Bell, Telus to carry iPhone in Canada
updated 09:30 am EDT, Tue October 6, 2009
Ends Canadian exclusivity
Canadian carriers Bell and Telus have announced separate deals with Apple, ones which will let them both carry the iPhone 3G and 3GS beginning in November. The companies have published no details of their agreements, such as phone prices, subscription plans or specific release dates. The two will however have to compete with Rogers, which until now has held exclusive rights to the Canadian iPhone.
While Bell and Telus are presently CDMA-only carriers -- technically unable to support the GSM-based iPhone -- each has pledged to deploy compatible HSPA (3G) networks as a bridge to eventually migrate customers to LTE (4G) technology. Bell yesterday revealed that it will launch a 21Mbps HSPA+ network in November, but the Telus announcement is effectively the first confirmation that it will also have some form of HSPA framework running at the same time. All three major Canadian carriers should support LTE by 2011.
People interested in the Telus iPhone can register for more information through a special webpage.
The sooner Apple can distance...
10/06, 09:50am reply
...itself from the customer service anathema of Rogers the better they may be - there aren't too many companies that mobilize national badwill petitions like http://www.ruinediphone.com/
bobolicious
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2002
I'd be stunned
10/06, 10:03am reply
If any real competition between these three came about. It's in none of their (perceived) interests to try to undercut each other. They'll try to tweak their add-ons and feature bundles but I suspect the phone will come out at the same price and data rates about the same.
They'll beat each other up over their cable offerings and land-line services where their margins are more insulting to the average consumer
There are some smaller companies supposed to jump in the major Cdn wireless markets over the next three years so these guys will want to carve up the market in a comfy fashion and direct their efforts at keeping the upstarts at bay.
I'd love to be proven wrong, but...
bogmonster
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2007
For an entertaining view of
10/06, 10:17am (1 reply) reply
the public's take on the cdn wireless market:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/bell-telus-confirm-iphone-launches/article1312692/#comments
My apologies if it tarnishes folks' view of the polite Canadian... ;-)
bogmonster
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2007
Bell... Don't s**** over the iPhone experience
10/06, 10:49am (1 reply) reply
My biggest concern is that Bell Mobility will insist on crippling some of the functionality and connectivity features of the technology.
As an example, Bluetooth can be used for far more than a flippin hands-free device. Wireless file transfers are a case in point. Bell has crippled such things in the past.
medelegant
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Joined: Sep 2002