Wind Mobile
Encyclopedia
Wind Mobile is a Canadian
wireless telecommunications provider operated by Globalive Communications Corporation
. The company initially launched mobile data and voice services in Toronto
on December 16, 2009 and two days later in Calgary
. Wind expanded their network to include Edmonton
on February 26, 2010, Ottawa
on March 27, 2010, metropolitan Vancouver
on June 3, 2010, and the Kitchener
-Waterloo
area on August 16, 2011. , Wind Mobile has 358,000 active subscribers Canada-wide.
, managed by Wind Telecom S.p.A., which owns a number of other "Wind" brand telecommunications companies. Globalive bid $442-million (CAD) in 2008 to secure the wireless spectrum
required for the launch of the network. The launch of the company was delayed due to a public ownership review by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The regulatory body stated that Globalive did not meet Canadian ownership requirements. The most prominent issue was Globalive's reliance on Orascom
for its debt, which stands at $508-million (CAD).
On December 11 of that year, the Governor in Council (acting on suggestion of Tony Clement
, Industry Minister of Canada
) issued a final decision deeming that Globalive does meet ownership requirements, allowing Globalive to enter the Canadian market immediately.
On December 14, shortly before the peak of the Christmas and holiday season, Wind announced an alliance with Blockbuster Inc. in Canada to offer Wind kiosks within Blockbuster stores at 16 locations, 13 in Ontario and 3 in Calgary.
On December 16, Wind Mobile officially launched their service in Toronto. A launch event was hosted at their Queens Quay location in downtown Toronto.
On March 27, 2010, Wind Mobile officially launched their service in Ottawa. A launch event was hosted at the Rideau St location.
Wind Mobile announced on August 13 that in early July, they had reached "the 100,000 mark in terms of new wireless subscribers". Orascom's third-quarter financial report, released in November 2010, listed Wind's subscriber base as 139,681.
ruled in a suit brought by competitor Public Mobile
and Telus
that The Governor in Council's decision overriding the CRTC's determination that Wind Mobile did not meet Canadian ownership requirements was improper. Wind was granted a 45-day stay of the decision to file arguments. The Federal Court of Appeal has set May 18, 2011 as the date it will hear arguments by Wind and the federal government as to why a recent federal court decision should be quashed.
On March 17, the shareholders of Russian mobile telephone operator VimpelCom voted in support of a $6 billion deal to acquire WIND Telecom, whose assets include Orascom Telecom, a significant shareholder in WIND Mobile. The parties are now moving to close the deal, likely sometime in the first half of 2011. This transaction would create the world’s fifth largest mobile operator by subscribers - more than 173 million subscribers.
Wind's network in the region of Kitchener
and Waterloo
(K-W) was launched on August 16, just in time for the back to school season of 2011. In conjunction with this launch, the company introduced a WINDtab+ option for Pay After customers, as well as a promotional Super Smart plan for all customers. Both services are available to all WIND subscribers in any WIND zones. Guelph
coverage was officially announced on September 9 and two stores opened in Guelph by the end of the month. The St. Catharines and Welland
zones were officially launched on October 15, and one store was opened in each city. The provider claims that they will add "[m]ore [s]tores in October" for all these regions, along with new handsets and special promotions.
The carrier launched a new advertising campaign on November 7, adopting the slogan "That's the power of WIND" and reinforcing orange as its official colour. Service in Niagara Falls
was officially launched on November 23. To celebrate, the company offered 30 Nokia C7
smartphone
s at the price of $7 each at their store in The Pen Centre
shopping mall. Wind plans to connect the Niagara region coverage with that of the Greater Toronto Area
. Additionally, the operator plans to launch coverage in the Barrie
and London
cities at a later time.
wireless services with High Speed Packet Access
(HSPA) for data, using its license on the UMTS IV frequency band
, also known as Advanced Wireless Services
(AWS). Using this band, user equipment transmits at 1710–1755 MHz, and receives at 2110–2155 MHz. Evolved HSPA
, also known as HSPA+, was activated on WIND's network during the summer of 2011.
Wind Mobile is the first Canadian wireless service provider to make use of the AWS spectrum for its network. In North America, T-Mobile USA
is the largest provider to use this spectrum. Wind's use of AWS requires that customers use an AWS-capable handset, which are less common than band II and V handsets, which predate band IV by more than 10 years.
Since Wind's launch in Canada, other service providers have begun operations using AWS. , this includes Mobilicity
and Vidéotron
. Although Rogers Wireless
and Bell Mobility
also have an AWS network since 2011, they are currently only available in select cities for use with a LTE mobile broadband modem. Other devices are coming soon.
includes the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area
, Ottawa
, Kitchener
, Waterloo
, Guelph
, and part of the Niagara Region, London. Outside of Ontario, Wind has coverage in Gatineau
, Calgary
, Edmonton
, and the Greater Vancouver
area including Whistler
.
The operator will also expand the edges of their current home zones, and increase the density within each zone. Service will also be launched in the Barrie
and London
cities in Ontario. Outside of that province, Wind plans to launch its network in the Halifax, Saskatoon
and Winnipeg
cities in 2012.
Wind formerly called their coverage areas home zones. , they now use the term "our network" instead. Customers traveling outside of this network automatically roam on a national GSM partner network.
s, smartphone
s and mobile broadband
modems.
