OFFICIAL WIND Mobile Discussion Thread

[willystyle]

Government announces AWS-3 spectrum auction for early next year, sets aside 30Mhz for existing new entrants

At a brief press conference in Toronto this morning, Industry Minister James Moore reiterated his government’s plan to foster a sustainable wireless market, with four competitive companies operating in each region, across Canada.

To that end, he announced the streamlining of a new spectrum auction, dubbed AWS-3, with 50Mhz of paired spectrum that sits next to, and functions identically to, the airwaves that were auctioned in 2008.

While the government recently held an auction for all-important 700Mhz spectrum, which travels further and penetrates thick walls better than what we consider “higher” spectrum — including AWS — none of the current new entrants except for Videotron’s parent company managed to find the necessary capital to bid on it.

In this auction, the government is setting aside 60% of the spectrum, 30 of the 50Mhz, for operating new entrants such as WIND Mobile, Mobilicity and Videotron. Specifically, operators with less than 10% national and 20% provincial market share will have bidding priority.

The auction has been designed to make it easy for these existing new entrants to obtain at least 10Mhz of paired spectrum, which would be enough for companies like WIND to launch LTE service in the areas they currently operate. This is the major stipulation: the set-aside spectrum is available only to companies operating in specific areas, so WIND wouldn’t have access to it in Saskatchewan, even if it owns non-deployed spectrum there already.

Another spectrum auction so soon after the 700Mhz is likely an indicator that the government did not get the results it wanted to foster wireless competition across Canada. WIND’s parent company pulled out of the auction at the last minute due to ownership disputes with the GoC, and Mobilicity was nowhere near financially capable of bidding. This auction is meant to catalyze the consolidation of WIND and Mobilicity, perhaps by Quebecor, which would then have prime spectrum in both AWS and 700Mhz to more readily compete with Rogers, Bell and Telus.

During the Canadian Telecom Summit in June, Videotron announced a campaign called Wireless for Less, a lobby play for an auction very much like this. If Quebecor were to purchase WIND and Mobilicity — and it appears to be the only Canadian company with both the capital and incentive to do so — it would have roughly a million subscribers across three of Canada’s most populace provinces, in addition to its Quebec-based Videotron business, as well as a huge amount of set-side AWS-3 spectrum to launch a nation-wide LTE network. It would, of course, need to own both new entrants before the start of the auction, since the provider needs to be operating in the regions if it wants access to the set-aside.

AWS-3 is adjacent spectrum to what was auctioned in 2008, though it’s unclear at this point whether current AWS-compatible smartphones will work.

The government will hold a public consultation this summer to hammer down the finer details of the AWS-3 auction.

Update: As the current band plan for AWS-3 is not yet known, we cannot say for certain whether current devices will work, though it’s likely that the airwaves will be consolidated into the Band IV plan.

Government announces AWS-3 spectrum auction for early next year, sets aside 30Mhz for new entrants | MobileSyrup.com

[willystyle]

I can just picture Robellus rolling out their attack campaigns again.

[iEatClams]

I'm trying to get a phone for my mom as she only needs basic talk + text and VM.

but wind doesn't do windtab on basic talk and text plans. LAME

right now it's $25 + 8 = $33 for talk and text and VM. but you cant even go on a wind tab so you have to buy a phone outright. kinda not worth it if you do the math.

even virgin and koodo and fido have $0 subsidized phones on their $29 /$32 plans.

I know a lot of people in this situation that are just looking for a cheap talk and text phone and want some subsidies so they dont have to pay $200-$400 up front for a new phone

[Psykopathik]

^^ Try 7-11 Speakout. $100 credit lasts for a full year. add more $ as you need it. you can top up online too. they have cheap (dumbphones) phones too. or bring your own unlocked device.

I strongly recommend disabling voicemail. spammers will eat up all your minutes/$.

Petro canada is also good

[willystyle]

What network does speakout use?

[DJ Milk]

Rogers

[yameen]

look into chatr for just voice plans. it's $20 with $80 credit.

[quasi]

I really need help deciding on which carrier to go with. I keep flip flopping between trying Wind and going with a different carrier. I've talked to people on Wind I get mixed opinions, it's almost like they totally love it and are happy or totally hate it and tell me stay away.

Obviously the price point is the biggest seller, No contract and $40 + tax for basically unlimited Canada wide calling and more data then I could use. I realize it depends on what area your in, I live in Cloverdale and Winds Coverage map shows coverage around my house (assuming it's accurate) but my work it shows as variable coverage. Generally speaking I'm in one of these two spots 95% of the time.

