The New Cellular Competition in Canada

FINALLY there is some competition happening in Canada. Unfortunately it isn’t a new cellular provider but at least there are some new and decent things happening. How does some competition for Rogers stranglehold on GSM and iPhone sound?

I’m referring to the launch of the new HSPA network by Bell and Telus. Ok, ok, I suppose its technically “networks” but there is so much sharing going on with these two companies we really have to call it a single network. That’s not really a bad thing as it means exceptional coverage for Canadians; up to 93% of the population of Canada according to Bell.

While we are on this topic I should mention that coverage will continually improve over the next short while. Bell and Telus are both in the process of identifying coverage gaps and applying to use each others towers for those gap areas.

Since I’m a Bell customer I’ll let you know my experiences with their network. I’d rather give more print time to Bell right now anyway, because their data plans are fairly decent. More on that in a bit.

Bell’s HSPA network went live on Wednesday, November 4th, well ahead of their original schedule. The plan initially was to launch in early 2010 which was then bumped to late November. Bell moved that date to Friday the 6th and just a week before launch bumped it again to be on the 4th. I like that! I don’t remember the last time Bell was aggressive with a roll out. Maybe spells a new mindset at Bell? I hope so.

Bell’s real motivation for rolling out in November was to be all set for the Olympics in Vancouver in February 2010. They even signed a sweet roaming agreement with AT&T to snag all the roaming iPhones when they visit.

Being the cautious Canadian that I am and in showing great restraint I didn’t run right out and hook my plan to Bell’s new network at the time of launch. I waited a good and proper 4 hours…then ran in! I had an unlocked AT&T Fuze (aka a GSM version of the HTC Touch Pro) burning a hole in my pocket.

Initially I was a bit worried because the store I called didn’t have any SIMs and I wasn’t sure if they would only activate new phones initially. I called around and found another store with the SIMs but then got the bad news that the new network wouldn’t support data on unlocked phones. WHAT??? It turns out to not be true but there is a bit of work to set up a phone for the data network and Bell didn’t want to have to train all their sales people on how to dig through every kind of phone to figure out where to put the settings in. I can understand that. Being a thorough mobile geek I knew where to input (see, only a geek would say “input”) the settings and with a bit of digging I found the settings.

While at the store I let the store staff know that you actually can use the data network and gave them a copy of the instruction. Hehe, they loved me.

It didn’t take too long to get the SIM on my account and programmed up and we popped it in to test. I had already programmed the data settings in the phone, so once the phone got signal we were live with HSPA data. Woohoo!!

My experience with the network so far has been fantastic. I am getting slightly better signal strength at work and at home with the new network and have found no holes in my area. Speeds have been consistently excellent and I couldn’t be happier. Now, I can mix and match a number of phones simply by popping in the SIM to an unlocked phone. Fantastic.

Bell and Telus have launched with a number of great new phones for the HSPA network, so take a look at their sites if you are thinking of trying them out. Personally, I have my eye on the Omnia II, just have to sell a kidney to afford it. Anyone interested??

The plan I am on is this one:

Smartphone Combo Windows/Palm 60 – Fab Five
Minutes Included:
300 local minutes plus 50 bonus local minutes
Extras:
Nationwide Fab Five: Unlimited local and Canadian long distance calls and unlimited text messages to and from five numbers of your choice
1 GB data for personal email, Internet browsing & instant messaging

For Canada that really is a decent deal at $60 a month. Bell has a strange way of measuring data which means this 1 gig is going to be as good as unlimited for most people anyway.

The settings to enable data on your phone are:

Internet
Navigate to your device’s Connection Settings menu
Enter the new service information within the appropriate fields as follows:
APN: pda.bell.ca
Proxy server: web.wireless.bell.ca
Port: 80
Save changes
Note: for some devices, an extra step may be required to enable Internet services:
Launch your phone’s Web browser
Navigate to the Browser Settings menu
Under Browser Connection, select the new connection profile that you have just created

MMS
Navigate to your device’s Connection Settings menu
Enter new service information within the appropriate fields as follows:
APN: pda.bell.ca
Proxy server: web.wireless.bell.ca
Port: 80
Save changes
Navigate to your device’s Messaging menu
Select Multimedia Messaging settings
Select Message Centre or MMS gateway option
Enter new Message Centre/MMS gateway information within the appropriate field as follows:
MMSC URL: http://mms.bell.ca/mms/wapenc
Save changes
Set new Message Centre/MMS gateway as the “active” gateway (if required)

Tethering2
Navigate to your device’s Connection Settings menu
Enter new APN information within the appropriate fields as follows:
APN: inet.bell.ca
Save changes

If anyone has questions, fire away! If you are on the new network, give us a shout-out with your experiences.

Update:

I took a look at Telus’ site and their plans have changed and are in line with Bell’s. You can get a similar plan to the Bell one above for $65/month (only 250 mins rather than Bell’s 350). If I’m not mistaken, I think Telus has done away with the System Access Fee as well.

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