... from the incumbents Telus, Bell and Rogers.

1. Tie-in with Google Voice (or at least cloning many of their services). This would allow one to check voicemail messages by having them emailed to you, and even having them transcribed. Seriously, just look at the Google Voice article to see what kind of innovations any telecom could offer if they just decided to be... innovative.

2. Innovative voicemail options: For example, tie-ins with Google Latitude, where callers (or select callers) can find out your geographic location when you're unable to take your call.

3. Fixed-wireless as a landline replacement. Many people don't want cell phones and want to maintain their landline, a fixed-wireless link subscription service plan could steal a great deal of existing landline POTS customers, especially those without internet access (think of people's parents and grandparents). These people don't want any change at all to their landline, and an innovative provider like WIND could offer a service that is literally a drop-in replacement: Set up an antenna that points to the cell phone tower ("Base Station") for ultra-reliability and have a module that the home's POTS wiring could plug into in order to create

4. Emergency Plans. Many people have a cell phone that they only keep in their car only for absolute emergencies. In the beginning, this could be ineffective since the new providers will have a limited footprint, but their preferential roaming agreements might allow for this if they just have to pay for actual usage, and not for having phone numbers on standby. WIND or Public could charge $25 per year for having a standby plan and then $0.50 per minute when the phone was actually used.

5. Toll-free numbers. I personally have one of these, and the truth is that they're negligibly more expensive than normal cell phone numbers.

6. SIP/Skype/VoIP service. Build it and they will come.