I’ve unlocked many a device over the years and this is not a new process. You can typically unlock a device online for as low as $10 and as high as $30. It depends on the device and the carrier it’s locked with. So, where does this $50 fee come from? Who, in their right mind, creates a new product/offering and decides to charge MORE than the competition? And not just a little more, we’re talking about $20-$40 more. I’m sure they will sucker some people into paying that fee, but most people that know about unlocking the phone will know that they can get it cheaper elsewhere.

Sadly, this is just another example of how Canadian carriers are screwing over their customers. From 3 year contracts – not heard of anywhere else in the world, to overpriced services  that can be found elsewhere for less. I was really hoping that the entrance of new carriers would shake things up a little more than they have been able to do. While it has helped with a reduction in pricing, there is still a long way to go with their networks and therefore, they haven’t really been a serious threat to the big three.

It would be nice if we could see some governing body stand up for the consumer and show the big three that these tactics will not be tolerated. The CRTC would have been a good place for this, but they have already proven to the Canadian people that they are more interested in serving the views of big business and not of the Canadian people. With any luck, we’ll see the new additions applying more and more force on the big three and in a couple years time things may be different.

While we don’t truly know how many people WIND has signed up there are estimates of 30,000. That is not even close to being an acceptable number for a multi-million dollar leap-of-faith that seemed to have things right. With a CEO that seems to be on the ball, an experienced management team and a good story to tell how is that WIND has done so poorly.

Most of what you will read is that WIND was just not ready, and that is true, but it isn’t about having the right billing system, customer service or bullet-proof network. Their problem is in marketing.

WIND’s marketing strategy for launch is one that sounds like a great idea but just doesn’t have a mass momentum to it. They decided to offer simple plans that included unlimited calls, text messages and data but the complicating portion is the network coverage and confusions over “Home Zones” and “Away Zones”. Basically, things in your plan are unlimited while in your Home Zone but once outside that relatively small area you are now roaming and are charged per call/text/kb. People just did now feel there was enough of a benefit to take a chance with WIND…if they even knew about them in the first place.

If you build it, they will come. Or not.

So, is WIND coming unraveled? A bit, yes, but I don’t think this will be a long term problem. Chris Robbins (Chief Customer Officer) and Scott Waller (Head of IT) have been dumped, possibly more as scape goats but that’s hard to know from the outside. I can tell you that there is a lot of internal turmoil and tension, not to mention alleged heat coming from Egyptian investor, Orascomm. As seasoned as Tony Lacavera likes to think he is he still needs to learn from challenges like this. If he weathers them he and his companies will be much stronger down the road.

Perhaps WIND should have waited until their network was larger, maybe they should have tested more to make sure of stability but I think they could have still launched when they had. But they should have launched as a very different service that the incumbents rather than an alternative. By trying to position themselves as equal-but-better than the big three they set themselves up for failure.

I’m more of a critic than a creative thinker, so I really don’t have a golden goose for WIND but perhaps if they had pushed its benefits more aggressively and been very clear on limitations they could have done better.

WIND will survive this and will no doubt put on a new dress. What remains to be seen is whether the makeover will produce a company that is a smaller copy of the big three or a truly valuable option for Canadian wireless users.

So, how are we doing now that we have at least one new choice?

The honest truth about consumer choice in Canadian cellular is that for a long time we have had none.  Sure, there has been three carriers but if they haven’t been secretly meeting in dark alleys to discuss rates they at least have not been competitive.  The result is that pricing for voice and data has been extremely high in Canada until recently.  So, what changed?  New blood!

The latest carrier to enter the scene in Canada is WIND Mobile and they bring with them a refreshing focus on consumers.  While their plans are not earth shattering they at least represent a decent option for some.  I’ll get back to WIND in just a bit.

Our big three – or rather, ‘big two’ since Bell and TELUS are conjoined twins – milked consumers to the point of breaking but with no choice, what could we do?  The government dragged their feet for a long time but FINALLY offered cellular spectrum in an auction open to everyone but Rogers and Bellus.  These companies finally saw that some form of competition was coming and I think that is when they decided to become more competitive; well, at least Bellus did.  Roger’s plans have changed very little, probably because they are still on a high from being the exclusive carrier of the iPhone.  But of course, that is no longer true either, so hopefully we will see changes from Rogers.

I personally use Bell and am happy with the rates they have for data.  I still pay far too much overall for my cellphone but they have improved.  Of course, they still are not connecting with their customers in any measurable way.  While Rogers has made strides on Social Networking sites like twitter there is nothing from Bell that I have seen and little from Telus.  I’m pretty sure Bell executives are still scratching their blue hair over that new fangled site “MySpace”. [to any Bell executive reading this I apologize.  You hair is actually a very nice shade of blue, I meant the guy in the office two down from you.]

WIND Mobile does represent the kind of company we have been waiting for in Canada but how are they doing so far?  Apparently they signed up 10,000 subscribers in their first month.  Uhhhh…

Ok, maybe some would think that is good considering they are new, they have limited coverage, they spend all day playing with Microsoft Surface, but the point is they need to do MUCH better.  They are currently looking to raise money to roll out in other cities, but return on that money would have to be extremely speculative at this point.  Lets hope they are able to get on Dragon’s Den and win over at least a couple Dragons.

Things are looking a bit better for Canadians but we have a long way to go.  Let’s try to support new carriers as much as possible, or at least the carriers that are trying to change for the better.