One of Canada’s young up-and-coming wireless service providers, Mobilicity, has recently expanded their network to include Calgary, Alberta. To kick things off, Mobilicity is offering the Nokia E73 and a the Samsung G-Touch (a TouchWiz messenger phone) for $149.99 and $139.99 off-contract.
The Nokia E73 is a respectable handset for business types, especially for those who don’t buy into the BlackBerry lifestyle (or pricetags). The E73 has a 5 megapixel camera, 2.4-inch 320 x 240 display, Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G, and plugs easily into your work’s Exchange network. Of course, you can’t expect much in the way of software updates what with Nokia making the switch to Windows Phone, and that screen resolution is a bit of a downer, but neither may be a concern for those who just want their e-mail on the cheap. Plans with unlimited data start at $35/month start at $35/month. If you’re feeling like something higher-end, they’re also selling the Samsung Nexus S for $499, and if you’re in the market for a tablet, they’ve got two PlayBook tablet models, which you can save $100 on if you nab a BlackBerry phone at the same time.
Expanding to Calgary is a solid move on Mobilicity’s part, since it’s Canada’s fifth-largest city and three of the other four (Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa) already have access to their HSPA+ network. Even outside of those local areas, these guys have roaming agreements in place to provide service to much of Canada at reasonable rates. Wind Mobile remains highly competitive with plans that at least match or beat Mobilicity’s offers, and they’ve also got a head start when it comes to builing out the network. Despite the fact that Mobilicity has the lead with handsets, they both operate on AWS, so it’s easy enough to get a phone with one carrier and a plan with the other.
In any case, folks in Calgary can check out their new Mobilicity coverage map here.