A new update for the Facebook Messaging app for iOS devices now allows users to place voice calls to people in their friend list without using plan minutes (though you’ll of course still consume cellular data). The company has been testing the functionality in Canada since early this month, and is now deploying the feature to U.S. users starting today. It’s services like this one that will inevitably erode wireless carrier SMS and voice revenues, [...]

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) in Canada is rapidly gaining momentum at the expense of incumbent cable and satellite services, with IPTV’s share of pay-TV subscriptions in the country rising to nearly to 10 percent in the third quarter of 2012. IPTV accounted for 9.6 percent of Canadian pay-TV video subscriptions in the third quarter, according to IHS Screen Digest Television Intelligence, from information and analytics provider IHS. This is up from [...]

CHICAGO — Rogers Communications Inc., the largest cable operator in Canada, has introduced a high-speed FTTH Internet service with upload and download speeds of 250 Mbps, as reported by Zacks Equity Research. Calls to Rogers to confirm were not answered as of press time. According to Zachs’ report, the FTTH offering from Rogers is currently the fastest broadband service in Canada. The 250 Mbps offers a 500 GB usage limit and is available only in [...]

AT&T has once again revamped their calling, texting and Wi-Fi access plans for customers traveling outside of the United States. According to a company press statement, AT&T’s new Travel Minutes packages allows customers to save money in over 200 countries, providing a “tremendous value over pay-per-use rates.” The move comes after both AT&T and Verizon revamped their international data packages last June. These new packages differ based on whether you’re visiting other parts of North [...]

AT&T broadband users continue to claim there’s something not quite right about the way AT&T calculates data usage for their capped DSL and U-Verse users. As Broadband Reports was the first to exclusively report last year, AT&T began imposing 150 GB caps on DSL users and 250 GB caps on U-Verse users — with $10 per 50 GB overage fees. The move was unpopular due to the fact AT&T’s landline network doesn’t see much congestion, [...]

WATERLOO, ONTARIO, CANADA – Monthly data usage has increased by 120 percent from 23 Gbps to 51 Gbps in the past year on North American fixed line networks, according to Sandvine, a leading provider of intelligent broadband network solutions for fixed and mobile operators, in its latest Internet traffic trends report, entitled “Global Internet Phenomena Report 2H2012.” The report, which is based on data from a selection of Sandvine’s 200-plus customers spanning North America, Europe, [...]

Companies and governments are rushing to distance themselves from Chinese hardware vendors Huawei and ZTE after a House Intelligence Committee report accused the companies of being Chinese spies, despite no evidence after an 11 month investigation. It’s widely believed this is simply protectionism with a coat of fear mongering, and the media is helping the U.S. government assault — with the wires slathered with reports of ZTE and Huawei wrong doing despite no hard evidence [...]

Canadian cable operator Cogeco continues to struggle with billing users accurately, users in our forums claiming that some people are being charged for service when their modems are powered down. Some users claim they’ve been getting hit with 10$-15$ overages on a consistent basis, with one couple reaching 85% of their monthly usage total despite being away from home with the modem powered off. Users in the thread speculate that cloned MAC addresses used by [...]

As we’ve noted repeatedly, ISPs are so hungry to cash in on caps and overages, they’re rushing toward implementing meters without making sure they work. Canadian cable operator Cogeco has been the absolute worst on this front, implementing metered usage charges back in 2009 — and three years later still unable to measure usage correctly. Users continue to argue that Cogeco’s meter is inaccurate when users can load it at all, and every so often [...]

REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA — SaskTel, the leading telecommunications provider in Saskatchewan, announced the launch of infiNET, its new fiber optic network with download speeds of up to 200 Mbps. SaskTel will invest $670 million over seven years to deploy FTTP in the nine largest urban centers in the province. “By deploying fiber to residences in these communities, SaskTel is not only providing Saskatchewan people with cutting-edge technology; they are also proactively planning for the increased [...]