Cell phone news

iphone chargers recalled

North Central communications — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:28:36 +0000

Apple to Swap Adapters
By NICK WINGFIELDArticle
Comments
more in Gadgets & Games »Apple Inc. said it will exchange power adapters for its iPhone 3G cellphone after receiving reports that the device’s metal prongs can break off in power outlets, causing a risk of electric shock.
The Cupertino, Calif., company said it has received reports of detached prongs involving a “very small percentage of the adapters sold,” but that no injuries have been reported to the company. The power adapter model at risk is the ultracompact USB adapter that shipped with all iPhone 3Gs sold in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico and several other countries in Latin America. IPhone 3Gs sold in Europe and elsewhere aren’t affected, Apple said.

Apple Computer Inc.
Apple is exchanging power adapters for its iPhone 3G after reports the device’s metal prongs can break off in power outlets.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to say how many iPhone 3Gs were sold in the countries where it is offering power adapter replacements.
“Customer safety is always Apple’s top priority so it has voluntarily decided to exchange every ultracompact power adapter for a new redesigned adapter, free of charge,” the company said in a statement.
Users can order a free replacement on Apple’s Web site or exchange their power adapter at an Apple retail store starting on Oct. 10.
In a safety notice posted to its Web site, Apple advised users to charge their iPhone 3Gs by connecting them to their computers with a USB cable, or by using another model of Apple USB power adapter or a car charger.
Apple posted further details about the replacement program on its Web site: www.apple.com/support/usbadapter/exchangeprogram.

Little towns in BC shut out

North Central communications — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:34:51 +0000

Businesses blast Telus plan to retire analog cell service

Saturday, September 13, 2008

A Telus plan to retire analog cellphone service in British Columbia on Monday is drawing fire from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“Anybody with an analog phone is going to be cut off on Monday, anywhere in B.C. Even if they are in a digital area, they are not going to have service as of Monday,” the federation’s B.C. director of provincial affairs, Brian Bonney, said in an interview.

Telus began notifying customers of its intentions a year ago, according to company spokesman Jim Johannsson, who said in an interview that the number of customers who have not switched to the Canadian telecom giant’s digital service is “a small fraction of one per cent” of its B.C. client base.

Telus is offering free digital phones to its remaining analog customers, who also have the option of buying higher-powered long-range phones at “way below our cost just to help them get into the phone network that’s best for their application,” Johannsson added.

He described the analog system as “first-generation cellphone technology” — and said it’s no longer possible to get replacement parts for the system, which was built in the 1980s.

“Today we are at third-generation cellphone technology and we are working at getting to the fourth,” Johannsson said. Rogers AT&T went fully digital last year, he noted.

However, the federation is worried that customer who have not made the switch — including those in rural settings who do not have land lines — will find themselves cut off from 911 services when the analog system is retired.

Bonney says Telus should hold off for a few months in order to ensure all of its customers are prepared for the switch.

Also, some rural areas now using analog technology won’t have access to the company’s cellular phone network because they are out of range of digital services, he said.

So far the group has specifically identified two particular clusters of customers, one in the Shuswap and one between Williams Lake and Quesnel who may lose their access. But there have been reports of “pockets all over B.C.”

ssimpson@vancouversun.com

Japans cell phone woes

North Central communications — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:38:29 +0000

Japan’s handset makers search for new outlets

By Robin Harding in Tokyo

Published: September 19 2008 03:00 | Last updated: September 19 2008 03:00

The end of a business model in which Japanese mobile networks paid to give away high-tech phones was always going to hurt somebody.

For the smaller companies in Japan’s fragmented mobile handset market, however, last year’s decision by the Softbank network to offer a tariff without a subsidised phone may threaten their independent existence.

Mobile handset sales have collapsed since Softbank introduced its “White Plan” in January 2007. Shipments fell by 29.3 per cent compared to a year ago in July according to Jeita, Japan’s electronics industry association.

The plan, which rival Japanese network operators KDDI and NTT DoCoMo were quick to imitate, offers a bundle of free calls for a low monthly subscription of Y980 ($9.28). The handset must either be paid for upfront or over a two-year contract period .

Previously, the handset was cheap or free, and paid for by a high monthly subscription.

As a result, older users, who tended to keep their handset even after the end of the contract period, subsidised students who got a handset every two years.

But now those older users simply continue on their Y980 tariff after the price of the handset is paid off, and younger users, faced with the true cost of a new phone, are not upgrading as often. The average life of a Japanese handset has gone from two years and seven months to more than three years.

