Fido hops on the LTE bandwagon, gives Canadians frugal 4G this summer
Rogers was the first with LTE in Canada. Its budget brand Fido has largely been left out of that 4G fiesta, but the gap is closing today with official plans to give the yellow doghouse some LTE of its own. The initial deployment this summer will largely overlap Rogers' fledgling network, starting with benchmark cities Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, St. John's, Toronto and Vancouver. Only a Fido Mobile Hotspot with 10-device sharing will kick off the hardware selection; if you're impatient, though, any compatible and (usually) unlocked LTE device will do with a relevant SIM card. About 20 million Canucks will potentially have the high-speed option by the end of the year -- and with Fido's plan costs expected to stay the same, that coverage could make the provider a de facto choice for fast data in the Great White North. Click past the break for the official word and the full 2012 expansion list.
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Fido to unleash its LTE network across Canada this summer
Fido subscribers will enjoy all the benefits of affordable and full powered LTE wireless service
TORONTO, July 26, 2012 /CNW/ - Fido announced today that LTE service will be unleashed this summer, giving customers the speed of an enhanced network service across major markets in Canada, including in the cities and surrounding areas of Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and St. Johns with more cities to launch throughout 2012.
"We are thrilled to offer the benefits of LTE network technology to Fido customers this year," said Steven Sarfin, senior director of marketing, Fido Solutions. "Our focus at Fido has always been on providing the best value to our customers. With data plans starting from $10/month, affordable LTE service is a perfect complement to the exclusive FidoADVANTAGE programs like FidoTRADE™, Fido LiveANSWERS™ and FidoDOLLARS™ our customers already enjoy." Sarfin added.
For the fast and the furry, LTE enables Canadians to use their mobile devices to quickly download apps, upload images of their four-legged friends and download HD files, such as movies and music, with virtually no delays or buffering. Coming this summer, the Fido Mobile Hotspot will be the first LTE-enabled device available from Fido. This device creates a Wi-Fi hotspot wherever, and whenever customers need it, and wirelessly connects up to 10 Wi-Fi capable devices simultaneously. LTE-enabled smartphones will be available at Fido later this year, and all of the Fido LTE-enabled devices are capable of running across Fido's 4G HSPA+ network which covers 96 per cent of the population of Canada.
Fido will continue to expand LTE across the country, with the plan to provide LTE network access to 20 million Canadians by the end of 2012. Over the coming months, Fido plans to launch LTE in Moncton, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Québec City, Kingston, Ajax, Pickering, Oshawa, Oakville, Burlington, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Niagara, Windsor, Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph, London, Barrie, Sudbury, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Kelowna, Abbotsford and Victoria.
