[JamesK]

MTS was partially into an LTE upgrade at the time. I doubt that Bell wants to share networks with Rogers, which was also incompatible with Bell.

I don't know that Bell has been incompatible with Rogers since 2G. The 3G and later phones have been using the same tech. The big difference between Rogers and MTS was that MTS used the "AWS" (1.7 & 2.1 GHz) bands, compared to the 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz bands Rogers and Bell were using. Of course, since then, there have been increases in the spectrum carriers use.

 

[17671]

Bells 2G technology was called CDMA, Rogers 2G technology was called TDMA, then later changed to GSM.

Either way I looked in my area and there is pretty much Bell sites everywhere in my city/municipality. There are almost no Telus sites near me but there are a few small amount in the bottom half of the city. A family member uses Telus so when they come here their using the "Telus" Radio portion of the Bell tower, right? cus their signal appears to be nearly identical to mine.

 

[JamesK]

if it is anything like the Rogers / Fido deal, when Rogers acquired Fido, Rogers moved Fido customers to its Rogers network, converted some "fido" sites to Rogers sites to fill in coverage gaps, and decommissioned Fido sites where a rogers site already exist. The roaming agreement with MTS/Rogers might have provisions in place where they may not be able to "remove" sites or have to keep them active for a certain period of years. not sure because they don't make these specifics public.

When Microcell/Fido was a separate company, it was only on 1.9 GHz and customers had to use a "backpack" (inserted between battery and phone) on their phone to roam onto the Rogers analog network. Back then 1.9 GHz was mainly a "fill in" band for Rogers, to improve coverage in certain areas. Of course, back in those days, Rogers and Fido were otherwise incompatible, as Fido was GSM and Rogers used the old IS-136 TDM technology. Back then, Bell and Telus used IS-95 CDMA. Later on, Rogers switched to GSM and dropped both IS-136 and analog.

 

[JamesK]

Bells 2G technology was called CDMA, Rogers 2G technology was called TDMA, then later changed to GSM.

Actually, both GSM and IS-136 were TDMA, compared to Bell's CDMA.

 

[17671]

Well what ever they were called, they were still incompatible with each other and Bell.

 

[JamesK]

Well what ever they were called, they were still incompatible with each other and Bell.

I come from decades in the telecom industry and get a bit fussy about that sort of thing. The old telephone network had been TDM for decades and I even have experience with a TDM LAN many years ago, long before Ethernet and IP were popular.

 

[17671]

well we have come along way and from decades ago and im so glad all the carriers technology is somewhat for the most part compatible with one another now. A lot of people don't know the struggles of cellphones from decades ago. Sharing towers def turned into a great idea too. way to go Bellus

 

[gzink]

Compatible tech yes but so many "bands" available and not all phones cover them!!!! ;(

 

[ExDilbert]

That's almost a non-issue these days as well. Gone are the days when most wireless carriers sold phones that had technology limitations and only worked with their own networks. Most new phones are available unlocked and they cover almost all available technologies and bands in the region where they are sold. Some technologies and bands are so new that the market hasn't yet caught up. Even high end phones are still missing the 24GHz+ 5G bands and 600MHz band. They are not yet used by many phone companies so it's not yet an issue.

 

[sheytoon]

Have a look here: Network sharing explained!

If you have any specific questions, you can ask and I'll try to clarify.

The shared UMTS network was launched in November 2009. Rogers doesn't like it and complains to ISED during auctions, but there's not much they can do about it.

 

[gzink]

OK but an issue when visiting the USA maybe just not with the archaic Canadian networks. My wife's iphone has all the bands but my Motorola not so much.