Bell nabs iPhone deal in Canada, ends Rogers' reign of terror
By Thomas Ricker 
posted October 6th 2009 8:25AM
posted October 6th 2009 8:25AM
It's official, Bell and Apple have agreed to sell the iPhone 3G and 3GS in Canada starting November. The move ends the Rogers exclusive in while christening Bell's new 3G network with Apple's darling. Hmm, first O2 lost it exclusivity then Rogers, we're sensing a trend. [Thanks, Sean]
Jorvay @ Oct 6th 2009 9:29AM
"Fido is a Rogers-owned brand. There are only three networks: Bell, Telus, and Rogers. Everything else is just a subsidiary or wholesale-reseller."
You should amend that a bit to nationwide networks. There are others. MTS in Manitoba, SaskTel in Saskatchewan - and both of them own their respective markets to a much higher degree than any of the "big three". Also ICE Wireless up in the NWT. I know I'm nitpicking but just thought I would mention it.
Fido is just a subsidiary of Rogers Wireless Inc . Same thing with Koodoo, which is a subsidiary of Telus. Basically you get the discount phones with these two.
@Khal, you're absolutely right. I live in Ontario where we don't have any non-nation-wide carriers, so they often slip my mind.
Please stop posting stupid comments like:
"I hope T-Mobile comes to Canada" and "I'd like to have Verizon" or "I wish for AT&T"
HELLO !!!! This is earth calling !!!
Communications are regulated in Canada by the CRTC and until full deregulation happens (maybe year 2525) no foreign companies are going to be allowed to expand here.
So better get used to high rates and stop whining here (at least). Bark at the CRTC !
Also, I doubt that companies like T-Mobile are lurking north of the border to a such small market like us Canadians !
Don't get your panties so bunched up. Most people are commenting on hoping that the iPhone comes to these other carriers IN THE U.S.
I have a rather abstract wish - that the iPhone monopoly would get broken at AT&T, so that AT&T would finally be inclined to add Android-based smartphones. I don't want an iPhone and am waiting for one of the next generation slider Androids to launch on one of the two major carriers in the U.S. (i.e. not T-Mobile or Sprint). It looks like Verizon is the only one that will go there in the near future. If though the iPhone were to be made available on Verizon, then I'll bet AT&T would branch out and we'd have a more competitive Android market as well.
Well in fact the CRTC has got people's nerves... someone decided to start a petition to get them dissolved and regrouped.
http://www.dissolvethecrtc.ca/
Yes, it's not much, but at least we're doing something.
Thanks for posting that, Toni. I've signed it and will be forwarding it on to friends and family.
FYI, Rogers didn't sign an ((most likely pricey) exclusivity agreement; they were de facto exclusive as they were the only GSM/3G provider in Canada.
P.S. Fido also carries the iPhone but it is wholly owned by Rogers.
China's iPhone is WCDMA/HSDPA sans Wi-Fi on China Unicom. China Telecom is pushing for oPhone.
@ James Sonne
I am using a 2G iPhone on T-Mobile USA and have been for a couple of years. I'm sure it'd not be too difficult for Apple to tweak the current 3GS to work on T-Mo's 3G network (a special firmware switch?). As a "world phone", I'm sure all scenarios and flavors of 3G have been planned for by design.
I would like T-Mo to officially get the iPhone 3GS, so that I can stay with my provider, which I am happy with, have an awesome plan with, and most of all, stop being dependent on the iPhone Dev Team for my future (they haven't been very responsive since the 3.1 update). I am already missing out on certain functionality due to the lack of a GPS chip and other features are deliberately nixed for 2G owners. I want to go legit, but still stay with T-Mo, whose policies are much friendlier than AT&T's.
Yes, of course I could have switched to AT&T at any time, but clearly I haven't wanted to.
yesss iphone on telus i am so happy
Bell and Telus added HSPA to their CDMA network, so now they can offer more phones than ever!
I thought the iPhone was sold out and backordered everywhere. Where are they going to get new units for Bell? Oh wait, I forgot - Steve Jobs is the magical man.
