Rogers & Bell to Built Joint National Network

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/09/16/inukshuk_internet20050916.html' target='_blank'>http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/na...et20050916.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Rogers Communications Inc. and Bell Canada are joining forces to build a massive $200 million national wireless network. The companies will create Inukshuk Internet Inc., a wireless broadband network expected to reach two-thirds of Canadians in less than three years...Customers will have access to voice, video streaming and data on the Internet via portable devices. Bell and Rogers will each have the right to use 50 per cent of the network's total transmission capacity. They will also compete for sales, marketing, customer care and billing."</i><br /><br />One of the reasons why Europe has such fantastic mobile network coverage is the number of people contained in a relatively small land mass. The US has less people and more land to cover, and Canada is even worst - we have approximately 1/9th the population of the US and even more land to cover. So for anyone that thinks mobile phone coverage is bad where they live, come visit Canada, the Truth North Strong and Free...of coverage. For that reason, I greet this announcement with a lot of enthusiasm - Rogers beefed up their coverage when they purchased Fido this year, and this move looks like it will make both Rogers and Bell a national powerhouse in terms of coverage. Good news for us Canadians! Now if only they'd make their plans more generous with minutes. :roll:<br /><br /><b>UPDATE</b>: According to Jan Innes from Rogers, whom I contacted to ask what type of network this was going to be, "It's pre-WiMAX". So it looks like this is going to be a data networking after all, and not a carrier phone network. Rogers and Bell already have many locations for cellular towers, so by adding a WiMAX radio into each of those towers, each carrier can now compete with ISPs for Internet access. It will be interesting to watch what they do with this!

[saru83]

WOOOO HOOOOO :alfdance: ... but hang ON, isnt bell CDMA and Rogers GSM? then how the heck will this work :eek:

[dazz]

Now if only they'd make their plans more generous with minutes. :roll:

No kidding!! Bell's unlimited plan is still $100! My work is considering getting...hiptops :| because the unlimited is only $20 through Fido.

Hopefully this new partnership is about offering more for less and not about collusion on price gouging.

[dazz]

WOOOO HOOOOO :alfdance: ... but hang ON, isnt bell CDMA and Rogers GSM? then how the heck will this work :eek:

I thought this as well. Unfortunately, the article is too light on details. I have a contact at Bell and will try to find out more details for us.

[Jerome Carney]

(in Canada) ... we have approximately 1/30th the population of the US and even more land to cover.

True, but given the old adage that 90% of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the U.S. border, where the more habitable climate is, Canada has such highly concentrated pockets of population that I'm surprised that a venture like the announced Rogers/Bell network hasn't happened sooner.


... but hang ON, isnt bell CDMA and Rogers GSM? then how the heck will this work

My read on the article is this is a Wifi broadband network, not a cellular network, so just like carriers in the U.S., Rogers and Bell will sell Wifi either as a separate premium service or at a reduced rate as part of a package that includes their cellular service.

[Paragon]

Yeah, I think Jerome is correct. This is going to be a wide area WiFi network, or Maxwifi...whatever that term is....internet....video....and most importantly, VOIP I would imagine. I think Bell has been pushing pretty hard on VOIP, haven't they, DAZZ?

Anyway, bring it on! I would think it would be very competitive. Imagine the two biggest cellular providers using the same data network. Coverage and quality of signal are right out of the equation. It would then come down to price and plans.

"Inukshuk Internet Inc" How Canadian is that?!

Oh, Jason, I think you madr a typo. Canada's population is 1/10 not 1/30.

Dave

[Rob Borek]

This is more of a fixed station network - if you take a look at the US company that they are proposing to "roam" with and buy equipment from, you'll see a device that looks to be about the size of a cable modem gateway/router that is the antenna and receiving device, which is then plugged in to the computer via USB, or into the network via Ethernet.

This doesn't affect either Rogers' or Bell's base networks - 1xRTT and GPRS will still be exhorbitantly expensive :|

[Jason Dunn]

Oh, Jason, I think you madr a typo. Canada's population is 1/10 not 1/30.

Yeah, I've never been very good at math. ;-) It's 1/9th actually.

[Jason Dunn]

WOOOO HOOOOO :alfdance: ... but hang ON, isnt bell CDMA and Rogers GSM? then how the heck will this work :eek:

A very good question. I've emailed their PR department to ask for clarification on exactly what technology they're using.

[Rob Borek]

WOOOO HOOOOO :alfdance: ... but hang ON, isnt bell CDMA and Rogers GSM? then how the heck will this work :eek:

A very good question. I've emailed their PR department to ask for clarification on exactly what technology they're using.

It's OFDM in the 2.3Ghz, 2.5Ghz, and 3.5Ghz frequency ranges. They will be using technology from NextNet (http://www.nextnetwireless.com/) - Technology overview (http://www.nextnetwireless.com/products_tech.asp)

[dazz]

....and most importantly, VOIP I would imagine. I think Bell has been pushing pretty hard on VOIP, haven't they, DAZZ?

Ya, although the CRTC threw them for a loop with their recent decision to regulate the big telcos for VOIP. Dumb decision as far as I am concerned.

While this new wireless network will almost certainly be able to handle VOIP that is not really tied to their Bell Digital Voice (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/September2005/08/c7300.html) initiative.

Rob, thanks for the heads-up on this being OFDM. Isn't OFDM the protocol that has the potential to overshadow WiMax?

[Rob Borek]

Rob, thanks for the heads-up on this being OFDM. Isn't OFDM the protocol that has the potential to overshadow WiMax?

WiMAX will use OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) - it's just an encoding mechanism, not the entire network. It's like TDMA (which is used by GSM and IS-95) and CDMA (which is used by IS-136, commonly referred to as CDMA, and 3G GSM).

[dazz]

WiMAX will use OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) - it's just an encoding mechanism, not the entire network. It's like TDMA (which is used by GSM and IS-95) and CDMA (which is used by IS-136, commonly referred to as CDMA, and 3G GSM).

Of course it is. I don't know how I could had that confused. :wink:

Thanks Rob.

[axe]

Wow... With the right CF card, Pocket Skype could become a staple application on my PPC, rather than a W?BIC. With reasonable data rates from either provider, my cell phone could get a lot less use, an (sadly) work could email me a lot easier w/o me having to get a blackberry.

Very cool for techies and businesses...