Is the Bell Mobilty network a 2.5G or a 3G network?
Does it use the EVDO or EVDO Rev A technology?

The reason I am asking it because I have seen a lot of posts about the Sprint CDMA Touch possibly getting a ROM update to the faster EVDO Rev A. My speed according to dslreports mobile in Windsor is never more then 300 kbit/sec and normally just over 100 kbit/sec. If this is the EVDO network I certainly do hope for a EVDO Rev A update from Bell also.

bell is still a 2G network. 1G is Analogue, 2G CDMA. Not sure what 3G is, but they still stuck at CDMA technology, but were "thinking" about going gsm, which will still be 2G. They may also go LTE, pronounced Lite. which is a 4Th Generation technology, and is back wards compatible with UMTS/WCDMA which Rogers and Fido currently use.

I think CDMA2000 is the true 3G but they are not there and i dont know if they know what they are going to do yet on bell...

Bell is predominately a 3G system, as shown in the quote at the bottom. I think Bell is using the EVDO technology right now and are in the process of converting to the EVDO Rev A system.


Sprint will roll out EV-DO Rev A this year with coverage expected to reach more than 40 million people. Sprint Power Vision users in these markets should experience significantly faster average upload speeds of 300-400 kbps (compared with 50-70 kbps of current EV-DO networks). Average download speeds should also increase to 450–800 kbps from 400-700 kbps. By 3Q 2007, Sprint's Power Vision network is expected to be completely upgraded to the faster EV-DO Revision A.

"TORONTO, MONTREAL, Oct. 31 2005 -- Bell Canada, Canada's national leader in communications, today unveiled Bell Mobility's new leading-edge mobile data network, EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), the fastest mobile data network ever commercialized. The technology is the third generation (3G) of wireless networks and delivers data at unprecedented download rates of up to 2.4Mbps, more than five times faster than anything else in Canada with an average speed that varies between 400kbps - 700kbps."

bell is still a 2G network. 1G is Analogue, 2G CDMA. Not sure what 3G is, but they still stuck at CDMA technology, but were "thinking" about going gsm, which will still be 2G. They may also go LTE, pronounced Lite. which is a 4Th Generation technology, and is back wards compatible with UMTS/WCDMA which Rogers and Fido currently use.

I think CDMA2000 is the true 3G but they are not there and i dont know if they know what they are going to do yet on bell...
You are right about 1 thing, and that analogue is 1G. CDMA has two distinct systems IS-95 which is 2G, and 1X-RTT which is considered 2.5G. EV-DO Rev 0 which covers most of their customers is 3G, and EV-DO rev A is a 3.5G technology. I personally believe that they will use LTE as a 4G solution.

well rogers and fido are already at 3.5G with their HSPA network, which is a completely new from scratch network. It's kinda hard for me to grasp bell being 3G with their EVO, because its like a layer, more than a network, which still relies on analog-aged protocols like esn's which are running out, etc.. it would be good if they went right to EMID and/or RUIM. 3G UMTS networks use a new kind of SIM card called a UICC, but they've maintained backwards compatibility with Smart cards (SIMS)

HSDPA is a data network, and EVDO is a data network. They are the same to a customer, and both are separate from voice.

An ESN is just a different form of identifier of the phone (Bell has already changed their systems to support MEID's once the manufacturer's begin using them for CDMA phones) on the network.

HSPA is also a completely SEPERATE network that also carries VOICE traffic too.

Are you sure about rogers carrying voice on their HSDPA? I've never found anything that says any variation of HSPA carrying voice. I'm not saying it's impossible since voice is really just data.

Yes actually HSPA is what they label the data. but the network is actually called UTMS, the air interface is called WCDMA, its a completely new third generation network that handles both Voice and Data traffic. I can assure you this, google and wiki it.

I know what HSPA and UMTS are, and that rogers uses HSDPA. I was just under the impression that it was used exclusively for high speed data, as I've never heard anything at all about it carrying voice.

hsdpa is used for video calling too

yeah, definitely rogers/fido network is UMTS & HSPA, i guess similar to thinking how GSM&EDGE are related. i use a win mobile phone, and 99% of the time its on 3G, and when that is the case, the carrier changes from Rogers to "UMTS Rogers". definitely notice improved voice quality and much better reception in basements & buildings at work when connected through UMTS.
i guess bell & telus have been slowly upgrading to EVDO revA ?

would be very interesting however if in the future all 3 plan rollouts for LTE as their 4G network

Bell IS EVDO revA. All rev 0 base station equipment was replaced last year with rev A. It is virtually an overlay on top of the voice network since it uses segregated channels. With a Sierra Wireless EvDO rev A card, I get 1.9 Mb down and around 600 kB upload. Some say the upload can be higher with a different wireless modem. Many mobile phones are only rev 0 due to chipset limitations. Rev 0 means slower upload speed only. The latest phones are coming out with rev A chips.

The big difference between IS-95 and EvDO is circuit switched versus IP routed.

The entire network has not been switched over to rev A. Many areas still only have rev 0 service (switch over to network-wide rev A is scheduled for Q4 this year), and a lot of the network is still only 1X service.