bell

Dear Bell & Telus:Wow. Today is a big day for you. You came up with a whole new way to dig deep -- way deep -- into the already porous pockets of Canadians. Up until now, I naively believed that the government and oil companies were responsible for gouging me, but clearly you’ve found a whole new way to exploit the Canadian population. After giving it some thought however (and doing a little research from online sources that appear to be credible), I was able to see your rationale for this new 15 cent per text message billing structure.  After all, times are tough – we’re all feeling the pinch.

I mean, look at some of these upsetting facts I found:

• Bell, in 2007, you only made 20 billion dollars in annual revenue  (from about 5.8 million wireless subscribers)
• And Telus, well, you are clearly in dire straits. Sadly, you only made about 9.2 billion dollars from 5.7 million wireless subscribers.

Wow, I can see how it would be hard to stay afloat given these rough economic conditions. Sadly, I cannot help with either of your causes as I currently contribute $100 / month in wireless services to Rogers’ annual revenue.

Despite the fact Rogers at the moment has no intention to jump on the pay per text bandwagon, I’ve already carved out my own plan to stick it to the man. See, I’m lucky enough to work for a little company named EQO, a Canadian company in fact, where I don’t pay a penny for messages. Listen up Bell and Telus (AND Rogers) subscribers! I’m about to share my secret with you – think of it as a quick tip to help you, the little guy, STICK IT to the big guys.

Just follow these simple directions:

1. Go to www.EQO.com and click on GET EQO NOW  
2. Sign up for your FREE EQO account, and follow the simple directions to download EQO to your phone (it works with your existing phone and plan). EQO will import your contacts automatically.
3. INVITE EVERYONE you know on BELL, TELUS (& ROGERS) to join your EQO network (think of the Facebook invite style, but on your mobile phone).
4. Select a contact from your EQO Phonebook, click on EQO Message, type your message (might I suggest something like “SUCK IT, Bell & Telus!”), and hit send. You just sent your message for FREE, and your buddy will receive your message FOR FREE – no charge from Bell or Telus (or Rogers), and of course no charge from EQO.  

Now THAT WAS EASY (insert Staples easy button here). You just sent the first of many FREE messages, the possibilities are endless. And by the way, for your buddies that aren’t on EQO, we also offer super-cheap SMS texts to anywhere in the world, though that won’t help your friend.

Why am I sharing my secret with you? Well, because it’s no secret at all. A bunch of us got together here at EQO a few years ago and set out to make staying in touch with people easier, and CHEAPER. It’s our contribution to good karma – enjoy, and make sure to let us know what you think!

In the meantime, you stay classy, Canadian telcos!

EQO has added support for ten more phones, those being:

• LG KE970 Shine
• LG KG800 Chocolate
• LG KU250
• Nokia 8800 Arte
• Nokia N82
• Sanyo Katana DLX
• Sony Ericsson K660
• Sony Ericsson W380
• Sony Ericsson W890
• Palm Treo 500v

We've also upgraded our sign up/download system to allow Canadian users on Bell and Telus to use EQO Mobile.  In the past we'd had problems with these carriers not allowing EQO Mobile to be installed because we were not certified.  Now we've devised a workaround that will get EQO onto phones from these carriers, but you still might not get the SMS download message.  You may need to visit get.eqo.com on your mobile browser to download EQO Mobile.  If you still can't get EQO, check out this post for another potential solution.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Mobile carriers such as Telus and Bell in Canada as well as others around the world require that J2ME applications be signed by them before they allow you to install them on your phone. This is basically a ploy to ensure you buy J2ME games from the carriers themselves. Luckily EQO SysAdmin Stanley, of EQO Soccer goal scoring fame, found a way of getting the J2ME version of EQO Mobile onto phones like his Samsung A920 from Bell. All you need do is head to funformobile.com and use their game uploader, which also works for EQO Mobile. Download EQO.zip to your PC during the EQO signup process, extract the contents, and upload EQO.jad and EQO.jar using the funformobile.com game uploader. They'll send EQO to your phone and you'll be good to go, as long as you have a data plan:)

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist