Besting the iPhone Deal In Canada

With all the negative buzz about the Rogers iPhone, mainly over Rogers overpriced data plans, people are forgetting about the other half of the Great Canadian Media Duopoly.

Most of the major cellphone carriers in Canada offer cheap, sub $10 data plans of one sort or another which include 3G speeds. Of course, these plans apply to non-smartphones, leaving out Windows Mobile and Blackberrys. Anyone who’s tried the ‘mobile internet’ on a standard phone knows that you don’t need ‘unlimited’ because it’s such a horrible experience.

With one exception…

Bell, Canada’s largest CDMA provider, offers a $7 EVDO internet plan, and although Palms, Windows Mobile and Blackberrys are excluded, there’s one exception. That’s the Windows Mobile based HTC Touch. Because this phone doesn’t have a physical keyboard it’s not classified as a smartphone, and therefore eligible for the $7 plan.

As a phone, the HTC Touch is a great device, and it’s web browsing capabilities come close to the iPhone with 3rd party web browsers. It’s speed is also comparable, as the National Geographic page Apple used at the WWDC loaded up 2 seconds faster than the iPhone. It’s no wonder they chose two phones at least a year older than the iPhone to make it’s “36% faster” claim.

I’ve downloaded multiple podcasts using a mobile RSS reader/podcatcher, and when combined with email and web browsing, regularly cross over the 1Gb mark on EVDO. All for $7 on top of my voice plan.

HTC made a lot of improvements to the Windows Mobile UI to make it more finger friendly, including a better on-screen keyboard, a nice Home screen and much more. This isn’t meant to be a review of the HTC Touch though, and there are a number of those available online.

No, this is a statement suggesting that, instead of signing online petitions, writing angry emails to Roger executives, or egging their offices, you could choose to vote with your dollar. Remember that Apple let Rogers bring the phone in with that pricing, so they’re almost as much to blame, though I’m sure they were trying to get it in with a lower priced data plan.

I’ve made it abundantly clear in the past that I’m no fan of MOST of Bell’s business practices or services, but the HTC Touch combined with Bell’s $7 data plan blows the Rogers iPhone plan out of the water, at least from my non-Apple obsessed perspective.

But by all means sign the petitions. I’ve even posted a link to one at the right.