Rogers losing its roaming abilities in Northern Ontario to .. Bell their loss of $$$

[formercanuck]

For many years, on AT&T, I have always roamed on Rogers when coming up to Canada.
I used to even have a 'North America package' on AT&T Wireless in the old days which covered roaming and long distance while in Canada.

This past week, when I crossed the border into Northern Ontario (Sault Ste. Marie), I was on AT&T EDGE until the far east side of Sault Ste. Marie, where it switched to Rogers (as typical).

Rogers service has always been somewhat weak along highway 17, but usable (EDGE in the past, 3G currently).
In Echo Bay, I actually dropped a call (incoming), and saw what looked like 4 new cell sites between Sault Ste. Marie and Elliot Lake - filling in areas that Rogers had either really weak service or 'no' service.

My phone later ended up showing 'Bell' instead of Rogers, and never went back. I guess Rogers isn't too concerned about roaming revenue loss.

[B407]

When roaming, your phone will connect to the tower with the strongest signal as long as a roaming agreement is in place with that carrier. You could probably manually select Rogers if you really wanted to. Rogers and AT&T still have roaming agreements in place with each other.

[Hans_Moleman]

I think he meant that he's moving his roaming dollars to Bell (as an AT&T customer) because Bell's service for his roaming was much more accessible and stable.

I know when I'm in rural US, I'm given 2-3 options for voice and data roaming, so it's probably the same for AT&T customers in Canada.

[formercanuck]

When roaming, your phone will connect to the tower with the strongest signal as long as a roaming agreement is in place with that carrier. You could probably manually select Rogers if you really wanted to. Rogers and AT&T still have roaming agreements in place with each other.

at&t phones by default have the 'manual network select' disabled. Rogers may lose out on a lot of roaming revenue.

[B407]

at&t phones by default have the 'manual network select' disabled. Rogers may lose out on a lot of roaming revenue.

Lol doubt it. Lots of T-Mobile customers and customers from Europe and Asia who have phones that don't support HSPA 1900/850 and will be forced to roam on Rogers.

[formercanuck]

T-Mobile is not at&t. By default, at&t phones have the carrier select removed/ disabled. It has been this way foe years.

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[WorldIRC]

Bell's more reliable these days anyways, enjoy!

[frankie5string]

I wonder if these new towers you roamed on are also talking to local Bell customers up there? Of if they're just running restricted to pick up roaming revenue right now? <looking at maps>

EDIT: Oh never mind... I see coverage all the way across there... I wonder what people at Eliot Lake are seeing now?

What happened? Did all the Rogers management who had cottages up there move away? ;-)

[formercanuck]

i pick up 3G in Elliot Lake on Bell. Rogers doesn't have 3G there.

[Paolo]

I picked up rogers signal just fine along Highway 17. Maybe it differs from phone to phone?

[formercanuck]

I picked up rogers signal just fine along Highway 17. Maybe it differs from phone to phone?

Typically, i've dropped out on the hwy 17 bypass of echo bay, similar west of Desbarats, east of Blind River, and west of Spanish (had call drop/searching for service there 3 years ago). Looking at Steve Nikkel's site - Bell has put sites in those dead zones, but Rogers hasn't.

Compare:
http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/c...layers=r&pid=0

with

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/c...layers=b&pid=0

I was on 1 bar of AT&T GSM at the Highway 17 turn. Phone rang, dropped, and switched to Rogers.
here:
http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/c...layers=a&pid=0

I tried to call back here - but ended up with a failed call (1 bar of service)
http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/c...layers=b&pid=0

[SheeB]

Was just up there from SSM to Kenora and I have a HSPA handset which is what is required to roam onto TbayTel's network which is what is along Highway 17. I had amazing service compared to my girlfriend's Telus 9780 fow which was sitting on no service 80% of the travel. Even the Bell prepaid 1xrtt handset had no service for most of the travel.