Bell and Telus' massive, sudden addition of nationwide HSPA networks to succeed their legacy CDMA towers was an experiment unlike anything the wireless world had ever seen; at no other time had carriers that large jumped from one 3G technology to another, and it was anyone's guess how well it'd go and what effect it'd have on their bottom line -- clean-slate network build-outs aren't cheap, after all. We've got part of that answer now that Bell has reported fourth quarter earnings, and in a nutshell, it seems like this may have been a huge gamble that paid off. The company's wireless unit saw a 2 percent decrease against the previous in EBIDTA -- and ARPU fell by CAD $1.48 to CAD $51.08 -- but here's where the bubbly gets broken out: it saw a 39.3 percent increase in gross activations to 523,000, up 11.3 percent year-over-year. That works out to 163,000 net adds, almost certainly attributable to the launch of HSPA service and a variety of hot new handsets (and some older ones -- the iPhone 3GS, for instance) that gave some disgruntled Rogers customer the ammo they needed to bolt. It'll likely be a good long while before Bell actually goes net positive on its massive network investment, but early signs certainly suggest that it was the right move to make.

We suppose we should be excited that Canada's version of the LG GW620 Eve is getting any major update at all, but still: what the heck? LG Canada has communicated via its official Twitter account this week that Rogers' version of the phone -- its second QWERTY-equipped Android set after the Dream -- would be getting an update to Android 1.6 (known to the bakers in the room as Donut, of course) this Spring. What's crazier, it apparently won't be an over-the-air boost since they're saying it'll be available from both LG's and Rogers' sites. That's not a huge deal, but seriously guys, why 1.6? If it were to drop today it'd feel old -- and by Spring, when HTC, Motorola, and likely Samsung all have 2.1 updates at the ready, this is just going to look a little silly, isn't it?

The carrier formerly known as DAVE Wireless -- one of the big winners in Canada's AWS auction a year and a half ago -- has adopted an official, consumer-friendly name on its way to availability later this year: Mobilicity, which is apparently supposed to evoke "the mobile carrier's focus on simplicity for city-based customers." They've also announced that the first market to go live will be Toronto in Spring followed by Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa later in the year, closely mirroring the strategy being employed by its nearest rival, WIND, which just launched recently in the same spectrum. Both operators face an uphill battle against the well-entrenched big boys -- Rogers, Bell, and Telus -- but it'll be a fun fight to watch, won't it?

When DirectTV started teasing an iPhone app about a year ago our interests were certainly piqued -- and then disappointed when it was revealed it would only allow remote scheduling. When the Android version came along we got our hopes up again for remote streaming of content, but again got them dashed again. Now Rogers is doing the disappointing, launching the charmingly titled "Remote PVR Access from your Bell Smartphone" in Canada just before the Olympics on February 12, though it's unclear right now which smartphones will be covered. It too allows remote scheduling of content and, sadly, not remote viewing. Some day we'll get our wish -- some day.

American carriers have had Wireless Priority Service in place for several years now, giving government officials and first responders improved access to potentially overloaded networks in the event of an emergency or high-density gathering -- but historically, that service has been restricted to American soil. With the Winter Olympics coming right up in Vancouver, AT&T figured it'd have quite a few G-Men strolling north of the border, so it has worked with Rogers this month to roll out priority access for devices roaming in Canada that are already authorized for the service. In a nutshell, that means VIPs strolling around the luge circuit will be able to get through (and stay through) if the crush of humanity gets too much for the poor, overworked cells to handle. And no, you can't sign up for it, so don't even ask.

Saying that CDMA-based Virgin Mobile Canada is "launching" a network is a bit of a stretch, actually, since it just rides atop Bell's airwaves -- but for what it's worth, it looks like we now have a date for an official HSPA launch. Bell, of course, has been wasting no time aggressively building out and marketing its HSPA network the past few months, and to get Virgin switched over, they'll likely be getting a variety of BlackBerrys and iPhones -- a far cry from the low-end fare its American cousin offers. Anyhow, the wholly-owned MVNO has scheduled a shindig for the evening of February 2 to launch its "huge new HSPA+ network and some of the world's sexiest phones" -- and hey, even if you don't like the new hardware, any party with Jay Sean sounds like a win to us. For what it's worth, Virgin's site is now listing both the iPhone 3GS and Bold 9700 as coming soon, so yeah, it's definitely about to get real up in here.

Virgin Mobile's Sprint-owned US outpost has a reputation as a fairly basic, low-end network -- but things are a little different up north where smartphones have been in Virgin Canada's vocabulary for some time. Well, things are about to get really interesting -- perhaps in an effort to fend off WIND's advances -- on news of an all-too-brief user guide leak on Virgin's official support site. As smartphones go, it looks like customers can expect the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, BlackBerry Bold 9700 and Curve 8530, and data fiends will be pleased to see the addition of a MiFi and a branded version of the MC998D stick. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is that Virgin appears to be planning to release both CDMA and HSPA devices going forward (the 8530 versus the 9700, for example) -- a symptom of parent company Bell's recent switch. The guides are now gone, but in all likelihood, we'll be seeing some (or all) of this stuff pop back up again in the near future.

