2 ons, 1 off

Speedtest: iPhone OS 3.0 on 2G iPhone in Canada

2009-06-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

I've done some preliminary testing with the 7a7341 "Gold" build of iPhone OS 3.0 on Rogers Wireless and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed. This article is by no means a review of the firmware, as there are plenty of those out there already—all far more extensive than I care to be. Quick and simple results:

Site: speedtest.net
Test machine: Macbook Pro (latest iteration) running Leopard

Via USB: 2.73 Mb/s downstream and 0.2Mb/s upstream with 202ms latency

Via Bluetooth: 0.90Mb/s downstream and 0.24Mb/s upstream with 171ms latency

I've only run these tests one time so it's entirely possible that I'll acheive better throughput or lower latency from a different physical location, or under a lower system load. These results definitely exceed my expectations. The setup is very slick (as tethering should be), and the hit on battery life seems to be significantly less than PDAnet. Throughput is definitely greater while connected via USB when compared to my experience with PDAnet (WiFi) however Bluetooth tethering, as expected, is much slower.

Overall, a great addition to the iPhone firmware!

How to sysprep Windows Server 2008

2009-04-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sysprep, the process of stripping configuration out of your windows installation for the "out of box experience", has [finally] been integrated into Windows Server 2008. The process on pre-2008 operating systems consisted of creating a sysprep folder in the root of C, copying them over the new folder, then launching them. The process has been immensily simplified with Server 2008.

To launch sysprep, click start then type "sysprep". This will launch the sysprep folder where you can launch sysprep.exe. Start>run>%systemroot%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe works equally as well. Simply choose your options and click Ok.

iPhone in Canada? No Skype for you! -- How to install Skype on your iPhone in Canada

2009-03-31T18:22:00.000-07:00

If you're reading this, you're probably just as frustrated as I was this afternoon when I tried to search for "Skype" in the iTunes App store. No results. After a quick search, I discovered that the new Skype client for the iPhone was released in every country EXCEPT for Canada. It seems Skype has chosen to leave us out of yet another great service offering of theirs—the other being Skype-in. The reasoning? "Patient-license restrictions". Great.

So what next? Find a loop-hole—and as it turns out, it's a pretty simple, perhaps obvious one. Here is what you need to do:

Step 1: sign out of your iTunes account within iTunes. This one is pretty simple. Click Store>Sign out.

Step 2: change your country preference within iTunes. This one is also rather simple. Select iTunes Store from the left menu within iTunes (this is the same way you normally would access the iTunes store to purchase music/movies/apps etc). Scroll down to the very bottom where you see a drop-down menu beside My Store. Change this to United States.

Step 3: sign up for a new iTunes account. Again, this is easy (noticing a trend here?). Click the Sign in button on the top right hand side of the iTunes Store (you should already be there). You will be prompted to either create a new account, or to sign in. Simply create a new account. If you don't have a US address, which many of you won't, make something up. 90210 always works for me :)

Note: you'll likely wish to create this account without a credit card (unless you have a US card). Here is a link to the instructions for creating an iTunes account without a credit card: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2534. It's important to note that you must be within the App store section of the iTunes store in order to create an account without a credit card on file.

Step 4: verify your iTunes account. You should receive an e-mail requiring you to confirm your account. Click the link at the bottom of the e-mail.

Step 5: log into your new iTunes account. On the top right hand side of the iTunes Store section within iTunes, click Sign in then enter in your newly created credentials.

Step 6: search for Skype within the iTunes Store, download it, then sync your iPhone. Voila! You now have Skype on your Canadian-issued iPhone.

.NET Framework removal took works like a charm!

2009-03-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

After spending hours (literally) fighting with a corrupt .NET 2.0 installation on a Windows Server 2003 box, I found the golden ticket. It's called .NET Framework Cleanup tool and it can be found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/pages/8904493.aspx.

I was unsuccessful in running a repair or an uninstall. I also spent some time going through the manual uninstall KB (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908077) which turned out to be a complete waste of time. Finally after a weekend to clear my mind, and a bit of digging I stumbled onto Aaron Stebner's blog.

The tool currently supports the following versions of .NET:

.NET Framework - All Versions
.NET Framework - All Versions (Tablet PC and Media Center)
.NET Framework - All Versions (Windows Server 2003)
.NET Framework - All Versions (Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008)
.NET Framework 1.0
.NET Framework 1.1
.NET Framework 2.0
.NET Framework 3.0
.NET Framework 3.5

Download link and full tool description: http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/pages/8904493.aspx.

