Cell Service on TTC Subway

[TransitRider]

Telus, I am sick and tired of your unwillingness to provide cell signal on the TTC Subway. There have been so many incidents lately and it's the vulnerable people who become victims. A 16-year-old was stabbed and died. Telus, you are a critical infrastructure and so get your act together and get on to an existing infrastructure that TTC ALREADY HAS. MAKE IT WORK! Freedom mobile is already on it. This is absolutely excrementitious! 

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/03/29/what-good-is-it-if-i-pull-the-yellow-strip-metrolinxs-fo...

[Syaoran]

Freedom has had service in the subway since 2015. I whole-heartedly agree that Telus needs to get off of their greedy butts and sign on to allow Telus customers to have service in the subway system in Toronto.

[jobrien]

Rogers just bought it. So naturally they have service.

[Syaoran]

Rogers has already stated that it will take a minimum of 2 years to implement texting for Rogers customers across the entire subway system and even longer for the ability to make and receive calls

[jobrien]

Hey at least it's a commitment of any kind, right? Telus will take their time. Have you tried Bell? It's possible there's no roaming agreement for Telus if Bell setup a tower there. And if Freedom's already servicing the area, there's got to be a tower of some kind Freedom roams on.

[Syaoran]

Bell and Telus share the same network and towers. Freedom has no 5G and it's all based on very old band 4 with way too many people trying to use their network for the infrastructure to handle.

I would go back to Rogers for the right deal. At least they don't limit network features to phones not purchased from them on their network.

[jobrien]

Why does that not surprise me? Rogers is too busy acquiring big companies to worry about feature delegation. I think their commitment to network standards is top notch and likely always has been, seeming as how in Vancouver, I get over 1GBPS connectivity with them. They just seriously, have to work on upload speeds. Because even Freedom will give me above 31MBPS. The last time I tested Telus for their upload speeds, I was lucky if I got 40 MBPS. So you'd be surprised what Freedom can pull off when there's a tower around. And with Videotron's 5g infrastructure, even if it's old, it has to count for...something. We need a new player in town so bad. Rogers will get it done, of that I'm sure. Telus, I don't know what they're playing at but man are they more incompetent these days than they ever used to be. Too much outsourcing, not enough local planning. That's their problem, especially where billing and support is concerned. I almost wish Bell would buy out Telus or Rogers could do that so they could standardize on a commitment they promise to uphold. Don't get me wrong, Fibre is awesome and a lot of the network engineers and business class people who work for Telus mean well. But my god, does their outsourced support age like shower steam.

[jobrien]

Having said that, Rogers is definitely more Android friendly than Telus. Telus is more iPhone friendly than Rogers. So you pick your battles. If Telus is limiting network throughput on approved devices, you know that what's coming next is approved devices with Esims attached. At the rate they're going, they'll even call it a security feature. While they choke the life right on out of the free phone market. Meanwhile in the US, Australia and the UK, they'll sell you unlimited data allowance packages for all out routers with sims in them for home internet use. I believe broadband specialties, are made for a kinder internet than the one Canadians get access to. Everything we get has no manuals to operate it that's broken, requires too much attention and not enough connection. I really wonder sometimes if we're scammed out of service because the service itself is a scam, or because we all trusted and became compliant for too long in policy instead of power. This makes me want to buy an Oppo, Xiaomi or 1+ phone just to prove a point and ensure that we're not all locked into Samsung, Apple or Google phones because Telus said so. And unfortunately, with their ability to lock down EMEI connectivity to their network, they can hold it against us. I really wish Rogers kept Freedom Mobile. That company's pricing is like last year's deals in comparison to a minimum of $85.00 for a bring your own device plan now from everyone thanks to the CRTC regulating our future mobile phone loans. I'm not even kidding, some banks are offering mobile phone loans. Telus, Bell and Video Tron will all require you to pay taxes up front for your devices. But Rogers doesn't. Rogers owns a bank, the others don't. Hmm, I wonder if that has a part to play in all of this? Either way you look at it, Telus is in decline.

[Syaoran]

Telus is essentially following the AT&T way of doing things. You don't buy your device from them. No VoLTE, no WiFi Calling, and potentially no 5G either.

In the US with T-Mobile, I get unlimited Canada/US/Mexico, which includes roaming as well to all of those, global texting and MMS, and texting and 3G data in 215+ countries around the world for $35. Ironically, T-Mobile's roaming partner for Canada is Bell/Telus and it has been since 2016. If I didn't value my Canadian number. I would have dropped the ridiculousness I pay Telus, $92 a month for Canada/US calling, texting, and roaming a long time ago.

Internet here in Toronto is terrible! The only thing faster than what Bell offers here (25 down/3 up), is Rogers. I current get 1.5Gbits down but only 50 up. The 50 up sucks but Rogers, just like Bell, can't be bothered to bring Fibre to the building I live in while up here because they want the property management to pay them for the priveledge. The property management won't pay to have better installed here, sadly.

