The rumors are certainly nothing new, but rumblings over official announcements from both Bell and Telus regarding their newfound love for all things GSM have reached a rolling boil in the past few days. The latest little tidbit comes from UBS, whose fortune tellers say that both Canadian carriers should be outing some transition plans in the near future in the hope of better positioning themselves to compete with rival Rogers, get cooler handsets on board, and realize some synergy with the overwhelming majority of carriers around the world. Bell and Telus are both staying completely tightlipped for the moment, but one remaining question is whether they'll be going with HSPA or moving straight to LTE -- a distinct possibility, considering that the 4G tech should be ramping up right around the time that the carriers could realistically put the gears in motion. You ready to cry uncle yet over there, UMB?

[Thanks, Mario and Jay]

Though it's a common practice in the US, charging customers for incoming text messages isn't terribly common up in Canada. Don't worry though, Canadians -- your days of being chronically undercharged are drawing to a close thanks to suspiciously closely-timed announcements from Bell and Telus that they'll start chalking up 15 cents per inbound message for anyone not on a messaging plan starting in August. The country's industry minister is none too pleased about the change (the dude must get like a thousand texts a day, after all), sending out letters to Bell and Telus' head honchos requesting meetings before the new charges take effect. We'll see where this goes, but we certainly wouldn't get our hopes up.

Read - Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messages
Read - Ottawa moves to forestall texting revolt [Via Smart Mobs]

Fired up to capitalize on some of the hype Sprint has managed to drum up for the Instinct down in the States, Samsung's taking its iPhone fighter north of the border for a promised intro later this summer. Bell Mobility is the lucky partner (seriously, Telus, you probably should've hustled Samsung a little harder for this one), launching at price points ranging from $149.95 up to $449.95 for a three-year contract all the way down to zero commitment. Features and software look like they're all carrying over from their stateside cousin, although the UI's looking just a little bit less Sprint-ified (read: no yellow tinge). Nice.

[Via MobileSyrup]

Update: There are rumors that Telus is slated to pick it up, too, but we haven't seen anything solid just yet. We'll let you know.

Update 2: Yep, Telus is down with it -- exclusivity be damned! Thanks, howi!

Hey Canadians: looking for a quick, easy, cheap (well, sort of cheap) way to show some national pride? We think we've got just the ticket, and so does Bell. Turns out they'll be launching the m530 music flip with Canadian Olympic Team branding next month for $99.95 CAD (about $99) on a three-year plan or $299.95 CAD (about $298) prepaid. You're not going to blow anyone away with the features, though -- unless your friends and family are blown away by barn-burners like 1.3 megapixel cameras, stereo Bluetooth, and somewhat unattractive external music controls.

[Via Mobile In Canada]

Your yank friends south of the border know this one better as the Glimmer for Alltel (and soon for US Cellular), but you Bell customers out there in Canada are finding this one in stores now as the Vantage. The Shine-esque slider stakes most of its reputation on a full touchscreen to augment the numeric keypad, but you also get EV-DO, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, and up to 4GB of expansion via microSD. Just be sure to bring your wallet, and preferably those of a couple friends: contract-free it'll run you $424.95 CAD (about $418), while a full three years of servitude gets that knocked down to a more palatable $199.95 CAD ($195).

[Via cell phones etc. and MobileSyrup]

Far be it from Bell to sit back and let Telus have all the fun, the other Canadian CDMA juggernaut has gone ahead and added RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8330 to its roster as well. This one will run between $249.95 CAD and $549.95 CAD (ouch!) ranging from a three-year plan to an outright, free and clear purchase, offering a 2 megapixel cam, 96MB of onboard storage with a microSD slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, EV-DO, and GPS -- in other words, precisely everything you'll get from its Telus, Sprint, and Verizon cousins. Head down to the shop, do a little dance of joy, and revel in your little jump start here, Bell users, because your American friends have a few more weeks to wait on this one.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

The clever souls at PhoneNews seem to have cobbled together info from dcd's posts at XDA-Developers and other places on how to get gpsOne -- this technology uses both satellite and your provider's network to determine location -- up and running on CDMA HTC Titan sets. Once your handset -- including PPC-6800, XV6800, Mogul, P4000, and likely others -- is tweaked, applications like TomTom, Google Maps, and other GPS tools will be available for your navigational enjoyment. This hack will require that you unlock your handset, update the device's software, and then update the baseband radio firmware to get at the goods. Instructions and all the files you'll need -- software updates are listed for Alltel, Sprint, Verizon, Bell, and Telus -- are available by hitting the read link. Of course, this'll likely blow your warranty away, so fiddlers beware and if you're even a little concerned, it may be patience will pay off as a provider update could bring this in the future.

Update: Fixed credit for the work, thanks everybody for clarifying

Although America's upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction could see a newcomer or two join the fold, Canada's auction is actually calling for it. Reportedly, Industry Minister Jim Prentice made known that 40MHz of the 105MHz of spectrum available for bidding would be "set aside for newcomers to the industry," hinting that more competition could eventually lead to lower cellphone rates across the nation. He went on to say that the "introduction of new service providers would help to make Canada's wireless market more dynamic, more competitive, and more innovative," and moreover, only companies that hold less than 10-percent of revenues in that market would be allowed to bid for the luscious 40MHz segment. As expected, big boys in the biz are none too pleased about the announcement, with Telus executive vice-president Janet Yale even going so far as to say that it believed the move "wouldn't be in the best interest of consumers or telecom industry overall." Right.

[Thanks, Andy]

We've heard various whispers that Bell Canada is expected to release its own HTC Touch midway through the month of November to keep up with the Joneses, aka Rogers and Telus. We're fine with that and at a rumored $449 off contract, $399 one year, $299 two year, and $249 three year deals, Bell seems mostly inline with the other major's thinking. While we like the Touch, the more interesting rumor in this news lies in Bell's apparent decision to consider the Touch a normal cell phone -- and not a PDA -- thereby enabling it to use a $7 unlimited data plan. Of course, some traffic and usage exceptions will apparently apply, like no tethering, streaming, and the like, but seven bones for unlimited data! This is game changing in Canada's savagely priced data market and we're decidedly envious if this really comes to pass. Go Bell, go Canada!

[Thanks, RileyFreeman]

'Round here, we think of a slider when you tell us so-and-so is launching the LG Shine, but Bell apparently has something a little different in mind. Canadians can now pick up the metal-clad Shine flip (again -- Bell's name, not ours) for a cool $130 CAD (about $134) on a three-year contract, offering the same EV-DO data, 2 megapixel cam, A2DP, and funky sideways external display as its VX8700 cousin on Verizon. For Bell's sake, we hope they don't go launching a Shine slider down the road -- 'cause what the heck are you going to call that then? Hmm?

[Via Mobile In Canada]

If you're sick and tired of wireless carriers charging an arm and a leg for so-called "system access fees," you aren't alone. As wireless carriers up north rack in close to $800 million a year in said fees, they continue to brand the fees as required by the Canadian Radio-Television Commission -- even though the Government says that fees are no longer valid and don't need to be charged. Carriers were whacking Canadians with charges ranging from $6.95 for Rogers and Telus and up to $8.95 for Bell customers. Naturally, that kind of apparent overcharging can only lead to one thing: a class-action lawsuit. Get in while the gettin's good!