Signs that times are tough: FutureShop

2009-02-18T12:04:00.001-08:00

On a short shopping excursion yesterday I made a stop in at the local FutureShop store. As I walked in the doors I immediately noticed that the place seemed unusually empty for this time of the evening (I shop there a lot). Though the isles were packed full of clearance tables and the shelves certainly weren't void of product, there definitely weren't many people on the market for a new computer, home theatre system, or car stereo.

As I made my way towards the back of the store I couldn't help but notice a hand-written sign sitting smack-dab in the middle of the isle. It read:

"Do you want a great deal? Ask your sales associate if there is a better deal to be had. JUST ASK. Do you have any item similar that I can save some money on?"

For those of you who don't understand this sign, they are practically begging you to ask them for a better deal before walking out the door.

KMS vs. MAK - Activation options for Windows Server 2008 and Vista

2008-11-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

For those who might be confused about the activation options for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista, I've compiled a bit of a breakdown on MAK (Multiple Key Management) and KMS (Key Management Service):

KMS Pros:

Activation is automated. New servers will attempt to discover the KMS via DNS (an SRV record) and activate automatically.
Internet access is not required as servers only require access to the KMS.

KMS Cons:

KMS clients must contact the KMS host every 180 days. This means availability is important though it is worth mentioning that the activation grace period still applies.
KMS Hosts must renew their activation every 180 days. Again, availability is important.
A minimum of 5 KMS clients are required in order to activate KMS.

Other notes worth mentioning:

The number of required activation keys are reduced by grouping activations: DataCenter/Itanium, Enterprise/Standard, Web, Vista Ent/Bus.

MAK Pros:

No "expiration" on activations. In other words, once a host is activated, it will remain activated (assuming no major hardware changes take place).
No additional infrastructure is required.
More sleep at night :-) With KMS, all windows servers activate and remain activated by contacting an internally hosted service. With MAK, you simply activate once through Microsoft and walk away.
Works out of the box. No minimum number of hosts required nor are changes to DNS required.

MAK Cons:

Every host must be manually activated.
Once your alloted activations are used up on a single key, you must contact Microsoft to complete the activation process.

What should I expect with an Apple refurb?

2008-05-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

A month ago I started playing with the idea of picking up a Mac for my home. I've been using a Macbook Pro at work for close to 6 months now and have grown quite fond of the platform and so this was really the next logical step. As many of you know Apple products are highly overpriced and so this created a bit of a dilemma for me. I'm cheap. I never pay full price for anything and so began my next mission: picking up a Mac on the cheap.

Since I both work for a University and am a current student there I started looking at educational discounts. These just didn't cut it for me and so I looked at other options such as picking up a used system on Craigslist or running a Hackintosh. The used route just wasn't worth pursuing as most Mac users don't seem to understand that computers depreciate over time. That's right, they aren't worth what you paid for them 2 years ago. Imagine that! Though running a Hackintosh is a cool idea, it just didn't seem practical as one of the main reasons I've moved over to this platform is for its time savings. Hacking an OS to run on PC hardware then dealing with the fact that updates will break the install just didn't seem like an efficient use of my time.

Finally I found what I believe is the best way to go. Refurbs. These systems come with a full 1 year warranty–yes the same one your brand new Mac came with–and cosmetically look brand-spanking new. They cost far less than a new system, and are definitely worth considering over an educational discount. So why wouldn't you want a refurbished Mac?

Warranty - you will receive the exact same warranty a new Mac comes with.
Cosmetics - as you'll see in the pictures-to-follow, they are in the same condition as a new product.
Packaging - okay you've got a point there. If a colourful Apple box is important to you, you'd best go new. The reconditioned Macs come packaged in brown boxes. (see below for pictures of the packaging)
Hardware - depending on the refurb model you choose to go with, you may end up with previous generation hardware. There most certainly are current generation systems available at reduced rates so again this really isn't an issue.

Finally it's worth mentioning that I received my order in 3 business days–now that's impressive!

Here are a few pictures of the unboxing process. Here you'll see a 24" iMac and an AirPort Express, both which were reconditioned.

Apple iMac 24"

Apple Airport Extreme Base Station

As you can see by these pictures, they're basically brand new products in brown boxes. Why wouldn't you purchase a refurb?

