Tag: virgin

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Mobile Syrup

Virgin Plus changes its overage data charge, rolls out $10/month discount on select plans

Virgin Plus has changed the cost of its data overage charge.

According to the company’s website, additional data will now cost $20/GB, up to 8GB. After that, it’ll cost $0.02/MB.

According to information a Virgin customer shared with MobileSyrup, the change went into effect on March 8th.

Virgin is also offering $10/month in savings over 24 months on select bring your own phone plans.

Virgin’s online exclusives as of March 8th, 2023.

The 20GB data plan is available for $50/month through the online exclusive deal. The plan usually costs $60.

The 30GB plan is available for $55/ month, reduced from the $65 monthly charge. Both plans include unlimited minutes.

The offer only applies to new activations.

Koodo is also offering something similar. A $10/monthly discount is available on its $60/20GB plan, making it $50 a month. While the discount lasts for 24 months, this is the only plan where the deal applies.

Koodo’s online exclusive offer as of March 8th, 2023.

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Mobile Syrup

Telecom news roundup: Bell drops 5 cents per post donation for Let’s Talk Day [Jan 7-13]

2023 is just two weeks old, but the telecom news isn’t coming in slowly. Some companies have already released Q1 financial results for the year, while others have changed the way they’ll make financial donations.

As a recap, here’s almost everything that happened in Canada’s telecom sector this week.

Business

Bell is changing its donation method for Bell Let’s Talk Day. The company typically gives five cents for every message shared on the day. But it’s now retiring the practice for a $10 million donation instead. It’s unclear why Bell went this route.

The telecom giant also rolled out 3Gbps speed and 5G+ in Atlantic Canada. The latter service is now available in Moncton, Riverview, Mount Pearl, and Halifax.

ISP TekSavvy says Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne must block Rogers’ $26-billion takeover of Shaw. Peter Nowak, the company’s spokesman, said ISPs are being “squeezed out,” and the Minister must take action.

The Competition Bureau is set to face the Federal Court of Appeal on January 24th to argue against the Competition Tribunal’s approval of Rogers’ merger with Shaw. In its original appeal, the bureau argued the tribunal should’ve solely focused on the Rogers-Shaw merger instead of Vidéotron’s commitment to acquire Freedom Mobile. The tribunal said it would’ve reached its conclusion to support the larger merger either way. In its updated appeal, the bureau said the tribunal failed to explain why that would’ve been the case.

SaskTel has launched Cloud PVR service on maxTV Stream, allowing users to record up to 300 hours of content.

The University of Waterloo is leading a group of companies and academics to create technologies that will protect Canada’s national security through 5G. École de technologie supérieure in Montréal, University of Regina, BlackBerry, NoviFlow, Rockport Networks and Rogers are part of the consortium.

Shaw reported adding 12,000 new wireless prepaid customers in the first quarter of 2023. However, the company’s overall revenue decreased.

Cogeco also released its Q1 financial results for the year, bringing in $762 million in revenue. Despite the revenue increase, the company projects growth will slow this year.

The House of Common’s industry and technology committee will hold a second hearing on Rogers’ merger with Shaw, according to The Globe and Mail. 

Deals

Public Mobile is offering new customers 5GB of bonus data per month for eight months. Read the details here.

Koodo and Virgin have increased the cost of their unlimited talk and text plans to $33/ month. This is a significant price increase, considering the plans used to close $27 back in August 2022.

Fido has discounted some of its plans by $10/month for Lunar New Year. More specifics are available here.

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Mobile Syrup

Feds achieve target to reduce wireless prices, but say more needs to be done

Canadians pay some of the highest cell phone bills in the world. The federal government promised to reduce wireless bills by 25 percent to change this.

The government says the commitment, made in March 2020, has now been achieved three months ahead of schedule.

But just as we’ve seen in previous reports released by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), questions remain.

It’s important to point out this is the first and only quarter where all provinces have met the minimum 25 percent target through non-promotional plans. Before this, plans were only available on a promotional basis. It wasn’t until October 2021 that Koodo, Fido, and Virgin brought out ‘starter’ plans to meet government targets. It’s worth noting that these starter plans come with several restrictions, namely that they aren’t available to customers who also want to get a smartphone from a carrier.