, one is manufactured by Samsung
, and one comes from LG
:
The U1250 is a very basic candybar phone, while the U3200 is similar but has a slider keypad instead. The U6150 is a feature phone with a QWERTY
keyboard. The phone's candybar design closely resembles that of a BlackBerry
.
Previously, WIND offered the Huawei U7519
, a feature phone available at launch for $130. Its price was lowered to $70, then to $35 in October 2010 before being discontinued.
Another launch device is the Samsung Gravity 2. Its original price was $150, and it was lowered to $78 before being discontinued recently.
- and Symbian
- as well as various Android-powered devices:
WIND is Canada's first carrier to offer Alcatel
-branded phones. The Alcatel Tribe
, an Android similar to the Palm Pre
, was previously available. Wind is also the only provider in that country to sell a Huawei smartphone.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone was available at launch, but has been replaced by the newer 9780, which was replaced by the 9900 in October 2011. Another smartphone available at launch was the HTC Maple, Wind's only device to run the legacy Windows Mobile
6.5 operating system. The device was later offered by Mobilicity
and both carriers have now discontinued its sale. There are no immediate plans to sell Windows Phone 7
smartphones.
:
The E1691 and E366 are USB devices that are officially supported by computers using the Windows
, Mac OS X
10.4 or higher, or Linux
operating systems. The E1691 and the E583 can download at speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s, while the E366 can reach speeds up to 21.1 Mbit/s. The E583 is a portable device, similar to the MiFi
, that allows any Wi-Fi
device to connect to mobile Internet.
(UMTS band IV
), such as the Nokia N900
or the Google Nexus One
. When the SIM is inserted into a device supporting older GSM (2G) technology, one can access the Rogers Wireless
network, regardless of whether or not AWS frequencies are supported by the device. Roaming fees, however, will be charged, so a payment method is required to pay these fees.
Current plans are named after intelligence
levels. They are similar to those offered by competitor Mobilicity
:
A yellow check mark indicates that sent SMS and MMS to USA are excluded.
Features listed in the above table can only be used within a Wind Home zone. Note the the promotional "Oh Canada" plan is identical to the Smart plan, but excludes SMS and MMS to USA, and includes the Infinite Mobile Internet and unlimited Canadian long distance add-ons at a reduced cost for one year. After one year, the regular rate of $45 applies.
Another plan available is "Pay Your Way" which has no monthly fee. Instead, customers pay only for features they use on their phone. Regular calling rates are currently 20¢ for a call from Canada, to Canada or to the United States. Sending an SMS from Canada to Canada or the USA costs 15¢ per message, while an MMS costs $1 per message sent and an international SMS is 25¢ per message sent. Receiving a message is always free. Data costs 10¢ per 25 KB, which is equivalent to $4.096/MB or $4194.304/GB. The service can be used at these rates on both WIND's own network and Rogers Wireless' EDGE network.
On December 10, 2010, the company began offering a promotional plan called "Holiday Miracle" for the Christmas and holiday season to new and existing subscribers. The plan provides unlimited incoming and outgoing North American calls, global SMS, MMS, and data services from Wind home zones, along with voicemail
and tethering. This plan is no longer available. Variations of this plan known as "Winter WonderPlan" or "My Unstoppable Plan" were later released before being discontinued as well. Both of these did not include tethering.
All Wind Mobile voice plans include the following four features: Caller ID
, Call forwarding
, Conference call
ing, and Missed call
notifications. Also included are incoming text and picture messages. When a Wind customer calls another Wind customer, and when both are in any Wind zone, there are no charges or minutes deducted for that call. Pay Your Way customers, however, must pay airtime when they call any other Wind customer, unless they have the optional "Unlimited WIND-to-WIND" add-on.
Wind does not charge system access fee
s or carrier 911 fees. There is also no activation fee for new subscriptions. In a departure from the other providers' core offerings Wind also does not require customers to sign contracts for service.
These add-ons may only be used with a Smart, Brilliant or Genius plan, except for the Social BlackBerry or Social Mobile which can also be used with the Clever plan. Customers with the Social Mobile add-on who use more than 50 megabytes will be charged 20¢/MB for the additional data. If any of the 50 megabytes are unused, they cannot be carried over to the next month.
For mobile Internet data sticks and Pocket Hotspot devices, Wind offers several monthly plans:
Customers with the 1 GB or 3 GB plans who use more data in a month than they are entitled to will be charged 1¢/MB for additional data. If any included allowance is unused, it cannot be carried over to the next month.
Another plan available is "Pay Your Way" which has no monthly fee. Instead, customers pay only for the time they use the Internet connection at a rate of 20¢ for 6 minutes, up to a maximum of $5 for an entire day from midnight to midnight.
All data plans, however, are subject to a "Fair Usage Policy". Only personal use of the Internet service by an individual is allowed. If more than 10 GB of data is used, Wind Mobile may implement a "soft-cap" to slow or "throttle
" data speed in certain cases to share the network with other customers. Those with an Infinite Mobile or Infinite BlackBerry add-on but without the Data Tethering add-on have a limit of 5 GB instead. Should the throttling be enforced, an SMS will be sent to the device in question, and the download speed will be no higher than 256 kilobits per second, while the upload speed will be no higher than 128 kilobits per second. This policy still provides faster speeds than dial-up Internet access while allowing reliable service to all customers.
's Tab payment system in that it subsidizes up to $150 off the retail price of a device by placing the amount of the subsidy on a tab balance. Like Koodo, it only works on postpaid activations, known as Pay After.
