Canadian iPad Data Plans Compared

I was curious about how the iPad plans that were announced by Bell, Rogers and Telus compared, where the break points were, and so forth. So I threw together a Google Spreadsheet to do some quick math on the plans. Assuming I read the plan rules correctly, I think the lessons are as follows:

• Bell and Rogers have eerily similar plans, like one copied the other, or both took a suggestion from Apple.
• The $15 plan offered by Bell and Rogers saves $5 over the $20 plan from Telus until you use more than 250MB.
• Telus' one-price plus overage model is cheaper than Bell and Rogers' $35 plan from 250MB-800MB.
• From 800MB to 5GB, Bell and Rogers $35 plan seems to be the way to go, because you'll be paying more than $35 by the time you pay Telus for your overage.
• After 5GB, it seems like Telus' plan, which maxes out at $50, would be cheaper than paying Rogers or Bell for another $35/5GB, assuming Telus doesn't cut you off.

None of the plans spell out the edge cases:

• Telus does have fine print saying "Subject to a monthly data limit of 5GB", but they're not very clear what happens if you hit that limit.
• Neither Rogers nor Bell explains what happens when you reach your cutoff. If you run out of data on the $15 plan, can you upgrade to the $35 plan for $20, keeping the original timeframe? Can you buy a new 30-day window of $15?

Based on my iPhone data usage, if I were to acquire and use an iPad regularly, I think I could probably live within 250MB, although if I went over occasionally, it might be simpler to have Telus' plan. I suspect I wouldn't go over 800MB.

Telus iPhone Visual Voicemail

I was pleased to see that Telus announced and rolled out Visual Voicemail, as was implied in the Carrier Update file I received and analyzed.

I guess that means I may well look into the next carrier update file I receive, since the first one gave me a clue to an upcoming rollout.

Telus iPhone Carrier Update

This morning, iTunes warned me that there was a carrier update available for my iPhone. The 'more info' button opened a link that explained the process, but didn't offer any details about what the update contained, other than updates with regard to my settings for my carrier, Telus.

In the spirit of interested inquiry, I thought I'd follow in the footsteps of others, and take a peek inside the update file. I started by copying the carrier file to a temporary folder and extracting the contents:

$ mkdir ~/telus
$ cp ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone\ Carrier\ Support/Telus_ca.ipcc ~/telus/telus.zip$ cd ~/telus$ unzip telus.zip
Archive:  telus.zip
   creating: Payload/
   creating: Payload/Telus_ca.bundle/
  inflating: Payload/Telus_ca.bundle/carrier.plist  
  inflating: Payload/Telus_ca.bundle/Default_CARRIER_TELUS.png  
  inflating: Payload/Telus_ca.bundle/FSO_CARRIER_TELUS.png  
  inflating: Payload/Telus_ca.bundle/Info.plist  
  inflating: Payload/Telus_ca.bundle/version.plist  

After that, I took a quick peek at the carrier.plist, but it was in binary format, so I had to convert the .plist files to XML:

$ plutil -convert xml1 *.plist

That let me take a look at the .plist files. The info.plist and version.plist files were very dull, looks like metadata about the bundle. The carrier.plist file was slightly more interesting:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
 <key>BookmarkURLs</key>
 <array>
  <dict>
   <key>BookmarkName</key>
   <string>TELUS Web</string>
   <key>BookmarkURL</key>
   <string>http://m.telusmobility.com/homepage</string>
  </dict>
 </array>
 <key>CarrierBookmarks</key>
 <array>
  <dict>
   <key>Title</key>
   <string>Web TELUS</string>
   <key>URL</key>
   <string>http://m.telusmobility.com/homepage</string>
  </dict>
 </array>
 <key>CarrierName</key>
 <string>TELUS</string>
 <key>IntlDataRoamingSwitch</key>
 <true/>
 <key>MMS</key>
 <dict>
  <key>GroupModeEnabled</key>
  <false/>
  <key>MMSC</key>
  <string>http://aliasredirect.net/proxy/mmsc</string>
  <key>MaxRecipients</key>
  <integer>20</integer>
  <key>Proxy</key>
  <string>74.49.0.18:80</string>
 </dict>
 <key>MaxBluetoothModemConnections</key>
 <integer>1</integer>
 <key>MyAccountURL</key>
 <string>http://m.telusmobility.com/homepage</string>
 <key>MyAccountURLTitle</key>
 <string>TELUS Web</string>
 <key>Services</key>
 <array>
  <dict>
   <key>ServiceCode</key>
   <string>#411</string>
   <key>ServiceName</key>
   <string>Directory Assistance</string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>ServiceCode</key>
   <string>#411</string>
   <key>ServiceName</key>
   <string>Assistance-annuaire</string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>ServiceCode</key>
   <string>#8294</string>
   <key>ServiceName</key>
   <string>TAXI</string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>ServiceCode</key>
   <string>#2886</string>
   <key>ServiceName</key>
   <string>Roadside Assistance</string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>ServiceCode</key>
   <string>#2886</string>
   <key>ServiceName</key>
   <string>Assistance Routière</string>
  </dict>
 </array>
 <key>ShowCallForwarded</key>
 <false/>
 <key>ShowCallForwarding</key>
 <false/>
 <key>ShowDialAssist</key>
 <false/>
 <key>ShowTTY</key>
 <false/>
 <key>StatusBarImages</key>
 <array>
  <dict>
   <key>AllowPrefixMatching</key>
   <false/>
   <key>CarrierName</key>
   <string>TELUS</string>
   <key>DefaultImage</key>
   <string>Default_CARRIER_TELUS.png</string>
   <key>FullScreenOpaqueImage</key>
   <string>FSO_CARRIER_TELUS.png</string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>AllowPrefixMatching</key>
   <false/>
   <key>CarrierName</key>
   <string>TELUS UMTS</string>
   <key>DefaultImage</key>
   <string>Default_CARRIER_TELUS.png</string>
   <key>FullScreenOpaqueImage</key>
   <string>FSO_CARRIER_TELUS.png</string>
  </dict>
 </array>
 <key>StockSymboli</key>
 <array>
  <dict>
   <key>symbol</key>
   <string>T.TO</string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>symbol</key>
   <string>TU</string>
  </dict>
 </array>
 <key>SupportedSIMs</key>
 <array>
  <string>302220</string>
 </array>
 <key>SupportsNITZ</key>
 <true/>
 <key>SupportsUserBusyCauseCode</key>
 <true/>
 <key>VVMIgnoresIntlDataRoaming</key>
 <false/>
 <key>VisualVoicemailServiceName</key>
 <string>IMAP</string>
 <key>apns</key>
 <array>
  <dict>
   <key>apn</key>
   <string>sp.telus.com</string>
   <key>password</key>
   <string></string>
   <key>signature</key>
   <data>
   ...
   </data>
   <key>type-mask</key>
   <integer>7</integer>
   <key>username</key>
   <string></string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>apn</key>
   <string>isp.telus.com</string>
   <key>password</key>
   <string></string>
   <key>signature</key>
   <data>
   ...
   </data>
   <key>type-mask</key>
   <integer>48</integer>
   <key>username</key>
   <string></string>
  </dict>
  <dict>
   <key>apn</key>
   <string>sp.telus.com</string>
   <key>password</key>
   <string></string>
   <key>signature</key>
   <data>
   ...
   </data>
   <key>type-mask</key>
   <integer>6</integer>
   <key>username</key>
   <string></string>
  </dict>
 </array>
 <key>com.apple.voicemail.imap</key>
 <dict>
  <key>BeaconAddress</key>
  <string>474663</string>
  <key>ClientManagesTrash</key>
  <false/>
  <key>GreetingNotification</key>
  <true/>
  <key>MaxGreetingDuration</key>
  <integer>60</integer>
  <key>MaxPINLength</key>
  <integer>10</integer>
  <key>MinPINLength</key>
  <integer>4</integer>
  <key>UsesMWI</key>
  <true/>
  <key>UsesSSL</key>
  <false/>
 </dict>
 <key>voicemail_context</key>
 <integer>0</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

I won't claim to understand the meaning of all those settings, but some of them seem to point to Telus supporting visual voicemail, which would be interesting. And finally, the .PNG files, once decoded from iPhone PNG format, were themselves pretty boring. Very small transparent images of the word "TELUS" in all caps; these are referenced in the .plist above as Status Bar Images.