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Round 241: Canadian Wireless Spectrum Auction surpasses $4.2 billion. In addition, the schedule has been released for another week of bidding until July 18th.

With all the hype and frustration going around about the Rogers/Fido Apple iPhone 3G launch – it is summer in Canada and here is something that should be a blast to be part of. The “Rogers Picnic” is a full day musical experience that features great bands such as: City & Colour. Toyko Police Club, Cat Power and Chromeo.

The Picnic is at Historic Fort York in Toronto on Sunday, August 20th and tickets are $49.50. If you are a Rogers customer you can buy tickets through the Wireless Box Office (no service fees when you do this). Other places to purchase tickets are Ticketmaster, TicketBreak, Rotate This! (620 Queen St W), Soundscapes Music (572 College St) and Play De Record (357A Yonge St).

Also, Nokia is currently offering a chance to win 4 tickets and a the 5310 XpressMusic phone or N95 8GB device.

Here is the link to the Rogers Picnic site

David McGuinty, Member of Parliament for Ottawa South, speaks out regarding his “Get Connected Fairly Act”: “Telecom giants just keep thinking up ways to abuse consumers. We’re saying ‘Enough is enough’. It’s time to pass C-555.” Watch this video

** UPDATE People have started to line-up – 6:04pm **

First and foremost, we want the iPhone to be a massive success in Canada as it is a stellar device. Yesterday Rogers and Fido came out with a $30 “limited time promotional offer” for the 6GB plan. We thought we would take a walk to the Rogers Wireless store in the heart of Toronto hoping to find a massive line-up like other countries do. For example – in New York there has been people waiting for days, same in Japan and New Zealand.

In Toronto, people seem to be walking right on past, getting our Tim Horton’s and making sure we get to work on time. Looking inside the Rogers store we found the iPhone display – with no iPhone yet – waiting so patiently for the precious device to be touched (and hopefully purchased).

Watch the video here:

(**There has been a new site called CancelRogers dot com that urges people to cancel their Rogers contracts. It seems they have taken our copy word for word from this post. In no way to we endorse that so called site. Thanks in advance.**)

New York Times reports about the upcoming launch of the Apple AppStore: “Twenty-five percent of the first 500 applications at the store will be free, Mr. Jobs said. Of the commercial applications, 90 percent will be sold for $9.99 or less, he said, adding that a third of the first wave of applications will be games.”

Stephen Wetmore, President and CEO of Bell Aliant, will be leaving effective December 31, 2008

LG Canada wants your input on how their website can be improved. Have your say

Round 229: Canadian Wireless Spectrum Auction reaches $4,197,783,068. Pie chart of the High Standing Bids

Industry Minister Jim Prentice is asking the CEO’s of Bell and Telus to meet with him to explain their decision to charge consumers for incoming text messages. Prentice said, “While I have no desire to interfere with the day-to-day business decisions of two private companies, I do have a duty as minister of industry to protect the interests of the consuming public when necessary. I believe this was a poorly thought out decision.”

Rogers company spokeswoman Elizabeth Hamilton also notes that the 6GB plan isn’t limited to the iPhone 3G and will apply to any 3G-capable smartphone sold by Rogers or Fido during the timespan, including the BlackBerry Bold