Why you shouldn't pay for Banking Services

2008-05-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

How much do you spend per month on your banking services? Typical bank accounts run between $5 and $10 per month or $60 to $100 per year. Spread that out over 30 years and you're spending between three and five thousand dollars more than you should! Banks earn a profit by lending out money, charging service fees, providing other financial services, and investments or securities. In other words, a bank turns a profit on the money you have sitting in your account at any given time. So why should you pay them so that they can earn a return on your savings? Really you shouldn't, and if you are...keep reading!

First I'd like to show you a few graphs detailing the savings described above. Though this won't astonish any of you, it's certainly interesting to see how everything breaks down. The two graphs below detail growth over 30 years for savings of $5/month and $10/month placed into a savings account yielding 3.10%. How else could you save $5 or $10 a month? As you can see, it adds up pretty quickly!

There are a few banks out there that offer free accounts within Canada. I am going to focus on PC Financial in this article as I believe this is the single most lucrative and feature rich account out there with a zero dollar cost. There are many other great options such as ING Direct or Coast Capital Savings to name a few however, I feel quite strongly that their products are inferior.

So what's the deal? How could a bank offer a free chequing account and where's the fine print? Well that's just it, there is no fine print. Honestly. There is one significant difference between PC Financial and all the other Canadian banks and Credit Unions and it's certainly not fine print. PC Financial is a virtual bank. This means their operational costs are significantly reduced due to the fact that the do not run physical branches.

Some avoid virtual banking due to their lack of a "face-to-face" banking experience. This is one of the most common complaints I hear regarding PC Financial. Truth be told, you can walk into almost any Superstore location during their extended banking hours to speak with one of their personal banking reps. They won't be able to hand you cash or take a deposit however they will answer any questions you may have regarding their services and will be happy to walk you over to the ATM to show you the ropes. Additionally their customer service centre is open longer than most banks and hold times typically range from 2-5 minutes in my experience; definitely less time than a quick trip to the bank!

So what else? Well this is the exciting part of virtual banking [for me]. Due to their reduced operational costs, they are able to offer the highest rates on savings accounts in Canada. No locking your money in and no minimum balance. They offer two savings accounts and a chequing account—all for free.

The two savings accounts differ from each other in that the Interest Plus Savings Account only pays the "plus-sized" interest rate on balances above $1000 dollars. At the time of writing there is a 3.10% interest rate on balances above $1000 and 1% on balances below $1000. The Interest First Savings Account pays 2% at the time of writing on all balances. All interest rates are per year, compounded monthly.

The chequing account, coined No Fee Bank Account, offers free cheques, free online banking, free POS transactions (Debit), free bill payments, free transfers between accounts, free deposits, free withdrawals, and so on. It's really just as it sounds...no fee. It's worth pointing out that the savings accounts are also no fee and tie directly into your no-fee chequing account–catching on?

So the second most popular question I am asked regarding PC Financial is about ATM machines and deposits or withdrawals. As a PC Financial customer, you are free (yes free as in zero fees) to use any CIBC ATM or Bank Machine on top of the ATMs located in most if not all Superstore retail locations. How's that for convenience? There are CIBC branches in almost every city I've ever visited and 7-11 stores often have CIBC ATMs as well.

So what's more to say? PC Points. If you don't know what PC Points are, please visit their website. In short, it's a rewards program and coupled with PC Banking, and PC Mastercard it is the most lucrative rewards program I have seen yet. A few years ago I made the brave move from AirMiles to PC Points and I haven't looked back since. Every time you use your PC Financial Debit Card for a POS (Point of Sale) purchase you earn PC Points. There are a number of other ways to earn PC Points such as a PC Mastercard, PC Loans, and PC Mortgages, so check out their website.

So why are you paying for your banking services today and why aren't you taking advantage of the highest savings account interest rate in Canada?

P.s. I don't work for PC Financial, nor did they pay me to write this! This truly is something I am passionate about and I am simply trying to spread the word about something worth considering.

Update: I was asked a few really good questions that may or may not be running through your head as you read this. Here are my answers (which really are a reiteration of statements made above):

Q: What's the catch?

A: There is none! Really, there isn't!

Q: Why isn't everyone using PC Financial?

A: Good question. Mostly due to skepticism–perhaps you're one of them!–however the real answer is that most either don't know about it, know about it and don't know the full details, or simply refuse to "virtual bank".

Q: What about customer service? Perhaps that is why many don't use PC Financial?

A: In my experience, customer service has been a pleasure. I've personally dealt with staff at both the agent and management level and their commitment to satisfaction has been astounding. They have gone above and beyond a number of times for myself and friends a number of times. Truly 5-star customer service.

