Need opinions.

[topline]

Hey RockerZ. I'm not sure how much you know about the wireless companies in Canada but just some fyis.

All the phones the carriers sell is locked. I believe only Bell gives you the unlock code and you have to pay for extra $. Phones, you either pay full price or you sign a phone service in x number of years and get the hardware for less $. You have to pay a $ penalty to end signed contract early.

Nevermind about the qualcomm cdma stuff but new carriers Wind/Mobilicity is on the 1700 band with 3g only. They don't have many phones even less unlocked units work on 1700.

The old carriers Telus/Bell and their subbrands like Koodo/Virgin/Solo is 3g only on 1900/850. Rogers/Fido/Chatr(all 3 are the same company) is also 3g on 1900/850 and they are also the only one with 2g gsm 1900/850.

The n8 with those 5 3g bands of course works on all carrier above but I really don't think any carrier will sell it. So you're going to have to buy it elsewhere or a local store that sells imported unlocked phones. (Pacific Malls have lots)

The iphone 4 is available full price unlocked at Apple Store in Canada. Telus/Bell/Virgin/Rogers/Fido sell locked units with voice/data contract for less or full price without. iphone 4 doesn't work on Wind/Mobilicity due to band issues. If you jailbreak, you can unlock a iphone 4 depending on the firmware it has. Its a bit of a Cat/Mouse. Apple updates the firmware and locks it again then hackers go unlock it again.

Not sure what tech Public Mobile uses and I forgot a couple virtual carriers.

Oh the Galaxy S is available here. Vibrant is on Bell. I think Telus/Rogers has or will get it but under a different name/casing.

EDIT I forgot only the carriers that sell the iphone have microsims!

[RockerZ]

@Topline ,

Dude Thanks for your explaination , but there are some things which I didnt get.Wind and all that ? What is all that ? I thought there are only 2 telecom services in Canada and they are Rogers and Bell.
But it seems that there are 3 more other then that since you mentioned 5 names ( I guess ).

Okay dude , the main point is , If i go for a 3 year contract , ill be stuck in the contract for 3 years , and using the same phone for 3 years seems a bit boring dont you think ? . And the monthly packages are quite expensive , $50/month , thats expensive if you compare it to Dubai.
and do you think it will be cheaper to buy an unlocked iPhone from Apple or should i get one from rogers/bell , an incase i do get one from Bell on a contract , cant i bring it to Dubai and get it unlocked here from some ordinary shop.

[dscobsct]

man your contracts suck across the water. is 3 years really the best you can get? im pissed off with 18 month contracts and expect everything including data for 35 pound a month

[RockerZ]

@Mikey : I dont like contracts myself.I use prepaid in Dubai and its pretty cheap as compared to Canada.All phones available here are unlocked so thats not a problem either.But Canada , $50/month for only 150 Minutes , 500 MB of data , and a bonus feature like unlimited texting.
and then getting stuck in with the same phone for 3 years.Thats a bigger pain.

[dscobsct]

how they can get away with contracts that last probably twice as long as the phones is unbelievable. f id had a three year contract three years ago id still have my n95 lol, and i had three of them in a year and a half

[topline]

There is about 5-6 major carriers depending on how you look at it and some have sub brands for more. The major ones are in no order is Wind, Mobilcity, Rogers, Telus, Bell and Fido(Rogers brought them out years ago). There is also a couple of regionals that I didn't list either.

Yea a 3 year contract is sticking with the same phone. The problem is the shorter term contract, the savings on the hardware isn't as good. If you call customer service up a year or 2 in, you should be able to get some hardware upgrade credits to toward an new phone.

All iphone contracts include voice/data but its the data thats expensive. Yea monthly charges are really expensive compared to other countries. Example if you buy a unlocked iphone 4 from apple, u can even do prepaid voice only if you want.

Oh there are still lineups for the iphone 4 at apple stores though. A 16 gig iphone 4 at the apple store is 659 canadian so any imported n8 will probably be above that initially but it should come under it sooner or later.

I think only apple can truly unlock the phone and they appear to be unwilling. Any unlock is currently firmware specific hacking or you've jailbroke before and you're upgrading the iOS using some special jailbroke method. But the 4.01 iOS jailbreak/unlock was easy but it doesn't mean future methods are.

I forgot, which city will you be in canada. Wind and Mobilcity just started building their network a year ago as its new and are still expanding nation wide city by city but they do cost less though. Rogers/Bell/Telus is the safest bet for network coverage and they are the premium brands so they always have the best phones while the others, their phone lineups isn't as good or toward the highend. Rogers/Fido is more phone friendly since only they have a 2g gsm network so u can use any phone.

Contract or not, its up to you on what service you want(with or without data) or if a contract really offsets the cost of paying for a phone upfront.

[RockerZ]

Dude , getting a cheaper hardware and keep paying $50 dollars a year , and i cant even use it when i come for holidays to Dubai .. That doesnt sound good bro.. I'd rather go for unlocked one from Apple , but then again ! the hardware becomes VERY expensive ! $659 , apple is too over-rated. I was going through the Samsung Galaxy S on Bell , its $499 without contract , but then again the same problem , it will be locked and since you mentioned , I cant unlock it if i bring it back to Dubai.
Seems like there is no use buying a phone from Bell/Rogers ?

[topline]

I think I forgot to mention that phones from carriers come with branded software/os.

I think the Galaxy S, Samsung was dumb enough to actually store the phone's unlock code as a file on the phone itself. You can do a search for that.

You don't have to get a phone in canada. You can get a unlock phone where ever you are now and just buy a sim card from rogers/fido when you're here.

[RockerZ]

HAHHAAHAHAHHAHAAHA :p ARE YOU serious about the unlock code thing ?:P

and what do you mean with branded software ?:| dont tell me I cant download my own apps on my iPhone/Galaxy S if i get one from Bell/Rogers :O

and dude , if i buy a unlocked phone from here , its not that cheap as it is in Canada on a 3 year contract , plus getting a simcard and using prepaid is quite expensive in Canada , its around 40cents or 35cents per minute. Unless rogers/bell allows me to take that 30$ without contract / month on my unlocked phone.

[RockerZ]

and I dont even know which phones High school students use in Canada. Who knows , maybe students dont even use mobile phones that much , or maybe everyone is just into blackberries. You probably know about this ?