RE: Fido vs. Telus/Clearn
TELUS offers 93% digital coverage and according to the Globe & Mail review of wireless companies can lay claim to the title " most digital coverage with regards to Canada's Population" HOWEVER and this is very important, ROGERS can claim "most digital coverage in terms of area,in Canada" as they do offer more rural areas with coverage, example ROGERS now advertises blanket coverage in southern ontario which is superior to TELUS/BELL.
This is great for when you travel as you can expect better reception and less dropped calls outside of Toronto. This is not to say that if u take a ROGERS fone and a TELUS fone with u while travelling you would be able to tell the difference, there are other mitigating factors.
With regards to the phones, GSM phones beat CDMA phones hands down in terms of features, there is currently only 4 bluetooth CDMA phones as opposed to more than a 100 GSM phones. Also GSM phones default gaming softwware is JAVA while CDMA uses BREW which just isnt as good. However in my experience CDMA phones tend to have more battery life, less dropped calls and clearer reception than GSM. This may change with the new CDMA 1x EV-DO phones expected late 2005/early 2006, which have a multitude of features at a fraction of the cost of UMTS phones.
rate plans wise, according to the advertised ones TELUS offers better plans in Toronto, without a doubt. Their unltd incoming plan is $5 cheaper than fido and offers 100 minutes worth of long distance! even with activation fee and system access fees their price is still better, they price soo competitively that its a wonder how other brand sell. My geuss is brand awareness as ROGERS/BELL both offer phoneline/cable/internet and have monopolies for those services in TORONTO, otherwise TELUS would be gaining even more marketshare than it currently has. But I'll stick to my current plan with ROGERS, older plans are always better!