SL-10
03-07-2006, 06:13 PM
http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2006/03/07/7216.aspx
Sprint EV-DO Roams To The 16th Century in Canada
Quebec CityLa plus belle cite dans la belle province, Quebec City is the closest you'll get to Europe without hopping the pond: an idyll of winding streets, 16th-century walls and a great chateau overlooking it all. So I got curious when I saw the announcements from both Bell Canada and TELUS that they were turning on high-speed EV-DO networking in downtown Quebec City, making QC certainly the most historic town with high-speed wireless. Both networks already have service in other major Canadian cities, including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Here's the exciting part, though: Bell Canada's Marie-Camille Blais told me that Sprint EV-DO cards such as the Novatel S620 will now be able to get high-speed service in Canada. This marks the first international EV-DO roaming agreement from the US that I know of. When I called a Sprint rep to confirm, she said, "We're testing in that market ... so if it works, it works." You won't be charged anything additional over your current EV-DO plan to roam to Canada (yet), Sprint said, but you should call 888-226-7212 to make sure your card is provisioned for roaming, and to get the roaming information updated on your card.
I called competitor Verizon Wireless and their roaming partner TELUS, and both said that Verizon doesn't allow EV-DO roaming into Canada yet -- you'll drop to the slower 1X network when you cross the border. Verizon and TELUS need to get on la boule.
Sprint EV-DO Roams To The 16th Century in Canada
Quebec CityLa plus belle cite dans la belle province, Quebec City is the closest you'll get to Europe without hopping the pond: an idyll of winding streets, 16th-century walls and a great chateau overlooking it all. So I got curious when I saw the announcements from both Bell Canada and TELUS that they were turning on high-speed EV-DO networking in downtown Quebec City, making QC certainly the most historic town with high-speed wireless. Both networks already have service in other major Canadian cities, including Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Here's the exciting part, though: Bell Canada's Marie-Camille Blais told me that Sprint EV-DO cards such as the Novatel S620 will now be able to get high-speed service in Canada. This marks the first international EV-DO roaming agreement from the US that I know of. When I called a Sprint rep to confirm, she said, "We're testing in that market ... so if it works, it works." You won't be charged anything additional over your current EV-DO plan to roam to Canada (yet), Sprint said, but you should call 888-226-7212 to make sure your card is provisioned for roaming, and to get the roaming information updated on your card.
I called competitor Verizon Wireless and their roaming partner TELUS, and both said that Verizon doesn't allow EV-DO roaming into Canada yet -- you'll drop to the slower 1X network when you cross the border. Verizon and TELUS need to get on la boule.