Bell and Telus to announce new network

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nationalpost.com/story.html?id=755887

Multiple sources in the telecom industry said Bell Canada and Telus are expected to share the costs of upgrading from their current code division multiple access (CDMA) networks to the globally adopted high speed packet access (HSPA) network. It is estimated to cost the two companies as much as $1-billion and take about one year to install.

Sucks for Citywest, if they have to now upgrade just to keep up.  I still don’t know why they didn’t go for a GSM network like all the other small telcos in Canada, wouldn’t it have been cheaper?  That’s why the smaller telcos all use GSM.

I hear Telus can probably pay for most of their share of the upgrades just from the roaming fees they’ll get from Vancouver 2010 visitors.  It’s either that, or Rogers gets it all.

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Think of all the people in town who will have to replace their phones. Thank god I’m canceling my citywest phone in about a month and a half.

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@CrazyMike

Think of all the people in town who will have to replace their phones. Thank god I’m canceling my citywest phone in about a month and a half.

Heh, you’re assuming Citywest will upgrade.  Remember, it took them almost 10 years to get data services, because “we checked and nobody really wants it.”

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@MiG

Heh, you’re assuming Citywest will upgrade.  Remember, it took them almost 10 years to get data services, because “we checked and nobody really wants it.”

Will they even have a choice? If the other guys switch, won’t CityWest be left with having to switch to stay connected to Bell’s network?

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@MiG

Heh, you’re assuming Citywest will upgrade.  Remember, it took them almost 10 years to get data services, because “we checked and nobody really wants it.”

Hahaha - I remember that - my husband was so ‘moved’ by that lovely announcement that he wrote a letter for the opinion section of the Daily News. 

I was trying to find online archives to show you - but came up empty.  If anyone knows if there is and where it is, please let me know and I can try and dig up the letter.

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[quote=“MiG”]
Heh, you’re assuming Citywest will upgrade.  Remember, it took them almost 10 years to get data services, because “we checked and nobody really wants it.” [/quote]

Are you sure that quote wasn’t “We checked and I still don’t get it.” lol

Seriously, It’s likely that Bell and Telus will continue to run their CDMA network for a few years to ease the transition for themselves so the current management can leave it to their replacments to deal with the issue.  Unfortunately this is just one of the risks you run as a small telco and you bet your business on the wrong horse.