Bell nabs iPhone deal in Canada, ends Rogers' reign of terror
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Oct 6th 2009 8:25AM
posted Oct 6th 2009 8:25AM
It's official, Bell and Apple have agreed to sell the iPhone 3G and 3GS in Canada starting November. The move ends the Rogers exclusive in while christening Bell's new 3G network with Apple's darling. Hmm, first O2 lost it exclusivity then Rogers, we're sensing a trend. [Thanks, Sean]
looks like i was right all along
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1541425
confirmed at TELUS also, got this from HOFO:
http://promotions.telus.com/registration/
Woo! So we'll have 3 carriers with the iPhone? Bring on that HSPDA rollout already!
its on their front page on Telus
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/home/
Wait... so two CDMA carriers are going to flip GSM just for the iPhone?? Wouldn't it be easier to just have a CDAMA iPhone *shudder*?
They aren't flipping to GSM for the iPhone. Telus and Bell are adding GSM to their networks as the first stop on their roadmap to a joint 4G network.
Not GSM, HSPA. So purely a 3G network.
Not GSM, HSPA. Purely a 3G overlay.
Actually, they are adding on the HSPA/UMTS netowrk (note, NOT GSM) for a number of reasons.
1. Both these providers stand to earn a lot with people coming in from other countries with their HSPA/UMTS devices and roaming on their networks (something only Rogers could do previously).
2. The Olympics are coming, ergo the world will be going to Vancouver B.C. point number one comes into play right here, and actually goes even farther because even more people will be able to roam their networks (believe it or not, other parts of the world use CDMA, so there are some world-travelling customers that Rogers can't touch).
3. With the advent of HSPA+, faster data speeds are now available. With Telus and Bell apparently launching this sort of network right off the bat, and nation-wide as opposed to just within Toronto and Vancouver and Calgary and Ottawa and maybe Halifax, they will instantly have the largest AND fastest highspeed network (right now, Rogers' HSPA+ network covers the Greater Toronto Area, and that's it).
4. More and more devices are available for UMTS and HSPA, while not nearly as many are making the switch over to CDMA. Those that are making the switch over to CDMA are almost all losing some feature or another, or gaining size slightly over their GSM counterpart. An excellent example of this is both Wi-Fi and FM Radio features. While these are available in a few GSM/HSPA devices, they are nearly non-existent in CDMA phones and smartphones. In fact, on Telus and Bell, Wi-Fi only made its appearance in approximately 7-12 devices (I can't recall the exact number at this point in time). All have been smartphones. Almost all have been with Windows Mobile, only a couple have been from Palm (now including the palm pre). FM Radio has been in even fewer devices... not that it's all that important, to be honest.
5. Call Quality is apparently better over UMTS. I won't agree when it comes to GSM, because I've made calls over GSM before and it's been a wee bit worse than call quality over the CDMA handsets I use on a regular basis.
I am sure there are many more reasons why they are making the switch, but these are the biggest reasons around. The network is not "Data Only", as it will support voice, but there will be no underlying GSM network to attempt to support it.