In the meantime, we still do not have the iPhone nor the Sidekick...I change my cellphone recently and I kept the old one as a backup. The beauty of GSM phones (which are also the lot of the iPhone and Sidekick), you just remove the SIM card from one phone, put in the other, and voilà!
The new phone was for the trip in France last January, so it would work there (and it did, and it was a lifesaver at Roissy / Charles-de-Gaulle airport. :) ).
The frustrating part is that nearly all new cellphones... are internet ready. Mine does that. It has some applications (web browser, Yahoo/MSN Messenger, mail, etc) and the phone itself can work as a modem to a laptop.
Sadly, our cellphone providers haven't beefed up their network, so they charge insane amount of money even for light use of the internet. This is why Apple didn't launch their iPhone in Canada, and this is why the Sidekick is being phased out. The use of a "Crackberry" in Canada can be costly. What an irony, considering that RIM, the makers of the Blackberry is... Canadian.
Frustrating.
Today, I was playing with my still quite brand new cell phone, and somehow I accidentally activated its internal web browser. I know too well what would happen next. A warning page that anything I would do past that point will cost me an arm and a leg.
It's the feeling of being at a candy store... empty pocket. :) All the candies you want are there... you have no money to buy just even one candy. :)
Lo and behold, this time the text has changed. I'm invited to sign up for their "unlimited internet" plan. Cost? $7 per month. (If you can read French, click on the photo).
What? No monthly 3-figure amount of money? Unlimited internet that is truly... unlimited? For just $7 a month? There must be a gotcha, somewhere, right? :)
Well, I checked. Indeed unlimited internet for $7 per month... with only the applications that are stored on the cellphone... and as long as the phone doesn't act as a modem for a laptop. For those purposes, the "arm and a leg" plan still apply.
A bummer, but that's a start, so I sign up for their somewhat unlimited.. Mobile dirt road access to the internet. It's still better than nothing. :)
I have issues about human speech, and voice over a cellphone, is my absolute nightmare.
South of the border, when you see the things deaf persons do with their Sidekick, and how handy such devices have become in their day to day life... It is difficult to imagine that these devices are just a dream here in Canada, and have to live... without them.
And for me, dreaming to have a Sidekick. Sigh...
Also as a traveler, whether checking planes, weather, or last minute searches at the place I'm going, I can vouch that internet on the go is very useful.
An iPhone or a Sidekick is a tad... more compact than a laptop, nor they need to be close to a Wi-Fi access point to work. :)
One last digression: When I was in France last January, one of my cousins had a French iPhone.
Their data plan? Unlimited internet for the equivalent of $35 CDN. Restrictions? After the first 500Meg, the service provider (Orange) reserves the right to slow down the access to the internet. Wow.
By the way, they are currently testing high quality video live conversations.. They openly invite deaf people to try their service. Yup, having conversations... in Sign Language.
This is how spiffy cellphone services have become in France...
What a contrast with Canada.
Sigh...
-E
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