Wakerupper - your online personal assistant

2008-04-14T10:40:00.001-07:00

Ever wish you had your very own personal assistant? Well now you can...sort of. Wakerupper is yet another free web service and is designed to remind you of anything and everything. Wakerupper will call a phone of your choice and will either play a prerecorded message you submitted or will use text-to-speech technology to read off your prewritten message. You can even add your friends numbers into your account if you decide you want to pester someone say once a day for the next year? So yes, it will do recurring reminders! ;-)

So what exactly does wakerupper do? Well according to their site lots:

Set a wake-up call at a specific time

Remind yourself of important events

Remember to take medication on time

Escape from a boring date or meeting

Remind child or spouse to do chores

Set reminders for tasks and follow-ups

For the occasional reminder you can create reminders without signing up. Simply go to www.wakerupper.com, enter a time and date for the reminder, select a phone number and type your reminder. On schedule you should receive a phone call and your text should be read off to you.

What are the benefits of signing up? Well for starters you will gain access to their new voice feature. Pretty self explanatory here, same idea as before except now you prerecord your reminder. This way you don't have to listen to robot-speak! Additionally an account will give you the ability to snooze calls, create recurring calls, and set an unlimited number of reminders for yourself. Email beta@wakerupper.com to request an account.

X950D 3G PC Card on Rogers Wireless

2008-04-13T16:52:00.000-07:00

I Recently picked up a Merlin X950D Mobile Broadband Expresscard for my MacBook Pro. I'm on the Rogers network in Canada and my commute to work runs approximately 1 hour each direction. I'm fortunate enough to be able to carpool and thus 9 times out of 10 I'm a passenger rather than driver.

This leaves me with a lot of time to read, sleep, listen to music, watch videos, or even work. The latter is probably the most difficult when offline. I recently acquired an iPhone and moved to the $65 Flex Rate PC Card plan that rogers offers leaving me with a ton of unused data transfer. There is simply no way I could use up 1GB on my iPhone. Also the browsing experience on the iPhone over EDGE is sub-par. It works, and it's definitely handy to have however wouldn't it be nice to have a full broadband experience on a full-sized screen while commuting? I think so! :)

So I scoured Craigslist and ended up with the X950D. Here is a breakdown of the specifications:

The Merlin X950D ExpressCard is a next-generation global, tri-band HSUPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS wireless modem. The card can be used in both ExpressCard/34 and 54 slots as well as with Novatel Wireless adapters in PCMCIA and USB slots. Unique to the Merlin X950D, full 2.1 Mbps HSUPA and HSDPA 7.2 Mbps is now a reality. A firmware upgrade will be available to deliver the full 2.1 Mbps HSUPA performance. Mobile users, worldwide, can now enjoy full 3.5G capability in their wireless computing devices as well as utilize the GPS capability offered in the ExpressCard.

If you are looking for more detail, the specification sheet is available in PDF format on their website (direct link): http://www.novatelwireless.com/pdf/Merlin_X950D_datasheet.pdf

I carry it around with me and always keep a thin paper clip inside the case. This is required for removing the SIM out of my iPhone. See my article on the iPhone in Canada for more information on the device and running it on the Rogers or Fido networks.

When I purchased the card up I set it up on Vista however currently I'm using it with OSX 10.5. On Windows setup was a breeze. The software and drivers are actually on the device itself so there is no need to download anything. You simply slide it into the computer and wait a few minutes while it installs. If it doesn't autorun just go to My Computer and double click the new CD Drive that shows up. The client is intuitive enough for anyone to use. I will try to put up a tutorial on this shortly.

Setting it up on Leopard was a bit more involved, though simple enough for almost anyone to handle. Here is the tutorial I followed: http://www.novatelwireless.com/support/Macintosh/MacOSX_Leopard-Novatel_3G.htm. You'll have to download the drivers and set it up manually however once it's set up it's a cinch to use!

So how well does it work on Rogers?

Here are some speedtests:

You will notice that the ping times varied substantially between the two tests. One test was done against a server in Toronto while another was done against Vancouver. In both tests I had 3 out of 5 bars with regards to reception. This is important because throughput is directly effected by signal strength. The stronger the signal the better the throughput. I've had results as high as 3.2Mb downstream and 1.2Mb upstream however I don't have the screenshots from those tests unfortunately.

