Mobilicity

Mobilicity

File:Mobilicity-logo.png
Company type	Private
Industry	Wireless Services
Founded	Vaughan, Ontario (2009)
Headquarters	Vaughan, Ontario
Key people	Stewart Lyons - President and COO John Bitove - Founder and Executive Chairman
Products	BlackBerry Smartphones, Wireless Data Services, SMS, MMS, HSPA
Website	www.mobilicity.ca

Mobilicity (legal entity name Data & Audio Visual Enterprises Wireless, often abbreviated to DAVE Wireless) is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity".

History

Early years (2008-2009)

Originally formed as DAVE Wireless by Canadian businessman John Bitove, the company entered the 2008 spectrum auction for AWS frequencies. DAVE spent $243 million on 10 MHz of AWS spectrum blocks largely covering southern and eastern Ontario, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. The domain davewireless.com was registered on July 10, 2008 via Go Daddy. Later, on October 27, 2009, the domain mobilicity.ca was registered via Internic.ca and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA).

Launch and competition (2010)

The company announced its consumer brand name, Mobilicity, on February 2, 2010. As Mobilicity, the company began offering service to the public on May 15, 2010. At the time of launch only the city of Toronto had coverage. On November 17, 2010, service was launched in Edmonton, on November 18, 2010, in Vancouver,[4][5] and on November 19, 2010, the company launched its service in the Ottawa and Gatineau area.[6] Coverage in Calgary went live on April 28, 2011.[7] The company currently has no spectrum access within the province of Quebec.[8]

To this day, the company faces close competition from Wind Mobile, plus Public Mobile and Videotron in some markets. Canada's three largest wireless carriers also have brands that compete against Mobilicity, the most notable example being Chatr brand from Rogers Wireless. Rogers' Fido, Bell's Virgin Mobile Canada and Telus' Koodo Mobile also offer similar City plans, at price points similar to those of Chatr and Mobilicity. Mobilicity contends that such plans, especially those offered by Chatr, are aimed directly at their service. Rogers is currently contending in court the Competition Bureau's charges of misleading advertising. Bell has mimicked Chatr by relaunching its Solo Mobile brand for nearly identical purposes, but Solo was withdrawn from the market in October 2011. Telus' Clearnet brand also offers low-cost plans, but consists of a landline and mobile phone bundle for residential customers. As such, it remains only available in two western cities unserved by Mobilicity.

Discounted hardware and service, Dobbin resigns (2011)

During Q4 2011, Mobilicity had a 50% off sale for all of its monthly plans. The discount could be used for up to twelve months with pre-authorized payments, or up to six months with other payment methods. The Mobile Syrup blog reacted to this sale by reporting that "Mobilicity has gone crazy."

Dave Dobbin, then-president and CEO of Mobilicity, resigned shortly after the 50% off promotion began. Stewart Lyons replaced Dobbin as President but the CEO position has been left vacant. In the absence of a CEO, John Bitove assumed the role of Executive Chairman.

Redesigned website, products and service updates, (2012-present)

Mobilicity launched the Galaxy Nexus on February 2, 2012.

At the beginning of Q2 2012 on April 1, Mobilicity changed its plans and website. The $25/month plan now include province-wide long distance plus the call waiting, call forwarding and conference call features. The $35, $45 and $55 plans now include voicemail, global SMS, Canada-wide long distance, site-limited or unlimited mobile broadband and 15 to 60 North American roaming minutes included.

Stewart Lyons reported that Mobilicity would also be clearing out old devices and replacing them with new ones in Q2 2012. The Samsung Galaxy S 4G smartphone was added to Mobilicity's lineup on April 2, 2012. During that month, Lyons has also confirmed that Mobilicity will be carrying at least one Windows Phone device, but has not given any specific details regarding this until May. It was then announced that the Nokia Lumia 710 would be "coming soon", to eventually launch on May 17, 2012.

In conjunction with the Lumia 710 launch, Mobilicity introduced another 50% off sale for its monthly plans which works like the one from Q4 2011 but can only be obtained with pre-authorized payments and until May 20, 2012 inclusively. During most of the rest of that month, Mobilicity offered smaller but still significant discounts for customers with automatic payments.