During the K-W launch day on August 16, 2011, WIND introduced another contract option called the WINDtab+. Similarly to the Virgin Mobile Canada's SuperTab, it provides a subsidy greater than $150 for phones that cost more than that amount. For example, the BlackBerry Bold on the WINDtab+ would cost $169 instead of its regular price of $569 because $400 of the retail cost is placed on a tab balance. Unlike the regular WINDtab, however, WINDtab+ can currently only be used with the promotional Super Smart plan or the pricier Genius plan. The tab balance is cleared off after three years of service for accounts in good standing.
Unlimited calling to Canada or USA can be added for $10/month per country. If a customer makes a call to either country without its respective add-on, they will be charged 15¢/minute when calling from a Wind Home zone. These long distance options can be added to the Smart, Brilliant or Genius monthly plans. The only exception is that unlimited Canada-wide long distance is already included at no extra cost in the Genius plan.
Unlimited calling to Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore or South Korea can be added for $20/month per country. The long distance options can be added to the Brilliant or Genius monthly plans. Another option, called "My Country", costs $5/month and can be added to any Wind Mobile plan. It allows pay-per-minute calling to one of the of the countries listed below, except for Bangladesh, at 5¢/minute.
Customers with a Clever plan can add unlimited sent SMS
and MMS
to Canada and USA for $5/month. Those with a Clever, Smart or Brilliant plan can add unlimited sent SMS
worldwide for $5/month.
All these long distance add-ons and rates apply only in Wind Home zones to personal individual calls made to regular landline
and mobile phone numbers.
settings.
In Canada, Wind Mobile has negotiated with Rogers Wireless to provide roaming services at these rates:
Wind roaming in the United States
is done with T-Mobile USA as of February 12, 2010, at these same rates. After Mobilicity
, this is the second lowest roaming rate available to Canadian subscribers.
There is also a "Canada/U.S. Preferred Roaming Rates" add-on available. It costs $10/month and provides lower roaming rates for Canada and USA:
Whether or not the customer has a roaming plan, received text messages are free throughout the world. For comparison of voice rates, Rogers, Bell, and Telus all charge $1.45 per minute (as of May 2010) at their regular rates for voice calls when roaming in the United States.
. In 2011, Wind stopped hosting the service on their own servers. The company now hosts its online community on Get Satisfaction
.
products and services from Wind in addition to the grant. To commemorate its recent launch in the Niagara region and the upcoming launch in the city of London
, Wind similarly plans to award one $10,000 grant per region. The winner in the Niagara region will be announced in January 2012.
The current logo, introduced on November 7, 2011, consists of the name WIND in orange, with a W-shaped wave on top and a dot placed above the wave and the letter "I", all placed inside of a curved, parallelogram-shaped white speech balloon
.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
wireless telecommunications provider operated by Globalive Communications Corporation
Globalive
Globalive Communications Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications provider based in Toronto. Originally founded in 1998 by offering services over pre-established telephone networks, it is best known for its "Yak" and "LooneyCall" long-distance plans....
. The company initially launched mobile data and voice services in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
on December 16, 2009 and two days later in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
. Wind expanded their network to include Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
on February 26, 2010, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
on March 27, 2010, metropolitan Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
on June 3, 2010, and the Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
-Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....
area on August 16, 2011. , Wind Mobile has 358,000 active subscribers Canada-wide.
Spectrum bid, CTRC overview and launch delays (2008)
Globalive, a Canadian company which also runs "Yak Communications", is primarily owned by an Egyptian corporation, Orascom Telecom HoldingOrascom Telecom Holding
Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in the Middle East, Africa, Canada and Asia. It started its operations in Egypt by launching the first egyptian mobile operator in 1998, ....
, managed by Wind Telecom S.p.A., which owns a number of other "Wind" brand telecommunications companies. Globalive bid $442-million (CAD) in 2008 to secure the wireless spectrum
Advanced Wireless Services
AWS-1 or UMTS band IV, is a wireless telecommunications spectrum band used for mobile voice and data services, video, and messaging. AWS-1 is used in the United States and Canada...
required for the launch of the network. The launch of the company was delayed due to a public ownership review by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The regulatory body stated that Globalive did not meet Canadian ownership requirements. The most prominent issue was Globalive's reliance on Orascom
Orascom Telecom Holding
Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in the Middle East, Africa, Canada and Asia. It started its operations in Egypt by launching the first egyptian mobile operator in 1998, ....
for its debt, which stands at $508-million (CAD).
Network tests, government approval, retail partnership and launch (2009)
Globalive completed its first test call on the network in June 2009.On December 11 of that year, the Governor in Council (acting on suggestion of Tony Clement
Tony Clement
Tony Peter Clement, PC, MP is a Canadian federal politician, President of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
, Industry Minister of Canada
Minister of Industry (Canada)
The Minister of Industry is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government's economic development and corporate affairs department, Industry Canada. The Minister of Industry is also the minister responsible for Statistics Canada...
) issued a final decision deeming that Globalive does meet ownership requirements, allowing Globalive to enter the Canadian market immediately.
On December 14, shortly before the peak of the Christmas and holiday season, Wind announced an alliance with Blockbuster Inc. in Canada to offer Wind kiosks within Blockbuster stores at 16 locations, 13 in Ontario and 3 in Calgary.
On December 16, Wind Mobile officially launched their service in Toronto. A launch event was hosted at their Queens Quay location in downtown Toronto.