This card is capable of much higher speeds as the network improves however for now I'm completely satisfied. For those of you who are less technical the average DSL home internet connection is 3Mb downstream and 256kbps upstream. In other-words the upstream is incredibly impressive while the downstream is exactly on par with a typical home internet connection.

I subscribe to the Shaw Xtreme-I package which is 10Mb downstream and 1Mb upstream. To date I have never hit 1Mb upstream and the closest I've been able to get is 989kbps (close but not quite there). Latency definitely affects the user experience and this is where a home DSL or Cable internet connection will definitely outperform a wireless card.

I will try to record a short screencast at some point demonstrating the card in use however that will have to wait for another day. I can say that the experience is definitely on par with your average home internet connection. I find that it does drop occasionally while in a moving vehicle however for the most part it works great. II actually share my connection over WiFi while we commute. This allows others in the car to connect via their laptops, iPods or iPhones. So with 3 or 4 of us connected to the Rogers 3G network it works quite well!

For those concerned with signal strength the card supports an external antenna. Though I have not used it, I'm 100% confident this would provide a significant boost in signal quality. The antennas can be purchased on ebay for about $10 as seen here.

When connected to EDGE speeds are definitely sub-par however this is a 3G card so if you are considering it, you are most likely in a 3G area. If you are looking for a 3G coverage map of Canada click here and select HSPA followed by your city.

Finally it's probably worth mentioning that I seen my first bill after moving to this plan and my usage came out to 856Mb of 1024Mb for the month. Over the course of a month I used the card to watch YouTube videos, synchronize e-mail, IM, Remote Desktop into my work and home computers, and browse the web. As mentioned earlier I also share the connection over WiFi so others in the car were leaching off me as well.

That's it for now. Enjoy your 3G browsing goodness.

Using the iPhone in Canada to its full potential

2008-04-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have an iPhone and I live in canada. It's definitely not a commodity here and I've probably been asked 100 times (literally) the following question: "are iPhones available in Canada yet?". The answer to that question is of course no. So I thought I'd write an article explaining how I got one here and how it's working in Canada.

So first of all you have two options with regards to using the iPhone in Canada. Fido and Rogers. You have a few options for purchasing an iPhone. If you are looking for one brand new you must purchase directly from the Apple store. Believe it or not this is your least expensive route. The other option is to purchase used from somewhere like eBay or Craigslist.

I chose to drive down to the Apple store in Lynnwood, WA for my iPhone. It was worth my while since work was reimbursing me for the phone and I brought a few extras back to flip. If you choose to acquire a used iPhone I'd urge you to unlock and jailbreak it yourself. More on this later.

So the first step once you acquire your device is to jailbreak and unlock it. Jailbreaking is the act of hacking the device to allow for the installation of unauthorized software applications. Unlocking allows you to use your Fido or Rogers SIM card in the phone. To reiterate, jailbreaking allows you to install software on your device while unlocking allows you to actually use it on the Canadian wireless networks.

There are a number of methods for jailbreaking and unlocking all which achieve the same end goal of using your phone in Canada. Here are some options:

ZiPhone - Mac and Windows

Pwnage - Mac only (though a Windows version is in the works)

Liberty+ - Mac and Windows

I would suggest ZiPhone for any first-timers out there. I've used a number of tools over the past month and ZiPhone definitely was the most intuitive. It worked well on both Windows and Leopard as well.

I'm not going to go into detail about unlocking your phone in this article. There are plenty of them out there:

YouTube - Unlock ANY iPhone, ZiPhone tutorial + jailbreak (1.1.4)

iClarified - iPhone - How to Unlock a 1.1.4 iPhone (ZiPhone + ...

IPhone: Unlock iPhone 1.1.3 with ZiPhone for Windows

How to Unlock Your iPhone and fix Wifi, Youtube using iLiberty ...

So once you've unlocked and jailbroken your iPhone the next step is putting your Rogers or Fido SIM card into the phone. For this you'll need a thin paper clip. If you look at the top of your iPhone you'll notice a small hole, simply put the paper clip in the hole and press down on the catch. It should pop out. Here is a quick video tutorial from YouTube:

The next step is to configure the APN settings for your network. This is only applicable if you have a data plan. WiFi is a free alternative however I need Internet access on the go so this isn't an option for me. Go into Settings, General, Network, and finally EDGE. Here you will see three fields: APN, Username, and Password.

On rogers the settings are as follows:

APN: Internet.com

Username: wap

Password: wapuser1

On Fido the settings are as follows:

APN: internet.fido.ca

Username: fido

Password: fido

You should now be able to browse the internet and send/receive email over the EDGE network.