If I buy a Galaxy S5 or a HTC One M8 through Wind and I'm not happy with them am I limited on which carriers I can take the phone to? I will not sign a contract no matter which carrier I go to. Any help or opinions with Wind would be appreciated.

[Acethriller]

Originally Posted by quasi

I really need help deciding on which carrier to go with. I keep flip flopping between trying Wind and going with a different carrier. I've talked to people on Wind I get mixed opinions, it's almost like they totally love it and are happy or totally hate it and tell me stay away.

Obviously the price point is the biggest seller, No contract and $40 + tax for basically unlimited Canada wide calling and more data then I could use. I realize it depends on what area your in, I live in Cloverdale and Winds Coverage map shows coverage around my house (assuming it's accurate) but my work it shows as variable coverage. Generally speaking I'm in one of these two spots 95% of the time.

If I buy a Galaxy S5 or a HTC One M8 through Wind and I'm not happy with them am I limited on which carriers I can take the phone to? I will not sign a contract no matter which carrier I go to. Any help or opinions with Wind would be appreciated.

I think whether the response you get is love it or hate it really depends heavily on the location they are using it at the majority of the time. Signal is great at some areas while you may get little to no signal at other areas.

You would be able to have the phone unlocked if you choose to use it at a different carrier. Wind used to provide the unlock code free of charge after a certain amount of time being with them, not sure if it's still the same now.

[JKam]

Originally Posted by quasi

I really need help deciding on which carrier to go with. I keep flip flopping between trying Wind and going with a different carrier. I've talked to people on Wind I get mixed opinions, it's almost like they totally love it and are happy or totally hate it and tell me stay away.

Obviously the price point is the biggest seller, No contract and $40 + tax for basically unlimited Canada wide calling and more data then I could use. I realize it depends on what area your in, I live in Cloverdale and Winds Coverage map shows coverage around my house (assuming it's accurate) but my work it shows as variable coverage. Generally speaking I'm in one of these two spots 95% of the time.

If I buy a Galaxy S5 or a HTC One M8 through Wind and I'm not happy with them am I limited on which carriers I can take the phone to? I will not sign a contract no matter which carrier I go to. Any help or opinions with Wind would be appreciated.

I'm on it, I'm happy about my bill every month and the great add-ons ($15 unlimited US roaming)

I'm unhappy when I get drops at burrard skytrain and certain parts in Richmond. Also unhappy with some random drops every now and then, maybe once every other week. I've noticed that cal clarity isn't the best either. When I was on Rogers, everything was crisp but now, I have to turn the volume up to max and it's still a little muffled (using the same phone, Nexus 5)

I'm mixed about the tethering speeds (sometimes facetime on the ipad is smooth, other times its choppy as hell) and the lack of LTE speeds.

So it's up to you if you can live with 95% uptime, slower speeds and lower voice quality.


**I mostly use the service in Burnaby/Brentwood and Surrey/Fraser Heights

[Spoon]

I grew up in the days when cell phones didn't even exist. So while the clarity and coverage for voice call is a minus for a lot of people, it's not a huge deal for me. Heck I sometimes view it as a god send.

My main use for the plan is for the data. And I happily donate my $40 every month.

Unless my cellphone usage turns from personal use to business use, I don't think I'll be changing networks anytime soon.

[evil_jigglypuff]

I have been with wind for almost 3 years and I am pretty happy with them. I am usually in the Guildford, Fleetwood, Surrey Central, Willowbrook area and I use it for personal and business. Like what a lot of people had already mentioned, it drops calls, voice clarity is not the greatest, etc...

How I see it is if it drops calls and it was a really important call then just call them back or they will call you back. Caller ID is free lol. Again for voice clarity, just give them a call back. As for roaming, I just call them up to add the $15 unlimited roaming. When i dont need it anymore, I just call them to remove it and they prorate the fees.

The only time i won't have any signal at all is when I am at my parents in the Newton/Panorama Ridge area. I'm not always there so it doesnt really bother me. if someone was trying to reach me during those times and it was an important call, they can just leave a voicemail. I have a buddy who lives in the cloverdale area and he is with rogers. he still drops calls and the odd clarity issues. He is paying at least $80/month...

So yeah, $40 + tax for some minor inconveniences... it's all good for me.

