Archived from groups: alt.cellular.fido (
More info?)
Thanks for your comments
JF Mezei wrote:
> AndrewH wrote:
>
>>The Cityfido is $45 plus PST and GST, it includes the access fees.
>
>
> Thanks. Didn't know that. Fido has had deceptive advertising (not as bad as
> Air Canada though) so one never knows what the real total amount is for a
> package advertised at a certain monthly amount.
Still, in my opinion, more honest than all the competition. Look as the
list of rates for and roaming in foreign countries, don't believe
anybody else will give you those charges reliably.
>
>
>>As for sustainability, I don't see any evidence it is a problem. What
>>CityFido does is create concentrations of users, so that tower usage
>>goes up.
>
>
> What is not clear to me is to how many points on the Telus landline Fido
> connects to. If they funnel all calls through one Telus CO, then that is a
> problem. Lets say everyone in Vancouver were to switch to Fido. The Telus COs
> in suburbs would become unused, while the one CO to which Fido connects would
> crumble because it is as if all of Vancouver moved into the same neighbouhood.
There is more than one connection point. Bigger problem is that Telus
controlls the 'lookup tables' of phone numbers, and these have crashed
several times. Fido is not allowed ot have their own backup, and
mysteriously, it seems that every time there is a problem, Telus
customers seem to get fixed first, making Fido look unreliable.
>
> So as long as CityFido is considered a "novelty", then they can probably
> adjust a CO's capacity to cope with it. But at one point, Telus will tell Fido
> "enough is enough" and will want Fido to start to split its network between
> multiple landline COs.
I believe there already are. That is a CRTC/ communications canada
regulated issue, Telus MUST co-operate, although they can be a pain in
the ass.
>
>
>>Fido is adding significant capacity in Vancouver, which shows it is
>>successful.
>
>
> I am not so worried about air interface capacity. They can split cells and
> make full use of Microcell's allocated spectrum. My worry is with the landline
> network connection. So far, almost all the "complaints" we heard here seemed
> to point to Telus overload, not to a Microcell overload.
Agreed, but that is temporary. Telus has the legal obligation to provide
capacity. Yes, initially Telus may say 'our estimates say you only need
X connections', but once the demand is there, Telus is obligated to
provide the interconnects.
And don't forget it is not linear, as more people go on Fido, fewer
calls need to go through the interconnect. As you are likely to attract
large groups of school/college kids, this effect may be significant.
>
>
>>Cityfido is a good deal for both sides from what I hear.
>
>
> For customers, yes.
>
> But for Fido in the medium term, I am not so sure. Short term , it is good
> because it pleases Bay Street. But consider that CitiFido may end up costing a
> lot to Fido due the need to rapidly increase capacity in Vancouver, and they
> may divert previous money from improvements in other cities. Remember that
> when people talk more, they dont generate more revenus, but Fido has to spend
> money to increase capacity.
Yes, but adding capacity to existing cell towers is not that expensive
versus starting up new sites. There is a ratio, hopefull Baystreet will
be pleased enough that they invest more money in MCell than MCell needs
to expand the system. Given that they already have enough physical
sites, I don't see the costs as being that great.
>
> In the long term though, assuming Microcell becomes as profitable as a
> landline telco, then yeah, this will be good. Telcos make money because their
> infrastructure has been built up, paid for and customer growth is
> small/manageable. Eventually, Microcell will have reached its market share
> limit and won't need to grow (significantly) anymore and at that point, each
> $45 will be pure profit. It is getting to that point that is a big question mark.
We will see, but I believe in Vancouver it is quite profitable already.
As i said, I am waiting for the quarterly report.
>
>
Any ideas when it'll expand to
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