There are a few options with regards to data packages on the Canadian networks. Some have stated that they were successful in setting up the $7/month unlimited browsing package on the iPhone however I'd be cautious here. You can read more about this on howard forums Rogers or Fido. One thing to keep in mind is that the iPhone does use a lot of data. With regular e-mail checks and even small amounts of web browsing you'll find you blow through the standard data packages pretty quickly. I opted for the Flex Rate PC Card plan which starts at $65/month and includes 1GB of transfer. The great things about this particular plan is that if you go over 1GB it automatically bumps you up to the 2GB package which is only $15/month more. This mostly eliminates concern for overage charges of say $85,000 :)

Previously I mentioned that you should unlock and jailbreak the phone yourself and here's why. Apple releases new software upgrades (called Firmware) periodically for both the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Since the products release there have been 4 releases most of which include new functionality or bug fixes. If you purchase an iPhone that's already been unlocked you'll be stuck with the firmware they originally provided you with. It's really a simple process and it takes under 5 minutes to complete.

Finally I'd like to talk about reception. I think it's important to mention that the iPhone has provided me with better cell reception on the Rogers network than any device I've used. I'm able to drive through spots that were dead-zones with my Blackberry Pearl which was definitely not a poor performer with regards to reception.

Why spend more for a quality phone

2008-04-10T22:20:00.000-07:00

How much should you spend on a new phone? What is the best phone out there? Should I purchase an e-mail enabled phone or just go with a standard phone?

The answers to these questions are all subjective and ultimately I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't do. What I can do however is provide you with a little information on why I think an expensive phone is worth the extra coin.

So here's the deal. First you need to determine whether you are looking for a smartphone, or a dumb-phone. According to Wikipedia a smartphone is defined as "a full-featured mobile phone with personal computer like functionality." So features such as a robust web browser and e-mail client, ability to install custom applications, and so on. I'll let you make your own decision on this however keep this in mind; in a year or two every phone will have this sort of functionality. Thus if you intend on purchasing a phone that will still be somewhat current--in that it will support the ongoing mobility trends we see today--get a smartphone. If saving $$ is number one on your list, take whatever you can get for free!

So without further delay...Why spend more for a quality phone? The short answer is that typically phones that cost more are of better quality. Period. Now here's the long answer:

1. Durability

There is no question that higher quality phones are more durable. I have owned and used countless smartphones over the past few years and have experienced this first hand. I have dropped them (over and over and over), sat on them, stepped on them, and dropped them in the toilet--only once!--and have yet to have one fail me!

2. Call clarity

Call clarity refers to the quality of the speech on both ends of the phone. There is a night and day difference between audio on a high and low-end phones. You can identify this by tinny-sounding voices (most common) or distortion.

3. Cell Reception

This is one of the most important things to me. I hate dropping calls and I hate broken-up calls too. Pretty self explanatory here. There is a massive difference and occasionally even a high end phone will sacrifice antenna quality for some other feature. Bottom line is most smartphones are business oriented and antenna quality is typically a well looked after attribute of the phone design.

4. Ease-of-use

This is another big one. Some phones have terrible menu systems. Some are so counterintuitive that even I have trouble navigating. Though this article is not a review of any specific phone it is worth mentioning that Apple definitely has the leading edge here. To reiterate myself, smartphones are business oriented devices and most run third-party operating systems like Microsoft Windows Mobile, or Apple Phone OS or Symbian. This leaves the ease-of-use attribute to the "experts". Typically you can count on the fact that a smartphone will be intuitive and easy to use.

5. Feature-set

This simply refers to the features the device offers. The more money you spend...the more features you get! I believe this is where most make their mistake in assuming that the extra money they are paying for the smartphone is simply for additional features. This is definitely not the case--though I suppose one could include the aforementioned points as features, I don't.

6. Warranty

This is definitely an attractive feature, at least for me. With a smartphone, most wireless providers will cross-ship phones for even the smallest problem you might have with the device. This means no downtime, which is important to business customers, but even for the average consumer it's a nice comfort to know that you won't be stuck with a loaner phone while they repair your device. I've even had a few free upgrades this way when they were unable to replace my phone due to lack of stock or old models. Definitely a good thing! :)

Convinced? Maybe not...but definitely something to consider before purchasing your next mobile phone.

