CF cellphone plan

[BinRat55]

Bin my rant was with Rogers and since we really don't have any other options here on the rock besides Bell/Aliant is the best choice.

I know - I was jus' braggin'!!!

 

[Stoker]

On ship we were on Aliant for Blackberry service which was excellent.  We went on with Rogers and the service was terrible. The coverage Rogers have is not very good, compared with other providers.

 

[lone bugler]

PViddy if you could send that PM about your current "CF corporate plan", that would be great, cheers

 

[geo]

On ship we were on Aliant for Blackberry service which was excellent.  We went on with Rogers and the service was terrible. The coverage Rogers have is not very good, compared with other providers.

Problem with Rogers is that Bell / Telus have the larger network of towers and have refused to lease tower space to Rogers.... forcing Rogers/Fido to put up their own towers... yeah - a business decision.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Problem with Rogers is that Bell / Telus have the larger network of towers and have refused to lease tower space to Rogers.... forcing Rogers/Fido to put up their own towers... yeah - a business decision.

Tower sharing is or is being made mandatory - see: http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/en/sf08988e.html

Tower sharing is, was anyway, fairly common, especially in urban areas. Some companies, however, were, reportedly, unwilling to pay a 'fair' share of sharing costs. Maybe that was Rogers/Fido?

 

[Nfld Sapper]

Remember that Rogers/Fido and Bell/Aliant are on very different networks. Rogers uses GSM while Bell uses CDMA (IIRC).

 

[Stoker]

Compared to the US and Europe we are paying some of the highest fee's for cell usage. I heard a couple of days ago that there is another cell company coming to Canada, they have acquired licences in every province except Quebec. Hopefully with more competition, rates will come down.

 

[lone bugler]

so em besides the obvious thread hijack, I'm still trying to find out the details to this elusive CF/government employers/ corporate plan

 

[George Wallace]

so em besides the obvious thread hijack, I'm still trying to find out the details to this elusive CF/government employers/ corporate plan

Which one?  As has been mentioned, if you ask, several of the companies offer such plans.  Not all will be the same.

Of course there is the "Company" cellphone that belongs to the CF/Government Department and is issued out to employees/members and all use for 'business' is paid by the Department.  Any 'Private' calls are paid for by the phone holder.  Do you think all these Government, not only DND, officials went out and bought their own Crackberries?

 

[geo]

Remember that Rogers/Fido and Bell/Aliant are on very different networks. Rogers uses GSM while Bell uses CDMA (IIRC).

Bell & Telus are apparently gonna go partner & move to GSM over the next little while - cost sharing.  For the only reason that, once they are GSM, they can then contract with other international cell companies & earn ROAMING revenues from visitors.

Also, once their cell users have phones that will work around the world, they'll be receiving a ton of international calls over their network

Oh yeah - they'll have to sell to all their Bell cell users new phones.... case that old CDMA phone just won't work anymore

 

[geo]

Tower sharing is or is being made mandatory - see: http://www.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/en/sf08988e.html

Tower sharing is, was anyway, fairly common, especially in urban areas. Some companies, however, were, reportedly, unwilling to pay a 'fair' share of sharing costs. Maybe that was Rogers/Fido?

Yes Edward,  it is being made mandatory BUT, it hasn't been that way till very recently.
Bell has been playing hardnosed with Rogers/Fido on this matter - till the government started to impose rules.

From what I can gather (my sister used to be Controller for Fido (Pre Rogers)) They have been willing to share costs - but again, Bell has it's own interpretation of what is / isn't fair.

 

[NL_engineer]

Oh yeah - they'll have to sell to all their Bell cell users new phones.... case that old CDMA phone just won't work anymore

I don't think they are doing away with the CDMA, or EVOD networks, just adding a GSM like network.

The CDMA/EVOD network is the better network for data and other applications.  It is also the faster network.


here is some info if anyone is looking

 

[Edward Campbell]

I don't think they are doing away with the CDMA, or EVOD networks, just adding a GSM like network.

The CDMA/EVOD network is the better network for data and other applications.  It is also the faster network.


here is some info if anyone is looking

You are correct.

There is one global 3rd Generation (of personal wireless services) (3G) standard: IMT 2000. There are two ways to get there:

1. An advanced version of GSM being developed by 3GPP (Rogers/Fido is a member of this group); and

2. An advanced form of CDMA being developed by 3GPP2 (Bell Canada and TELUS are members of this group).

The hardware vendors, Nortel and the like, are members of both groups.

The 3rd Generation has promised much but, thus far, delivered too little. It's not clear that either the 3GPP or 3GPP2 standards will provide systems with the bandwidth consumers say they want within the spectrum allocations that are available.

Various 4th Generation solutions are already being developed - e.g. OFDM (in a variety of flavours) - that promise to bring "real broadband" to highly mobile devices (hand-held devices moving at 150+ km/h). It is not yet clear when the necessary global spectrum allocations will be made.

Spectrum is all that really, really matters. Mobile = radio. Radio = spectrum. Spectrum = policy + politics. Everything else is just engineering ... and bags of money!

 

[adaminc]

Howardforums.com is a good place to read about cellular coverage, and cellphones etc... I'm sure that people who work for rogers frequent that site so you could probably ask them.

I have always thought about trying a rogers data plan + texting, then use that and a cheap voip service, and run a voip client on a smartphone. Anyone else try something like this yet?

 

[Welshy]

If any of you are interested in the deal provided by rogers simply go to their store and ask about the military plan that they offer. Sometimes they look at you cluelessly, but tell them it really exists and they can usually look through their system and find the deal and print out a sheet with the different packages that they offer. After that simply choose the plan, show your military ID and they set you up. I've also heard that even though telus does not offer the military discount plan, they have a price match policy and will meet rogers deal, if you can get a print out and prove those are the rates.

 

[horatio749]

Hey Everyone,

I have recently had some issues with Bell Canada and a corporate plan through OPSEU I have had with them for a while. I want to get off of that plan as soon as possible.
I was wondering if anyone had any information on the "Government of Canada" or DND plan through any of the major "providers" that are for personal use.
When I asked the failure that calls himslef a bell employee to look them up for me. I was told that without a NAG number there was nothing he could do for me.
So I proceeded to nag and he was of no help. Neither was the next lady that answered after I called back to speak with someone else.
Anyone have any idea what the heck a NAG number is or what the one for the DND is with bell?
Or am I better off looking at one of the other evils known as cell phone providers.

 

[kratz]

You are responsible for all contracts you enter into.
There is a CF Discount List thread here. If you read the IRP threads, you will see when you sign for that $70 "free" phone contract, you made that choice. Therefore you are committed to meeting the requirements of the plan you signed even if you are posted.

"National Agreements" are intended for government operational use vice personal benefit.

There is no personal government discount plan for most basic utilities.

 

[PuckChaser]

Rogers offers a military plan for CF members, call them, ask for the details and then call back and tell them you're thinking of switching.

 

[horatio749]

So after some digging and speaking to my OR, I found out a plan does exist.
Basically I was told to walk in, in uniform, and ask for the military plan.
It works out to 200 minutes, some basic features, and 25% discount on anything else you add to the plan (voicemail or data) for around 20 bucks a month.

 

[infant]

Was that with Bell?