Network

Mobilicity's network was built in 2009 and is currently maintained by Ericsson. The company also has a cell-site sharing agreement with Bell Mobility to share cell tower space in all Mobilicity zones. The network uses the UMTS IV frequency band, also known as AWS, to provide UMTS (with HSPA) service. Using this band, user equipment transmits at 1710–1755 MHz, and receives at 2110–2155 MHz. AWS is the same frequency as Wind Mobile and Videotron in Canada and T-Mobile USA. Like WIND and Videotron, Mobilicity does not have a 2G, EDGE, GPRS GSM Network.

Mobilicity's network is compatible with the same handsets and devices as Wind Mobile and Videotron networks, and UMTS handsets and devices offered by T-Mobile USA.

Coverage

Currently, Mobilicity's network coverage includes the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa including Gatineau, plus Calgary, Edmonton, and the Greater Vancouver area. The carrier has not added any new cities since April 28, 2011 and has been very slow at adding new cell sites in existing areas with very little to no expansion.

Products

Numerous products are available at Mobilicity. While the carrier mostly sells various smartphones, other types of products are also available. There is a 7 day period for return or exchange on newly purchased products provided that the device does not have a total talk-time exceeding 30 minutes. The time period previously consisted of 30 days. All devices in Mobilicity's current lineup include a 365 day warranty.

Feature phones

The Samsung C414Y is a basic flip feature phone available at Mobilicity.

Mobilicity offers a small selection of feature phones. Three models are available:

• Huawei U2801
• Samsung C414Y
• Samsung Gravity Touch

All of these were sold at the price of $50 per phone during Mobilicity's 50% off sale in May 2012.

On the day of Mobilicity's launch, the Huawei U7519, Totem and Sony Ericsson TM506 feature phones phone were available. All are officially discontinued, although as of December 3, 2011, "Unlimited To Go" packages for the TM506 are still available at select HMV and Zellers. The TM506 is notable for being Mobilicity's only phone to be sold factory unlocked, allowing it to be used on non-Mobilicity networks compatible with the phone such as Wind Mobile, Videotron Mobile, T-Mobile USA or Rogers Wireless.

Smartphones

Mobilicity currently carries several smartphones:

• BlackBerry Bold 9900
• BlackBerry Curve 9300
• BlackBerry Curve 9360
• BlackBerry Curve 9380
• HTC Amaze 4G
• Nokia 500
• Samsung Google Nexus S
• Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus
• Samsung Galaxy Mini
• Samsung Galaxy S 4G
• Samsung Galaxy Q

Mobilicity is also the exclusive carrier of the Mobiflip smartphone in Canada. A variant of the T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009, Mobilicity launched it on December 22, 2010. It was discontinued sometime in 2011. The Samsung Gravity Touch feature phone is similar and succeeds the Mobiflip.

For a long time, Mobilicity also sold the HTC Panache 4G. In all of its markets except for Ottawa, the smartphone was exclusive to Mobilicity. It was recently discontinued following the Galaxy Nexus' launch.

On the day of Mobilicity's launch, the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Snap and Nokia 5230 smartphones were available. All are officially discontinued, although as of December 3, 2011, "Unlimited To Go" packages for the 5230 are still available at select Mobilicity dealers and third-party dealers such as Zellers. All remaining stock of the Bold 9700 and 9780, plus the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, has been cleared out during Midnight Madness sales. These smartphones were sold at the cost of $199.99 each.

The BlackBerry Torch 9810 was sold for $299 during a clearance sale in March 2012, after which it was discontinued. Stewart Lyons, President and COO of Mobilicity, announced that this happened due to the device's age. The company also plans to add devices such as the Nokia Lumia 710.

Internet access devices

The Huawei E1691 is a USB modem providing a mobile broadband connection. The Wind Mobile model, compatible with Mobilicity's network when unlocked, is shown.

Currently, Mobilicity sells two devices that are exclusively designed for mobile broadband:

• Huawei E1691
• Huawei E583C

The E1691 is an USB mobile broadband modem that is officially supported by computers using the Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, or Linux operating systems. The E583 is a portable device, similar to the MiFi, that allows any Wi-Fi device to connect to mobile Internet. The E1691 and the E583C can download at speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s.

