In one word, awesome. More thoughts on this later…

One of the first questions that new mobile data subscribers ask themselves when signing up for service is “how much actual usage is X MB or GB of data going to get me?” Since this number varies from person to person and month to month, the idea is that “you pay for what you use…” appeals to many users. You start at the lowest tier (which is usually higher than the cost of buying the same fixed amount of data to start), and as you break the threshold of usage, you’re bumped into the next cost tier and data allotment. For example:

0-500MB of data $30/mo
501-1GB of data $35/mo
1GB-3GB of data $45/mo
etc…

The ‘savings’ over buying a fixed allotments of data is sold to you on the premise that at the beginning of each billing cycle, you start at the lowest tier, and your bill simply ‘flexes’ according to your usage rather than paying costly overage charges on data used outside your fixed data package (usually billed around 5-10 cents/MB).

So here’s the thing: the ‘more you use, the more you pay’ or ‘you pay for what you use’ model is exactly what Usage Based Billing (UBB) is all about, and lets be honest, UBB is a terrible idea and is exactly why I don’t think this type of plan is worth subscribing to.

One of my concerns is you are entirely at the mercy of the ISP (in this case, the Telco’s) to properly meter your usage. In the wired Internet world, Bell has already proven themselves incapable of accurately measuring their consumers Internet usage, how sure are we it’s entirely accurate on the wireless end of the spectrum?

So, if you only slightly cross the threshold of what’s allowable under your monthly ‘Teir’, and are automatically bumped into the next tier which in turn increases your bill.

Take for example TELUS’ current (as of March 2011) mobile high-speed, and high-speed flex plans:

Say a subscriber uses just a little over their 2GB monthly allotment.  As soon as they cross that threshold, they’re automatically charged an extra $15. They might not use any more data the rest of the month, but their bill  increases for crossing that tier. Compare this, to a user who is on the $50 fixed 2GB/mo plan. If they use a little over their 2GB allotment, (say $100) at 5 cents/MB that would equate to an approximate $5 extra charge.

What  I encourage for subscribers, is to opt for a fixed data plan. This way you know how much data is included in your plans, and operate within those boundaries. I would like to think that the more savvy user that pays for a fixed amount of data are quite often more diligent in monitoring their usage, as the risks of paying exorbitant overage fees are greater. Also, users have fixed allotments of data, know where their max lies, and quite often make use of their entire monthly allowance, because they’ve paid for it, so they might as well make use of it all.

The other thing I should point out is that at either $65 or $70 for 5GB of mobile data usage is highway robbery. The ‘Big 3′ have had promotions in the past offering as much as 6GB for $30 in the past, and companies like Wind & Moblicity currently offer ‘unlimited’ packages for as low as $25. The wireless landscape continues to change, and as competition heats up, companies will have no choice but to lower prices to remain competitive.

Or, maybe the CRTC should do something about that… It is their job isn’t it? Another rant, another time.

Over the past several months, it’s become very clear to me that BlackBerry has absolutely intent on keeping the high-end, tech-savvy users happy and would rather ship millions of handsets to kids wanting the BBM platform and corporate suits who need their email (which, to their credit, are satisfying both markets extremely successfully)

Enter the HTC Desire Z. When I first read about the Desire Z in early September, I was sold. Ripe with Google’s latest Android 2.2 OS offering ‘Froyo’, 3.7″ LCD, packing a 5PM Camera w/720P Video and a slick pop-out hinge that revealed a well-designed keyboard, it was perfect. When I later found out Bell would be carrying it, I bought it the day it came out full pop @ $500+taxes. 10 minutes after requesting an unlock code from cellunlock.net, I was SIM free. Two days later, I was fully rooted, Overclocked from 800MHz to 1.5GHz, S-OFF’ed and ready to flash custom ROMS. The Desire Z shares the same ‘guts’ that the T-Mobile G2 (successor to the wildly popular HTC Dream/G1 phones) has. So, the development community is large. The geek that I am reveled at the idea of learning a new system, and it’s been quite an enjoyable experience learning from quite an eclectic group over at XDA-Developers. This was the Android experience I was looking for.