How to get more out of your wireless provider

2008-04-10T10:44:00.001-07:00

So like everyone on this planet I have a cell phone and I honestly don't know what I would do without it. In fact, thinking back over the past 6 years or so I can almost recall every instance where I forgot my phone and didn't have it by my side. It's become a bit of a security blanket for me.

I know you're the same...don't bother denying it...but are you paying too much? Most are and you're probably one of them.

Price Discrimination

There's one thing that I can't stand about my cell phone company and that's the fact that they engage in price discrimination. In short, price discrimination is the practice of charging different prices for the same product in different markets or offering certain buyers price advantages over others. Or to really drive it home, charging you more than they charge your friend.

Over the past 6 years I have been a customer of every major Canadian wireless provider. That's right, Fido, Bell, Telus, and most recently Rogers. I have been on a number of corporate plans, corporate reimbursed plans, employee purchase program plans and most recently retention plans. This is what I want to focus on.

So here's the first point I want to make clear: despite what your corporate rep, your sales agent, or friend might tell you...the best price plan is NOT a corporate plan. It is NOT a promotion nor is it an employee purchase plan. I was under this illusion for a number of years and though I most certainly was paying less than your average customer who took advantage of your average wireless promotion I was still paying more than I had to.

Customer A

The average customer will walk into the store, pick out a phone, pick out a plan--perhaps even a "promotional plan"--and sign a 3 year contract. We'll call this customer A. During this 3 year contract they will remain on the same price plan completely oblivious to the fact that over the course of the 3 years their plan will become obsolete and will be replaced by some cheaper, better plan.

Customer B

Meanwhile another customer will jump on an employee purchase plan, which by-the-way is available on some providers is even available to Airmiles card holders, and will end up paying approximately two thirds of what customer A is paying. We'll call this customer B.

Customer C

Finally our most aggressive customer--customer C--will call the company up and negotiate for the best possible offering. They will do this perhaps by doing a bit of market research and/or reading to determine what other options are out there and will stand firm on the notion that their business is valuable to the company and the company will do whatever it takes to land the contract. In the end...they'll end up as little as a third of what customer A pays and half of what customer B pays.

There are a number of variations in between A, B, and C however these are the most common examples.

How to be a "C" customer

Becoming a "C" customer is actually surprisingly easy. Over the years I have gained expertise on wireless technology, pricing strategies carried out by the providers, negotiating techniques and so on. Couple these together and you've got a pretty good chance in landing that ideal price plan.

Step 1.

First it is important to determine your needs. How many daytime minutes do you need? How many evening minutes? What phone options would you like? How many years are you willing to tie yourself to the provider for?

In our example, our needs are 250 daytime minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends starting at 6pm, caller ID, voicemail, unlimited incoming calls, and unlimited in-network calling, and 100 Canadian long distance minutes. This price plan is a pretty comprehensive and will suit most consumers or business people just fine.

Tip: this price plan is completely achievable in Canada for UNDER $25/month. See Howard Forums retention pages for some real-life examples:

Fido retentions plans -- howard forums

Telus retentions plans -- howard forums

Rogers retentions plans -- howard forums

Bell retentions plans -- howard forums

Step 2.

Call a competitor up and find out what they feel your business is worth. This is often a great strategy for determining what else is available on the market. It's definitely not a required step but will provide you with some awareness as to what else is out there.

Typically I'll call simply to find out what the current promotions for the industry are. They will often provide you with an extremely competitive price-plan in order to win your business. Remember to find out what sort of phone or device they are offering you. CDMA providers such as Telus or Bell often have promotions offering high-end devices such as the blackberry pearl for free. GSM providers such as Rogers or Fido often charge $100-200 more for the SAME device. Use this as leverage.

Step 3.

Call your current provider up and ask to speak with Customer Relations or Customer Retentions. Your reasoning is due to the fact that you are considering the option of cancelling due to the cost of your price plan. You most certainly can bring up the fact that their competitors have better promotions currently on--if true.

Explain to retentions or customer relations that you recently became aware of the fact that you are paying more than you should. Explain what you are trying to achieve: a better price plan for less money and that you would like a new phone for free since this is what the competition always offers on new contracts.

You will most likely be required to sign at least a 2 year contract however in another article I'll explain how to get out of a contract with a company--so this really isn't that big of a deal.

Tips and tricks

So really that's it! Here are a few pointers if you are having trouble achieving results:

1. If you don't succeed at first, try try again. In other words, if you get a retentions rep who clearly isn't interested in helping you out conclude the call by saying "well I'll have to think about your offer" and call back another day. This is key as most of you will find that it takes 2 or 3 calls to land the ideal plan.

