Hello, unlimited wireless data in Canada!

Until today — 12:42 MT, to be exact — I had a particularly negative view of the Canadian mobile market. Generally, I expected the Big 3 telcos to basically keep screwing over us little folk, and continue to treat Canada as a lovely little cash cow where there’s no competition.

Anyone who’s on Telus, pay attention! The game has changed.

Over the Christmas break, my friend (and co-worker) Marcie bought a Blackberry Pearl. I’d originally wanted a Pearl — it’s smaller, and it has a digital camera. But Telus didn’t offer it (at the time), so I went with a Blackberry 8830 World Edition. For the record, I’m not complaining — the lack of a camera isn’t the end of the world for me. And I love being on crack(berry).

But what I didn’t like was the data rates.

I was paying $25/month to get 4 MB of data. Four megs. Paltry. I go through that with one breath. I’m a data whore, I admit it. Give me data or give me death. It drives Alex crazy that I spend as much time as I do on computers. But I love the connectivity. It’s what I do. It’s what I am.

Marcie told me that she signed onto an unlimited data plan. I scoffed — no such thing in Canada! None of the carriers would be that nice, c’mon! She swore up and down the wall that it was legit. And she called Telus to prove it. She weren’t lyin’.

So I called Telus. Mostly because, as a nigh-on-eight years loyal customer, I want unlimited data! Sure enough, the plan is legit.

The details:

“Sign me up!” I cried in delight. I had to up my plan (previously on Talk 25, I’m now on the Favs plan), but in the end — get this — I’m saving $15/month in fees, and that’s not even covering the overages I was heading for (I was already double my limit, and I was trying to play it safe).

Thank you, Telus. You’ve partially restored my faith in the fact that maybe — just maybe — the Canadian mobile market isn’t as screwed up as I thought it was.

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