What do I enjoy most about this phone? I enjoy that it’s so much more than just a phone. It’s truly the definition of a ‘Portable Computer’, or PC if you will. I wouldn’t be caught without my phone, it travels everywhere with me. So the fact that it’s more than capable of performing my every-day computing tasks, makes it the true definition of a PC for me. Banking, browsing (with full Flash support, thank you), scheduling & OTA sync w/ my Google apps, email, remote access, social media & communication hub, portable internet. It’s everything, really. I love the fact that the OS is all about control. The fact that I can VNC to my phone from my PC while it’s upstairs charging emphasizes this point. If it’s not the availability of Market available apps, it’s the expanded options once rooted that really sell the OS’  capabilities.

It’s been a month and a half now since I’ve had my BlackBerry. In fact, I sold it on Kijiji (to a teenage girl, ironically enough) two days past my return policy on the Desire Z. People have asked me ‘Do you miss the BlackBerry? You Must miss BBM, no?”

Honestly? No. I can’t say that I miss it at all.

Here’s to an Android filled 2011!

I guess not – Since their innital announcement, they’ve started opening up some international edu addresses.

All you need to do, is sign into Dropbox via the web, navigate to https://www.dropbox.com/edu, confirm your .ca university email address (my @trentu.ca email address worked no problems), and viola – once confirmed, any existing referral you’ve done will automatically be doubled, and your maximum storage space is up to 16GB. I went from about 8GB prior to just over 11GB once I confirmed my University email address.

No more excuses of lost assignments and/or important documents now!

*** Heads Up!*** Data tethering can be outrageously expensive (potentially $8/mb) if your plan does not include tethering. I take no responsibilities if you end up with crazy data charges. My data package includes tethering, and I’ve had NO extra charges using the methods outlined below. That being said, if you feel comfortable doing what you’re doing… carry on

After a whole lot of internet searching, and no success finding a step-by-step tutorial on how to properly setup Bluetooth tethering, I’ve manage to piece together the settings on how you can make this work. This tutorial is specifically written on how to setup Bluetooth tethering with TELUS BlackBerries, and even more specifically my Bold 9700, so keep in mind, your mileage may vary on this one… but I hope this helps get you in the right direction.

My laptop is an LG R200 (C2D T7250, 2GB RAM) with a fresh installation of Windows 7 x32 Enterprise. I’m using the generic built-in Bluetooth drivers that Microsoft supports provides with Windows 7 which proves to be all that’s required to make things work.

First step, is to pair your Bluetooth enabled PC to your BlackBerry. During the paring, Windows installs the ‘Standard Modem over Bluetooth Link’ drivers required for Bluetooth connection to your BlackBerry, and then to the internet.

In the Network & Sharing Center in the Control Panel, there is an option to ‘Setup a new connection or network’ which you select, and on the following screen you select the ‘Standard Modem over Bluetooth link’ as the modem you’d like to use. The following screen asks you to enter your ISP information. Enter the following:

Dial-up Phone  number: *99#
User name: leave blank
password: leave blank

Give the connection name something like ‘TELUS via Bluetooth’ or something, an  then click connect. It will attempt to dial the *99# number via your BlackBerry – but just cancel this attempt by hitting ‘Skip’. Hitting close on the following screen creates the connection and saves the connection under Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections (or by clicking the ‘Change Adapter Settings’ link in the side menu of the ‘Network and Sharing Center’)

*Update July 19th 2010*: confirmed that this setting also works with a CDMA BlackBerry 8530 as I helped a friend setup her phone for bluetooth tethering as well. No need for the next step if you’re configuring a CDMA (1XEV) BlackBerry, read on if you’re using an HSPA (3G) BlackBerry…

Next, from the Control Panel, select ‘Phone and Modem’ settings. Under the ‘Modems’ tab, select the ‘Standard Modem over Bluetooth Link’ and hit ‘Properties’.

Under the General Tab, hit the ‘Change Settings’ button. Select the ‘Advanced’ tab and add this line to the ‘Extra initialization commands’ box:

AT+CGDCONT=1,”IP”,”sp.telus.com”

sp.telus.com is the APN Telus uses for internet connections. Once you’re done, hit OK.

I’ve modified the connection properties to skip the prompt for the phone number and prompt for username/password, so it connects as soon as you click the ‘Connect’ button.

But that’s it – you’re good to go. You know you’re connected when your BlackBerry says ‘Modem Mode Enabled’ like it does here:

Now, I should probably say… Tethering via Bluetooth is NOT as fast as tethering via a USB cable, nor does it help the ‘make my battery life on my BlackBerry longer’ department, but it’s mighty handy when you don’t want to mess around with wires.  From what I’ve read, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR  maxes out around 3mb/sec, so your results may be a little better than this, but for webbrowsing, email, (and creating posts like this) – I’m OK with it.

Things are slowly getting back to normal. We have a great deal of space here at the new place, but we still lack alot of things like shelving, which in order to be organized is a must. We’re planning a trip to Ikea for Sunday, that should hopefully solve the storage issue. Megan had a week off after our move, so while I was at work – she spent the days cleaning, painting and returning things to order. During this week, we had the help of our good friend Breha come up to assist Meg with the painting duties and man, she’s a keeper. That girl can PAINT!

The week also brought the arrival of a swanky new LG stainless french-door fridge. The old one was at least 20yrs+ and quite small, so it was our first purchase for the new place (besides paint and cleaning supplies). We’ve yet to purchase any new furniture.  My dad and I are currently in the process of mudding the drywall in the lower basement so I can do a re-location of my office space. The basement offers more room, a cooler environment (as we’re sans central AC at the moment) and well, those two things alone sold me. We managed to get a steal of a deal on a new TV, so our den/living-room is tricked out with a new 50″ plasma hanging on the wall serving up our TV/movie watching extravaganzas.

There’s lots to be done around the yard. We have a wee-bit of a dandelion problem, which the new Scott’s EcoSense Weed B Gone seems to be tackling well so far. We need some fence repairs and have grand plans to tear down our ‘deck’ and build something new this summer. Needless to say, lots to do. Anyone care to help?

I’m a huge fan of pre-authorized payments. I bill almost everything automatically to my credit card. I like not having to remember to pay my bills and only pay one bill at the end of the month. I usually don’t have any issues, but Bell Mobility has made me re-think my pre-authorized payment route on some of my services.

See, my cell contract was up with Bell in January. I put my cancellation notice in with them 30 days in advance and asked them the exact day I could port my number out without penalty. I documented the rep’s response, got her name and number, and on that fateful day in January – said ‘bye-bye’ to Bell Mobility. I was fully aware that I would be getting one final bill from Bell, which I did. However, one month after that – I was billed $200 for an ‘early-cancellation fee’.

Livid, to say the least, I called Bell back and was like “OK – what gives, I have confirmation from Christina emp# 6021736 that there is NO cancellation fee”. After 25 minutes of holding, the rep comes back and says ‘You’re right, that was an error, we’ll issue a you a cheque for the balance because your account has already been closed and we have already debited your credit card’. No $&*@, you debited my Visa $200+tax, and I want my money back.

It’s now been over 90 days, I’ve since placed two calls to Bell Mobility (each a month apart) saying ‘Where’s my money? I’ve been out this money now for 3 months… I’d kind of like it back, it’s not yours, why am I waiting so long for this?” Each time ‘oh sir, it’s coming it’ll be there in a couple weeks’.

I know it’s only $200, but it’s the principle. They took it, it was their fault, now I have to play the waiting game simply because I was a good customer who every month paid their bill without fail thanks to a pre-authorized credit card bill. Of course there’s no urgency now,  I’m not a customer, they can’t simply credit my account – and for whatever reason, can’t refund it directly to my card. It’s a joke.

If I wasn’t on pre-authorized billing, I would have called them to say ‘I’m not paying this bill, it’s wrong’ and they would have said ‘You’re right, ignore it – it’s been cancelled’. Why is this such a hassle?

To anyone thinking about cancelling any service you have, I HIGHLY recommend that before you cancel, you take pre-authorized billing off your account so that when the final bill comes – you can pay it however you like, you’re not at the mercy of the company who’s billing to have their systems straight.

Screw you Bell… Last time I recommend your services to anyone.

Well, Megan and I have taken to said activity, and I’m pleased to report it’s going quite well. We’re on week 3 of the ‘couch to 5k’ program that Megan found for her iPhone. The whole premise of the app is to gradually ease you into running 5k. It’s timed run/walk intervals (to start anyway) that last for about a half hour in total. For us non-athletic type, it’s a great introduction.

That being said, my knees are quite sore after running yesterday. I think I need to chat with my doctor to make sure I’m doing things right, the last thing I want to do is screw up my knees.

I decided to upgrade my Bold 9700′s OS the other day after an official update was issued for my phone by a UK provider. Considering it had been a while since I had done an upgrade, and the reviews were positive on this release, I decided to give it a go. When I got my 9700 back in December 2009, I was coming from an OS 5.0 BlackBerry Tour. I decided to give my new phone as fresh of a start as possible and did a selective restore of specific data (contacts, volume profiles, custom setting, etc…) and opted to re-download all my applications fresh to avoid any issues restoring from a backup file or using the device transfer wizard.

I use Google Sync to sync my contacts and calendar with my Gmail account, and have always had decent results – emphasis on the decent, because it hasn’t always been magical but I suppose that’s a whole other entry (why can Apple + iPhone + Google get it soooo right but RIM + Google = fail?). Anyway, for the OS upgrade I do a full backup and restore of everything exactly the way it was prior to the upgrade, but during the upgrade, for whatever reason (I think it’s the order in which things were re-installed), the ‘BlackBerry Messenger Group Calendar’ became set as the default calendar for my BlackBerry. Queue the headache… Why is this such a bad thing? Well, because then when Google Sync sync’s it’s default calendar (my Gmail calendar) it populates the Blackberry Messenger Group calendar by default. Extremely annoying and extremely frustrating. So now all my Calendar  updates are now visible to all my BBM Group buddies… Not what I wanted at all.

See, what happens is for every email address that you have on your BlackBerry (I have 3), there are service books on the device for mail and for calendar for each of the email address. Normally, I delete all but my primary Gmail calendar’s service books as the others are completely unnecessary. But for whatever reason, since BlackBerry messenger was upgraded to 5.0 and added in the feature of ‘Groups’, the BBM Group calendar can NOT  be deleted from your phone like the other calendars as there is no service book for it. I was only ever a part of one group that we used for communication between people at work, so while it was handy, it wasn’t entirely necessary. I notified everyone I was shutting down / deleting the group in an attempt to perhaps solve the issue… but – even after removing yourself from every BBM Group you were a part of, the Group Calendar still exists, and was still set as the default calendar.

With my Google Sync meltdown and hours of time down the tube, I said ‘screw this’ and decided to wipe my BlackBerry to rid myself of the headache. Needless to say, I’m back up and running now, but here’s how I prevented any recurrence of errors on the fresh install:

- During the OS reload / wipe I made sure that I unchecked  BBM from the list of applications to install to ensure it wasn’t on my phone by default
- Once the phone was back in action, I made sure that the BBM Groups calendar wasn’t still on the phone – and it isn’t.
- Restored my data
- Re-sent my service books & deleted the calendar service books for the email addresses I didn’t need

- Setup Google sync to sync with the email calendar I wanted
- Downloaded all my applications
- Downloaded BBM 5.0
- Swore to myself I’m never ever joining another BBM group until RIM fixes this issue.

Bring on May 3rd.