BARCELONA, Spain; BASKING RIDGE, NJ, United States; and LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg, 16 February 2010 – At the 2010 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Verizon Wireless and Skype today announced a strategic relationship that will bring Skype to Verizon Wireless smartphones in March. The new Skype mobile™ product enhances Verizon Wireless’ smartphones for users who have data plans by offering a new way to call around the globe, while also giving hundreds of millions of Skype users around the world the opportunity to communicate with friends, family and business colleagues in the United States using Verizon Wireless.

The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones. Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans can use Skype mobile to:

• make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype user around the globe on America’s most reliable wireless network;
• call international phone numbers at competitive Skype Out calling rates;
• send and receive instant messages to other Skype users; and
• remain always connected with the ability to see friends’ online presence.

Initially, Skype mobile will be available on millions of best-selling Verizon Wireless 3G smartphones with data plans, including the BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530, Storm2™ 9550, Curve™ 8330, Curve™ 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour™ 9630 smartphones, as well as DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS™ by HTC and Motorola DEVOUR™.

John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, said, “Skype mobile on Verizon Wireless changes the game. For Verizon Wireless’ more than 90 million customers, Skype mobile adds great value because we’re effectively giving customers with smartphones and data plans the option to extend their unlimited calling community to hundreds of millions of Skype users around the globe. And you’re not limited to using a single type of phone; we’ll have nine smartphones ready right at launch in March.”

Josh Silverman, chief executive officer of Skype, noted, “People want to take their Skype conversations with them wherever they go, whether it’s on a PC, TV or increasingly mobile phones. Verizon Wireless will give US consumers the best Skype experience on mobile phones and will truly change the way people call their friends and family internationally.”

Customers interested in learning more about Skype mobile for Verizon Wireless smartphones can visitwww.verizonwireless.com/skypemobile. Additional information about the service will be available next month.

Visit www.verizonwireless.com for more information about Verizon Wireless or follow the company attwitter.com/verizonwireless. Learn more and download Skype at www.skype.com or follow the company at twitter.com/skypemobile.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 91 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, NJ, with 83,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NASDAQ and LSE: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Skype

Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Everyday, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles. Download Skype to your computer or mobile phone at skype.com.

Here’s a neat product for your iPhone.
MyRubberz.com has a cool solar charger and battery case for iPhone that harnesses solar energy to give you extra battery life on the go. While Greenpeace has revealed that the device is not as green as those from some of Apple’s competitors, this gives you the chance to have a greener apple product.
The company offers the case and charger for $79 US plus shipping.

Click here to unlock your GSM cell phone.

I’ve been a Bell Mobility customer for the past 29 months and have only 7 months to go until I can kiss my contract goodbye.  One of my biggest complaints as a customer over the years has been the limited selection and high pricing of CDMA phones (the type Bell & Telus used to only offer) vs. GSM models offered by Rogers and Fido.  Until now…

While reading up about the recent launch of the Bell & Telus 3G networks, I happened to notice that Bell is now making it possible to use an unlocked 850MHz/1900MHz handset on their system.  They’ve even gone the extra mile and offered a free ESN (electronic serial number) lookup tool on their site that allows you to see if your phone is compatible.  You still have to buy a Bell sim card to use an unlocked phone on their network, but because GSM technology is a standard and not as much of an expensive, proprietary technology like CDMA, there are many more options and prices to choose from.

So here’s the question many of us have been wondering for a while:

Can you use an unlocked Rogers, Fido, or other GSM phone with Bell or Telus?

Yes You Can!

You can check out Bell’s tool and details here: http://www.bell.ca/support/PrsCSrvWls_COAM.page

As for Telus Mobility, according to a representative I spoke with it is also possible to activate an unlocked GSM phone on the Telus network, provided that it is also 850MHz/1900MHz and you purchase a Telus sim card and go through the process at a Telus store or with their customer care team.

Enjoy your freedom!

Tomorrow (October 26, 2009) marks the beginning of enforcement of Ontario’s new hands-free while driving law, requiring Ontario drivers to refrain from using handheld devices while driving… but is it just a paper tiger?

No matter how you slice it, distracted driving contributes to fatalities.  Food, coffee, cigarettes, passengers, music, and other things that make long and short trips more pleasant all contribute to unsafe motor vehicle operation.

The new law requires all Ontario drivers to use either voice activated dialing features or pull over prior to using a cell phone on the road.

While it is still unclear what sort of fines are going to be put in place against drivers who violate the law, the lack of demerit points is a true downfall of this legislation.  While the police still have the authority to lay a careless driving charge against drivers who deserve it in addition to breaking the handsfree  law, I believe it is possible that this will simply be a “cost of doing business” for those who flaunt it.

Like photo radar speed enforcement back in the 90s which only caused drivers financial pain and not demerit points, will this new law simply tax those who choose to ignore it?

*** Update *** December 31, 2009

The new Bell/Telus GSM network is online and you can use an unlocked GSM (Rogers, Fido, AT&T, T-Mobile) cell phone with them provided that it is compatible. Read more here.

To unlock your Rogers, Fido, or other compatible GSM phone, click here.

*** Original Article Follows ***

Remember the VHS vs. Betamax wars?  Way back in the 80s there were competing technologies for the home video market.  Betamax was arguably better and won the battle for adoption by broadcasters due to higher quality, while VHS won the war because of wider market acceptance and lower price. Recently we had the HD-DVD and BluRay war that waged over the course of a few years with BluRay coming out on top.

