Shaw Cellular Telephone

There is a lot of chatter on the techy networks that Shaw Communications out of Calgary will enter the cellular wars as early as 01 Sep 11. Over the last few months the rumours have grown stronger.
An interesting facet of the latest buzz is that Shaw will bypass 3G technology and operate from the onset using 4G technology.

Shaw won frequencies in the so-called “D” band at  1735-1740 MHZ  and 2135-2140 MHZ during the 2008 spectrum auction in the Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie areas.

Going directly to 4G only makes a lot of sense as it gives a major head start on the incumbents who are only in the 4G test stage. It also removes the need to expend resources on providing infrastructure on what is quickly becoming dated technology. As I noted in my post regarding the Desbarats tower, Bell is no longer installing 2G/2.5G CDMA in spite of fairly large customer base.

Unlike the other new entrants in the cellular market place such as Wind, Public and Mobilicity who are targeting basic voice and data user, Shaw is likely to take the Vidéotron approach of offering the professed holy grail -  bundles with cellular/Internet/TV and landline (VoIP) all from one supplier.

It will be interesting to watch what happens over the next few months

Update: 04 Jun 11 - Shaw announced it will not be introducing cellular anywhere until 2012.

Bell Cellular Site at Desbarats Operational

As reported in my entry about the Desbarats tower last month the site was indeed commissioned as planned on 23 Dec 10. However, over the holiday  period, locals continued to tell me that this was not the case. It seemed the only things working were the warning lights. I was not able to get clarification until my contacts (at least the ones I have faith in) returned to work after New Years. 


My contact told me he was seeing both voice and data traffic at the new site. After a few back and forth messages, the light went on; he kept identifying it as HSPA voice and data traffic so I asked what was now the blindingly obvious question: – Is the new site both CDMA and HSPA compatible?

The answer is no it isn’t – it is 3G HSPA only. An older type of Bell or Telus phone cannot get service off the tower. A new Smartphone, Turbo stick or Turbo hub is required.

Thus to access (or see) the new Desbarats tower, you will need a HSPA phone or a dual mode Bell HSPA/CDMA phone. If you cannot get a signal from the tower then you are likely using a CDMA (also called 2G or 2.5G) only phone. As far as I know the data hubs sold by Bell work in the HSPA mode and should see the tower. However be careful if you buy a used data stick as there are CDMA only models in circulation.

I suspect that this policy of HSPA sites only will apply to any future Bell sites activated.

Bellevue and Heyden Sites Update 22 Dec 10

In what is becoming a mantra, Tbaytel has once again informed me of  a delay for the activation of the Bellevue and Heyden sites. They are now projecting a date of sometime in January 2011.

This means a delay in wireless broadband (high-speed Internet) service from the Bellevue and Heyden tower sites as well as cell service from the Heyden site.

For what it is worth, they are citing construction delays on the Bellevue tower upgrade caused by weather coupled with, in their terms, a “brown out” period during the Christmas break.

I am seeking clarification of the whether the Goulais (Buttermilk) site will be activated as the same time.

Desbarats Cell Tower Hwy 17

I have been informed that the new Bell cell tower outside Desbarats is scheduled for commissioning the week of 20 –24 Dec 10. This should improve connectivity in the south Tarbutt Township and North East St Joseph Island areas. The site is HSPA so it will support Turbo Stick and Net Gear or Ericsson Turbo hub connectivity.

Northland Consultants located on the Searchmont highway  can provide advice and hardware if an external antenna is needed to ensure solid service.

Using HSPA to Provide Broadband Service

I received a number of questions concerning the use of HSPA technology to provide broadband service in rural areas.In response I have put together a short paper addressing some of the issues.
The paper is available for download in .pdf format from the ADnet website.

Goulais (Buttermilk) Cell and Broadband Site

The Goulais (Buttermilk) site is now physically in location on the ski hill. Viewed from the parking lot, the tower is just to the left of the chairlift. I notice the cell and broadband antennae are in place but I could not detect any microwave antennae or see an equipment shelter. (The base of the tower was out of my line of vision.)

There was no cell signal coming from the tower on Sunday, 21 Nov 10 but I am hoping it will be activated as part of the Bellevue/Heyden project, if not before.

Once activated, the cellular and broadband coverage in the Goulais area will be improved markedly.

Residents in the Goulais area  may wish to contact the Tbaytel service desk at 1-800-264-9501 to register for the service or see http://www.tbaytel.net/residential/internet/connections/highspeed/regional_wireless.shtml for more details.

Bellevue and Heyden Sites Update 18 Nov 10

The Bellevue and Heyden broadband (high-speed Internet) sites  and the Heyden cellular site have been delayed once again. The unofficial new date is early December 2010.

In response to my queries, Tbaytel advised me on 18 Nov 10 that they are experiencing delays on the retrofit reinforcement work for the MTS Allstream owned Bellevue tower. The retrofit is necessary to allow the mounting of the microwave dishes needed to interconnect the Heyden tower into the Tbaytel backbone network proving access to the cellular mobile switching centre (MSC) and the broadband (high-speed Internet) point-of-presence (PoP).

The reinforcement project has two consecutive phases:

a. Work to meet the MTS Allstream requirements; and

b. Work to meet the Tbaytel requirements

The MTS Allstream work is scheduled for completion on 26 Nov 10 at which time the Tbaytel work will commence. Tbaytel did not provide an estimated completion date but I estimate the work may take up to two weeks.

Once the Bellevue tower is reinforced, microwave dishes will be mounted on the both the Bellevue and Heyden towers, tests conducted and the locations put into service.

Once one sees microwave dishes on the Heyden tower or receives strong cell phones signals from the tower, the work will be completed. While the work is being carried out, there may be disruptions with the cell signal from the Bellevue tower.