Robbins resigns, network expansion, 100K subscribers and WINDtab (2010)
Chris Robbins, chief customer officer resigned from Wind Mobile on March 4, 2010. Both Robbins and Wind Mobile said that the departure was due to strategic changes and the former wanting to pursue other business opportunities. Analysts assessed the change negatively speculating that an executive departure so early reflected disappointing market penetration.On March 27, 2010, Wind Mobile officially launched their service in Ottawa. A launch event was hosted at the Rideau St location.
Wind Mobile announced on August 13 that in early July, they had reached "the 100,000 mark in terms of new wireless subscribers". Orascom's third-quarter financial report, released in November 2010, listed Wind's subscriber base as 139,681.
Court proceedings, VimpelCom, network expansion and WINDtab+ (2011)
On February 4, 2011, the Federal CourtFederal Court (Canada)
The Federal Court is a Canadian trial court that hears cases arising under certain areas of federal law. The Federal Court is a superior court with nationwide jurisdiction...
ruled in a suit brought by competitor Public Mobile
Public Mobile
Public Mobile is a Canadian mobile phone company, operating in the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Montreal. It is one of several new cellphone providers which launched in 2010 in Canada. Public Mobile operates a CDMA network, and has partnered with Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility to provide...
and Telus
TELUS
Telus is a national telecommunications company in Canada that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, video, and satellite television. The company is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, part of Greater Vancouver...
that The Governor in Council's decision overriding the CRTC's determination that Wind Mobile did not meet Canadian ownership requirements was improper. Wind was granted a 45-day stay of the decision to file arguments. The Federal Court of Appeal has set May 18, 2011 as the date it will hear arguments by Wind and the federal government as to why a recent federal court decision should be quashed.
On March 17, the shareholders of Russian mobile telephone operator VimpelCom voted in support of a $6 billion deal to acquire WIND Telecom, whose assets include Orascom Telecom, a significant shareholder in WIND Mobile. The parties are now moving to close the deal, likely sometime in the first half of 2011. This transaction would create the world’s fifth largest mobile operator by subscribers - more than 173 million subscribers.
Wind's network in the region of Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
and Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....
(K-W) was launched on August 16, just in time for the back to school season of 2011. In conjunction with this launch, the company introduced a WINDtab+ option for Pay After customers, as well as a promotional Super Smart plan for all customers. Both services are available to all WIND subscribers in any WIND zones. Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
coverage was officially announced on September 9 and two stores opened in Guelph by the end of the month. The St. Catharines and Welland
Welland
-Places:* River Welland in the east of England* Welland, Worcestershire, a village in England* Welland River in Ontario, Canada, named after its English counterpart* Welland Canal, named after the Canadian river...
zones were officially launched on October 15, and one store was opened in each city. The provider claims that they will add "[m]ore [s]tores in October" for all these regions, along with new handsets and special promotions.
The carrier launched a new advertising campaign on November 7, adopting the slogan "That's the power of WIND" and reinforcing orange as its official colour. Service in Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, Ontario
Niagara Falls is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. The municipality was incorporated on June 12, 1903...
was officially launched on November 23. To celebrate, the company offered 30 Nokia C7
Nokia C7-00
The Nokia C7-00 is a Symbian^3 smartphone from the Nokia Cseries. The C7-00 features a , 640 x 360 pixel capacitive touchscreen...
smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s at the price of $7 each at their store in The Pen Centre
The Pen Centre
The Pen Centre is the largest mall in the Niagara Region, located in St. Catharines, Ontario. At one point, The Pen was the fourth largest mall in Canada, with over one million square feet of floor space...
shopping mall. Wind plans to connect the Niagara region coverage with that of the Greater Toronto Area
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area is the largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a 2006 census population of 5.5 million. The Greater Toronto Area is usually defined as the central city of Toronto, along with four regional municipalities surrounding it: Durham, Halton, Peel, and York...
. Additionally, the operator plans to launch coverage in the Barrie
Barrie
Barrie may refer to:* Barrie, city in Ontario, Canada* Barrie , Canadian federal electoral district* Barrie , provincial electoral district* Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, former Canadian electoral district...
and London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
cities at a later time.
Network
Wind Mobile provides UMTSUniversal Mobile Telecommunications System
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is a third generation mobile cellular technology for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed by the 3GPP , UMTS is a component of the International Telecommunications Union IMT-2000 standard set and compares with the CDMA2000 standard set for...
wireless services with High Speed Packet Access
High Speed Packet Access
High Speed Packet Access is an amalgamation of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access and High Speed Uplink Packet Access , that extends and improves the performance of existing WCDMA protocols...
(HSPA) for data, using its license on the UMTS IV frequency band
UMTS frequency bands
The UMTS frequency bands are radio frequencies used by third generation wireless Universal Mobile Telecommunications System networks.They were allocated by delegates to the World Administrative Radio Conference held in Málaga-Torremolinos, Spain between February 3, 1992 and March 3, 1992...
, also known as Advanced Wireless Services
Advanced Wireless Services
AWS-1 or UMTS band IV, is a wireless telecommunications spectrum band used for mobile voice and data services, video, and messaging. AWS-1 is used in the United States and Canada...
(AWS). Using this band, user equipment transmits at 1710–1755 MHz, and receives at 2110–2155 MHz. Evolved HSPA
Evolved HSPA
HSPA+, or Evolved High-Speed Packet Access, is a technical standard for wireless, broadband telecommunication. HSPA+ was first defined in the technical standard 3GPP release 7....