There are also accessories available for these devices. The Huawei WS320 is a Wi-Fi signal repeater, while the Huawei D105 is a Wi-Fi dock which requires a USB mobile broadband modem.

Other

Mobilicity offers "Unlimited Prepaid" packages, previously known as "Unlimited To Go". They consist of a feature phone or smartphone, bundled with a SIM card and one, two or three months of unlimited talk and text on Mobilicity's network. Bundles offer a significantly better value compared to purchasing its contents separately. Devices included in those packages are no longer present in Mobilicity's current device lineup, with the exception of the BlackBerry Curve 9300.

The following phones are available for purchase in an "Unlimited Prepaid" package:

• One month of service: Samsung C414
• Two months of service: BlackBerry Curve 9300 and Motorola Spice
• Three months of service: HTC Snap, Nokia 5230 and Sony Ericsson TM506

While the Samsung C414 includes one month of the $25 plan, all other phones include two or three months of the $35 plan. Note that Motorola and Nokia devices include a bonus Bluetooth headset, while the BlackBerry Curve includes unlimited mobile broadband and BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) add-ons during the two months of unlimited service. Any "Unlimited Prepaid" activation done during the month of December in 2011 also entitles the customer to obtain a 50% discount for up to one year on regular plans, plus mobile broadband and BIS add-ons purchased after the included months in the bundle are used up.

The 16 GB and 32 GB variants of the BlackBerry Playbook can be purchased at Mobilicity stores. They also sell various Bluetooth cordless phones, designed for use at home in conjunction with a mobile phone.

Services

Voice plans

Mobilicity entered the Canadian market on May 15, 2010 with six mobile voice plans at $15, $25, $35, $45, $55, and $65 monthly. These included lower-cost plans with limited features and an all-inclusive plan with unlimited talk, text and data. The $15 and $65 have since been eliminated, while the remaining $25, $35, $45 and $55 plans have been improved twice to offer better value.

All current plans include unlimited local and provincial calling, unlimited sent SMS and MMS to Canada and continental USA, unlimited received messages from any regular phone number and the caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding and conference call calling features. All regular plans except for the one at $25 include Canada-wide long distance, unlimited sent SMS to regular international phone numbers, one of two mobile broadband options and the voicemail calling feature.

To differentiate itself from its competitors, Mobilicity includes a certain amount of roaming minutes in all of its regular plans except for the $25 one. The 15, 30 or 60 roaming minutes included can be used throughout Canada on Rogers Wireless' network, or throughout the United States on T-Mobile USA's network. Those who exceed the amount of roaming minutes included or who subscribe to another plan may top up their Mobilicity account with a certain amount to use for roaming purposes.

Mobile Internet

Since launch, Mobilicity offers both site-limited and unlimited mobile broadband Internet access monthly add-ons at a low price to any feature phones or smartphones plan without this feature. There is also a standalone monthly plan designed exclusively with mobile broadband modems. Pay-per-day access was previously offered but is now discontinued. Such services can only be used within Mobilicity's coverage area.

Add-ons with site-limited access were launched in January 2012. They are known as "light data" and only allow unlimited access to a few Internet services. This currently includes email and instant messaging for any phone, plus social networking services for non-BlackBerry devices. GPS navigation device service was previously available as an add-on.

Those with unlimited Internet access can go on any site they want, provided it is not blocked by Mobilicity's fair use policy. Tethering is also allowed. BlackBerry users must pay a premium for such access to cover the fee for BlackBerry Internet Service.

Customers using mobile Internet on Mobilicity must also follow the operator's Fair Use Policy, which prohibits "causing network instability", as well as illegal "copyright-protected or patent-protected material" transferred without the owner's permission. Those who breach the Fair Use Policy may face consequences, such as throttled Internet speeds or termination of service. Mobilicity has been criticized for blocking legitimate traffic and for being unclear about its throttling practices.

Roaming

Mobilicity's roaming partners are Rogers Wireless in Canada for 2G and 3G service and T-Mobile USA in the United States for 2G and 3G service. For both countries, prices are the same, and roaming bundles which include either 30 or 60 minutes can be purchased at a reduced cost. Some plans also include 15 to 60 bonus roaming minutes usable in both countries. The regular roaming rate, however, applies for customers who have no more bundled or bonus minutes remaining. Roaming is also available internationally at higher rates than in Canada and the USA. In Mexico, Mobilicity customers roam on Telcel and Movistar's 2G networks. In Taiwan and Japan, customers can roam in 3G on Chunghwa Telecom and Softbank respectively.

