To prepare for our upcoming vacation, we bought some Apple AirTag™ 2's. These are the updated location tracking devices that work in the Apple™ ecosystem. We've had success with them in the past for tracking luggage.

Unfortunately, the new AirTag™ 2's require that iOS devices are running iOS 26.2.1 or later. I could not add the new AirTags to my Apple account through the FindMy application. It forced me to update my iPhone 12 mini, an old iOS device, to iOS Liquid Glass™ 26.5.2. I could not even add the devices before updating.

Yet another reminder that the hardware we purchase is not truly ours. On iPhone, I cannot skin or theme the device. I cannot change the fundamental ways that I interact with the device. I cannot modify the device in an meaningful (internal) way. I cannot change it's basic functions. I cannot remove or forcefully disable functions that I do not want or need.

The Smartphone

For better or for worse, Smartphones have become integral to modern life. We need them for access to mapping and navigation data, ticketing systems, secure payments and digital communications.

Cellular phones have been locked-down for their entire existence. In the mid-2000s, the resistance to smartphones by the carriers was major. In Canada, it took years before the large cellphone carriers (ex., ROBELUS) would allow certain features on smartphones (ex., Wifi-based calling and carrier unlock). The original iPhone was released in 2007 and it wasn't available in Canada until the iPhone 3G release a year later with a three-year contract. There was even an online petition which forced Rogers to offer a less expensive data plan.

In 2017, I moved from Bell Mobility to Public Mobile. At the time, I had been long frustrated with traditional mobile network operators (MNOs) like Bell. Mobile data pricing was very high before 2020 and the postpaid mobile plans added roaming fees, monthly overage fees, long-term contracts and credit checks. Back then, cellphones were often locked to a carrier and sold on payment plans with your monthly bill. You didn't buy cellphones directly from the companies that sold them. They were tertiary to the plan. The carriers wanted to keep customers on contract. That is the business model: keep consumers locked to a carrier and to a contract.

MVNOs

Public Mobile is an MVNO or mobile virtual network operator that operates over top of the traditional carrier networks. In Public Mobile's case, they use the Telus network. I'm reticent to recommend any particular operator.

Virtual carriers were created in response to a CRTC decision in the mid-2010s. It took years for MVNOs to become competitive. The traditional carriers have slowly acquired the start-up MVNOs. Once they are under the control of a big-three carrier, they remove discounts, raise base-rates and remove features. Eventually, the Canadian cellular landscape will revert to a 2010s state. Highly priced contracts will prevail.

In the interim, we have MVNOs like Fizz (owned by Vidéotron) and Public Mobile (owned by Telus). Each carrier now has it's low-cost, bring your own device, no-contract, pick-your-plan offspring. They claim lower cost and freedom from the chains of outdated contracts pulling you down (charging you each month). Of course, over-time, these companies are purchased by a bigger company and stripped of the things that made them special. Gone is the proper technical support, the points program, the easy-to-navigate website, and the discounts that drew you to those carriers in the first place.

If you need a smartphone buy a refurbished or used cell phone. Pickup a prepaid carrier SIM card and sign-up for the cheapest plan you can.