Bell: New GSM Network Coast to Coast, CDMA in Canada is History

[Kirkx]

Bell has been working on this new network together with Telus, so all the information below should also apply to Telus.

Several days ago Bell flipped the switch on its brand new GSM network (HSPA/HSPA+ on 850/1900 MHz) and surprised all sceptics: the new network offers coverage from Atlantic to Pacific to places far north (Yellowknife, Whitehorse, Labrador City), the network covers not only big cities but also many remote areas. The only area left out for now is Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario. In Newfoundland the new HSPA network seems actually bigger then the old CDMA 1x/EVDO network!

Coverage maps for different regions can be found at the bottom of this post.

In less than a year Bell and Telus have built a GSM network which is now probably bigger than that of Rogers! They simple installed the new HSPA hardware on existing CDMA towers plus built some new ones.

While technically minded users can point out that this is not exactly GSM but HSPA, it is based on GSM (and it also borrows some concepts from CDMA). The evolution of this technology looks as follows:

GSM => EDGE => UMTS (WCDMA) => HSPA

For the end user without background in telecommunications engineering, it looks and feels like GSM because you use exactly the same phones and smartphones as the ones sold by GSM carriers all over the world, like Nokia 2730, BB Bold 9700, or iPhone 3G, all now available at Bell.

Bell and Telus invested millions of dollars in this new network, according to some estimates in the business press, a few billion, and they didn't do it to keep paying for maintenance of both CDMA and HSPA networks that mostly overlap each other. This is most likely the end of CDMA in Canada.

If you shop for a new phone or smartphone with Bell, you need to do some investigative work, study all the frequency bands, especially if you do lots of travelling, both in N.America or overseas. Bell must have huge inventory of now mostly obsolete CDMA handsets and they will be trying to push them on unsuspecting customers for the next few months. CDMA phone is only required if you need coverage in those places in Canada where the new HSPA network is not available yet, and also in some parts of the USA, everywhere else in the world you need a GSM phone.

The following set of frequencies will get your GSM handset working mostly everywhere, but not all GSM handsets support all frequencies, so check what you really need before you buy:

GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850, 1900 MHz - USA, Canada, parts of S.America
GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 900, 1800 MHz - everywhere else
UMTS/HSPA: 800, 850, 900, 1800, 1900, 2100 MHz

Below are screenshots with coverage maps from Bell's website, they show both old CDMA 1x/EVDO coverage and the new HSPA coverage.

Newfoundland and Labrador:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/545...2009185557.png

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/165...2009185629.png

Northern Quebec:

http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9...2009190018.png

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/6...2009190039.png

Southern Ontario, Southern Quebec, Maritimes:

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/2...2009190118.png

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1...2009190213.png

Northern Ontario (poor HSPA coverage):

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3...2009190312.png

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/3...2009190345.png

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/1...2009190421.png

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1...2009190438.png

Manitoba and Saskatchewan (only Winnipeg has HSPA):

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3...2009190642.png

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/7...2009190707.png

Alberta and BC:

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/8...2009190959.png

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/606...2009191048.png

Northwest Territories and Yukon:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7...2009191242.png

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6...2009191257.png

Nunavut (only CDMA 1x in Iqaluit, no HSPA):

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8...2009191604.png

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3...2009191703.png

The maps can be viewed here: Bell - Business On The Go - Coverage

[Zolutar]

and you posted this old news why? its been talked over and over in the respective Telus and Bell SubForums above.

However, the maps are a nice touch
Another thing you neglected to mention. The HSPA network is "3G only" GSM based, therefore only "3G capable GSM phones" will function on the new network.
This new network is much larger than Rogers current 3G network.
CDMA is also still very alive and well in Canada with Sasktel, MTS and a few local nw Ontario companies as well as the new upstart Public Wireless in SE Ontario and SW Quebec.

[Kirkx]

Thanks, Zolutar. I completely missed Bell and Telus sub-forums, they are very well hidden on the forums list, I could only see Rogers section before.

The cheapest phone in Bell's new HSPA lineup is Nokia 2730 ($29.95), it covers all GSM frequencies and also UMTS and, by extension, HSPA (specs below). Based on this, I just assume that most new GSM phones will also work with HSPA, of course I could be wrong.

Personally, I avoid terms like 3G or Dect6.0 (for cordless phones). These are just marketing terms, sales reps lingo, used only in N.America, and they make things more confusing when you try to understand the technical standards behind them.

Nokia 2730: Operating frequency
- Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
- WCDMA 900/2100 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900
- WCDMA 850/1900 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900
- Automatic switching between GSM bands
(WCDMA is a different name for UMTS, also known as 3G in N.America)
Data network
- CSD
- GPRS class B, multislot class 32
- EDGE class B, multislot class 32
- WCDMA 2100, maximum speed PS 128/384 kbps (UL/DL), CS 12.2 kbps

(Nokia Europe - Nokia 2730 classic - Specifications)

[Lenerdosy]

looks like absolutely nothing in BC though...

[Zolutar]

Yeah, BC doesn't look like much but trust me, that map has 95% of the population covered.

Also another thing to keep in mind, the new Bell/Telus HSPA network is UMTS only. There is no edge/gprs fallback. So in places like most of Saskatchewan and Manitoba where cdma coverage is great, the new network phones will be dead as there is no roaming agreement with Rogers

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com