The resulting fall in handset sales hurts even more because the industry is so fragmented. Only the biggest player, Sharp, has a market share of more than 20 per cent according to IDC Japan, and only Panasonic, Fujitsu and NEC have more than 10 per cent.

The rest of the market is shared between Toshiba, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, Casio Hitachi, LG, Nokia and several smaller manufacturers – not least Apple, with the Japanese launch of the iPhone.

Profits at all of these companies are under intense pressure and one likely result is consolidation.

“There is nothing concrete but I think that M&A chances will appear,” says the president of one second-tier handset maker.

There have already been some deals. Earlier this year, Kyocera finalised the acquisition of Sanyo Electric’s mobile handset business and Mitsubishi Electric left the field altogether.

Analysts are speculating about combinations of almost all of those that remain.

If mergers are to work, however, they will need to unite some of the technologies that are converging into Japan’s advanced handsets. One of Sharp’s advantages is that it makes many components inhouse, which allows it to get to market faster.

Another of Sharp’s strengths is that it sells to all three big networks, DoCoMo, KDDI and Softbank. Rivals are trying to do the same: Casio, for example, will soon start sales to Softbank as well as its existing customer KDDI.

That requires mastery of two technologies – KDDI uses a different standard to Softbank and DoCoMo – as well as the skill to make a phone on which Japanese consumers now expect to watch television, pay for their subway ticket and record videos.

Developing such phones is expensive – and increasingly hard to pay for from sales in Japan alone. Japanese makers’ final strategy to deal with their domestic crunch, therefore, is to look abroad.

In spite of their technical strength, Japanese companies have found that difficult in the past, as foreign consumers have not taken to the does-everything-but-make-a-cup-of-tea sophistication of Japanese handsets.

With the success of Apple’s iPhone, however, some handset makers see an opportunity in high-end phones.

Sharp is moving into China. Companies such as Kyocera and Casio, which are strong in the CDMA2000 standard used by KDDI, are keen to boost their sales to US networks that use the same technology.

And all are contemplating the coming shift to a global mobile standard, known as Long-Term Evolution.

“Next-generation mobiles are the most important. LTE is another chance for Japanese makers to sell abroad,” says an industry executive.

If the handset makers are to overcome their domestic woes, it is a chance that they may have to seize.

Telus looking into GSM

North Central communications — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:07:42 +0000

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Breaking News from The Globe and Mail

Telus in talks with Bell on GSM pact
SIMON AVERY

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Telus Corp. says it is still investigating the pros and cons of a cost-sharing alliance with BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada that would see the two communications giants convert their networks to a more popular wireless standard.

Robert McFarlane, chief financial officer and executive vice president of Telus, said the company is in the “advanced stages” of its investigation and will likely make a decision before the end of the year.

The network overlay would be an interim step on the way to preparing both Telus and Bell for the next wave of wireless technology, called 4G for “fourth generation,” which should be in the market by 2012.

About 75 per cent of cell phones are made for the GSM standard, used by rival Rogers Communications Inc., which makes the devices less expensive than the alternative CDMA-based devices that Telus sells. GSM networks also attract the more popular devices, such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Mr. McFarlane said Telus was unlikely to benefit from significant cost savings for several years, however. That’s because the more powerful, 3G or third-generation smart phones just coming to GSM networks today do not offer the same cost advantage.

Speaking at BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.’s media and telecom conference in Toronto, Mr. McFarlane also said that Bell Canada faces its own corporate strategies and constraints which complicate the decision-making process.

Genuity Capital Markets’ Dvai Ghose, who has been advocating all year that Bell and Telus work together to upgrade their network from the CDMA standard to the GSM standard, estimates the conversion would cost each partner as little as $400-million.

Greg MacDonald of National Bank Financial Inc. puts the probability of a network overlay alliance between Bell and Telus at “greater than 50 per cent and growing.”

