OFFICIAL WIND Mobile Discussion Thread

[Psykopathik]

download the battery monitor widgit, then use it to set your phone to AWS only. maybe you'll stay off roaming. however if you lose signal completely, undo it.

[willystyle]

You can change your phone setting to use exclusively AWS. If you own a Samsung device, off the top of my head, enter *#*#4636#*#*, go to Phone Information, then change it to WCDMA Only.

[invader]

Originally Posted by impulseX

holy shit. I'm blown away right now . In my room, so same test setting as my recent speed tests, 3 bars reception.

129ms ping
7.29 mbps down
1.36 mbps up.

Wind mobile Makes me one happy customer
Posted via RS Mobile

Are you tethering then doing the test?

[Peturbo]

Global News | Wind Mobile uses new telecom rules to push for its foreign takeover

[Graeme S]

TL;DR: Wind Mobile will be able to vote in the same proportion to their current financial investment (65.1%). As it stands, Orascom has already financed 65% of Wind, but has no control (all the directors are Canadian, which was to satisfy foreign ownership rules.

I, for one, am happy. It means that Wind will be more confident in dumping more money into the company, rather than potentially getting skittish and ditching. Which means that they're virtually guaranteed (even more than before) to be in for the 700 mHz band, and that we'll be up for having it more quickly than before.

[Graeme S]

Aw, crap.
Buyout of Wind Mobile exec changes telecom climate - The Globe and Mail

The latest move by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE to take full control of Wind Mobile Canada is thrusting Ottawa’s telecom policy back in the spotlight.

Orascom is buying out Wind founder Anthony Lacavera as part of a broader strategy to solidify its control over Canada’s fourth-largest wireless carrier, capitalizing on relaxed rules for foreign investment in telecommunications. In addition to transferring his shares to Orascom, Mr. Lacavera plans to resign as Wind’s chief executive officer once the deal has closed, putting the company’s future in question.
The new federal measures were designed to bolster the long-term viability of Canada’s wireless new entrants by giving them access to more foreign capital, but there are questions in the wake of Friday’s developments about Orascom’s long-term commitment.

Industry sources say the company is studying several options – one of which includes a sale to one of Canada’s three major wireless players. Such an outcome would run counter to the federal government’s years-long effort to create new competition in Canada’s $19-billion wireless industry.

Despite speculation that Mr. Lacavera’s departure from Wind would forge a path to an eventual merger with rival newcomer Mobilicity, industry sources suggest that Wind’s foreign financial backers are anxious to cut their losses and sell their Canadian assets. Sources say that merger talks with Mobilicity have recently run cold as Amsterdam-based VimpelCom Ltd., the majority owner of Orascom, mulls a possible sale of Wind to a Canadian incumbent. Rogers Communications Inc. is the name most often floated as the potential buyer.

Earlier this week, Rogers announced plans to purchase an option to eventually buy wireless spectrum from Shaw Communications Inc. and a source suggests the close timing of the Shaw and Orascom announcements is not a coincidence.

But even if Rogers were interested, there is no telling whether Ottawa would ease its ban on incumbents purchasing spectrum from smaller carriers before 2014. The question now is whether the government would create an exemption to this timeline, given that the startups are widely thought to be financially distressed.

“The wild card is whatever VimpelCom wants to do,” said a source familiar with discussions among the startups. Should they sell to Rogers, or any of the incumbents, and get government approval to do so, consolidation would be off the table.

Both VimpelCom and Rogers declined to comment.

The uncertainty surrounding Wind is casting a shadow over Canada’s other wireless startups, particularly Mobilicity. For more than a year, the company has mulled its options, including an initial public offering or a merger with Wind, but both have remained out of reach.

Should Wind sell to an incumbent, Mobilicity would lack scale on its own to compete with the telecom giants, Rogers, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., dealing another blow to competition in the sector. But even if Ottawa blocked a purchase of Wind by an incumbent, consolidation among the startups isn’t a sure bet.

“Everybody thinks their company’s worth a lot,” the source familiar with discussions said. “Nobody can ever agree on valuation.”

Asked about its plans for Canada at an investor day event earlier this week, VimpelCom chief executive officer Jo Olav Lunder said the company is still pondering its future.

