Author: Joey deVilla

The battery on my MotoKRZR cell phone can’t hold a charge for longer than an hour. I went to the nearby Bell World, where they wanted:

a) A sales receipt. I can’t provide this as it was a free promo phone given to me by mega-PR firm Hill and Knowlton to promote Moto phones.
b) The phone itself. They tell me that they can’t simply sell me a new battery — it has to go back to service.

If that hasn’t turned me off Bell Canada as a mobile provider, the note at the bottom of their web page about fees for Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm devices certainly does. I quote:

System Access Fees are charged by all wireless companies to help pay for the network and the ongoing software, technology and other upgrades to that network. Generally, the higher the fee, the greater the opportunity to invest in network quality to enhance your experience. Just one more reason to choose Bell.

That’s right: we pay more not for better service, but for the opportunity for better service. I should use that trick the next time I negotiate my salary. They’d have been better off just skipping this mealy-mouthed explanation of why they charge more, or perhaps simply said “We’re counting on your laziness so that we don’t have to be competitive.”

So, folks — which Canadian mobile provider is the least lousy of the bunch?

Update

This isn’t the first time I’ve been annoyed with Bell Canada — see my 2003 entry, Hell Canada, in which I deal with bureaucratic ineptitude at the Bell Canada store.

Cracked.com has a great article titled The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses. Rather than keep you in suspense, here’s number one:

The things you had to do back then just to get the approval of your future father-in-law! I think Wendy’s dad was satisfied that I had a haircut, a degree and a job.

I still have to use the sizable gift certificate for GotStyle that sister and brother-in-law gave me for my birthday. So which outfit should I get — the shirt/tie combo with the exact same colour and pattern, or should I rock out like the guy on the left with the “Old-school Fred from Scooby-Doo” neck kerchief and Bay City Rollers hairdo?

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

That’s right — DemoCamp, the gathering of the bright lights of Toronto’s tech community takes place in a couple of weeks! Here are the details:

• When: Monday, February 25th, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Doors typically open around 5 – 5:30)
• Where: Toronto Board of Trade, 1 First Canadian Place (King and Bay), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Niceties include: Free food and a cash bar
• Cost: Free, but you have to sign up, and there’s also the option of making a donation (see below)
• After-party: After the presentations, we’ll adjourn to the nearby Duke of Westminster (77 Adelaide Street West)

I’ll go into more detail about DemoCamp in a later posting, but in the meantime, here are some handy links to get you started:

• We use this Eventbrite page for sign-ups. You need to sign up to attend, and there are three sign-up options:
  • You can “purchase” a free ticket, which as the name implies, means that it costs nothing
  • You can purchase a Community Supporter ticket for $5
  • You can purchase a Community All-Star ticket for $10 (I bought one just now)
• You’ll find more details about the event at the DemoCamp 17 page on the BarCamp wiki.
• If you want to do a demo or Ignite presentation at DemoCamp 17, sign up here.
• DemoCamp sells sponsorships! Sponsorship means prominent placement of your logo during the opening comments, and a representative from your company or organization gets 2 minutes at the podium. Sponsorships go for a mere $200 — contact Jay Goldman for details.

As I wrote earlier, I’ll post more details later.

A Reuters news report says that Russians visiting a health resort received a rude shock when a nurse used hydrogen peroxide instead of water to give them enemas.

For more information on hydrogen peroxide, here’s its Wikipedia entry.