Telus shares were trading up 35 cents at $40.26 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Canadian iphone trouble early

North Central communications — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:34:33 +0000

Some early adopters of Apple’s second-generation iPhone have witnessed thin cracks appear at the edges of the device that damage the phone’s look and threaten to pose a larger threat down the road. Those tracking the issue in an Apple support discussion thread and elsewhere say the hairline fractures most often appear on the plastic shell near the corners of the device, particularly near the headphone jack, ringer switch, and volume controls. The flaws appear regardless of how gently the user takes care of the phone and can increase in number, according to multiple claims, although there are no known reports of existing cracks growing in size. At least a few users, however, report cracks deep enough to create a visible opening, particularly at the headphone jack. Most of those noticing the issue are owners of the white model. Nonetheless, some owners of black editions also report the issue and suggest that it’s not a matter of the material used for the color but a more general problem. The black shell simply hides the cracks better, these users suggest. Apple’s own response to the problem has been mixed. The company doesn’t yet list the problem as common and has largely left exchanges to its in-store technicians. While some affected owners claim to have received little trouble and a quick replacement, others describe being rejected due to the cosmetic nature of the cracks, which to date haven’t resulted in an outright device failure. Those contacting their carriers aren’t necessarily so fortunate: in one case, an Ottawa, Canada resident has been turned back at retail and on the phone by Canadian iPhone provider Rogers Wireless, which said it would have to technically rule the flaws “customer abuse” and charge the full replacement cost of the phone. In all circumstances, though, these customers express frustration at a device that in a short space of time is already appearing to break down, even if the faults are purely superficial. “I don’t think it is such a big deal but then again, I just got this phone and paid a fortune for it,” says one detailed report. “There should not be any problems with it in week one.”

Phone got wet?

North Central communications — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 05:18:58 +0000

Posted by Marketnews – Christine Persaud in Marketnews.ca

Most people think that once an electronic device gets wet, that’s it. Chuck it into the garbage, because it’ll never work again (unless, of course, it’s water-proof or resistant). But this weekend, I was amazed to see a mobile phone come back to life after having been rained on for a full 8-hour night. Here’s what happened.

My friend accidentally left her phone out in the rain all night on a patio table. Although it was partially covered by an overhead umbrella, the phone was still considerably drenched when it was retrieved. We removed the battery and SIM and proceeded to sick my blow dryer on the device. At the same time, I did what any sane tech-savvy person does in an emergency like this one: “Google” the situation for some tips. I surfed a few sites, some confirmed to be reputable and others blogs from people around the world who had similar situations (or just knew what to do). Here’s what I came up with on what to do in such a situation:

1) Always, always, always remove the SIM (if it’s a GSM phone) and the battery

2) NEVER use a blow dryer. Because this simply blows air into the device, it could cause water to seep into hard-to-reach spots, eventually damaging the insides of the phone. It’s better to use a vacuum of some sort that will suck the water out.

3) Stick the device in a bag of rice for a few hours. Yes, rice. Apparently it will help to remove moisture. If you want to help keep rice particles out of the insides, you can also add a few bags of silica (that stuff that comes in a jacket or purse pocket when you first buy it).

4) Try the phone first by plugging it into the wall socket without the battery, then with the battery. It might just be the battery that’s gone kaput.

Despite the fact that we did initially use a blowdryer in a panic, the phone came back to life by the end of the day, and has been working ever since. Although there’s no telling how long it will continue to function, I was amazed that it was even able to power back up after being exposed to a full night of pouring rain.

Nevertheless, if these tips help to save just one device, then I’ve done my part.
Posted by Marketnews – Christine Persaud marketnews.ca

people lining up for the iphone in New Jersey

North Central communications — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:00:36 +0000

iPhone Mania Hits Northern New Jersey
By Evan Koblentz
WirelessWeek – July 11, 2008

ROCKAWAY, N.J.—By 9:45 a.m., about 100 customers already were lined up near the Apple Store at the Townsquare Mall here, all hoping to purchase a new iPhone 3G which goes on sale today for $199. The line blocked several other stores and wrapped around a nearby perfume kiosk.
Many customers who already own an Apple iPhone enthusiastically wait in line for the new model. The buying process takes at least 15-20 minutes per phone and there’s plenty of inventory on hand, said David Steinruck, store manager. Then the line grew longer by another few dozen when stock ran out at an AT&T store upstairs. Most customers in queue were 30 to 50 years old and several were using their current iPhone s and laptops to stay in touch with their jobs through various Wi-Fi networks in the mall.
Approaching the long line, and talking on her first-generation iPhone , customer Raquel Hodge said she expected to wait and did not mind. Last year, her family paid $400 in termination fees to escape their old contracts using Motorola IPHONE s. “My husband and I had to have it,” she said. “We don’t care because it’s for the convenience.”
Another customer, Stephen Stetler, already downloaded the new iPhone firmware but still wanted the new hardware for its high-speed networking. He said waiting in line with fellow Apple enthusiasts is fun. “As long as it takes. I can come here tomorrow and probably walk in and walk out. But it’s the experience,” he said.
“It’s not to me a godsend of a product,” said Rod Gammon, who stood in front of Stetler in the ever-growing line. Gammon’s view of the iPhone 3G is more pragmatic. Its features save him 30 minutes each day because he can work while commuting to Manhattan. To get all of the iPhone ’s features on other phones would probably cost more, he said.

