.  His grand total will be $20.00 in prepaid charges instead of $152.25 with a savings of $132.25 and Jason has Eliminated his roaming fees.

The data roaming solution is not as simple. Since most prepaid plans across the globe do not allow smartphone data, we will have to veto that option.  There are however international SIM cards which do have data packages.  They are quite expensive and not as reliable as a carrier SIM card in terms of reception.  This leaves us a Data Roaming Package from your home carrier.  In Jason’s case, he can add a data package of 75mb for $60 which definitely beats paying upwards of $300.  We’re still working on creative ways to figure out the best way for users to be able to use their smartphone data without worrying about the ridiculous roaming fees they would have to pay.

We’re constantly working on ways to help travelers save money! If you have any tips or feedback, we’d love to hear from you!

As a follow up to our previous post on Rogers $10 Roaming Add-on, it seems as though we were mistaken.  After speaking to 2 representatives on the phone before our trip to Boston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, both informed us that the $10 add-on would provide the feature of a ’shared data plan’.  It seemed vague, so we inquired further. They clarified that it meant that you will be able to use your data plan freely within Canada and the United States as long as you stayed within your plan’s limits.  The 6 of us added the $10 add-on and were excited that Rogers Wireless had finally come up with a great data pack for Canadian travelers.

We all received our bills on different dates, but sure enough, all of us had astronomical wireless bills for ‘data while roaming’.  Rogers website for their one-rate roaming plan says:

With a One Rate Data Plan you have the convenience of using a single allotment ofdata that can be used anywhere in Canada and the U.S. for one low fixed rate. This means worry-free data for checking email, using the mobile internet or location based services such as Google Maps

Worry-free no unexpected data roaming charges
Best Value upgrade the most popular domestic data plans to a One Rate Data Plan for as little as$10 more per month
Convenient and easy to manage one allotment covers both Canada and the U.S.

After a call-back to Rogers, the new representative clarified that the plan actually means that by adding a $10 add-on plan, you will pay $1/MB of data that you use in the USA.

Beware of the fine-print, or in this case, lack-there-of.

Every once in a while, we get customers requesting BlackBerry Unlock Codes only to find out that their phone was hard-locked to begin.  They become upset because they cannot unlock their phones and a great burden is pressed on us as well.

We decided to blog on this to ensure that you double check that your BlackBerry is NOT hard-locked before purchasing a code.  This is the most prevalent on BlackBerries purchased from E-bay, Craigslist and other third party markets.  The instructions are listed below and requires no technical savvy.

1.) Go to the Options Menu (it is represented by a picture of a wrench)
2.) Go to Advanced Options
3.) Go to SIM Card
4.) Type MEPD (they do not have to be caps) – You will not see any text appear as you type it
5.) A new menu will appear with SIM, Network, Network Subset, Service Provider and Corporate.
PLEASE NOTE:
If all fields are “disabled” or “inactive”, your phone is already unlocked.
6.) Type in MEP2 – Again, you will not see any text appear.
7.) A new Box will appear like the image above.

The number in Brackets represents the number of tries you have remaining before your phone is hard-locked. All BlackBerries come with MEP (10 Left).   If your phone is hard-locked, it will say MEP (0 Left).  In this case, your phone cannot be unlocked and is permanently locked to its Network Carrier.

Hopefully this answers the questions to those searching!

The long awaited Apple iPhone 4 is to be sold online factory unlocked according to the Apple Store.  Unlike the USA where AT&T has exclusive dealership to the Apple iPhone, Canada has 3 network carriers providing the iPhone 3Gs – Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility.  Carriers will still continue to sell their branded and locked iPhone 4, however, users will still be able to purchase them outright from apple “commitment free”.

When you purchase your iPhone from the Apple Online Store, you’ll get it commitment-free. So you can sign up for service with the carrier of your choice and change your carrier at any time.

This will give users the freedom to use their iPhone on any network of their choice without any obligations to their network carrier.  Further, it will allow users to use their beloved iPhone with international travel, avoiding paying up the roof roaming fees.

We’re not exactly sure when the iPhone 4 will be released in Canada, but please hold off on buying your AT&T iPhone 4s Canadian residents!  They’re going for about $900+ USD on e-bay at the moment, but I’m sure Apple will be selling them cheaper when it arrives in Canada.  Buying the unlocked iPhones on e-bay won’t allow you to update to the latest firmwares, where the new iPhones should have absolutely no problems doing so!

After horrible reviews on the BlackBerry Storm 1, and then some mixed reviews on the Storm 2, from the looks of this, it looks like the Storm 3 will eventually be on its way.  The design genius’ of BlackBerry themes at Elecite have blogged about this beautiful prototype and have not strictly stated that this is a definite release.  Some features that they put in their post include…

16GB of internal memory via propriety SSD/Flash hybrid technology, 10 hour+ talk time on 3G and a whopping 300 ppi screen resolution

If this is real, it’s definitely a phone that we’d have to scope out! Or would it end up like another failed BlackBerry Storm? What do you think?

We’re now unlocking the BlackBerry Bold 9650 that Sprint has just recently released!  If you’ve been keeping up with our Blog, we posted back in January our first successful unlocking of the Verizon Blackberry Bold 9650 (before code-named the Essex Tour II 9650).   The good news for you Sprint junkies is that just as they do for most of their World phones, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 should come unlocked before it hits the shipping trucks and the store floors! Just like when the Tour 9630 was released, I’m sure there will be the occasional BlackBerry Bold 9650s that are NOT unlocked.  In that case, please feel free to check out our BlackBerry Bold 9650 unlock code checkout page.  You can find out if your BlackBerry is unlocked by following the steps in our previous entry “How do I know if my Blackberry is Unlocked?“

From our previous entry on unlocking the BlackBerry Bold 9650, I think it is safe to say that the Verizon BlackBerry Bold 9650 will NOT come unlocked.

As for the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105, although it hasn’t hit the floors yet, we are so confident that we’ll be able to unlock this phone that we’ve launched it on our unlock code store as well.  The checkout page can be found here for your BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 Unlock Code!

The Good:

Rogers has brought Canadian wireless users an excellent data roaming package which far exceeds any data roaming package we’ve seen from any of the US wireless carriers.  Initially they had launched this roaming package with the following rate plans.

• $20 Personal Email on BB CDN/US
• $35 Consumer/Small business BB (BIS) 500MB CDN/US Plan
• $35 Consumer/Small business 500MB CDN & US Data Plan
• $40 Consumer/Small business BB (BIS) 1GB CDN & US Plan
• $40 Consumer/Small business 1GB CDN & US Data Plan
• $45 500MB CDN & US Mobile Internet Flex Rate Plan
• $50 DAP (for MSD customers) 1.5GB CDN & US Data Plan
• $55 Corporate BB (BES) 1GB CDN & US Plan
• $55 Corporate BB (BES) 500 MB CDN & US Flex Rate Plan

If you take a look at their website now, they have simplified those odd looking plans by saying “Add $10 and use your data plan freely in both Canada and the USA”.

“With a One Rate Data Plan you have the convenience of using a single allotment of
data that can be used anywhere in Canada and the U.S. for one low fixed rate. This
means worry-free data for checking email, using the mobile internet or location based
services such as Google Maps.”

The Bad:

They have yet to provide a solution for voice plans.  This is where they’ll make their money! Here are the rate plans they have for voice usage.

By using prepaid/pay as you go services in the USA, the “One-Time_fee” of $15 that Rogers would charge on their lowest rate plan would give you 150 minutes of talk-time at a rate of $0.10/minute.

The Ugly:

Voicemail is probably one of the most standard features that wireless users add on to their wireless packages.  In fact, it is so standard, that 99% of prepaid plans in almost all countries provide voicemail as a free feature along with caller id, call conferencing, and call waiting.  The Ugly News is that Rogers is infamously known for charging wireless users their roaming rate for NOT picking up their phone.  That’s right! for NOT picking up your phone.  Since your phone is technically ‘connecting’ with Rogers communication towers, you will be charged your roaming rate of $1.45 for travel to the USA.  This not only effects Canadian travellers, but all of you AT&T, T-mobile and any other US carrier that has Rogers Wireless as a roaming partner.  You will be charged 1 minute of roaming for NOT picking up your phone and allowing it to go to Voice Mail.

The Solution:

Prepaid/Pay as you Go solutions are always the best! Most carriers around the world offer several different price plans.  A couple examples of US carriers include T-mobile ($0.10/min) and AT&T ($0.25/min).  Of course you would need to unlock your phone before using one of those SIM cards.  Now a second problem arises… How do I use this Rogers data pack, maintain my phone number, and NOT pay $1.45/min?

That answer will be posted here by the end of May

We’re here to provide you with the lowest rate solutions possible.  Stay tuned with Cellfservices Blog!

Congratulations to our first Win a Blackberry Prize Winner – William Hoban of Prince George, British Columbia. From the Cellfservices team, enjoy your new BlackBerry Bold 9000!

To our valued March customers, please enjoy your chance to win a BlackBerry 8220 Pearl Flip. The draw date will be on April 5, 2010. All details can be found on our Win a BlackBerry homepage.

Cellfservices is proud to offer our new “Win a Blackberry” contest. As a thank you gift, we are now offering all Cellfservices customers a chance to win a free unlocked Blackberry every month! This contest runs every month from the 1st to the end of each month. Winners will be drawn on the 5th of each month and announced when the free unlocked Blackberry is claimed. For the Month of February, we will be drawing an order number for a free unlocked Blackberry Bold 9000. For full contest details, please visit us here.

We’d like to thank all of our valued customers and blog subscribers at Cellfservices for making us who we are today. We have had the privilege to service all of you fine ladies and gentlemen including professional athletes, big name Movie stars, tech savvy individuals as well as those who have just begun to understand the power and savings of unlocking your phone.

Our primary goal at Cellfservices is to ensure that your needs are met. We strive to find the most affordable ways to assist individuals and businesses become economically efficient with their wireless bills. We wish you all good luck in our upcoming contests and would love for all of you to win a free Blackberry for simply doing what you were already going to do.