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PhotoJim · 10-12-2009, 05:04

We haven't really had national providers. Even now we don't entirely. I can't get Bell service here in Saskatchewan. (Bell roams on SaskTel for CDMA, and right now has no GSM service here at all.)

Rogers was the first national carrier. Bell and Telus were regional. Gradually Bell has become more national (it recently bought Aliant in Atlantic Canada, but it still doesn't operate in two of the ten provinces). Telus has gradually become national but doesn't have any of its own network coverage in Saskatchewan; it has a roaming agreement with SaskTel. It does sell service here, though.

Canada is big and it costs a lot of money to put up enough towers here to have a good network. Of course I'd like to see long distance included in rates but so far there hasn't been enough competitive pressure to do that.

There are new competitors coming online soon (e.g. DAVE Wireless) but a recent CRTC ruling means that Wind Mobile won't be coming online, so I'm not sure if there will be enough pressure to get rid of tolls. It is likely that DAVE will not charge tolls, but it will take the company a long time to build out a good network.

I think the day will come... but it may be five years. It will not be 2010.

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PhotoJim (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 381 Join Date: 10 Dec 2006 Location: Regina, SK, CA Country:	10-12-2009, 05:04 We haven't really had national providers. Even now we don't entirely. I can't get Bell service here in Saskatchewan. (Bell roams on SaskTel for CDMA, and right now has no GSM service here at all.) Rogers was the first national carrier. Bell and Telus were regional. Gradually Bell has become more national (it recently bought Aliant in Atlantic Canada, but it still doesn't operate in two of the ten provinces). Telus has gradually become national but doesn't have any of its own network coverage in Saskatchewan; it has a roaming agreement with SaskTel. It does sell service here, though. Canada is big and it costs a lot of money to put up enough towers here to have a good network. Of course I'd like to see long distance included in rates but so far there hasn't been enough competitive pressure to do that. There are new competitors coming online soon (e.g. DAVE Wireless) but a recent CRTC ruling means that Wind Mobile won't be coming online, so I'm not sure if there will be enough pressure to get rid of tolls. It is likely that DAVE will not charge tolls, but it will take the company a long time to build out a good network. I think the day will come... but it may be five years. It will not be 2010. GSM: CA: SaskTel (postpaid voice/data,,postpaid data), Rogers (postpaid data); UK: Orange, 3; CH: Swisscom; AT: tele.ring; US: T-Mobile, AT&T, Red Pocket Mobile, Telestial Simple Calling; EE: AirBalticcard CDMA: US: PagePlus Hardware: iPhone 4, iPhone 3G, Nokia E63, Nokia Nuron, Novatel Ovation MC950D & MC998D data sticks, Huawei UG1691 data stick (3G AWS), Motorola RAZR V3, Sony-Ericsson K610i, Sony-Ericsson Z310i, Otech F1 (quad sim) (all unlocked)