Trish Clark

http://northcentralcommunications.ca/

trish@northcentralcommunications.ca

iphone trouble already

North Central communications — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:43:01 +0000

Software problems bug Apple’s launch of new iPhone (AP)
NEW YORK – Apple Inc.’s new iPhone went on sale Friday to eager buyers worldwide, but there were problems getting the phones to work.
Kenny Pichardo, 24, was the first to buy an iPhone 3G at an AT&T store in the New York borough of Queens, but he said it took the store half an hour to get the phone activated.
That boded badly for the approximately 70 people after him in line. Pichardo had camped out overnight to be first.
A spokesman for AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple Inc.’s iTunes servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned.
Instead, employees are telling buyers to go home and perform the last step by connecting their phones to their own computers, spokesman Michael Coe said.
At Apple’s flagship store on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, customers were waiting at the counter for at least 20 minutes to get their new phones activated.
When the first iPhone went on sale a year ago, customers performed the whole activation procedure at home, freeing store employees to focus on sales. But the new model is subsidized by carriers, as is standard in the wireless industry, and Apple and AT&T therefore planned to activate all phones in-store to get customers on a contract.
The problem extended to owners of the previous iPhone model. A software update released for that phone on Friday morning required the phone to be reactivated through iTunes.
“It’s a mess,” said freelance photographer Giovanni Cipriano, who updated his first-generation iPhone only to find it unusable.
On Thursday, Apple had problems with the launch of a new data service, MobileMe. The service is designed to synchronize a users personal data across devices, including the iPhone , but many users were denied access to their accounts.
Enthusiasm was high ahead of the 8 a.m. launch of the new phone, and a line of hundreds at the Fifth Avenue store encircled the block. Many of them were already owners of the first iPhone , suggesting that Apple is preaching to the choir with the new model, which updates the one launched a year ago by speeding up Internet access and adding a navigation chip.
Thanks to subsidies by the carrier, the price has also been cut substantially to $199 for the cheapest model in the United States.
Alex Cavallo, 24, lined up at the Fifth Avenue store, just as he had been a year ago for the original iPhone . He sold that one recently on eBay in anticipation of the new one. In the meantime, he has been using another phone, which felt “uncomfortable.”
“The iPhone is just a superior user experience,” he said. The phone also proved a decent investment for him: He bought the old model for $599 and sold it for $570.
Nick Epperson, a 24-year-old grad student, spent the night outside an AT&T store in Atlanta, keeping his cheer up with bags of Doritos, three games of Scrabble and two packs of cigarettes. Asked why he was waiting in line, he responded simply “Chicks dig the iPhone .”
The new phone went on sale Friday in 21 countries, with one more, France, following next week. In most of them it was the first time any iPhone was officially sold there, though several countries have seen a brisk grey-market trade in phones imported from the U.S.
iPhone fever was strong even in Japan, where consumers are used to tech-heavy that do restaurant searches, e-mail, music downloads, reading digital novels and electronic shopping. More than 1,000 people lined up at the Softbank Corp. store in Tokyo and the phone quickly sold out.
“Just look at this obviously innovative design,” Yuki Kurita, 23, said as he emerged from buying his iPhone , carrying bags of clothing and a skateboard he had used as a chair during his wait outside the Tokyo store. “I am so thrilled just thinking about how I get to touch this.”
The phone went on sale first in New Zealand, where hundreds of people lined up outside stores in New Zealand’s main cities to snap it up right at midnight — 8 a.m. Thursday in New York.
“Steve Jobs knows what people want,” Web developer Lucinda McCullough told the Christchurch Press newspaper, referring to Apple’s chief executive. “And I need a new phone.”
In Germany, sales were brisk at local carrier T-Mobile’s stores, particularly in Munich, Hamburg and Cologne, said spokeswoman Marion Kessing.
___
AP Business Writers George Frey in Frankfurt, Germany, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo and Greg Bluestein in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Trish Clark
http://northcentralcommunications.ca/
trish@northcentralcommunications.ca

iphone questions answered

North Central communications — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:45:11 +0000

Steve Jobs may have launched the iPhone 3G on Monday, and we may have gotten a hands on with it already, but in typical Apple fashion, there’s still a lot of stuff left unsaid. How does activation work? How will first-gen iPhone users bring an iPhone 3G onto their plan? Does the GPS work for driving? How much will games cost on the App Store? We’ve got answers. Lots of them.

