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Now that the dust has settled on the recent news that the CRTC will be making carriers unlock phones for free, I have decided to write about what other announcements were over shadowed by this good news.

The CRTC announced that the following will take effect on December 1, 2017:

No cancellation fees after 2 years

Remains in effect: You can cancel your contract after 2 years with no cancellation fees – even if you have agreed to a longer term.

Limit on data & roaming charges

Remains in effect: Extra data charges and data roaming charges are capped to prevent bill shock. The account holder, by default, is the only one who can consent to data overage and data roaming charges beyond the established limits.

Unlocked cellphones

Mobile devices unlocked free of charge, upon request, and all newly purchased devices unlocked.

Trial period
Use up to half of your monthly usage during the trial period.

Clear language

Remains in effect: Your contract and related documents must be provided to you in plain language.

 

This is a massive win for consumers across Canada and it is good to know that some one is looking out for us.

For more information you can visit the CRTC web site.

 

I have a bone to pick! Time and time again I am running into locked phones. I don’t mean the front pass code on the phone or the icloud lock or even the restriction locks that parents but on phones. I mean the lock that carriers but on phones to prevent you from taking your phone to another carrier.

OK’ I get it, if the customer signed up for one of those “Pay $0.00 for this kick ass phone” then you should have to sign a contract to that carrier and completely pay for the phone, but the customer should have the option to either buy that phone out, or when they are done paying for the phone it should be theirs with NO unlock fee.

We need to ensure that the CRTC is acting in the public’s best interest. So what are they saying about it. Well, I looked it up;

So what can we do to stop being held hostage. Go to the CRTC website and and make a complaint.

Sales statistics for smart phone have arrived for Q1 of 2017. They are as follows:

Huawei, Oppo and Vivo look to be gaining some ground and Samsung is running away with the game. Why is this?

Some speculate that iPhone sales are down as they are less expensive to repair and therefor people keep their iPhones longer. For example, you can have an iPhone 6 repaired for C$99.99 however the Samsung 6S will run you C$349.99.

As per the above, it would be economically feasible to repair the iPhone but not so with Samsung S6. You can run this test with any comparable versions of iPhones and Samsungs and the results remain the same.

Statistics show brand loyalty as being high with most users as  they don’t want to learn a new operating system.

Another speculation is that consumers are waiting for the next Apple device to come out.

Either way the Chinese devices are well built and user friendly and not to mention less expensive.

In conclusion, lets see what Q2 brings.

In my opinion, some areas of the “plain language” wireless code lack a certain clarity, however the area of bill management which touches on information relative to travelers outside of Canada is crystal clear. Some of that relevant info for mobile usage abroad is as follows:

1. A service provider must notify the customer, at no charge, when their device is roaming in another country. The notification must clearly explain the associated rates for voice, text messaging, and data services. Customers may opt out of receiving these notifications at any time.
2. A service provider must suspend national and international data roaming charges once they reach $100 within a single monthly billing cycle, unless the customer expressly consents to pay additional charges. A service provider must provide this cap at no charge.
3. A service provider must suspend data overage charges once they reach $50 within a single monthly billing cycle, unless the customer expressly consents to pay additional charges. A service provider must provide this cap at no charge.

In summary, the smartest thing to do is take your SIM card out and just use wifi from areas that provide it.

Have you ever tried to sell your used phone well after your contract has expired and your phone was paid for in full but found that it is locked? What do you do? You call the carrier and find that it costs $50+ and a week to unlock, but you paid for this phone and it is yours.

The Government of Canada has introduced as of November 14, 2014 the wireless code. This helps consumers understand exactly what their rights are in this circumstance.

In my opinion, upon review of this code the carrier must unlock the phone for a charge within 90 days of the plan being provided to the customer. The customer will have to pay the lesser of the retail price of the phone or the price of the phone negotiated when the contract was started.

If you have any further questions check me out in Nanaimo at the 120 256 Wallace Street, also known as The Network Hub.

 

CellPro Repair Solutions has been repairing iphones in Nanaimo for some time now. The warranty on the 6 series phones are almost all but gone. As we do not cover the Apple warranty we are starting to see a lot of 6 series phones come into the shop.

With the flood of 6 series phones we are starting to notice a flaw in the 6 & 6 Plus that looks to be corrected in the 6S & 6S Plus iphones. The flaw in questions that I am referring to is the homes button cable connection on the heat shield.

The heat shield home button cable connection for the iphone 6 & 6 Plus is notoriously hard to remove and you run a 10% chance in damaging it. If damaged the home button and touch sensor will still work if replaced but this is not a problem repair shops want to have.

In order to reduce the chances of damaging the cable, heat the front screen up to 90 degrees and let it sit for 2 minutes to allow the heat to be absorbed into the glue on the heat shield cable. DO NOT APPLY HEAT TO THE HEAT SHIELD OR BACK SIDE OF THE SCREEN AS IT COULD DAMAGE THE CABLES.

I would then work with your tool under the connector where the home button connects to the heat shield. The home button should be separated before this process begins.

I hope this blog helps some people as on Youtube they either skip the removal of the heat shield or do not apply heat to the heat shield connector at all. A good example on home not to remove the heat shield is as follows as they use metal tweezers to remove the cable and do not apply heat.