, also known as HSPA+, was activated on WIND's network during the summer of 2011.
Wind Mobile is the first Canadian wireless service provider to make use of the AWS spectrum for its network. In North America, T-Mobile USA
T-Mobile USA
T-Mobile USA, Inc. is an American mobile-network operator, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, that provides wireless voice, messaging and data services in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The company is the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. market with 33.73...
is the largest provider to use this spectrum. Wind's use of AWS requires that customers use an AWS-capable handset, which are less common than band II and V handsets, which predate band IV by more than 10 years.
Since Wind's launch in Canada, other service providers have begun operations using AWS. , this includes Mobilicity
Mobilicity
Mobilicity is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity".-History:...
and Vidéotron
Vidéotron
Vidéotron GP is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Currently, the company primarily serves Quebec, as well as the francophone...
. Although Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless is a wireless telecommunications provider offering mobile phone and data services throughout Canada using Global System for Mobile Communications and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System technology. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications...
and Bell Mobility
Bell Mobility
Bell Mobility is a CDMA and HSPA+ based wireless network and the division of Bell Canada which sells wireless services in Canada...
also have an AWS network since 2011, they are currently only available in select cities for use with a LTE mobile broadband modem. Other devices are coming soon.
Coverage
Currently, Wind's network coverage in OntarioOntario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
includes the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area
Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area
The Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area is composed of the metropolitan areas of the Canadian cities of Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario. The GTHA includes the census metropolitan areas of Toronto, Hamilton and Oshawa....
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Kitchener
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
, Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It is the smallest of the three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, and is adjacent to the city of Kitchener....
, Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
, and part of the Niagara Region, London. Outside of Ontario, Wind has coverage in Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
, Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, and the Greater Vancouver
Greater Vancouver
Greater Vancouver is the metropolitan area centred on the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, roughly coterminous with the Greater Vancouver Regional District, which is governed by a body known as Metro Vancouver...
area including Whistler
Whistler, British Columbia
Whistler is a Canadian resort town in the southern Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the province of British Columbia, Canada, approximately north of Vancouver...
.
The operator will also expand the edges of their current home zones, and increase the density within each zone. Service will also be launched in the Barrie
Barrie
Barrie may refer to:* Barrie, city in Ontario, Canada* Barrie , Canadian federal electoral district* Barrie , provincial electoral district* Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, former Canadian electoral district...
and London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
cities in Ontario. Outside of that province, Wind plans to launch its network in the Halifax, Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
cities in 2012.
Wind formerly called their coverage areas home zones. , they now use the term "our network" instead. Customers traveling outside of this network automatically roam on a national GSM partner network.
Products
Wind Mobile offers various devices for use on their network. These include feature phoneFeature phone
A feature phone is a mobile phone that, like smartphones, combines the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone.Today's models typically also serve as portable media players and camera phones with touchscreen, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi and mobile broadband access.Feature phones is...
s, smartphone
Smartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s and mobile broadband
Mobile Broadband
Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, mobile phone or other mobile device.-Description:...
modems.
Feature phones
WIND's device lineup currently includes five feature phones. Three are from HuaweiHuawei
Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China...
, one is manufactured by Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, and one comes from LG
LG Electronics
LG Electronics is a global electronics and telecommunications company headquartered in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea. The company operates its business through five divisions: mobile communications, home entertainment, home appliance, air conditioning and business solution...
:
- Huawei U1250Huawei U1250The Huawei U1250 is a mobile phone manufactured by Huawei, Inc. and sold exclusively by WIND Mobile in Canada.-History:Wind Mobile added the Huawei U1250 to its lineup in late 2010 as the most affordable phone available from this operator. This phone was sometimes sold at a reduced price, as low...
- Huawei U3200
- Huawei U6150
- LG dLite
- Samsung C414
The U1250 is a very basic candybar phone, while the U3200 is similar but has a slider keypad instead. The U6150 is a feature phone with a QWERTY
QWERTY
QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...
keyboard. The phone's candybar design closely resembles that of a BlackBerry
BlackBerry
BlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
.
Previously, WIND offered the Huawei U7519
T-Mobile Tap
The T-Mobile Tap is a mobile phone manufactured by Huawei, Inc. and marketed under the T-Mobile brand and service. It is also known as the Huawei U7519.- Features :...
, a feature phone available at launch for $130. Its price was lowered to $70, then to $35 in October 2010 before being discontinued.
Another launch device is the Samsung Gravity 2. Its original price was $150, and it was lowered to $78 before being discontinued recently.
Smartphones
Nearly a dozen smartphones are currently available from Wind Mobile. These include BlackBerry OSBlackBerry OS
BlackBerry OS is a proprietary mobile operating system, developed by Research In Motion for its BlackBerry line of smartphone handheld devices...
- and Symbian
Symbian
Symbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user...
- as well as various Android-powered devices:
WIND is Canada's first carrier to offer Alcatel
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...
-branded phones. The Alcatel Tribe
Alcatel One Touch 980
The Alcatel One Touch 980 is a touchscreen slider smartphone manufactured by TCL Communication. The phone was announced on February 15, 2010 at the Mobile World Congress. The Alcatel One Touch 980 was the first Alcatel to run the Android operating system, running version 2.1 "Éclair"...
, an Android similar to the Palm Pre
Palm Pre
The Palm Pre is a multimedia smartphone designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux based mobile operating system, webOS...
, was previously available. Wind is also the only provider in that country to sell a Huawei smartphone.
The BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone was available at launch, but has been replaced by the newer 9780, which was replaced by the 9900 in October 2011. Another smartphone available at launch was the HTC Maple, Wind's only device to run the legacy Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
6.5 operating system. The device was later offered by Mobilicity
Mobilicity
Mobilicity is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity".-History:...
and both carriers have now discontinued its sale. There are no immediate plans to sell Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
smartphones.
Internet access devices
Currently, Wind Mobile sells three devices that are exclusively designed for mobile broadbandMobile Broadband
Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, mobile phone or other mobile device.-Description:...
:
- Huawei E1691
- Huawei E366
- Huawei E583
The E1691 and E366 are USB devices that are officially supported by computers using the Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
10.4 or higher, or Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
operating systems. The E1691 and the E583 can download at speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/s, while the E366 can reach speeds up to 21.1 Mbit/s. The E583 is a portable device, similar to the MiFi
MiFi
MiFi is a line of compact wireless routers produced by Novatel Wireless that act as mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. MiFi stands for 'My Wi-Fi'. The MiFi can be connected to a mobile phone carrier and provide internet access for up to 5 devices...
, that allows any Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
device to connect to mobile Internet.
SIM cards
For those who already own a compatible phone, SIM cards cost $25 each. These can be used to access Wind's network with any unlocked UMTS hardware supporting AWSAdvanced Wireless Services
AWS-1 or UMTS band IV, is a wireless telecommunications spectrum band used for mobile voice and data services, video, and messaging. AWS-1 is used in the United States and Canada...
(UMTS band IV
UMTS frequency bands
The UMTS frequency bands are radio frequencies used by third generation wireless Universal Mobile Telecommunications System networks.They were allocated by delegates to the World Administrative Radio Conference held in Málaga-Torremolinos, Spain between February 3, 1992 and March 3, 1992...
), such as the Nokia N900
Nokia N900
The Nokia N900 is a smartphone made by Nokia. It supersedes the Nokia N810. Its default operating system, Maemo 5, is a Linux-based OS originally developed for the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. It is the first Nokia device based upon the Texas Instruments OMAP3 microprocessor with the ARM Cortex-A8...
or the Google Nexus One
Nexus One
The Nexus One was Google's flagship smartphone manufactured by Taiwan's HTC Corporation. It became available on January 5, 2010 and uses the Android open source mobile operating system...
. When the SIM is inserted into a device supporting older GSM (2G) technology, one can access the Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless
Rogers Wireless is a wireless telecommunications provider offering mobile phone and data services throughout Canada using Global System for Mobile Communications and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System technology. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications...
network, regardless of whether or not AWS frequencies are supported by the device. Roaming fees, however, will be charged, so a payment method is required to pay these fees.
WINDmagazine
WINDmagazine is an advertising publication created by St. Joseph Media. It is available at Wind Mobile stores for customers and non-customers alike. Issues are themed after a certain word. For example, the words "heroes", "nice", and "change" were used as themes for the company's publications. Although there are 15 centre pages showcasing WIND's products and services, the rest of the magazine consists of articles related to the magazine's theme word.Voice plans
Wind entered the Canadian market offering three mobile voice plans at $15, $35, and $45 monthly. These include a low-cost plan with limited minutes and two plans with unlimited province-wide and nation-wide calling respectively. Various promotional $25 monthly plans were added to this lineup over time, before settling for a regular retail plan.Current plans are named after intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....
levels. They are similar to those offered by competitor Mobilicity
Mobilicity
Mobilicity is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity".-History:...
:
| Plan name | Local minutes | Province-wide minutes | Canada-wide minutes | SMS SMS SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :... /MMS Multimedia Messaging Service Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from... to Canada/USA |
SMS SMS SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :... sent worldwide |
Voicemail Voicemail Voicemail is a computer based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to individuals, organizations, products and services, using an ordinary telephone... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clever | 100 roll-over | 50 SMS | ||||
| Smart | ||||||
| Oh Canada | ||||||
| Brilliant | ||||||
| Genius | ||||||
A yellow check mark indicates that sent SMS and MMS to USA are excluded.
Features listed in the above table can only be used within a Wind Home zone. Note the the promotional "Oh Canada" plan is identical to the Smart plan, but excludes SMS and MMS to USA, and includes the Infinite Mobile Internet and unlimited Canadian long distance add-ons at a reduced cost for one year. After one year, the regular rate of $45 applies.
Another plan available is "Pay Your Way" which has no monthly fee. Instead, customers pay only for features they use on their phone. Regular calling rates are currently 20¢ for a call from Canada, to Canada or to the United States. Sending an SMS from Canada to Canada or the USA costs 15¢ per message, while an MMS costs $1 per message sent and an international SMS is 25¢ per message sent. Receiving a message is always free. Data costs 10¢ per 25 KB, which is equivalent to $4.096/MB or $4194.304/GB. The service can be used at these rates on both WIND's own network and Rogers Wireless' EDGE network.
On December 10, 2010, the company began offering a promotional plan called "Holiday Miracle" for the Christmas and holiday season to new and existing subscribers. The plan provides unlimited incoming and outgoing North American calls, global SMS, MMS, and data services from Wind home zones, along with voicemail
Voicemail
Voicemail is a computer based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to individuals, organizations, products and services, using an ordinary telephone...
and tethering. This plan is no longer available. Variations of this plan known as "Winter WonderPlan" or "My Unstoppable Plan" were later released before being discontinued as well. Both of these did not include tethering.