2. If they won't give you a free phone, mention the fact that every other wireless company in Canada offers high-end phones for free on all new contracts. Why should your 3 year renewal be any different?

3. One very important thing to remember is the cost of providing services to customers varies based on the service provided. For example for a company to provide you with free Caller ID or Voicemail really costs them nothing. There is little or no additional cost to them in adding one more account to their voicemail system and zero cost to caller ID; so you should always get these features for free.

Long distance is mostly obsolete with the high-speed, high capacity data networks. For the provider to add long distance minutes to your account costs next to nothing. Again this should be a freebie.

In-network calling is another freebie--all of the call traffic when calling from Telus to Telus or Rogers to Rogers stays within their network (with some exceptions) so this should be another freebie.

In other words, look at what you want and determine what things you should be getting for free, and which ones you should be paying [less] for.

That's it! If you have any questions or would like to add anything post in the comments and I'll do my best to incorporate your ideas in an update.

Good luck!

Update: I just stumbled across this article at Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/378353/find-the-perfect-cell-phone-plan-at-billshrink) which may be a good resource for those living in the States. The Service is called BillShrink and it sounds like they have plans to expand the service to include things such as home Internet connections. Though you'll definitely land a better plan by following the steps listed above, it's still worth a look for those too timid to pick up the phone. :)

Evernote, Jott, and my iPhone

2008-04-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ever write something down on a sticky-note only to forget what you stuck it to? Ever written something on a scrap piece of paper only to throw it out? Yeah...been there...done that! Well I've tried to remedy this problem with a number of solutions over the years with products such as Microsoft's OneNote or Stickies. These solutions typically proved to be counter-productive as they were either intended for structured note-taking or in the case of Stickies, simply didn't scale well (or at all).

A few weeks ago LifeHacker published links (Evernote Beta, Using Evernote with Jott) to a new web service called Evernote. This new service, though in Beta, has a number of things going for it I'd like to share how I'm using it to simplify my life.

Prerequisites:

1. Evernote Beta account
2. Jott Account
3. iPhone or other internet capable mobile phone

So first let me provide you with a quick overview of what these products are...and how they are used individually:

Evernote

As described on their website: "Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at anytime, from anywhere." Simply put: Remember Everything!

Simply put, Evernote is your virtual sticky note in "the cloud".

Jott

As described in their website: "Jott converts your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments."

Simply put, Jott is your personal transcriber...more on how this ties into Evernote later.

iPhone

No explanation required. I'll explain why I love my iPhone so much in another post another day.

Simplification

So how do these three products come together to add simplicity to your life? They may not...but they did for me and here's how:

The first step was to begin creating my virtual memory. I did this by adding every piece of information to Evernote that I thought may be useful to me now or in the future. I added things such as web pages I may want to reference or lookup, phone numbers I wanted to remember, items I wanted to remember to pickup next time I was at the store, news articles I found interesting, and just about anything else I could think of that I *may* wish to "remember".

It's really easy to do with the provided Internet Explorer and Outlook plugins. Yes there are other options for those of you who choose not to use Microsoft products. Evernote also provided me with a custom email address that I can use to submit information to my account from anywhere! This is where my iPhone comes in.

While shopping I decided I needed to do some more research on the product before committing to the purchase. I simply took pictures of the product tags and prices in the store using my iPhone and emailed them to my Evernote address. When I got home, they were already synced to my laptop. This saved me from the inevitable issue of forgetting the product name and/or price.

The following video will give you a great overview of how it works:

Next I signed up for a Jott account. I then created a new contact for Evernote using the e-mail address listed in my Evernote account. This allows me to call up Jott, dictate whatever it is that I want to remember and every word I say will be indexed and searchable via any of the Evernote clients.

I often use this to leave short notes for myself while driving. If I hear a song on the radio I want to look up when I get home, I call Jott and say the bands name and song title and hang up. When I get home...it's all there waiting for me.

Finally anytime I'm out and about, I have access to all of my Evernotes via my iPhone--but any Internet capable device will work just as well. I just log onto Evernote Mobile enter in a key word and up comes the note I'm looking for! I can even create short notes and submit them for viewing when I get home.

It's really that simple.

The complex part is figuring out how these tools can work for YOU. Once you do so...I believe it'll save you time, stress, and maybe you'll have a little fun in the process--I did.