Criticism

Mobilicity has been criticized for its undocumented mobile Internet policies and its network outages.

Mobile Internet policies

Unlike other Canadian mobile service providers, Mobilicity does not clearly explain on its website how its throttling works or which Internet ports are blocked. The throttling is unofficially believed to slow down Internet access for two hours if more than 100 MB is used in any 15 minute period. The claim was not denied or corrected by Mobilicity when it was brought up at a Howard Forums event in 2012. In fact, COO Stewart Lyons suggests that a similar or identical policy is in place: "If they [Mobilicity customers] use too much data, too quickly, we slow [them] down and then we speed [them] back up."

Former Mobilicity president and CEO Dave Dobbin tweeted an example of unfair network usage: "you've downloaded 5 gig today, but now your speed is slow - please don't [complain]." Likewise, COO Lyons encourages data to be used in a "neutral and fair fashion" and specifically discourages the use of "BitTorrent or […] Netflix" Internet services. Mobilicity has been harshly criticized for these comments and its unclear bandwidth management policies by both industry experts and customers alike, policies which at one time included actively terminating customer accounts for over usage of unlimited plans.

Network outages

Mobilicity's network suffered many known outages throughout 2011, two examples of which are below.

On August 24, Mobilicity had an outage in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Affected customers could choose to receive either a complimentary voice mail add-on at no charge for three consecutive months, or a one-time prepaid credit.

Towards the end of that year, on December 7, Mobilicity had an outage affecting all of its customers in the company's five markets. Initially, customers could not make any calls. Later, it was also impossible for them to receive calls. Those without Mobilicity who attempted to call a Mobilicity client would be subject to a busy signal, making it impossible for them to leave a voicemail even if the client subscribed to this feature. It is unknown whether or not any compensation was offered to affected customers.

Philanthropy

Mobilicity made a $40,000 charitable donation to the "S'Cool Life Fund" in December, 2010.

Advertising

"Otis" (green male) and "Alexis" (purple female) advertise Mobilicity's products.

Mobilicity has had many advertising campaigns. In 2011, Mobilicity handed out Durex condoms on February 11, shortly before that year's Valentine's Day, in the all the cities it served at the time except for Calgary. There was also a $69/month couples plan promoted, valid for two people, with unlimited mobile talk, text and Internet access.

Shortly thereafter, Mobilicity announced a "Data Access Fee/Tax" on April 1, 2011. The fictional $4.01 fee was simply an April Fools' Day joke mocking the system access fee previously charged by incumbent Canadian providers and Rogers Wireless' Government Regulatory Recovery Fee which is "tucked in" that operator's current monthly plans.

Later that year, on June 16, Mobilicity began using two computer animated aliens to advertise their products. As a result of a naming competition the company had on the social networking site Facebook, the characters were named "Otis" (green male) and "Alexis" (purple female).

On December 5, 2011, Otis alone was animated in a "Bollywood Babies" commercial for the operator, where he said:

Well, there's three minutes I can't get back.

The characters post written updates on the company's Facebook page. Alexis also appears on the profile page's large banner. To advertise the roaming minutes included in Mobilicity's plans, Otis is currently featured in a "Where's Otis?" minigame.

Retail presence

A Mobilicity retailer in Chinatown, Toronto.

Staples sells the Nokia 5230 from Mobilicity.

Mobilicity has its own corporate retail store. Additionally, there are third-party authorized dealers that sell "Unlimited Prepaid" packages and sometimes the whole line of Mobilicity products. This includes 7-Eleven, HMV, Metro, NCIX, Staples, The Brick, Walmart and Zellers.

There is also a Chinese Mobilicity retailer in Chinatown, Toronto. Unlike Wind Mobile, Mobilicity has not yet opened a retail store catered to the French demographic. They have only translated the packages of their Unlimited Prepaid products. French regions where the Mobilicity network is available include the Vanier neighborhoods in Ottawa, as well as Gatineau.

External links

• Mobilicity
• Mobilicity launches handsets and plans for Toronto WhatsYourTech.ca