The Phone
What’s changed between the first generation and the iPhone 3G? Honestly? Not all that much. The iPhone 3G has all the features of the first one, plus faster 3G data downloads, GPS, and a better battery life. Externally, the phone’s casing is slightly changed, with a thinner edge and thicker middle, but a flush headphone jack and solid-colored back make up the only other major differences visually. Everything else from the screen to the number of buttons and switches on the outside are the same.
How much will it really cost me over 2 years?. That depends on how many minutes you use and how many text messages you want to sign up for, but at AT&T’s lowest plan price of $39 a month for 450 minutes, plus a mandatory $30 data charge and $5 for 200 text messages, you’re looking at $1975 over the course of two years. Before tax and other fees. Here’s how it stacks up against the old iPhone and against other 3G smartphones on Verizon and Sprint. In Canada the phone is $199 on a 3yr contract and a special price of $30 a month for the largest download package available.

When can I buy it? If you’re in one of the first countries to get the phone, which includes the US, Canada, the UK, Spain, Japan and Mexico, it’s July 11. Otherwise, it’s still unknown. Come July 11, there’s going to be a gigantic line of people wanting that phone. You’ll have to wait not only for people in front of you to buy a phone, but activate it too—which is now mandatory and takes about 10-15 minutes. If you can wait, we’d recommend going after July 11.

How fast is the 3G over 2G (EDGE)? During the WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs showed a demo that compared the iPhone 3G vs. the old iPhone when downloading a large web page with lots of images. Apple’s site lists the result of that matchup as 20 seconds vs. 48 seconds, which is 2.4x faster. We’ve got a explainer about the details of 3G as well, if you’re interested.
How does the GPS work? We’ve got a great tutorial on how the iPhone‘s GPS works. Long story short, it’s A-GPS, or assisted GPS, which means most of the time it uses the cell towers and Wi-Fi to help triangulate (but doesn’t necessarily need help). If you’re looking to use the iPhone 3G as a GPS in your car for navigation, there’s a catch. There’s a restriction in the SDK that prohibits developers from using the phone for “real time route guidance”. You can still use Google Maps to help guide you if you’re lost, but it’s not as smooth a system as a real GPS. TomTom may have an iPhone 3G guidance suite already in the works, despite the SDK restrictions.
Will the added 3G and GPS hurt my battery life? Apple’s improved the battery life compared to the old version, which ups the talk time on 2G (same as the first iPhone) from 8 hours to 10 hours. On 3G, you get half that. So yes, your battery life will be significantly degraded when you’re using 3G instead of 2G. Apple still hasn’t provided numbers on how much GPS use will degrade your talk time.
What about that rumor that the iPhone 3G has a front camera? Yeah, not so much. Apple didn’t say anything about that during their keynote, and there’s been no evidence of it yet. There’s a weird anomaly on the demo iPhone that Apple’s Phil Schiller was using on stage during the event, but it’s probably just a weird fingerprint.
Does the iPhone 3G finally have MMS/picture messaging? Unfortunately not. Not officially, anyway. There are third-party apps already available that give your iPhone a sort of MMS functionality, but it’s not great.
Can I tether the iPhone 3G to my laptop to get on-the-go internet? Not out of the box, no. The old iPhone was able to be hacked into doing this, but EDGE speeds meant that people only really used it in emergencies. With 3G, it’ll be much more useful. We’ll keep an eye on this one.
How durable is it compared to the first-gen? Our hands-on will tell you more about that, but from what we heard, the new backing is a lot more fingerprint-smudgy than the first.