We smile when carriers do us a kindness, and we'd expect a few of you HTC Dream owners will agree that Rogers momentary lack of reason offer for a free upgrade to an HTC Magic is just that. So, the rub you ask? Well, that's the magic here, there all but isn't one, simply hop online or call customer care -- Rogers brick and mortar shops won't be doing this upgrade -- between the 12th and 26th of January, re-sign -- yes, to a new 3-year, but we're told that should be no more than 7 months for most users -- your contract and you walk away with a $599 handset for nothing. No added fees, administrative charges or anything, heck, Rogers is even eating the $79 upgrade fee and the $35 admin fee for the new set. Oh, but check this out, it gets better: it is an upgrade and as such Rogers doesn't even want your old set back, so you'll have a day phone and an evening phone, one 2.1 -- at some point, anyway -- and a nice 1.5 set with Sense. So, what are you waiting for? From any angle this just looks too fantastic to let slip through your fingers.

Update: Well, the good deal from Rogers just got better -- as if that could be possible. It seems the lucky upgrading masses are also receiving a bonus $50 rebate on checkout. So not only do you get a free Dream and get to keep the Magic, Rogers is now paying you $50 for the privilege.

We've known for quite a while that Motorola's Milestone was steaming its way towards Telus, but what we didn't know -- aside from the irritatingly vague Q1 2010 -- was exactly what day you could expect to find yourself lined up for yours -- you are getting one, aren't you Canada? We've now heard that January 26th is the rumored target date for Telus' missing hero Android device, and that suits us just fine -- though, we're still waiting on a dollar figure. But please keep in mind, dates -- or rumors, that can prove to be completely untrue -- like this can slip, so don't come pounding on our doors if this slips back down the calendar. We'll be watching for Telus' Milestone closely and hopefully hear a little more soon.

Seems that all your cries out in Rogersland have forced somebody to rethink the official company line on updates from OS 1.5 for the Rogers HTC Dream and HTC Magic. The message was simple: there would be no updates for the devices beyond 1.5. MobileSyrup's now heard directly from HTC that there will indeed be upgrades to both devices, with the first scheduled in the next weeks. Bump one will apparently see "a number of benefits for these devices, including bringing the HTC Sense experience to the HTC Magic" though the OS version will stay at 1.5 -- in other words, you'll basically get a current-gen Hero. While that's cause for celebration, mid-year is when we'll get to the meat of the tweaks as we'll apparently see an upgrade to 2.1 for the Magic, but the lowly Dream -- due to "certain limitations," likely meager internal storage if we had to guess -- will stay at 1.5. So there you have it, your sets may get better in the near term and much better -- at least for some -- half way through the year.

Just how badly do you want an alternative to pressing and holding the "1" key? With Canada's Bell, you'd better want it pretty badly -- because its new visual voicemail service for BlackBerry devices isn't going to be cheap. The service is available with pretty much every modern BlackBerry, ranging from the older 8830 and Pearl 8130 to the most modern models like the Bold 9700 -- and as you might notice from that model range, it also spans both Bell's CDMA and HSPA networks. Here's where it gets tricky, though: it runs a stout CAD $8 (about $7.65) a month, which is a good deal more than the $2.99 Verizon charges for a similar setup. Obviously it's not much a difference, but it feels like $2.99 is below some magical psychological barrier where no serious mulling occurs; $8, though -- that's a different story.

Okay, that's not quite true -- Bell's HSPA network has been live for a few weeks now -- but the Galaxy from Samsung and Nokia N97 become two of the first few devices to take advantage of it now that it has made the bold jump from rumor to reality. The Galaxy looks to be a near-perfect replica of the Galaxy found internationally, bringing over the same 3.2-inch glass AMOLED display, 8GB of internal storage expandable to 40GB, 5 megapixel camera, and Android guts (1.5, we sadly presume) that you find elsewhere. What makes this one a little special, though, is the fact that it's got HSPA 850 / 1900 instead of the T-Mobile-friendly AWS bands that you find on the version sold unlocked in the US, so we imagine you'd be able to find a way to sneak this onto AT&T in the States if you were really desperate for it. The N97, meanwhile, looks to be a dead ringer for the version offered in the States; it runs a staggering CAD $199.95 (about $190) on a three-year contract, while the Galaxy is a little closer to reality at CAD $99.95 ($95) for the same duration.

S60 or otherwise, it's pretty tough to argue with the meaty goodness of an 8 megapixel cam paired with an AMOLED display -- especially when it's being delivered on carrier subsidy. Rogers customers have another reason to celebrate their network's willingness to release a glorious variety of largely untouched, sparsely branded handsets this week on news that the Nokia N86 8MP is now available for CAD $99.99 ($94) on a three-year contract, scaling all the way up to CAD $449.99 ($424) contract-free. These days, it's pretty easy to lose sight of the fact that there's such a thing as a non-touch smartphone, and the N86 -- along with the E72 -- is a prime example of why those sorts of devices still exist. Anyone planning on picking this up?

Canada's Bell and Telus are going hog wild with handset selection since the launch of their new Rogers-matching (if not beating) 21Mbps HSPA network -- one need look no further than the launch of the LG BL40 for evidence of that -- but there's at least one glaring issue: Bell's yet to launch an Android set. That puts 'em at a distinct disadvantage against Telus, which already has an HSDPA 860 / 1900 cut of the HTC Hero on shelves -- but it looks like that won't be an issue for long. A scanned poster that's apparently already up in Bell stores has turned up on the ever-reliable interwebs this week clearly showing Samsung's Galaxy posing alongside the already-launched Omnia II and Impact; the carrier doesn't do us the favor of mentioning a date here, but it can't be long -- wouldn't want to lose the Google lovers to Telus and Rogers, right?