Where’s the Blackberry 8320?

I was browsing the Roger’s web site the other day and noticed that they are now selling the Blackberry 8310. This is the new Curve with built in GPS, which in theory is a nice phone. But the 8320 with a built in Wifi card (802.11) is the phone I really want.

A review I saw today indicates that this phone can make calls over a wifi network (VOIP)! As well you can surf the web over wifi and get your email that way as well. What this means is that you can make VOIP calls over public hotspots, by passing the cellular network (and the billing) or get your email and surf the web that way not using the Edge network . In theory I could switch to a much cheaper data plan than I have now and surf using 802.11 instead.

A call to Rogers Customer Service today indicated that they have no indication when this hone will come out in Canada or even if it will be available. My guess is that Rogers has decided not to sell this phone because they could lose money on it in the long run as people could switch to less expensive voice and data calls and use wireless instead.

This is another reason why the Cell Phone industry in Canada is really screwed. Compared to the rest of the world, our data plans our way out of whack. For example, with At&T in the US and the iPhone, Apple got an unlimited data plan for 20.00 per month! Most iPhone subscribers got a 40.00 voice plan (with way more minutes than I get for 45.00) and pay 20.00 for unlimited data (total 60.00 mth). I pay more than that for just my Blackberry Data Plan at 65.00 per month just for 50MB of bandwidth (the closet thing to an unlimited account)

If you are waiting for the iPhone in Canada, I wouldn’t hold your breath, although I would love to see the release here, although I don’t want one. If it does finally come, I believe it will finally open up our cell networks and we Canadians won’t keep getting screwed!

Contact your cell phone provider and complain about our data plans and how we get screwed. I make a habit of doing this constantly every time I talk to Rogers Customer Service. Maybe one day we will get a fair treatment!