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Very interesting to see this agreement happen! I'm sure a lot of rural Canadians would appreciate being able to send text messages from remote areas in emergenc

Very interesting to see this agreement happen! I'm sure a lot of rural Canadians would appreciate being able to send text messages from remote areas in emergency situations, etc. Especially for hikers/campers who go up there for weeks at a time - would help with those situations where you want to stay camping for one more week but you can't as you've told your loved ones you'd be back by a certain date/time. Instead, a quick text to say you're okay and you plan to stay a while longer would be a nice convenience. Unfortunate that Canada seems to be allowing the mergers of massive telecom companies without any concerns of monopolization, price fixing, etc. etc, though that's a bit of a tangent.

apercu 3y ago
The previous option (a $1500 Iridium 9555 and a $100/mo plan with a 2-year minimum term for 100 minutes/mo+a little data) was expensive so it's good to see more economical options for people. No argument on the oligopoly.
- dghlsakjg 3y ago
  The previous option is more likely the SPOT and inReach devices, which are around $20/mo. No voice, but text and location tracking. Also, screw canadian telecoms
  - jjulius 3y ago
    Yeah I was gonna say, an InReach Mini 2 is only $399 and $14.95/mo for the lowest plan. Gives you 10 text messages/month (but you have the ability to send more for, I think, $0.10/text). Folk might scoff at the price, but for any "hikers/campers who go up there for weeks at a time" this is quite likely already a tool that they have that provides additional capabilities mobile phones may not (eg, streamlined SOS services).
soperj 3y ago
> Unfortunate that Canada seems to be allowing the mergers of massive telecom companies without any concerns of monopolization, price fixing, etc. etc, though that's a bit of a tangent. Shaw isn't really a telecom in the traditional sense, they don't really have any mobile phone subscriber base. That being said, we've always had monopolization, and price fixing for those things in Canada.
- Marsymars 3y ago
  Well they had Freedom Mobile, which got divested to Quebecor as part of the Rogers merger, and Shaw Mobile, which was rebranded-Freedom bundled with their landline offerings. (Which will be migrated to Rogers.) (Shaw also spend some years attempting to build mobile infrastructure before buying Wind.)

apercu 3y ago

The previous option (a $1500 Iridium 9555 and a $100/mo plan with a 2-year minimum term for 100 minutes/mo+a little data) was expensive so it's good to see more economical options for people. No argument on the oligopoly.

dghlsakjg 3y ago
The previous option is more likely the SPOT and inReach devices, which are around $20/mo. No voice, but text and location tracking. Also, screw canadian telecoms
- jjulius 3y ago
  Yeah I was gonna say, an InReach Mini 2 is only $399 and $14.95/mo for the lowest plan. Gives you 10 text messages/month (but you have the ability to send more for, I think, $0.10/text). Folk might scoff at the price, but for any "hikers/campers who go up there for weeks at a time" this is quite likely already a tool that they have that provides additional capabilities mobile phones may not (eg, streamlined SOS services).

soperj 3y ago

> Unfortunate that Canada seems to be allowing the mergers of massive telecom companies without any concerns of monopolization, price fixing, etc. etc, though that's a bit of a tangent. Shaw isn't really a telecom in the traditional sense, they don't really have any mobile phone subscriber base. That being said, we've always had monopolization, and price fixing for those things in Canada.

Marsymars 3y ago
Well they had Freedom Mobile, which got divested to Quebecor as part of the Rogers merger, and Shaw Mobile, which was rebranded-Freedom bundled with their landline offerings. (Which will be migrated to Rogers.) (Shaw also spend some years attempting to build mobile infrastructure before buying Wind.)