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TELUS HSPA Soft-launch in Fall 2009

edited June 2009 in General
I hate to be the one always bringing up news about cellular companies and stuff, but this was pretty interesting to me, not because I'm a TELUS employee, but because it's good news for all Canadian mobility clients.

http://www.mobilemag.com/2009/05/15/fall-2009-to-see-telus-soft-launch-of-gsm-network/

It's an old article, but it just says that TELUS is planning a soft-launch of their HSPA (GSM-compatible) network in September in the lower mainland. From what I've heard, they also have a line-up of 25 new, HSPA-compatible handsets that will be released around that time. So they'll finally be seeing some of the more recent phone models from companies like Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, etc.

I'll probably make the switch over from Rogers if all goes well.

Comments

  • edited June 2009
    That's awesome, I've been hearing rumors of a Telus switch to GSM for almost a year now. It's definitely a win-win for the company as well as for consumers, because they will be able to provide better phones and a more open system of handsets (being able to swap out your sim card into another phone is a very big convenience). And also I can stop feeling bad for people who can't have an iPhone because they are stuck with Telus :P

    What's the difference between HSPA and GSM?
  • edited June 2009
    I only skimmed through a random google search of HSPA and apparently it's a general term for the 3.5G we're using in Canada. Basically, it's GSM that is using the 3.5G technology we have, which is called HSDPA.

    I am very likely to be wrong, though.
  • edited June 2009
    Simon;56124 said:
    That's awesome, I've been hearing rumors of a Telus switch to GSM for almost a year now. It's definitely a win-win for the company as well as for consumers, because they will be able to provide better phones and a more open system of handsets (being able to swap out your sim card into another phone is a very big convenience). And also I can stop feeling bad for people who can't have an iPhone because they are stuck with Telus :P

    Does this mean certain phones won't be locked onto a service provider? Say, you can only have the LG Shine with Telus, but not Rogers.
  • edited June 2009
    If they are going to switch to GSM like they say they will be, I don't think there will be the cdma restrictions on their phones, unless they do something extreme like base your service on the imei of the phone.

    and of course, you would have to unlock the phone if you want to use a rogers phone for the to-be-gsm telus.

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