[jobrien]

You know there's an old saying. The more money someone throws at a product, the more ridiculously extensive their control of it will get. The less money that is thrown at it, the more control you get. I'm honestly not surprised that Rogers is so ridiculously bad in your area for home services. Shaw is just as bad out here, and it wouldn't surprise me that their version of how they think the internet should be run, where we have to consume what we're told and not engage with others, just won't cut it. Because that's exactly what's happening. Now you mention that you're able to roam on Telus and Bell using T Mobile. I know for a fact that ATNT uses Rogers to roam on. I'm not sure who Verizon uses, but their plans are or seem the most fair to me if I had to choose a US carrier. T Mobile essentially requires that you connect to a US tower to get anything above 2G service. Whereas Verizon, doesn't seem to. I could be wrong about this, but it's worth checking out. Personally I wouldn't pick ATNT for the life of me, and your horror story of how much control they put into things, just proves my point. Have you looked into Fonus? I believe they may rely on a combined carrier network to rebroadcast a signal for around the same price...get this...Canadian. And it's not like Text Now, where you don't get data either..with Fonus it's unlimited. Now, going back to Canadian carriers discussion about pricing, I've averaged it out to where you pay for $1.00 per Gig of high speed data. A friend of mine, who lives in Washington State, gets unlimited gigs of high speed data, enough to game on, with Straight Talk wireless. They seem to be a provider in the US that seemingly resells someone's broadband packages in a mobile form, which essentially means you get a better deal with a flanker brand reseller than you do if you sign up for one of the big 3 directly. From my experience, the only nice thing about Canadian Carriers US roaming plans, is that you don't lose your data if you're in the middle of a cycle. But it's never unlimited. Take Rogers for example. They won't charge you for calling a US number or roaming in the US with their infinite plan, because it includes data, talk and text. But if you are not on a US Canada plan, they will pull out all the fees because they can. Bell and Telus are the absolute worst for this on any plan you get. Everyone is limiting by price cycle now, and everyone is doing this ridiculous contract to outsource financing via trade programs that are as volatile as they are reckless. Because every mobile carrier in Canada, has access to your credit history. And they report on it to try to destroy you in whatever way they can. So this means that Telus is actually going to try to enforce that you finance with them, just to get access to all of the perks of being on their network. Otherwise if you don't, you can't get access to it and it essentially means they can raise the price for a bring your own device plan to where you're scammed out of service! I also notice that the big 3 deliver a lot more robotic calls if you're on a bring your device plan, than they do if you're not. They have it all figured out, because the CRTC is enabling them as they're essentially in bed with each other at our expense. Something tells me, like a gut feeling, that there's more ugliness on the horizon. Your best bet right now, is to lock into a plan that lets you pick whatever device you want that can roam on whatever network is available using an international sim. The introduction of satellite service into the mobile market is getting everyone all bent out of shape over losing access to this triopoly. They're going to milk it for all it's worth, stay well clear of companies who have to borrow from others as an investment firm to get things done. Thus, Rogers is your best bet for multiple reasons. I'd also keep an eye on Freedom Mobile. Something tells me their the only one who is able to bargain for what ever rights we have left, even if it is only LTE.

[Syaoran]

I get 5G with my T-Mobile SIM here in Toronto. Verizon has terrible rural coverage in the US. Where my in-laws live, in a big town of 78 people where they have 10 Gigabit fiber in both directions for less than $100 a month... Sprint/T-Mobile and AT&T are the only companies that provide service a few miles away. The town itself has no cell service at all. Customer Care counts for a lot too. That is why I am currently with T-Mobile for our 5 lines. I had my s23 Ultra from T-Mobile on February 10th, which was a full 10 days before it was officially released.

I know what Shaw is like. I lived out in Nanaimo years ago. The issues with Canadian services stretches across the entire country. We pay some of the highest rates in the world for the worst service!

The CRTC will always be a problem for Canadian's because it uses the falsehood of foreign competition is bad for Canadian jobs so there for, we just have to keep paying for trash. Rogers though, at least has a majority Canadian based Customer Service where Bell and Telus definitely outsources most of it to non-English and non-French speaking countries.

Canada really only has a duo-opoly. Bell and Telus are essentially the same company. The same goes for Rogers and Cogeco. It's all Rogers. They can spin off the company for a smaller market or overlap using the same infrastructure to give the illusion of competition, which most Canadian's buy into. As a whole, Rogers and Bell/Telus buy their devices they sell as a joint purchase to get a better deal. I get the business side of that but at the same time. They also don't compete with each other to keep prices heigh.

[jobrien]

I totally hear you on the outsource issue. The sad thing is that it's not just phone service, it's literally everything everywhere. Especially in BC. I feel like English is becoming a minority language here, and French even More so. Yet it's due to these same out source private company policies letting this happen, because someone else is getting paid off for it and we have to foot the bill. I can't remember the last time I talked to a native Canadian English speaker for any kind of service. I'd gladly take service in the US if it means customer support is valued at a higher priority because it is not just us doing this by ourselves all the time. And when issues crop up, having a competent person in charge who knows what you're talking about, and takes preemptive initiative to fix problems, is a huge weight off our shoulders. Yet the tools we've been given to work with, because they're out sourced to start with, are failing the infrastructure we need to live by. It's sad that Verizon can't service you. I liked their international roaming plans the best out of everyone. I do not like how they lock your device to their network...I'm surprised the CRTC isn't reversing their decision on unlocked phones. In a way they kind of are, with locked networks. So it really adds tighter control to an already broken system. This is why I'm keeping a close eye on the Videotron situation. I wonder what kind of disruption they'll bring to our dead market. It's nice to hear you lived in Nanaimo, I did as well for a time. Now I'm in Maple Ridge.