All Wind Mobile voice plans include the following four features: Caller ID
Caller ID
Caller ID , also called calling line identification or calling number identification or Calling Line Identification Presentation , is a telephone service, available in analog and digital phone systems and most Voice over Internet Protocol applications, that transmits a caller's number to...
, Call forwarding
Call forwarding
Call forwarding , in telephony, is a feature on some telephone networks allowing an incoming call to a called party to be redirected to a third party. For example, the third party may be a mobile telephone, voicemail box or other telephone number where the desired called party is situated. It was...
, Conference call
Conference call
A conference call is a telephone call in which the calling party wishes to have more than one called party listen in to the audio portion of the call. The conference calls may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call, or the call may be set up so that the called party...
ing, and Missed call
Missed call
A missed call is a telephone call that is not answered by its intended recipient prior to the termination of ringing on the recipient's end. The ringing may be terminated by the caller simply by hanging up the receiver of a landline phone, or pressing the appropriate button on a mobile phone, or if...
notifications. Also included are incoming text and picture messages. When a Wind customer calls another Wind customer, and when both are in any Wind zone, there are no charges or minutes deducted for that call. Pay Your Way customers, however, must pay airtime when they call any other Wind customer, unless they have the optional "Unlimited WIND-to-WIND" add-on.
Wind does not charge system access fee
System access fee
The System access fee is a non-governmental surcharge imposed by most Canadian telephone companies on their customers' monthly bills . Although it is normally charged for wireless services, Rogers Communications and the now-defunct Sprint Canada also charged its home phone customers a System Access...
s or carrier 911 fees. There is also no activation fee for new subscriptions. In a departure from the other providers' core offerings Wind also does not require customers to sign contracts for service.
Mobile Internet plans
For mobile phones, mobile Internet access plans include:- $5 for Social BlackBerry which includes FacebookFacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
and instant messaging - $5 for Social Mobile which includes 50 MB of data
- $10 for Infinite Mobile or Infinite BlackBerry
- $10 for Data Tethering (requires Infinite Mobile or Infinite BlackBerry)
These add-ons may only be used with a Smart, Brilliant or Genius plan, except for the Social BlackBerry or Social Mobile which can also be used with the Clever plan. Customers with the Social Mobile add-on who use more than 50 megabytes will be charged 20¢/MB for the additional data. If any of the 50 megabytes are unused, they cannot be carried over to the next month.
For mobile Internet data sticks and Pocket Hotspot devices, Wind offers several monthly plans:
- Surf a little for $15/month and 1 GB/month
- Surf a lot for $25/month and 3 GB/month
- Surf a ton for $35/month and 10 GB/month
Customers with the 1 GB or 3 GB plans who use more data in a month than they are entitled to will be charged 1¢/MB for additional data. If any included allowance is unused, it cannot be carried over to the next month.
Another plan available is "Pay Your Way" which has no monthly fee. Instead, customers pay only for the time they use the Internet connection at a rate of 20¢ for 6 minutes, up to a maximum of $5 for an entire day from midnight to midnight.
All data plans, however, are subject to a "Fair Usage Policy". Only personal use of the Internet service by an individual is allowed. If more than 10 GB of data is used, Wind Mobile may implement a "soft-cap" to slow or "throttle
Bandwidth throttling
Bandwidth throttling is a reactive measure employed in communication networks to regulate network traffic and minimize bandwidth congestion. Bandwidth throttling can occur at different locations on the network. On a local area network , a sysadmin may employ bandwidth throttling to help limit...
" data speed in certain cases to share the network with other customers. Those with an Infinite Mobile or Infinite BlackBerry add-on but without the Data Tethering add-on have a limit of 5 GB instead. Should the throttling be enforced, an SMS will be sent to the device in question, and the download speed will be no higher than 256 kilobits per second, while the upload speed will be no higher than 128 kilobits per second. This policy still provides faster speeds than dial-up Internet access while allowing reliable service to all customers.
WINDtab
The WINDtab is a billing method introduced on November 5, 2010, well before the Christmas and holiday season of that year. It is very similar to Koodo MobileKoodo Mobile
Koodo Mobile is a mobile brand in Canada started by Telus in 2008. Koodo differs from its parent Telus by not requiring a fixed term contract. Koodo offers all its services on a month by month basis. Koodo uses the concept of a Tab which allows customers to build credit towards new phones...
's Tab payment system in that it subsidizes up to $150 off the retail price of a device by placing the amount of the subsidy on a tab balance. Like Koodo, it only works on postpaid activations, known as Pay After.
During the K-W launch day on August 16, 2011, WIND introduced another contract option called the WINDtab+. Similarly to the Virgin Mobile Canada's SuperTab, it provides a subsidy greater than $150 for phones that cost more than that amount. For example, the BlackBerry Bold on the WINDtab+ would cost $169 instead of its regular price of $569 because $400 of the retail cost is placed on a tab balance. Unlike the regular WINDtab, however, WINDtab+ can currently only be used with the promotional Super Smart plan or the pricier Genius plan. The tab balance is cleared off after three years of service for accounts in good standing.