[JKam]

Originally Posted by evil_jigglypuff

As for roaming, I just call them up to add the $15 unlimited roaming. When i dont need it anymore, I just call them to remove it and they prorate the fees.

They dont pro-rate anymore as of last month I think.

[evil_jigglypuff]

I was able to do it last month and only had to pay for 2 days for the unlimited roaming. I will double check though. I hope they would still do it.

[Gucci Mane]

Originally Posted by evil_jigglypuff

I have been with wind for almost 3 years and I am pretty happy with them. I am usually in the Guildford, Fleetwood, Surrey Central, Willowbrook area and I use it for personal and business. Like what a lot of people had already mentioned, it drops calls, voice clarity is not the greatest, etc...

How I see it is if it drops calls and it was a really important call then just call them back or they will call you back. Caller ID is free lol. Again for voice clarity, just give them a call back. As for roaming, I just call them up to add the $15 unlimited roaming. When i dont need it anymore, I just call them to remove it and they prorate the fees.

The only time i won't have any signal at all is when I am at my parents in the Newton/Panorama Ridge area. I'm not always there so it doesnt really bother me. if someone was trying to reach me during those times and it was an important call, they can just leave a voicemail. I have a buddy who lives in the cloverdale area and he is with rogers. he still drops calls and the odd clarity issues. He is paying at least $80/month...

So yeah, $40 + tax for some minor inconveniences... it's all good for me.

i also live in that area. i switched my mom over to my old wind line because of that very reason. funny thing is, im on bell now and the phone still doesnt work in most spots of the house and i pay double then what i payed with wind. fuck.

i also just used the wind line while i was down in LA for the week. fuck was it ever a life saver. data was good everywhere except for the outer parts of the city and the in mountains but that was kind of expected.

[willystyle]

As the summer months beckon Canadians to the far reaches of their expansive country, the incumbents boast of unbeatable coverage and higher speeds in more places. As each carrier announces multi-million dollar investments in specific parts of the country — TELUS in Ontario, Rogers in British Columbia — it would be easy to dismiss the remaining national new entrants, particularly Wind and Mobilicity, as too little, too late.

But while Mobilicity teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, Wind continues to shine in its limited capacity, netting higher postpaid subscribers than Rogers this past quarter. It posted record revenue in April and May, and promises to continue that momentum on the back of its extremely successful Unlimited USA plan, which combines Canadian and American talk, text and data into a single monthly fee.


Tony Lacavera, Wind Canada’s Chairman, sees a positive outcome from this tenuous period. The government’s recent decision to regulate domestic roaming will make it cheaper for Wind, and ultimately its customers, to travel outside of the company’s Home network, and there’s already evidence that such a move will improve Wind’s prospects in the market. To wit, four months after Wind introduced its Unlimited USA plan there are now 30,000 customers taking advantage of it, and roaming data traffic has increased by 100 times.

At home, Wind customers are using 1.5GB of data per month, up 600MB from a year ago, and over 90% of all devices sold from its 300 stores are smartphones, 85% of which run Android. And though the company continues to fall behind the incumbents by not offering LTE connectivity, 360 of its 1408 cell sites are already Dual-Carrier HSPA+ enabled, capable of pulling speeds of 42Mbps in the downlink, with more to come.

“The reality is that the business of Wind is doing far better than has been reported by both the media and analysts. We’re here to stay,” said Lacavera during an interview at the Canadian Telecom Summit this week. “But we still have ownership challenges,” referring to the ambiguous state of foreign investor Vimpelcom’s attempt to buy a controlling stake in Wind Canada, which was blocked last year by the government.

Wind exists in what Lacavera calls “a nebulous state,” where investors are weary to strike deals with a company they are unsure will be allowed by the government. Just last year the government, which has reiterated it wants a fourth national wireless carrier in every Canadian region, blocked the sale of Allstream, a division of MTS, to former Wind Mobile owner Naguib Sawiris, on security-related grounds.

Though Wind is struggling to raise funds for larger investments, and could not obtain the necessary capital to invest in the recent 700Mhz spectrum auction, Lacavera is confident about the company’s future. “We are a stable business with good distribution,” he said. Not only is the company perceived as having a much stronger national network since the rollout of Unlimited USA, but it is filling in coverage gaps in large Canadian cities its towers previously could not reach.

Lacavera acknowledges that Wind needs LTE coverage to stay competitive in the future, but maintains that DC-HSPA+ provides sufficient speeds for most users most of the time. He also says that Wind’s ability to acquire high-end Android flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G2 and HTC One M8 on the same day as the incumbents has done wonders for the company’s positive perception in the markets it serves.

