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10/20/2003 8:28:52 AM
Going mobile requires research
A first-time cellphone consumer is faced with dizzying choices
Jim Jamieson
The Canadian wireless landscape is seeing its most tumultuous days since the industry was born in 1986.
Microcell Communications, through its Fido cellphone brand, has just launched an unheard-of 24/7 unlimited-minutes package in Greater Vancouver that charges no system access fee and costs just $40 a month.
This offering by Microcell, by far the smallest Canadian carrier with about one million subscribers, has elicited howls from its competitors -- Telus Mobility, Bell Mobility and Rogers AT&T Wireless -- who share the balance of the country's 12.4 million cellular phone accounts. They say Fido's offering -- dubbed City Fido -- isn't fiscally sustainable and hurts the whole industry. Both Telus and Rogers have responded by offering free phones and other enticements to Fido customers who come over to them.
Although there are rumblings within the industry that say Rogers AT&T Wireless plans to make an offer similar to City Fido, CEO Ted Rogers said Friday his company will not get into that game.
Microcell Solutions consumer-marketing director Ezana Raswork wouldn't supply subscription figures for City Fido, saying only: "It's still early days, so we can't talk about hard results, but we're pleased with the response."
It's a jungle out there. That's what consumers find when buying their first cellular telelphone or upgrading a handset or plan or changing carriers.
There may be lots of compelling techno-treasure, but there's also plenty of quicksand to swallow up uninformed consumers. Canada's wireless industry is undergoing the most dramatic upheavals in its history, with new devices and services coming ever faster and price competition at blood-sport levels.
"If you look globally, there are new products out every day," said Al Kilburn, a 15-year veteran of the wireless retail business. He's the founder of CompareCellular.com [www. comparecellular.com], a Vancouver-based website that supplies consumers with information regarding the major Canadian market players.
"More and more you see new phones coming that have the ability to pull down spreadsheets and Word documents, the screens are bigger and brighter -- obviously everybody's working harder to beat their competitors."
According to the most recent industry figures, there were 12,398,501 cellphone subscriptions in Canada as of mid-2003. That's about a 40 per cent market penetration, but those in the industry point to areas of Europe and Asia where the take-up is double that, so there's lots of room to grow here.
"The sky's the limit," said Paul Healey, president of Bell Mobility, Western Region. "The 40 per cent has been focussed on voice, but other areas such as text messaging and game playing are becoming very popular. Data is becoming the growth path of the future."
The latest buzz is the camera phone. Both Microcell and Rogers AT&T support this technology and Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility will shortly. These have been hugely successful in Asia.
So, given this dizzying choice, where does the consumer start when buying that first cellphone or upgrading the current one?
Do your research, says Kilburn. Look at all the plans, all the charges and don't focus on the phone.
Remember, if you change carriers, you very likely can't take your phone with you.
"Don't fall into the gadget effect," he said. "You walk into a store and the phone is shiny and it feels pretty good in your hand, so you have to go for the cheapest plan because you've spent all your money on the phone."
Length of term on a contract is also an issue, but you have to weigh the longer commitment against the higher cost of a phone that comes with a shorter deal.
Coverage is always contentious, with each provider having their own network. In the Lower Mainland all four do reasonably well, but Telus's coverage in the rest of the province is hard to beat, said Kilburn.
And some consumers blame spotty reception on the network when their phone may be the real culprit.
For newbies, or those who have light usage requirements, prepaid service is an option for putting a toe in the water. It is cheaper because there is no system access fee (typically $6-$7 a month) and cards can be purchased for as little as $10 (but expire in 30 days unless another card is bought).
The problem with prepaid is that access to phones and services are limited and the per-minute cost is double or triple that of phones on contract.
jjamieson@png.canwest.com
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