Once the deal to buy out Mr. Lacavera closes, Orascom will own an indirect 99.3-per-cent interest in Globalive Wireless Management Corp., which operates under the Wind Mobile name. Orascom is taking advantage of new federal measures that allow for 100-per-cent foreign ownership of Canadian telcos with market share of 10 per cent or less.

In addition to the title of “honorary chair,” Mr. Lacavera will retain a minority economic stake in Wind.

TL;DR: some uncertainty, may keep going or may sell of to one of the big three (current rumor, Rogers).

I think it would be absofuckinglutely HILARIOUS if all the people who ditched Rogers for Wind ended up as Rogers customers again.

[StylinRed]

i dont see what the issue is with letting foreign telecoms to come in... especially not when you realize we sell our oil companies to state owned companies -_-

[CT10]

Originally Posted by Graeme S

Aw, crap.
Buyout of Wind Mobile exec changes telecom climate - The Globe and Mail


TL;DR: some uncertainty, may keep going or may sell of to one of the big three (current rumor, Rogers).

I think it would be absofuckinglutely HILARIOUS if all the people who ditched Rogers for Wind ended up as Rogers customers again.

Doubt the CRTC would let any one of Rogers/Telus/Bell buy out WIND or Mobilicity...

[Graeme S]

Why not? Given the fact that Wind is the bigger one and only just hit 2% market cap...

That and the fact they seem to think that RoBelLus creating new wholly owned sub-brands counts as 'competition' leads me to believe they've got their head further up their asses than we give the government credit for normally.

[impulseX]

Originally Posted by invader

Are you tethering then doing the test?

nope. literally just laying in bed, couldn't fall asleep so i played around on my phone, and thought, lets try a speed test and that was the result

[willystyle]

I don't believe that article one bit.

First of all, WIND is not allowed to sell its company to any of the big 3 until 2014/2015. Secondly, the government would not allow such a transaction as it would be counter-intuitive to its original plan in 2008. Thirdly, Industry Canada is already in the process of trying to shake up the wireless industry in Canada by introducing online surveys and questionnaires a few months to ago to Canadians to see what kind of changes Canadians would like to see (abolishment of 3 year contracts, Including caller ID in all plans, getting rid of national roaming, etc).

I just don't see the government not allowing WIND to be foreign owned, particularly when the government changed its laws last year and went against the recommendation from the Supreme Court of Canada to not allow WIND to operate.

They've opened the door to allow foreign investment, broke down a few walls for them to operate, then they would allow them to sell it to Robellus? I highly doubt it. That would be a slap ib the face to the Conservative government.

In the article, it mentioned "Wind Mobile Canada is thrusting Ottawa's telecom policy", what does that even mean? Is that an issue with Industry Canada? CRTC? Conservative government? Supreme Court of Canada? There's no direct source nor quote. I think the globe and mail is just trying to stir shit up.

What industry source? A sales rep. from Rogers?

[FerrariEnzo]

I dont believe one bit until its actually from the CEO that Wind is going to be sold to robelus.... these are just speculations...

[CT10]

Originally Posted by Graeme S

Why not? Given the fact that Wind is the bigger one and only just hit 2% market cap...

That and the fact they seem to think that RoBelLus creating new wholly owned sub-brands counts as 'competition' leads me to believe they've got their head further up their asses than we give the government credit for normally.

Well I think because the original intention of putting up the bands for auction, was to allow new startups to purchase wireless bands and make an entry in the market to compete with the big 3. By letting one of the big 3 buy out WIND, goes against the government's original intentions, and will just end up making them look stupid.

They're trying to bring in more competition and more options for consumers, and not going back to step 1 like in 2008.

[FerrariEnzo]

Wind Mobile chief and founder Lacavera stepping down

Holy shit... looks like its for real!

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

Wind Mobile chief and founder Lacavera stepping down

Holy shit... looks like its for real!

Calm down, this is a natural progression, it was expected that Vimpelcom would take over WIND Mobile after Ottawa decided to allow foreign ownership. Obviously, they would come in, replace the existing Canadian owner with their own foreign CEO.