Unfortunately, Wind still only covers 14.2 million customers, and will eventually reach 15 million by mid-2015. Without additional spectrum, not only can’t Wind roll out LTE but it can’t fill in the coverage gaps made easier by low-band 700 or 850Mhz frequencies. While upcoming spectrum auctions, including 2500Mhz early next year and, later, 600Mhz and AWS-3, could be potential acquisition targets, Lacavera says the only way to quickly and cost-effectively roll out LTE is to partner with another new entrant like Mobilicity, Videotron or Shaw, all of which are sitting on AWS spectrum.

Lacavera notes that the government has made significant improvements in the plight of the new entrant since Wind launched in 2009, but “ridiculous roaming costs, a failed tower-sharing regime, and fragmented spectrum across new entrants, such that no one new entrant…had sufficient spectrum, combined with unfettered anti-competitive behaviour from incumbents,” fashioned the unfortunate outcome we see today.

But Wind is still running a business. It has 25,000 iPhone 5s devices across its 735,000 subscribers, while Samsung comprises 30% of its smartphone sales and 50% of its revenue. The company’s postpaid churn has declined to “Big Three levels” at 1.3%, and postpaid ARPU (average revenue per customer) stands at $38, slowly eating away at the delta with Rogers, Bell and Telus. While it won’t make any money in 2014, increasing customer run-rate and lower capital expenditures will likely lead to a profit by mid-2015.

Later this year, likely by the end of the summer, Wind will roll an unlimited Canadian roaming option, and plans to offer LTE roaming in the United States by the end of the year. Though it will continue to be dismissed by the incumbents as a small fish in a big national pond, Wind is clearly weathering the fight better than Mobilicity, which is currently in creditor protection and may face bankruptcy in the coming weeks.

Whether Wind partners with Videotron, finds a way to purchase Mobilicity or continues to go it alone, Lacavera continues to be a confident outlier, a tentative supporter of the current government’s plans and the head of the only company offering a substantially cheaper option for wireless data in places like Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.

WIND Mobile in it for the long haul, promises Lacavera | MobileSyrup.com

[willystyle]

^ I will jump on it when it releases and be on roaming 24/7. Hopefully it will be an $10 add-on.

[willystyle]

Wind Mobile is bringing in some new roaming rates for Canadians traveling off the Wind Home network in Canada and the United States. The carrier’s new roaming charges go into effect next week and will see the price of data roaming drop significantly.

Roaming is never cheap, but carriers are slowly realizing that competitive roaming rates are becoming more important for customers, especially those that travel to close-by destinations on a regular basis.

Back in January, Wind Mobile introduced a $15 add-on for unlimited US roaming. Now, the company is cutting the price of roaming for users who don’t have this package.

According to a leaked Wind Mobile document obtained by MobileSyrup, the new plans will see outgoing and incoming calls to Canada and USA numbers drop from 20¢ per minute to 15¢ per minute. Outgoing texts will drop from 15¢ to just 5¢ while incoming texts will remain free.

Perhaps the biggest news is on the data side, as data roaming will drop from $1/MB to just 5¢/MB. Wind Mobile users roaming off network in Canada will also now get HSPA+ download speeds up to 42.2 Mbps.

Another change is the addition of a $7.50/month bring-your-own-device (BYOD) credit. The document notes that the credits will be added to one’s account to be used with add-ons and pay-per-use features.

These changes will take effect on August 21st.

Wind Mobile drops rates for users roaming in USA and Canada | MobileSyrup.com

[willystyle]

Not bad for 100MB of roaming data for $5.

[Graeme S]

I wonder if the BYOD will apply for grandfathered customers like me; I've got the original $45 unlimited evening including worldwide text for $30. I wonder if they'd grant me a credit for things like roaming.

[willystyle]

Yah i am hoping that it will work for grandfathered plans as well. Hoping someone will call in and ask.

Originally Posted by Graeme S

I wonder if the BYOD will apply for grandfathered customers like me; I've got the original $45 unlimited evening including worldwide text for $30. I wonder if they'd grant me a credit for things like roaming.

[Simulated]

Ecstatic to see these price drops. I'm rarely outside of Wind's coverage but this will help for the odd time here and there.

[Psykopathik]

edit: nevermind.

[willystyle]

WIND is down in GVA.

Twitter

[DanHibiki]

^ no wonder. I restarted my phone a bunch of times already.