The reductions have seen a $50/mo plan with 2GB of data drop to $37.50/mo, a $55/4GB option drop to $41.25/mo and a $60/6GB plan drop to $45/mo.

As in previous reports, all provinces except Quebec have matching charts (Ontario chart is the one shown).

The government specifically required the ‘Big Three’ (Bell, Telus, and Rogers) to offer these reductions across their brands. What they didn’t require was for the three to offer the reductions themselves, which resulted in the carrier’s flanker brands (Virgin Plus, Koodo, and Fido respectively) offering plans that meet the government targets while the Big Three continue to offer plans starting at $80/mo.

While there is progress from each sub-brand, there’s no improvement to plans offered by the larger corporations that own them. Data shared with the public doesn’t include any numbers from the Big Three themselves.

Quebec

The data reported by the ISED show similar figures across all provinces, except for Quebec.

Fido and Virgin deliver a 27 percent reduction on the 4GB data option. The report notes that both companies offered 4GB options that would meet the 25 percent threshold and the 27 percent threshold. The less expensive one is included in the report, hence the 27 percent reduction.

Data also shows carriers in the province have offered a 3GB service option on and off since October 2020. In some cases, it was promotional, but it appeared to be a part of their regular lists in most months.

Looking at this quarter only (October 2021 to December 2021), Virgin offered a $40/mo plan with 3GB of data in October and November that isn’t marked as a promotional offer. Fido offered a similar plan for the two months but lists it as promotional. Koodo only offers the plan through a promotion in October.

The quarterly report does not state if the companies met the 3G target because there was no benchmark number available to compare it to. It’s unclear why the government show 3G as an option if data is not available from carriers.

In a press release, the government says “wireless services are still too expensive” and promises to build on the changes we’ve seen so far. No specific details are included as to how and when this will be done.

Source: ISED

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Mobile Syrup

Virgin, Fido and Koodo now offering $50/12GB Black Friday plan

Virgin Plus, Fido and Koodo have all added a bit of spice to their Black Friday promotions by upping the $50/mo 10GB plan to 12GB. Yup, that’s a 2GB increase for the same monthly cost.

While perhaps not the most insane deal out there, $50/mo for 12GB isn’t a bad plan at all (I remember when people lined up for hours to get a $60/10GB plan).

Anyway, you can check out the offers at the links below:

For more on the Black Friday deals from all carriers, check out our round-up of the best deals here.

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Potins

Lady Gaga wants wedding ceremony in space

Lady Gaga is planning to get married in space.

The 28-year-old singer wants to have a commitment ceremony with Taylor Kinney, 33, outside of the Earth’s atmosphere at the beginning of next year while onboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight.

A source told the Daily Star newspaper: ”Gaga and Taylor want to make a pledge for life, and think the space flight is too big an opportunity to pass up.

”It would be typical of her to have the least conventional ‘wedding ever. Of course it would be a simulated-style marriage as there wouldn’t be a priest or religious figure there. But they don’t care about convention, it’s more about making each other a life-long promise.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Applause’ hitmaker is set to perform during the trip into space on the special flight – which will cost $250,000 per seat – and she is looking forward to using the opportunity to spread a ”message of love”.

She said: ”Performing in space is such an honor. I want to challenge myself to come up with something that will not only bring everyone together but will also have a message of love that blasts into the beyond.”

Meanwhile, Gaga – who will reportedly get her ticket into space for free – will have to prepare a month prior to the event to make sure her body can handle the changes in the atmospheric pressure whilst singing.

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Fly me to the moon

As Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two gets closer to bringing space tourists just outside the earth’s atmosphere, the industry is expanding, and the newest offering is a trip around the moon — for $150 million a seat.

The steep ticket price gets you a seat aboard a three-person shuttle. After two days crossing open space, the shuttle will reach the celestial body and circle it, giving passengers a glimpse at the dark side of the moon — a rare sight seen by only 24 astronauts.

After coming around the moon and witnessing the spectacle of earthrise — where the earth will appear to be rising over the horizon of the moon — the shuttle will return to earth.

Of course, at that ticket price, you could take 750 trips to near space with Virgin Galactic, but for those with the cash, it would certainly offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The first private lunar excursion is expected to blastoff in 2015.

