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Fido switches on LTE, gives Canadians a taste of slightly more budget-minded 4G
Canadians have had fairly limited options for LTE-based 4G if they didn't want to turn to the three main carrier brands: they could go to a Bell-owned Virgin Mobile, and that's it. While there isn't a truly independent LTE carrier yet, Rogers' lower-cost Fido label has just taken its promised LTE access live to at least offer some competition among the smaller names in the field. Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, St. John's, Toronto and Vancouver can immediately hop on the network at speeds of up to 100Mbps. Bring-your-own-device users don't have to pay a premium to get the faster speeds, although there's currently little choice in hardware if you want to buy straight from the source: the lone LTE device on offer is Sierra Wireless' AirCard 763S hotspot, which costs $50 on a two-year contract. The flexible rate data-only plan also isn't the greatest deal, starting at $22 for a gone-in-five-minutes 100MB per month to $92 for 9GB. All the same, light data users in the True North will be glad to know they don't have to be relegated to 3G to save a few dollars.
Rogers launches LTE Rocket USB dongle and mobile hotspot, revamps 4G pricing
Hold on to your campaign hats people, Rogers has some blazingly fast new LTE devices for your consideration: the AirCard 330U LTE Rocket and AirCard 763S LTE mobile hotspot. Both Sierra Wireless 4G cards support the 1700MHz, 2100MHz and 2600MHz bands for theoretical peak downloads of 100Mbps, while real-world speeds will hover closer to 40Mbps. The latest dongle and hotspot for Rogers are the first to work on all three of its bands, and claim to be the fastest such devices in the land. The carrier is also extending its HSPA+ pricing scheme to its LTE network, meaning Flex Rate plans for the LTE Rocket stick and hotspot start at $22.93 per month, while tablets will be able to hop on the LTE bandwagon for just $7.93. Check out the PR after the break.
