@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 4:41

The race to zero $0 cell phone with Shaw cable in Canada, we are switching

And we used when we did a lot of traveling when we were vacationing. But we didn't use and we justified it because it was the way that we paid for the phone. Well, when we look at our service providers, I switched in May to a lower cost alternative, and even that is still too expensive. So literally, what Shaw Cable did is they purchased a company called Freedom Mobile. I believe in Canada

Canadian Innovation in cell phone data plans, is electricity to soon follow?

@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 3:50

@MerelyHuman I don’t think I’m the product, if you see something please exp

But the only reason they can afford to do this is because they have another profit center, but they also for the last few years have been building out their network, and they're now 99.9% fiber to every home in their network. So they have a network of capacity that they need to utilize. And I get the chance to utilize that
@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 2:49

@MerelyHuman no offence taken at all, appreciate your perspective

And at the moment that they turn into a Google and trying to mine my data, there's a big problem. First of all, we have something called the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which requires cable companies to report they're required to do an annual report about certain issues. So there's fairly tight controls here in Canada
@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 4:26

The next $0 cost? Electricity, it’s coming, look to Germany @MerelyHuman

And we know that Voltaic panels have become far more efficient and cost effective. We're going to be at $0 for electricity. What do our phones and Internet access need that if they don't have it, they'll never run electricity. So it's very interesting and tightly integrated. And it is a very interesting thing from a business and being in a business and economics won't myself. It is pretty fascinating on the supply and demand scale
@SeekingPlumb

@LifeOrigami @MerelyHuman

That's as good as it sounds is because for those who are not familiar with Shaw and who are not Canadian, Shaw also has this amazing service they offer. If you have Internet through them, you basically can tap into WiFi Hotspots across the country for free because it's a part of your paid service
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@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 1:56

Hot spots plus fibre plus LTE towers gives them the advantage IMO @SeekingP

I mean, in terms of I remember looking at Telus very clearly because they had a heck of a deal a couple three years ago. I looked seriously at it. Then I realized that I probably ended up using more mobile data because Telus at that time didn't have hotspots. They have more now, but they didn't have nearly anything at all back then. But today, now the other reason that this works
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@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 0:51

No $0 cell phone for us @MerelyHuman &@SeekingPlumb

So here's a little bit of update for you all. So we ordered our SIM cards and they checked and doublechecked yet. It's all going to work. We get the SIM cards, we paid off our device balances and stuff. So we switch over and all that and then they try to hook it up and make it work. And they say, oh, by the way, you're not in our area. They said, Well, yeah, but it shows on your map
@SeekingPlumb

Bummer, @LifeOrigami. Thanks for the update.

I can't even remember which provinces they were in or not in. I just remember they were like, okay, if you are in this major city, then you might have access might. Anyway, I'm bummed for you
@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 0:35

I quadruple checked too! @SeekingPlumb

And you know what the real bummer is? I quadruple checked. I talked to two humans on two separate occasions. I had two very long text message conversations with two different sales representatives. Four people missed it. They screwed up. And in order to do this, we decided to pay off our device balances so that we could do it because it's going to pay for itself in, like, seven to eight months. Now we're on the hook
@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 0:42
I answered a few more questions, and then I did some more research on the Internet. And then another long text message, and everybody missed it. It's
@SeekingPlumb

@LifeOrigami

Wow, yeah, that's all I got? Wow
@ElasticBD
Greg Dickson
@ElasticBDΒ Β·Β 5:00

Update: got 2 x $0 cell phone plans, @MerelyHuman @SeekingPlumb save $2,000

So I have an update. So I think I made, I don't know. Is it four calls today to Shaw, the company, the mobile company that I was trying to switch over to, and it's all resolved. Our phones are all set up exactly the way I wanted it. We got $20 plans and we got 2GB of mobile bandwidth for each of us. That if you don't use, it, rolls over for up to 90 days
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