AT&T & Bell Mobility Roaming Agreement

[Der84]

I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the AT&T forum.

As Bell Mobility seems to be moving forward into it's HSPA network, apparently they will now have a roaming agreement with AT&T. All AT&T users will be able to roam onto Bell Mobility's HSPA network while in Canada and Bell Mobility users will be able to use AT&T's GSM and 3G wireless Networks in the USA.

[mframe]

The AT&T Forum members would no doubt be interested in reading about this. It seems to me, I remember reading something years ago about how one of the Cingular Telcos had a partial stake in Bell Mobility. In the TDMA days, Cingular would prefer roaming on Bell (in analog), over Rogers TDMA. Now, with a compatable technology, they can renew their former agreements.

[Der84]

It's always interesting to me to find out when a mobile carrier updates there network, and then you find out about newer roaming agreements or updates on towers etc.

The wireless world is definitely an interesting thing.

[Critic]

Der84: do you have a link to something official from either carrier? I'm very curious about this, as I'll be going up Toronto, and I'd love to not have to shut down data for nearly 2 days...

[elmo01]

Originally Posted by Critic

Der84: do you have a link to something official from either carrier? I'm very curious about this, as I'll be going up Toronto, and I'd love to not have to shut down data for nearly 2 days...

looking at the coverage maps I'm tending to believe that the roaming partner for Bell is Verizon... for one...they are both CDMA carriers

....at the att site the only listed Canadian roaming carriers are

CANADA*
ROGERS WIRELESS GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS 1900
FIDO (MICROCELL) GSM/GPRS/EDGE 1900

rogers and fido are the same company...

the bell USA roaming map

http://www.bell.ca/web/wireless/en/a...S_coverage.pdf

the VZW national map

Coverage Locator - Verizon Wireless

other than the colour scheme they look identical

[Der84]

Elmo01 is correct about the roaming agreement with Rogers/Fido & AT&T.

Bell Mobility may be roaming partners with Verizon, but now that Bell is GSM and seeing the news about the AT&T roaming agreement I suspected this was new. So this could be something that is in the works and hasn't happened yet? I'm still trying to find more info.

[Critic]

Originally Posted by elmo01

looking at the coverage maps I'm tending to believe that the roaming partner for Bell is Verizon... for one...they are both CDMA carriers

True enough, but the OP may be on to something...

Bell Canada, Telus to deploy HSPA by 2010 - RCR Wireless News

Canada’s two largest CDMA carriers, Bell Canada and Telus Mobility, announced plans to deploy HSPA technology by 2010 as part of an effort to eventually upgrade to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei will build the HSPA networks for both carriers.

Investment banking firm UBS reported in July that Bell Canada and Telus were considering deploying HSPA networks. The carriers’ official announcement represents another nail in the CDMA coffin, as well as further industry momentum toward LTE technology. Both Verizon Wireless (a CDMA carrier) and AT&T Mobility (a GSM carrier) in the United States plan to use LTE.

“Bell’s transition to the global 4G LTE standard with a combined EV-DO and HSPA network path aligns us with more than 30 major carriers worldwide planning a similar move to LTE,” said Stephen Howe, CTO for Bell. “This broad global technology ecosystem will mean a fast, efficient and cost-effective network transition to 4G LTE, and access to the broadest possible range of next-generation phones and data services.”

While I don't exactly see why Bell would want to maintain THREE different networks (CDMA, iDEN, and now HSPA) in the run-up to LTE, but it stands to reason that AT&T could sign a roaming agreement with Bell once the HSPA rollout is complete.

[Der84]

Alright......here is a portion of an article that was taken from this link. This is during a Bell Canada Enterprises second quarter results conference call.

http://www.bce.ca/data/documents/rep...RIPT_Q2_09.pdf

QUOTE:
"And then finally, this morning in the press release, you may have noted that we’ve announced that we’ve entered into a roaming agreement with AT&T when we launch our HSPA network, and that’s important on two fronts for us. One is for our customers in the future having access to a tremendous network in the US; but more importantly for Bell also, is in the future, HSPA clients in the US on AT&T will have the ability to roam in Canada on Bell’s new HSPA network, which as I said will launch, as you know, in early 2010."

[elmo01]

Originally Posted by Der84

Alright......here is a portion of an article that was taken from this link. This is during a Bell Canada Enterprises second quarter results conference call.

http://www.bce.ca/data/documents/rep...RIPT_Q2_09.pdf

QUOTE:
"And then finally, this morning in the press release, you may have noted that we’ve announced that we’ve entered into a roaming agreement with AT&T when we launch our HSPA network, and that’s important on two fronts for us. One is for our customers in the future having access to a tremendous network in the US; but more importantly for Bell also, is in the future, HSPA clients in the US on AT&T will have the ability to roam in Canada on Bell’s new HSPA network, which as I said will launch, as you know, in early 2010."

interesting... is this a forerunner of a tech change for bell?

[Critic]

Originally Posted by elmo01

interesting... is this a forerunner of a tech change for bell?

Bell is moving to LTE eventually, but overlaying their existing network with HSPA first. Read the article I linked to above.

[Der84]

Earlier yesterday morning I had called Bell Mobility twice and talked to two different reps. I was amazed that neither of them had even heard the news about a roaming agreement between them and AT&T. But I guess with it not happening until earlier next year, that may be the reason why.