Long distance
Many of the voice plans offered by Wind Mobile already include province-wide or Canada-wide long distance. Those wishing to call other countries, however, can add one of several long distance plans for low or unlimited calling rates.Unlimited calling to Canada or USA can be added for $10/month per country. If a customer makes a call to either country without its respective add-on, they will be charged 15¢/minute when calling from a Wind Home zone. These long distance options can be added to the Smart, Brilliant or Genius monthly plans. The only exception is that unlimited Canada-wide long distance is already included at no extra cost in the Genius plan.
Unlimited calling to Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore or South Korea can be added for $20/month per country. The long distance options can be added to the Brilliant or Genius monthly plans. Another option, called "My Country", costs $5/month and can be added to any Wind Mobile plan. It allows pay-per-minute calling to one of the of the countries listed below, except for Bangladesh, at 5¢/minute.
Customers with a Clever plan can add unlimited sent SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
and MMS
Multimedia Messaging Service
Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
to Canada and USA for $5/month. Those with a Clever, Smart or Brilliant plan can add unlimited sent SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
worldwide for $5/month.
All these long distance add-ons and rates apply only in Wind Home zones to personal individual calls made to regular landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
and mobile phone numbers.
Roaming
Wind has dubbed its calling zones "Wind Home" and "Wind Away", its own network and its roaming networks respectively. This is normally clearly indicated on the device, and the user normally has the option of disabling either or both types of network by using the network or flight modeFlight mode
Flight mode is a setting available on most cell phones, smartphones and other electronic devices that, when engaged, suspends many of the device's signal transmitting functions – thereby disabling the device's capacity to place or receive calls or text messages – while still permitting use of other...
settings.
In Canada, Wind Mobile has negotiated with Rogers Wireless to provide roaming services at these rates:
- 25¢ per minute for incoming and outgoing calls to Canada and the USA
- 15¢ per sent SMSSMSSMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...
to Canada and the USA - 10¢ per 25KB of mobile broadbandMobile BroadbandMobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, mobile phone or other mobile device.-Description:...
(equivalent to $4.096/MB or $4194.30/GB)
Wind roaming in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is done with T-Mobile USA as of February 12, 2010, at these same rates. After Mobilicity
Mobilicity
Mobilicity is a Canadian wireless telecommunications provider. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "mobility" and "simplicity".-History:...
, this is the second lowest roaming rate available to Canadian subscribers.
There is also a "Canada/U.S. Preferred Roaming Rates" add-on available. It costs $10/month and provides lower roaming rates for Canada and USA:
- 16¢ per minute for incoming and outgoing calls to Canada and the USA
- 10¢ per sent SMS to Canada and the USA
- $1 per MB of mobile broadband (equivalent to $1024/GB)
Whether or not the customer has a roaming plan, received text messages are free throughout the world. For comparison of voice rates, Rogers, Bell, and Telus all charge $1.45 per minute (as of May 2010) at their regular rates for voice calls when roaming in the United States.
Unlocking
Handsets sold by Wind Mobile are locked initially, but a free unlock code can be requested after three consecutive months of service, the only provider in Canada to currently offer such a service for free.Get Satisfaction
Wind Mobile also operated a webpage where users can interact with each other and with Wind moderators to discuss issues related to the service. It is similar to the Fido Forums available from FidoFido Solutions
Fido Solutions is a Canadian cellular telephone service provider currently owned by Rogers Communications. It was formerly owned by Microcell Telecommunications. Fido does, however, remain a separate entity from Rogers...
. In 2011, Wind stopped hosting the service on their own servers. The company now hosts its online community on Get Satisfaction
Get Satisfaction
Get Satisfaction is a customer community software platform for technical support based in San Francisco, California, United States. It was founded on January 31, 2007 by several people, including Lane Becker, Amy Muller, Thor Muller, and Jonathan Grubb. It publicly launched in September 2007. The...
.
Philanthropy
Wind's philanthropic arm is called WINDthanks and has a web page at www.wind.ca/windthanks. This started during the back-to-school season of 2011 in conjunction with the Kitchener-Waterloo launch. Those living in the region could nominate a charitable project to win a $10,000 grant from Wind. The winner was MobileED, and received complimentary mobile broadbandMobile Broadband
Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, mobile phone or other mobile device.-Description:...
products and services from Wind in addition to the grant. To commemorate its recent launch in the Niagara region and the upcoming launch in the city of London
London, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
, Wind similarly plans to award one $10,000 grant per region. The winner in the Niagara region will be announced in January 2012.
Advertising
Wind Mobile advertises its products and services on the radio, television and public transit. They also have various contests where they give away promotional prizes such as sweatshirts, or a smartphone with a month of service.Logo
Speech balloon
Speech balloons are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comic strips and cartoons to allow words to be understood as representing the speech or thoughts of a given character in the comic...
.
Slogans
- December 2009-October 2011 : "The power of conversation." (English) / "Le pouvoir de la communication." (French)
- November 2011-present : "That's the power of WIND."
See also
- Globalive Communications CorporationGlobaliveGlobalive Communications Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications provider based in Toronto. Originally founded in 1998 by offering services over pre-established telephone networks, it is best known for its "Yak" and "LooneyCall" long-distance plans....
, the Canadian telecommunications provider that operates Wind Mobile (Canada). - Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A.WIND (Italy)Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA is an Italian telecom operator which offers integrated mobile, fixed and IPTV and Internet services and has also a sister network in Greece: WIND Hellas...
, the third largest mobile operator in Italy. - Wind Hellas (formerly TIM Hellas), the third largest mobile operator in Greece.