Wind Mobile Vancouver Launch Day Pictures

I made it down to the Wind Mobile launch day in Vancouver and spent some time talking with people in line waiting to get in the store, and also with some people from Wind. I managed to get quite a few questions answered.

I showed up a little after the early birds as I wanted to get a sense of what it was like for someone trying to get a Wind phone on launch day. As expected, there were quite a few people milling about, consumers and media alike, and some were enjoying the $1 hot dogs.

And Globalive chairman Tony Lacavera was out talking to media and potential customers all day too.

I stood in line and chatted with people all morning about phones, plans, carriers, and other things. The general feeling I got from people was that the phone selection with Wind wasn’t great, the “Home” zones were a little smaller than they would have liked, but the plans were simple and cheap.

Now, there are a few types of cellular customers. If you are a techy-gizmo type of person who needs the latest and greatest hardware, Wind probably isn’t for you. If you are more concerned about using the phone to talk and text, Wind looks like a good option. If you live way out in the suburbs or travel there often, Wind isn’t too great for you right now. If you’re an urbanite, Wind becomes an attractive option to consider. The people in line seemed to be in agreement about these points, and they also seemed quite knowledgeable about phones and carrier bands and roaming charges.

One guy I spoke to lives in Surrey and was getting a Wind SIM card for his BlackBerry Bold just to test things out (that’s the great thing about no contracts… you can test the service out and cancel anytime if you’re not happy). He was disappointed with the lack of coverage in Surrey and the somewhat cryptic “coming later in 2010″ note attached thereto, but still picked up his SIM card anyways.

If you’re in Vancouver (less UBC), North Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, or New Westminster, you’re covered by a Wind “Home” zone and are good to go. If you live in Delta, Surrey, Coquitlam, UBC, or beyond, well, Wind isn’t quite ideal just yet. Although I did hear rumours that some Wind customers visiting from Toronto were seeing Surrey as a “Home” zone last week, the official line is that it is an “Away” zone and you will be paying roaming charges. As to the progress of the expansion of the coverage area, all I can say is that it will be moving outwards consistently throughout the rest of the year, with the goal of the full advertised coverage being achieved at the end of this year. The rate at which that happens is unknown right now, and a lot depends on how quickly the process of negotiating with landlords for land to put up a tower goes, followed by tower erection, connection to the rest of the Wind network, and network testing.

After talking for a while outside, I made my way inside and got a few shots of the store. At that point a media rep saw me with my notepad out and quickly came over to take some questions and pass me along to the appropriate individuals. Be sure to check out the interview post for some more information.