How's Canada?

Yes, there is 1900 MHz CDMA coverage in Canada, through Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility (BC, AB, ON, PQ), MTS (MB), SaskTel (SK), and Alliant Telecom (NS, NB, PE, NF, formerly MT&T, NBTel, IslandTel, and NewTel). Coverage is spotty outside of major metropolitan areas, with the exception of the province of Alberta, where an oil-funded, government-sponsored buildout of both GSM and CDMA has left essentially every populated place completely covered, Europe-style. Canada is still largely dependent on analog for rural coverage.

Check your roaming prices... cellular telephony is more expensive in Canada than it is here, with people often locked into 3-year contracts, particularly in areas like Saskatchewan with little competition.

 

I was in Toronto about a month ago with my VX 6000 and found CDMA service to be weak in a few places, including in some spots of the International Airport which surprised me... Is GSM more build out in Canada then CDMA?

 

YES, GSM is pretty extensive in Canada.

 

agreed

 

Well, when the government hands out money for Rogers to build out... and Rogers converts TDMA to GSM... you get great GSM coverage.

 

There's a controversy over cell phone service in Pearson. Read: http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,72587,00.html?from=story_picks

In addition, people have said it's not good enough, and the cell phone companies have said they're not being allowed to make it good enough.

 

When I was in Montréal last April, I had Cingular (GSM) service at the time and the phone worked great from up there, even from inside the hotel room. I do not know which carrier the phone was roaming on, but the call quality was excellent.

 

I thought CDMA was just as widespread with Bell (more like Verizon, mostly 800) and Telus (more like Sprint, PCS with supposedly better sound quality). I like how both of them have a good selection, often made up of Verizon and Sprint's best.

 

I saw lots of Audiovox 8500/8600's in use in Toronto.

 

As I said a while ago, my CDMA phone got very weak service most places of the airport, and I believe my GSM phone worked great...I'm not sure though(can't really remember). SQFreak, thanks for that article...wierd, isn't it?
~Andy

 

If you're on AT&T Wireless GSM, who would you most likely roam onto in Canada-Rogers? I'll be in Canada this Friday into Sunday. And what's the Canada Connect Roaming rate if you're on GSM America National, and for local?

Pritesh

 

You'll almost certainly roam on Rogers, which is good because they've the best GSM network in the country.

 

I have to make a correction to the GSM coverage mentioned above, IT SUCKS in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Unless you are in a major city forget it!

 

Actually, Alberta DOES have excellent GSM coverage.

Just makes sure your phone SUPPORTS 850 Mhz. Otherwise, you WILL get crappy coverage. You used the wrong phone!!

Same goes for Ontario. South Ontario has excellent GSM coverage now, even between major cities. Again, you do need an 850 Mhz capable cellphone.

 

Does anyone know why Canada has more GSM than CDMA?? I mean do a lot of people there actually use CDMA? I was pretty dissatisfied when in Toronto a couple of months ago; my CDMA phone had crappy service a lot, while my GSM phone worked great on the various GSM carriers.

 

LEODB, It sounds like you might have been roaming on the Fido network, which basically only has coverage in the larger cities and not in the rural areas. In contrast the Rogers network has MUCH better GSM coverage from coast to coast. Give that a try next time you're travelling in Canada; I think you'll notice an improvement.

Coverage will also be better if your Phone is equipped with both the 850 & 1900 MHz bands.