eKit Simple Calling in Canada - roams on Bell now

[PhotoJim]

I can't remember if I saw it here already or not, but I thought I'd report in case it's news.

eKit Simple Calling SIMs now roam on Bell in Canada in addition to Rogers. Confirmed, just now, in Regina, Saskatchewan (Bell has no native coverage here but it has a roaming agreement with SaskTel and the SaskTel towers transmit Bell's code as well as Telus' and their own).

This will be handy because my main Canadian coverage is with Rogers but we're about to go to Nova Scotia, and the Bell coverage footprint is quite a bit larger than Rogers'. We can use eKit as a backup.

Anyway, I thought I'd report in case this is useful to anyone else.

[RTuesday]

Here in Victoria, BC the eKit Simple Calling (US+Can only version) roams on Rogers (GSM 1900), and Telus (UMTS 850).

The Telus 3G coverage is better than Rogers GSM in some rural areas out of town.

There isn't any roaming permitted on Rogers UMTS/3G ("no access").

Could your Sasktel access be via Telus roaming, rather than Bell? (or are Bell/Telus essentially the same company, for 3G coverage?)

[adam917]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

Here in Victoria, BC the eKit Simple Calling (US+Can only version) roams on Rogers (GSM 1900), and Telus (UMTS 850).

The Telus 3G coverage is better than Rogers GSM in some rural areas out of town.

There isn't any roaming permitted on Rogers UMTS/3G ("no access").

Could your Sasktel access be via Telus roaming, rather than Bell? (or are Bell/Telus essentially the same company, for 3G coverage?)

Same network.

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

Could your Sasktel access be via Telus roaming, rather than Bell? (or are Bell/Telus essentially the same company, for 3G coverage?)

My Nokia E63 is displaying "Bell" as the carrier, so I'm assuming it's using Bell's SSID and not Telus'. Not positive, though, as I'm no expert at this. It's certainly not using SaskTel's SSID or it would display SaskTel.

[PhotoJim]

Just to confirm - successful roaming on Bell Aliant here in Nova Scotia. My phone seemed to prefer Rogers, but after a trip along the coast south of Halifax it locked onto Bell and it's been on Bell since, continuing here in Cape Breton.

[PhotoJim]

More information:

Incoming calls work fine via Bell, but outgoing calls are blocked.

I sent a message to customer service this morning and was advised that while incoming calls would work fine, outgoing calls were definitely not supported. The representative was silent on the issue of whether this might change.

I replied encouraging eKit to allow outgoing calls via Bell in future because it would greatly increase the utility of their product. Presumably an incoming call minute with Bell costs the same as an outgoing call minute, and the only issue is getting notification from Bell that the outgoing call is being made so that the account can be charged accordingly. Hopefully this can be done because there are several provinces (NS, NL and SK) where Bell's network kicks Rogers' butt.

[Stu]

Interesting. I will be in Canada tomorrow with an eKit Passport. I will report on whether it works on Bell.

[Stu]

I just remembered that my E66 only has Euro HSPA. It looks like I'll be on Rogers.

[RTuesday]

Ekit works fine for both outbound and inbound on Telus 3G in British Columbia, which is odd if it's the shared network with Bell and Sasktel.

[PhotoJim]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

Ekit works fine for both outbound and inbound on Telus 3G in British Columbia, which is odd if it's the shared network with Bell and Sasktel.

I don't remember if I tried placing an outgoing call when I was at home in Saskatchewan. The phone certainly registers and takes incoming calls. I'm home next weekend and if I remember, I will try it on Sunday and see what happens.

I have a PagePlus phone too (CDMA and roams in Canada) and while it works perfectly in Saskatchewan, it only works for incoming calls in Newfoundland - at least as of 2009. I wonder if that issue is related. Newfoundland is Bell Aliant and so is Nova Scotia, but Saskatchewan is technically SaskTel (although their HSPA network broadcasts the Bell code also).