Somehow I found this quote funny...haha...
Ironically with the possibility of Rogers charging for tethering...the N900 might be my data plan strategy. I love using my N810 tethered to my E65...if they start charging extra for tethering then I can just put that extra $ towards my N900 purchase.

How are they actually going to control that?

The plan you quoted is for WAP or Fido proved sites only.

Perhaps that is the intent from Fido's side; I did manage to visit my homepage using the built-in browser (looked horrible due to my amateurish CSS skills though), I downloaded Google Mail and Maps J2MEE apps, and I connected the built-in Mail client to Gmail's imap server. I even tried tethering my N800 quickly and the Gmail notifier managed to update its status.

Didn't see additional charges. I'm guessing though if they see huge data transfers they would take notice :-)

Note also that I didn't get the google apps to work - apparently I need to install a different configuration into the phone to have java apps access the correct proxy.

So yes, I pretty sure they WANT this plan to be only for dumbphones accessing WAP sites. And for 99% of their customers, that's all it's gonna be. But I think if one is reasonable (wrt data volume) the utility can be pushed a little...

Of course, if one of Wind, Dave, or even Videotron actually get around to offering decent data service dans la belle provence, I'll be off Fido very quickly.

Some more info on what Windmobile.ca may be offering. Unlimited plans, unlimited data (seems like only one data plan for everyone - hopefully it is like $20), $20 starting package, no contract, no system access fee. Looking good!

Rate Plans


Further info on what Wind has to offer

Tower locations

*disclaimer - the rate plans may not be factual - at this point, they are to be taken as speculation.

Sigh. All those towers are in Ontario... I'm happy for you. Sad for me.

A test of Wind:

I retested my N900 at a WIND store today. For those not in the know - WIND just started operations one month ago, but has been plagued by network problems. Canadian N900 owners are very interested in them since they are operating under the correct 3G frequencies for the N900 (the only one presently in Canada to do so).

It came to light that they were port-blocking on the data plan, so many services were not working. I wrote a letter to their Chief Customer Officer, detailing the situation, and he promptly replied. 48 hours later, a fix was announced on their blog! He even mentioned me in on of his posts on the subject (look at comment #1 - it is my 3 seconds of fame).

My test was successful! The one I performed last week was not.

1. Google Talk registered immediately
2. SIP (Gizmo) registered immediately
3. SSH from the CLI to my server worked
4. Call from store's line to my Gizmo rang immediately, and voice worked.
5. Call from N900 to store - rang, but N900 did not indicate the call had picked up on the other end. This may be due to a bug in F/W PR1.01 that I was running at the time related to high latency between SIP UI and SIP events being sent (bug 5523 ). I updated my F/W to PR1.1 that was released today after visiting the store, and I believe that will solve this issue.
6. Google Talk IM to a contact of mine worked both ways.

Pretty impressed! I did not have my N800 with me, otherwise I would have also tried BT tethering. Waiting a bit for coverage in my area to improve now before switching carriers.

Now all they need to do is toss up some more towers and good to go!

EIPI: Those ports were block on output or input?
And on that blog post of them, am i understanding correctly that they're just opening up a bunch of ports instead of everything and still blocking p2p (whatever that means, torrent / amule / ...?) on a cell data plan?

Also laptop is 55$ a month but cheapest voice + data is 50$ ... !?

Confused :-)

@R-R: Not sure if they were blocked both ways. Last week, I tested one of their sim cards, and none of the above protocols worked. They opened up a bunch of ports on the mobile plan. p2p is bit torrent and the like. That is allowed under the usb stick plan for $55. You're right that in most cases, it is $5 cheaper to get the cheap voice plan plus mobile data plan rather than the usb stick plan.