I tether with the $15 plan nonetheless. Even at $40 (officially for phone-as-modem) i'll still pay that than stand T-mobile's sloooow network, anyday. Seriously, Tmobile U.S.A is a bad joke, 2007 and still no 3G. Even regional carriers have 3G..

Please, if you're capped at 1GB a month, then where is the comparison with a carrier like Sprint, whose unlimited IS unlimited? (Verizon, the shady one, is somewhere around 5GB, rumor has it).

Your prices don't compare with the U.S at all. Here, data is targeted for more than just email, there's T.V, music, navigation and so forth, which leaves no room for your 1GB cap. Heck i chew through 1GB in a week on my Treo with my version of regular use (web, email, Orb, Sprint TV, internet radio, YouTube, tethering to N800 and so on). $25 for unlimited data and text...doesn't compare at all.

Many people will struggle to exceed a 1GB cap when using a small handheld device where web browsing behaviour is completely different to that on the desktop which is dominated by large downloads, something you won't do so much of on a handheld device which is used for occasional browsing. I realise 1GB isn't unlimited but to all intents and purposes it's way more than most people need. Now if you're hooking up your dekstop to the internet via your phone that's a different story...

Couldn't agree with you more!
I am on the old 1X network on a Treo650 and they are still charging full price, same as newer users/units on the EVDO higher speed. So for $25 bucks I get 4mbs of data. $30 per mb after that if I go over the package max. A few 1mb web pages and your DONE.
Forget about if you dare to send an image 'file'-jpg. That is considered somehow different and charged additional.
Text messaging is just a crime here. Its like the game of blocking and then charging you extra for your call-display to work(approx $60per yr). The hardware itself was already inherently capable of knowing the incoming call number.

The signal is already digital in the first place be it audio for voice or so-called text messaging which to me is a 'down grading' from the switching already needed for real time audio voice. Yet they are getting away with charging "extra" for these 'features'?

In Canada, a lot of this 'infrastructure' has been in place for some time now, so the argument that is often peddled by these carriers about population and costs of 'development' etc. is bogus. Profit Mongering is the motive and I find being a client service specialist myself, they are missing the real point here, dragging behind the States by easily a decade. Really there is no reason for that. We invented and manufacture half this stuff in the first place, here in Canada!

Public access hotspots?! In Ottawa, good luck with that, and to think this is the nations capital. ( read as sarcastically light hearted)

Probably unrelated, but when in Canada (well, Ottawa really) I don't even dare to use the hotel phone for phoning another room, for fear of being charged, after the time I had do make a few short, very important calls over to Europe. For some reason the connection failed for 4 out of 5 calls, I was still charged 40 dollars for a non-connecting call..! After that the hotel phone became to me a bit like those mini-bars with sensors where you're charged just by looking at the goods.. I won't go near it (if you ever saw the Dilbert cartoon about hotel minibars you'll see what I mean.)