I want to keep in touch with enough people now that the limits on my
phone are Rather Annoying. I would like free incoming calls so that I
stop worrying about minutes and so that people feel free to call me
any time of day instead of saving it for evenings and weekends. I want
to be able to hear people's stories and insights as they happen. I'd
also like unlimited text messaging, or at any rate more text messages
than most people here probably send all their lives. ;) I don't really
need a lot of daytime or evening minutes.

Martin Cleaver suggested that I go for a 3-year plan without
hesitation. He said that I'd probably easily find a company here
that's willing to sponsor me for a work permit. If I decide to work
elsewhere, the company that hires me might be persuaded to buy me out
of my plan. Even if I do end up going home after my master's, I just
need to put aside enough money to cover the cancellation charge just
in case I don't manage to sell my contract to someone else. It's a
relatively small expense compared to the freedom of being able to
connect.

I don't have a credit history, though, so that might take some more
persuading. I need to first establish a North American credit card.
I'll try persuading President's Choice Financial to grant me a credit
card, considering my bank account with them. If not, I'll switch to
TD's secured credit card, and I'll probably switch my savings and
current account to them as well in order to facilitate payment.

Bell.ca is the only provider with an unlimited text messaging plan, I
think. It offers unlimited text messaging for $10 per month. That plus
the $25 unlimited incoming plan works out quite well. Additional
minutes are 30c (ouch!), but I have unlimited nights (9 PM onwards,
what the heck?!) and weekend minutes. Additional fees include the 6.95
system access fee and a 75c 911 fee. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to
offer the Treo as an option, and Bell phones tend to be, well,
Bell-specific… WAAH!

Rogers seems to be the only one offering Treo, but their plans suck.

Ooh, Fido. I can do Fido. $25 for unlimited incoming (sign up before
Aug 8), and then $5 for 100 messages or $10 for 1000 messages. 1000 is
close enough to unlimited, I think. <laugh>

Fido is GSM, so if I can find a second-hand Treo that I'd be happy
with, that would work too. I want a Treo or some other Palm-based
device because I want to be able to sync my data over from Emacs and
BBDB. The Treo's picture-taking capabilities also sound really
tempting. It's a rather expensive device, but if I can make it worth
it by writing – must look for more things to write for! – that would
be totally awesome. I'd love to be able to use it the way Martin
does…

The Hiptop looks tempting, but I'll get it only if I know it works
with Linux. I want to be able to refer to all of my notes. Otherwise,
my current phone works fine. Rumor has it that I can run Linux on the
hiptop, but I'll only do that if I keep access to all the interesting
functionality. I want to be able to take pictures.

… Maybe I should just look for a Linux-based smartphone.

Okay. Breathe. Priorities. First things first.

The very next thing I need to do in order to make this happen is to
get myself a Canada-based credit card so that I can sign up for plans
without getting it charged back to the Philippines.

The next thing I need to do is sign up for unlimited incoming and text
messaging plans. Wireless providers usually give a substantial
discount if you choose a phone together with a plan, and there's a
$300 discount (reducing the cost to $200) if I get the Hiptop together
with a contract. However, I might be able to get a monthly plan
without a contract, then sign a contract if I'm firmly convinced that
it's a good phone and that I can make it work.

But the very first thing I need to do is establish credit. I can do
that on Thursday.