To take part in discussions on talkSFU, please apply for membership (SFU email id required).

TELUS and Bell announce LTE (4G)

edited January 2009 in General
http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/media_news_viewer.cgi?news_id=956&mode=2

That's right, pretty big news indeed. TELUS and Bell have chosen to go the path of GSM network evolution by going with LTE (Long Term Evolution) rather than the 4th generation of CDMA. Previously, both carriers have been using CDMA networks for cellular service, while GSM was the global standard. This announcement is just stating that both carriers are now "migrating" over to what will most likely end up as the next global standard of mobile communications by 2010.

Now, just to get this straight, they're not switching to GSM. That would mean a downgrade, since GSM is 2G. From my understanding, the network will support 2G GSM phones, but I don't know exactly what the details will be. Anyhow, this will definitely turn things around for both companies, which have had tainted reputations in the last several years for being "behind in technology". We should start seeing some better competition out there, and hopefully this means lower costs for consumers.

Comments

  • edited October 2008
    Wow that is crazy news...wouldn't this give them a better technology infrastructure than Rogers and Fido? I would have never expected this...is it going to use the same type of gsm chips?
  • edited October 2008
    It's not going to give them better network infrastructure than Rogers because Rogers will be deploying LTE in addition to their current GSM/UMTS and GPRS/EDGE/HSPA network. Telus is going straight for 3G, so it doesn't sound like 2G/2.5G phones would work on it.
    I found the press release a little funny. Telus claiming they are a market leader by following Rogers' lead is a little funny. It is nice to know that there may actually be some real competition to Rogers out there in a couple of years.
  • edited October 2008
    LTE is 4G. TELUS is following in the lead of the rest of the world. Why would you still want 2/2.5G phones in 2010?
  • edited January 2009
    So does it mean that the phones will be using sim-cards instead of what they are doing now (activating the phone by its serial number or something)?
  • edited January 2009
    Probably. I hope so anyway.

Leave a Comment