Greg Johnston, tech columnist
Back in November, both Telus and Bell announced they are offering the popular Apple iPhone, previously exclusive to Rogers in Canada. Although hardly breaking news a month after the fact, this does mean Canada joins a number of European countries in being the only countries where the iPhone is not tied to a single exclusive telecom carrier within a given country, although speculation is rife that the US will see one or more national carriers get the iPhone, which has been exclusive to AT&T south of the border.
Here in Canada, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of discontent with Rogers that there is with AT&T in the States. But being able to get an iPhone with any of the Big 3 Canadian carriers can’t be a bad thing for consumers – although don’t expect cut-throat pricing on either the phone or rate plans – this is Apple and Canadian telecom companies we’re talking about, after all.
At the very least, it should mean that if you want an iPhone, but are tied into an existing three-year contract, you may be able to upgrade without breaking your existing contract and paying onerous penalties, or that retention incentives with your current company might make it more appealing to stay.
Christmas, and Boxing week that follows, are popular times for new tech toys, and no doubt many readers might be contemplating an iPhone for themselves or family, or a new phone or smartphone generally. So how to choose which wireless carrier to go with?
Bell and Telus have jointly rolled out a new network to support the GSM wireless used by iPhones, and large numbers of cellular networks globally. Bell and Telus have previously both been exclusively CDMA networks, a different and incompatible wireless communications standard. This means an iPhone is an iPhone, regardless of carrier, eliminating the phone itself as a decision-making factor.
The joint Bell-Telus network is HSPA+ based (High-Speed Packet Access-Enhanced), a 3G network standard already common outside North America, matching and in fact exceeding Rogers there as well.
Network coverage should be an obvious deciding factor. The coverage maps provided by Bell, Telus, and Rogers appear they might have all been printed from the same file, with just different colour-schemes and labels applied, so that provides limited help for most of us. They do show extensive HSPA coverage within Alberta, southern Ontario and Quebec, the BC lower mainland, and limited coverage of the interior of BC and Maritimes.
Outside of HSPA coverage areas, a 3G phone, iPhone, Blackberry Bold, or others should still work, but data-intensive functions like web browsing, downloads, and so on may be painfully slow.
Bell and Telus have boasted their new 3G network coverage leapfrogs Rogers’, and discussions on forums such as http://forums.crackberry.com do seem to lend some credence to that assertion – many Rogers customers have chimed in to say they show the network ID associated with the new Bell-Telus network even in rural areas of Ontario, BC, and Alberta where Roger’s 3G service, while nominally available, often is not.
So while networks are constantly being upgraded, it appears a slight nod might go to Bell and Telus for coverage outside major cities on iPhones or other 3G smart phones.
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