[willystyle]

The winds are certainly changing over at WIND Mobile. Potentially new leadership is on the horizon, new devices are coming soon, and now we’ve been informed that the carrier is shifting around their rate plans again. There’s no clear date as to when this will happen – my bet is by the time the BlackBerry 10 device launches – but gone are the recently revamped 2-plan structure ($25 and $40 month plans) and incoming are 3 monthly offerings.

Basically it’s $20 for Unlimited Talk/Text, $30 for Unlimited Data/Talk/Text and $40 for Unlimited Data/Talk/Text/International. It also seems that WIND has opened the plans up to Pay Before (prepaid) and Pay After (postpaid) customers, plus the fine print in the doc we received says that existing customers can hop on board one of the new plans “without paying any migration fee.” Below are all the the details:

$20 per month:
- Unlimited Local calling
- Unlimited WIND-to-WIND Canada-wide calling
- Unlimited Texts within Canada
- Call Control included (Missed Call alerts, Conference calling, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting))
- Data: $5/100MB up to a max of $25/month
- Extras such as Voicemail are $8/month, Unlimited US calling and texting is $10/month
- “No system access fees, no 911 fees, no activation fees. No Joke”

$30 per month:
- Unlimited province-wide calling
- Unlimited WIND-to-WIND Canada-wide calling
- Unlimited Texts/Picture/Video within Canada
- Call Control included (Missed Call alerts, Conference calling, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting))
- Unlimited Data
- Extras such as Voicemail are $8/month, Unlimited US calling and texting is $10/month
- “No system access fees, no 911 fees, no activation fees. No Joke”

$40 per month:
- Unlimited Canada-wide calling
- Unlimited WIND-to-WIND Canada-wide calling
- Unlimited Texts/Picture/Video International, US and Canada
- Call Control included (Missed Call alerts, Conference calling, Call Forwarding, Call Waiting))
- Unlimited Data
- World Saver is included
- Extras such as Voicemail are $8/month, Unlimited US calling and texting is $10/month
- “No system access fees, no 911 fees, no activation fees. No Joke”

(Thanks tipster!)

WIND Mobile changing up monthly rate plans again | MobileSyrup.com

[FerrariEnzo]

wow.. that $40plan looks real good... international text/pic/video included... sounds tempting...

[willystyle]

They've made the REGULAR plans EVEN BETTER with NEW OWNERSHIP. Amazing.

[FerrariEnzo]

Originally Posted by willystyle

They've made the REGULAR plans EVEN BETTER with NEW OWNERSHIP. Amazing.

prolly to get more subs to look more appealing then sell us off.. haha

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo

prolly to get more subs to look more appealing then sell us off.. haha

It's a real possibility, but way to be pessimistic.

[invader]

Wait...
They can't change anything on current customers can they?
The new $40 plan doesn't look better than what they have now, if anything they are charging for voicemail and US calling now.

[willystyle]

Originally Posted by invader

Wait...
They can't change anything on current customers can they?
The new $40 plan doesn't look better than what they have now, if anything they are charging for voicemail and US calling now.

Unless you are on a temporary plan, they can't change it. They've been charging Voicemail for some time now. Voicemail is useless for most people anyway, if you really need it, there are free 3rd party alternatives out there (refer to the OP). As for US Calling, there are TONS of free options available out there where I don't even know where to begin to suggest (from free alternatives like Dell Voice, to the more robust and complicated method of using Google Voice). These changes don't really affect all that much in the big scheme of things.

To add, Google Voice is coming to Canada (I know it hasn't been officially announced yet, but they have set up routing numbers in Vancouver, and across the country in recent months, where I suspect that service will be officially launching soon). Google Voice allows free calling within US and Canada, and it allows Visual Voicemail, etc. You can also transfer your existing mobile, home number, etc. to their service and utilize only one number.

[Psykopathik]

"unlimited province wide calling" ?

meaning no roaming charges in B.C. except for data?

[CRS]

Originally Posted by Psykopathik

"unlimited province wide calling" ?

meaning no roaming charges in B.C. except for data?

No, it means you can call any 250 number from a wind zone and not get charged LD.

[Psykopathik]

meh, save my $1/month and stick with my BTS plan. i don't need picture texting.