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Banned
Call me a loser if you want - I have a TELUS prepaid account as my secondary line. I went into a store, bought a sim chip, and switched my number over to a Edmonton number because TELUS won't give you a Winnipeg number on the HSPA network. I then popped the sim chip into my unlocked Iphone from Fido and discovered the following while I travelled to Grand Beach and Grand Forks.
-TELUS SIM based 3G coverage finally reached 0 bars 1 km past Rosenort, MB. This is about 65 km away from downtown Winnipeg.
-TELUS SIM based 3G coverage reached 0 bars 2 km before South Beach Casino. This is about 75 km away from downtown Winnipeg.
The irony in all this is that, while it's convenient to rag on TELUS for holding off on the whole HSPA thing in MB - they actually have 3G coverage where Rogers/FIDO do not. Remember, Rogers/FIDO has coverage in the areas mentioned above, but its only EDGE; the type of coverage thats pretty much only good for email, text, and voice, while TELUS had the next generation coverage.
I'm also not sure why TELUS claims that its HSPA in MB drops after you leave the perimeter hwy... you would expect for TELUS to posture (i.e fudge the facts) when disclosing such information, in its favour.
My antenna is smaller than yours
Admittedly I have little HSPA experience. But with CDMA my phone (three different phones actually,) can be unusable with two bars showing. That's the normal experience in Mitchell, Manitoba, exactly half-way between two towers. And believe me, I tried very hard to make it work.Originally Posted by drcs01
Nor is that HSPA service is not available to Manitobans. Telus offers EVDO in Winnipeg. Period. It doesn't even have 1x any more in the rest of the province.
Banned
That's different though. You can't compare different phones on different types of networks. For the record, I did make a brief phone call with 1 service bar about 60 km outside Winnipeg.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
TELUS CDMA data is pretty much unusable north of Winnipeg on Highway 59. There may be some spots just outside Winnipeg on Highway 59 north where you can use data, but once you get to Birds Hill Park data is unusable. I can't load any pages on my phone while in Birds Hill Park.
I'm pretty sure I read on here that somebody on TELUS HSPA tested out data in Birds Hill Park and it didn't work.
Radiation is good
Ok but you're saying, HSPA was working in downtown Winnipeg?
I mean, as long as it works there, it's better than nothing. Not many other places to go in Winnipeg (Maybe Brandon)... when you're visiting.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
HSPA will definitely work inside Winnipeg for roaming purposes. They will not yet give you a Winnipeg number on TELUS HSPA though.
Has anyone noticed that you can be getting an EVDO signal on your handset but still have no data access? I assume this means that you're on an MTS tower?
Last edited by Positive Climb; 09-13-2010 at 01:18 PM.
I've got more phones than fingers
I was in Bird hills park with my EVDO aircard and could not get any signal back in June. My EVDO blackberry worked there but as an out of province user I understand that I get the opportunity to use MTS towers for data and locals do not.
Yes, the 3G HSPA network exists in the city. It worked fine though the towers did not seem to be fed with more than a 6Mbps trunk since that's the maximum spike I could get doing speed tests inside the city. I suppose if they open things up to Winnipeg residents that would have to change but for roamers it's a nice empty network though you cannot get the full 21Mbps speeds in my experience. In Edmonton I can usually get speeds spiking up to 15Mbps when I test things (Average speed when moving around is much lower but still pretty fast)
Telus was planning to extend their coverage south, east and west of the city along the highway corridors and they even had maps on their website showing those as future expansion plans coming next year but those maps are now gone and the plan is up in the air. Maybe a few highway towers got built before they changed plans, not sure.
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Interesting, I wasn't aware of this.
I've climbed a cellphone tower
Yes this is true. TELUS customers from outside Manitoba that come to Manitoba can use data on the MTS network outside of Winnipeg.
MTS users who travel to B.C. or Alberta can use data on the TELUS network.
However I think it's ridiculous that MTS still blocks data to Manitoba TELUS customers.
My antenna is smaller than yours
Back in late December 2008 I posted links here to the minutes of various town and rural municipality meetings - from summer 2008 - where Telus had gotten (mandatory) permission to erect towers. The RM of Hanover minutes listed the exact locations of two towers going up near my my house in Mitchell, near Steinbach. Permission was renewed in December 2009. Another site was going up in Steinbach itself.
Every once in a while I'd drive past the RM of Hanover site north-west of Steinbach. As of August 2010 it's still an empty field. No crop, but not even survey markers to show planned construction.
It may still happen, but don't hold your breath.
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