Actually, the iPhone has been sold out at Rogers/Fido stores primarily because they never ordered sufficient stock. It's not a supply-chain problem with Apple, but rather Rogers being conservative on the number of units they want to keep on-hand, since they're not sold on consignment -- Rogers has to pay Apple for each iPhone that's sitting in a warehouse or a store somewhere.
On the other hand, Canadian Apple Stores have had more than ample quantity of every model of iPhone. Ergo, Bell and Telus shouldn't have any problems getting their hands on stock, it only remains to be seen whether they'll make enough of a pre-order to keep up with demand.
The manager at my local Verizon store said she was told in a recent regional meeting that Verizon was not in a position right now to pay Apple for the rights to sell the iPhone. The Verizon merger with Altell and the subsequent infrastructure changes are costing Verizon too much to be able to afford to sell the iPhone right now.
At least that's what I was told. Made me sad.
I believe this will make Bell the first carrier to sell the iPhone and Pre head-to-head - that could be interesting...
I didnt even think of that...
THEY HAVE THE JESUSPHONES! *allelujah!*
Maybe they'd launch the GSM Pre...
*scratches chin*
Telus Mobility confirmed this morning (Oct 6) that they will also be releasing the iPhone, which makes sense, since both Telus and Bell are rolling out the same network.
telusmobility.com/iphone brings you to http://promotions.telus.com/registration/
Official press release
http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/media_news_viewer.cgi?news_id=1135&mode=2
You may want to change the title of this article to reflect that both CDMA carriers in Canada are going to be offering the iPhone on the new HSPA+ network.
What? Bell and Telus built HSPA (GSM base) tower because of iPhone? wow. Time to sell out the Qualcomm stock if you have any.
+2 for GSM network. :)
It wasn't for the iPhone, it was for the roaming revenue for Vancouver 2010. iPhone's only helping to launch the network.
not so fast Simon....UMTS / HSPA is built on CDMA principles (W-CDMA)..so Qualcomm still gets a little bit of cash...while not as much as a pure CDMA EVDO build...
WCDMA is GSM standard. Qualcomm standard is WCDMA2000. It's different.
Actually it's CDMA2000, not WCDMA2000. And yes UMTS and CDMA2000 are incompatible, but share certain properties, as both use channels to carry traffic. And yes Qualcomm has patents in both technologies.
Even more Bell and Telus are using CDMA2000 EV-DO currently and are implementing UMTS/ HSPA (WCDMA).
UMTS is a 3GPP (not GSM) standard and is closely aligned with GSM and is the body responsible for the adoption of LTE.
The important thing to keep in mind in all of this as well is that Bell and Telus will only support the newer HSPA/3G cell phones, not older GSM/GPRS phones. This upgrade is HSPA on top of their existing infrastructure, not a migration to GSM infrastructure.
Does this mean the Rogers 3gs is capible of using that some network? And will Rogers be ugrading to 3.5g??
Capable? Yes, they should be the exact same phones, as with only very few exceptions (ie, China), Apple sells the same physical hardware to every carrier worldwide.
That having been said, however, a Rogers 3GS will be locked to Rogers in the same way that any other Rogers phone is, and quite frankly, I'm expecting that Bell and Telus will be doing likewise in locking the iPhone to their respective networks.
As for network upgrades, Rogers already has a 7.2mbps network, and is in the process of upgrading to the HSPA+ 21mbps speeds. Bell and Telus rolled out the 21mbps network to begin with. All of this is completely irrelevant to the iPhone, however, as the 3G is only a 3.6mbps device, and the 3GS is only 7.2mbps. Only devices like USB/ExpressCard wireless network cards can really take advantage of these increased speeds at this point.
I'm with Bell right now and while this news is blowing my miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind.
I'm going to wait until they roll out the next incarnation of the iPhone.
I'm already bored with the current iPhone OS owning an iPod touch and all.
sigh
End of Rogers Terror?
Huh... Bell is the worst telecomunication brand in Canada (Internet, Cell phones, name it) :|