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Virgin unveils renovated San Francisco terminal

Last week, Virgin America unveiled its dazzling, sustainable new home at San Francisco International Airport’s (SFO) Terminal 2 (T2) with a series of inaugural flights that celebrate the evolution of travel.

As the only California-based airline, Virgin America, along with sister company Virgin Galactic, is an anchor tenant at SFO’s new T2, which offers a unique design that includes a ‘Recompose’ lounge as a soothing oasis for flyers post-security, living-room-like gate areas, the best in local and organic dining, children’s play areas, elevated laptop work tables with outlets and WiFi, and the airline’s distinctive cabin ‘mood lighting’ featured at ticket counters and gates.

T2 aims to be the first LEED Gold-certified airport terminal in the U.S. Design elements include the utilization of natural light and modern ventilation systems that require 20 percent less energy, and skylights and clerestories which bring daylight into the space and significantly reduce electricity usage.

‘Hydration Stations’ allow flyers to fill reusable water bottles past security, reducing volume of waste. It is the first airport dining program in the country to recruit ‘Slow Food’ vendors, and will feature organic food vendors and require use of compostable utensils and containers.

Contractors recycled 90 percent of construction debris from the project, and the airport requires ongoing source separation of all recyclable solid waste to enable the attainment of 90 percent recycling by 2020, and even hybrid cars get preferential parking. 

 

 

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Sir Richard Branson unveils Virgin Oceanic

Sir Richard Branson, president and founder of Virgin and its numerous divisions, has successfully overseen the creation of a spaceship that will usher passengers to deep space. Now, with far away galaxies checked off his list, he turns his attention to the ocean.

The Virgin Oceanic, dubbed the Necker Nymph, is a personal submarine which will enable brave explorers to dive to 11,000 feet under the sea.

Designed by Graham Hawkes, this incredible watercraft promises to make commercialized deep sea travel an obtainable experience. Later this year, when piloted by Chris Welsh, the Necker Nymph will be the first vessel to survey the Mariana Trench in the Philippine Sea. Its lowest trough measures 11,034 meters.

No exact date has been confirmed for the Virgin Oceanic’s first dive. A high definition teaser video can be viewed here.

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Nouvelles quotidiennes

Billionaire Branson your flight attendant?

Some billionaires can take a joke better than others. Sir Richard Branson, 60, billionaire owner of the Virgin Group, made a bet with Tony Fernandes, owner of Air Asia, that if either of their Formula 1 racing teams lost, the loser would have to don a stewardess’ uniform and serve passengers on the winner’s airline.

Both neophyte teams Virgin Racing and Lotus Racing ended the season with zero points, however Fernandes’ Lotus placed ahead of Virgin in the rankings.

“We have had this great bet running all season and now it’s time for Richard to start preparing himself for some hard work and the likely pain of a pair of high heels!” said Fernandes.

On Sunday night (November 14) at the conclusion of final F1 race, during celebrations at the Abu Dhabi track, Fernandes gave Branson an Air Asia uniform and pinned a stewardess’ badge on the Virgin Racing boss.

Branson will serve on a Kuala Lumpur-London Air Asia flight.  The tickets will be sold in an online charity auction, the details of which will be released soon.

 

Categories
Nouvelles quotidiennes

Plans announced for hotel in space

First, Virgin Galactic offered a short trip in weightlessness, then Boeing offered longer trips into space, and now, a Russian firm has announced the world’s first space hotel, specifically designed for space tourists. 

By 2016, Orbital Technologies intends to launch a 7-room hotel into orbit, and may increase or decrease capacity depending on demand. The hotel may also double as a holding place for additional scientists and cosmonauts making their way to the International Space Station.

Chief Executive Officer of Orbital, Sergey Kostenko, said that the planned station would be “a comfortable hotel in orbit, designed specifically for tourists…more comfortable than the International Space Station because there won’t be any unnecessary scientific equipment,” he said.

Canadian Guy Laliberté, Cirque du Soleil founder, was the most recent space tourist, having spent 12 days in space in September 2009. Since then, Russia halted the space tourist program in order to accommodate an increasing number of space crew members.