The Software
When will the iPhone 2.0 software be released? At the very latest, July 11, when the iPhone 3G is launched. There are rumors that it can come as early as June 27, but Apple hasn’t given any official word yet.
What’s MobileMe? It’s Apple’s replacement for .Mac, which manages your email, calendar, contacts, pictures and various other things. It’s useful for iPhone users because it allows you to sync stuff automatically between your phone and your various computers. Any changes you make on one device gets pushed to the other ones.
Are there limits to what kind of applications I can download in the App Store? Not really. A good 71% of iPhone applications will be free, with the rest starting at a price of $0.99 going all the way up to $999. You can pretty much download as many apps as you have space for on your phone. The largest applications will be 2GB, but we don’t think there are going to be very many at that weight. The Sims for iPhone, maybe, if EA ever decides to release that.
Is there going to be iChat? Apple unveiled the AIM application back at the last event, but as far as we know, there hasn’t been any talk of iChat (like the one on OS X). As such, we wouldn’t count on any iChat Video chat either.
The Service
Do I need to sign a new two-year contract with AT&T if I buy a new iPhone 3G? Yes, but the good news is that your old contract gets ripped up. If you signed yourself into AT&T’s grasp back when the iPhone was launched, you’ll only have to stick with them for another two years starting now, not three. It’s as if you’re an entirely new customer. Rogers customers must sign up for a new three year plan.
Will activating a new iPhone 3G brick my old iPhone? Definitely not. You’ll be able to give your 1st gen iPhone to someone to reactivate via iTunes on a new plan.
What are European iPhone plans looking like? You’ll have to check your local provider, but from what we’ve been hearing, O2 in the UK and Telefonica in Spain will get free a iPhone 3G if they sign up for an 18-month plan that’s at least $88/month.
What happens a year from now when Apple releases an even better iPhone? Nobody really knows, but it’s likely that they’ll just do what they did this time and have you buy the phone and renew the contract for another two years.
.

The Rest
Will there be cases for the iPhone 3G when it launches? Yes. All accessories are available at http://northcentralcommunications.ca
If I somehow get hold of an iPhone 3G and shove in a SIM from my old iPhone, what happens? That’s a pretty damn good question. We’re not sure. If the iPhone 3G is straight out of the box, it’ll need to be activated. If it somehow already got activated (or, hacktivated), you might be able to just use it on your old iPhone 2G plan. We’ll keep an eye on this. Thanks Moe.
Does the iPhone 3G work like an iPod with iPod accessories? Yes, it works just like the first iPhone does. Most iPod accessories will support the iPhone 3G, but some speaker docks might have some GSM interference static if it isn’t shielded correctly.
Can I use the iPhone 3G on Telus or Bell? Nope, never. Not even if you unlock it.
If I buy my friend’s old iPhone when he updates to iPhone 3G, can I use it as a cheap iPod touch without activating it? Yup! Everything but the calling features should be active, except it will say “No SIM” at the top.
What are the chances of Apple releasing an iPhone with increased data storage before the next-next gen iPhones come out? Pretty damn likely. I’d expect a 32GB iPhone some time late this year or early next year.
I’ve got international roaming on my AT&T plan now. Can I take the iPhone 3G to various countries, including Japan? We don’t have official confirmation of this from Apple yet, it’s likely that your phone will work in Japan. The iPhone is Quad-Band, which means it works on GSM/EDGE on the 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz frequencies and UMTS/HSDPA on the 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz frequencies. Because of the reports that Apple’s using Softbank to distribute iPhones in Japan, we can deduce that you should be able to roam just fine. From Wikipedia:
SoftBank Mobile currently operates both PDC (Japanese 2G) and W-CDMA (UMTS 3G) networks. SoftBank’s 3G network is compatible with UMTS and supports transparent global roaming for existing UMTS subscribers from other countries outside Japan. Subscribers of GSM networks having roaming agreements with SoftBank Mobile can also roam on the SoftBank 3G network by using UMTS handsets.
After I activate my iPhone 3G, will I be able to sync all the settings from my old iPhone onto it? Yes. When you activate the new phone, iTunes will ask you if you want to sync the old existing data onto it. Do a sync with your old phone before docking your new one and you’ll be set.

All iphone accessories available at http://northcentralcommunications.ca

Rogers changes thier iphone plans slightly

North Central communications — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:42:28 +0000

MONTREAL – After consumer complaints about the costs of running an iPhone, Rogers Wireless (TSX:RCI.B) is cutting the price of the smartphone’s data plan to $30 a month for a limited time.

The $30 monthly fee for data applies to a three-year contract for customers who activate their iPhones by Aug. 31.

The data plan rate is for Web browsing, emails and video.

Rogers says the six-gigabyte data plan will allow users to visit 36,000 Web pages, send or receive more than 157,000 emails or watch almost 6,300 minutes of YouTube videos each month.

The much-anticipated iPhone goes on sale this Friday at select Rogers Plus stores in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Halifax, Calgary and Vancouver.

Rogers says customers will also have the choice of selecting existing Rogers voice and smartphone data plans.

The iPhone will cost $199 and Rogers is the only Canadian carrier that has a network capable of running the high-end, touch-screen multimedia phone.
Canada press