Now it would appear that the three way battle for cellular technology is over and the clear winner is GSM in Canada. There are three predominant technologies out there when it comes to cell phones:

• CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) – If you have a Bell, Telus, PC Mobile, Petro Canada, Virgin Mobile, or virtually any other private label pay-as-you-go brand phone in Canada, this is likely the technology that you’ve been using.
• TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) – If you had a Rogers/Cantel phone back in the 90s, you likely used TDMA technology.  Phones on the Mike network in the early 2000s were also TDMA.
• GSM (Global Standard for Mobiles) – If you use a Rogers or Fido phone today, this is the technology that you use.  If your cell phone has a SIM card in it, this is the technology you use.  Current Mike subscribers use a type of GSM.

Here’s what you need to know

If you’re currently in a contract with Bell or Telus and it’s coming to an end shortly, or if you’re looking for a pre-paid cell phone to use in Canada over the next year, think carefully before buying.  While handsets have come way down in price, cellular carriers generally subsidize the price of your phone (quite heavily) by banking on the fact that you will spend more over the length of your contract on air-time than the actual value of the phone.

Signing a new contract at this point with either Bell or Telus will lock you in with whatever handset you get or currently have.  Bell and Telus are engaging in a switchover to GSM service which is supposed to begin this fall and while the general speculation is that they will operate both GSM and CDMA networks for a while, CDMA service will eventually be switched off.

You may want to continue without a contract for the next few months until the new networks are launched, which will then give you the opportunity to get a phone that can be supported by Bell, Telus and Rogers.

I’ve long been an advocate for deposit-refund programs when it comes to recycling. Through my work at my old company Thriftopia.com, I was adamant that  the eventual downfall of all current government endorsed electronic recycling initiatives in Canada would be the lack of incentives for the general public to participate.

With a 98% recycling and recovery rate spanning over 70 years, I’ve always admired the system that Brewer’s Retail (aka The Beer Store in Ontario) has put in place.  To date, less than 12% of the 21,000,000 cell phones in Canada are recycled which leads me to believe that a deposit refund system for mobile phones would improve the situation.

I’ve been told by members of both OES and WDO that deposit-refund systems would be too difficult to administer, too costly to set up, and generally unattractive to electronic manufacturers.  While all of these objections are probably true, it cannot be disputed that when there is a financial incentive in place for the public to recycle, recycling gets done by the public.

A study about Ontario’s Blue Box program authored by David McRobert of Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, October 1994 showed that where well executed and promoted, deposit refund systems generally result in more than 95% redemption.

So the question remains, why aren’t we doing something similar with cell phones and other electronics?

Perhaps I’m simple but it would seem to me that a fee of $25 at the time of purchase for a device like a TV or cell phone and then a refund of $5 to $10 when the device is returned for recycling would encourage much more recycling in this province and elsewhere.

Bell Mobility announced the completion of its takeover of Virgin Mobile Canada yesterday, having acquired the portion of the venture it had not already owned for a paltry $142 Million.

So what does this mean for Virgin Mobile subscribers?

Not much, so far, except that it should now be easier to buy new Virgin phones as Bell also completed its purchase of The Source by Circuit City and as part of the deal, Virgin and other Bell brands will be available in those stores.

Not everyone is impressed by this, however, as scans of blogs reveal that many subscribers feel that fees will likely go up.  Time will tell if Bell will maintain the level of service and satisfaction that has long been a key element to the Virgin brand.

I for one am a little saddened that Sir Branson will have less influence in our competitive landscape.  One of Virgin Mobile’s biggest contributions to our marketplace was advocacy for Local Number Portability – giving consumers the right to keep our phone numbers when we switch wireless or local phone carriers.

Until now, if you’re like me you’ve had to shop around for the best deal you can find when getting a cell phone plan and then live with it for three years while your contract runs its course. At the end of the contract though, you’re always left with a decision about sticking it out with your current provider or buying a new phone with new contract with a new carrier (if your phone lasts that long).

With Bell & Telus set to roll out upgrades to their networks this fall, could this perhaps be the beginning of more competition in Canada?

The beauty of the new technology is that GSM phones for years have featured the ability to be “unlocked” meaning that a phone from one GSM provider can be used on another carrier.

Bell & Telus are apparently performing the upgrade to enable them to offer Apple’s iPhone to their customers which is great. It will also enable a greater selection of handsets such as the Motorola RAZR line and hopefully drive the cost of wireless service down for everyone.

With a price tag of $1 billion for the upgrades, however, you can bet that subscribers will be footing the bill for this improvement.

If your cell phone is more than a few years old, you might not be able to use the latest hands-free headsets that are available on the market.  There are many to choose from, models that fit inside your ear like earbuds and full headphone styles as well.  Some bluetooth enabled car stereos will even allow you to talk through your car stereo.

All is not lost, however, because if your phone supports a wired headphone you can still use your cell phone while driving without handling it.  There are even some adapters on the market that can allow you to use a bluetooth headset with a phone that has a standard headphone jack.

For ease of use, however, bluetooth headsets go a little further.  Not only do they allow you to talk without holding the phone,  many can also be configured to work with speech recognition to enable you to dial the phone hands-free and also end the call without having to reach for the phone.  Wired headsets and even those adapters won’t allow you to do that.

If you’re concerned about getting a ticket under the upcoming hands-free laws in Ontario, your best bet is to make sure you have a cell phone that has Bluetooth support, and that you make use of a Bluetooth headset.