Monday 26 May 2014

Bell Deferral Account Announcement Coming Soon

It looks like Bell will be formally announcing the roll out of the Deferral Account project within the next few weeks. It will be done as a combined release covering all the Deferral Account areas.

At a speech before the Canadian Club of Montreal on 26 May 2014, Bell CEO George Cope stated, "We've already begun to roll out, but we're actually going to announce over the coming month or so all the different markets...right across the country."

Exactly what the announcement will include was unclear except for the reference to the different markets. I hope that details of the service will be made clear as well.

One disconcerting note was the reference to having the project completed by the end of 2015 instead of the deadline of 31 Aug 2014 imposed by the CRTC. A couple of the quarterly reports submitted by Bell to the CRTC did identify a few Deferral Account areas where they were having problems acquiring tower sites and installing backhaul fibre optic cable. Bell did not identify any of the Algoma District Deferral Account areas as problematic.


Bell did not provide a specific date when they would make the follow-up announcement.  

10 comments:

  1. Further to the above, some commentators are interpreting Mr. Cope's speech as referring to the 700 MHz spectrum roll out as well. This would account for the reference to 2015 for the completion date. I guess only time will tell what the details will contain.

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  2. Anyone know if there is a site chosen yet for the SSM airport area tower? I took a ride out there recently but didn't see any evidence of construction anywhere... kinda getting worried about that July 31 activation date.

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  3. (This revised comment corrects an error in the Lat-Long "seconds" published previously. This moves the exact location within the campground slightly.)

    As you may recall, there was a lot of negative blow-back from local residents about the site on Nokomis Beach originally selected by Bell.

    The final site location is the Pointe Des Chenes Campground. The coordinates of the tower centre is N46° 28' 29.01" W84° 31' 28.21"

    I am not sure of the construction status but the design is monopole so it will go up very quickly once the concrete base is poured and set.

    Bell should meet the date.

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  4. It looks like Bell will meet the date. I received a report that the SSM-Airport site went live this morning, 29 May 14. Whether this is just a test run or full operations is unclear but usually once site is on line, it stays on line.

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  5. Wow! That's a surprise. I'll try my Bell cell at home tonight in Gros Cap and report back here.

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  6. Yes, it's alive! My iphone shows a strong 3-4 bar "Bell" signal out in Gros Cap! Curiously, it's 3G, not LTE service, which is a little disappointing but still, the Ookla speed test app reported a 20Mb download speed, which is decent enough.

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    1. Can you be more specific about where in Gros Cap you are located. You can send it to my e-mail address if you wish:
      wlefresne@adnetalgoma.ca.

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    2. I'm on Second Line about a mile from the bottom of the hill or about 1/2 mile from the end of Second Line.

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  7. A 20MB download speed on HSPA+ is still pretty impressive, even if there are only a few people using the site.

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    1. Yeah, we'll see how it holds up once more people clue-in but I have only 1.5 Mb with Vianet right now so 20 Mb seems stupendously fast. If Bell can keep that up and come up with pricing plans comparable to wireline internet providers I will consider switching... two big "ifs" though.

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