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Telus Mobility Inc.
FormerlyAGT Mobility
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryMobile network operator
FoundedEdmonton, Alberta (1984)
HeadquartersVancouver, British Columbia
ProductsFeature phones, mobile broadband modems, smartphones (Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Windows Phone), tablet computers
ServicesHSPA (including HSPA+), LTE, mobile broadband, SMS, telephony
ParentTelus Communications Inc.
Websitewww.telus.com/mobility/

Telus Mobility is a division of Telus Communications which sells wireless services in Canada on its numerous networks. It has three different networks based on four different technologies: CDMA, HSPA+, and LTE on its mainstream networks. As of quarter 1 2016, Telus is Canada's second-largest cellphone provider with a subscriber base of over 8.387 million.[1]

Since 2008, Telus has operated a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) named Koodo Mobile, which is targeted at high school, college and university students.

History

1980s

In 1982, AGT Mobility was formed by Alberta Government Telephones (the predecessor to Telus) to provide a 1G analogue mobile network for Alberta's natural resources industries. It was the first mobile phone network in Canada. Analogue services became available to the general public in 1986.

1990s

In 1992, AGT launched North America's first digital mobile network. Following the merger of Telus with BC Tel in 1999, Telus Mobility expanded its coverage to British Columbia.[2] The company's website went online on October 14, 1999.[3] The following year Telus acquired Clearnet Communications and QuébecTel to expand its coverage to the central provinces. All these acquisitions, along with a tower-sharing agreement with then-primarily Eastern Canada based Bell Mobility, allowed Telus Mobility offer its CDMA network in all Canadian provinces.[4] Bell and Telus continued their partnership for future network construction.

2000s

In 2007, Telus Mobility launched mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Amp'd Mobile Canada, but replaced it in 2008 with Koodo Mobile

In February 2008, Telus Mobility discontinued its AMPS analog network, and launched its HSPA+ network in November 2009. Telus offered landlines to customers affected by the AMPS network's shutdown in rural areas, as digital signals are less reliable than analog ones in such areas.[5] Following both events, Telus began a slow phasing out of CDMA devices, especially those that support both AMPS and CDMA technologies.

2010s

In February 2012, Telus launched its LTE network and it stopped selling CDMA devices, except those on clearance.

In 2013, Telus was approved by the Canadian government to purchase independent wireless carrier Public Mobile.

On August 8, 2014, Telus shut down Public Mobile's CDMA network after informing customers that they would need to buy phones compatible with Telus' network.

On March 31, 2015, Telus shut down its pager network.[6]

On January 29, 2016, Telus shut down its Mike iDEN network.[7]

Networks

Telus Mobility partners with Bell Mobility to operate three different kinds of nationwide networks in Canada. These networks include a soon to shut down CDMA network, an HSPA+ network, and an LTE network.

CDMA

In May 2016, Telus started notifying customers that its CDMA2000 (commonly referred to as CDMA) network will shut down on January 31, 2017.[8][9] Telus ceased offering 3G Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) in 2014 and ceased offering roaming outside of Canada and the United States in 2015.[10][11][12]

HSPA+

On November 5, 2009, Telus launched HSPA+ services the day after Bell launched the services on their network; much of the 3G infrastructure is shared between the two carriers.[13] This network operates on the frequencies of 850/1900 MHz.

Telus' single-channel 21 Mbit/s HSPA+ network is available to 97% of the Canadian population. About 70% of the Canadian population are located in Telus' 42 Mbit/s dual-channel coverage areas.[14]

Telus' HSPA+ network coverage is in portions of all Canadian provinces and territories, but it is not possible to drive in Canada between the Pacific coast and the Atlantic coast without going through areas without any cellular coverage, as there are gaps in cellular coverage in British Columbia and Ontario.[15]

LTE

LTE service for Telus launched on February 10, 2012 through a partnership with Bell.[16] Telus advertises this network as having download speeds of up to 110 Mbit/s and its LTE Advanced network as having download speeds up too 225 Mbit/s.[17]

As of August 2016, LTE coverage reaches most of Canada's population, but there are gaps in coverage in smaller communities and between communities, where TELUS' HSPA+ network is available, but its LTE network is not available. Steinbach, MB (population 13,500) is the largest Canadian community without LTE coverage from TELUS. Except near Canada's largest metropolitan areas, contiguous LTE coverage does not exist between communities.

Bell Mobility, which shares towers and coverage with Telus, intends to expand LTE coverage to 98% of the Canadian population by the end of 2016.[18] As a consequence, Telus' coverage will similarly expand. In April 2015, Telus announced that all of its wireless sites in British Columbia and Alberta will be upgraded to LTE.[19][20] According to Telus, as of March 31, 2016, it had LTE coverage available 97% of the Canadian population and LTE Advance coverage available to 50% of the Canadian population.[21]

In May 2016, Telus announced that by the end of the year, it would expand its coverage to 99% of British Columbians and expand its LTE coverage to 98% of British Columbians, expand its LTE coverage to 99% of Albertans, and expand its LTE coverage to 99% of Ontarians.[22][23][24]

On April 18, 2016, Telus launched Voice over LTE (VoLTE), in BC's Lower Mainland on two smartphone models.[25] As of September 2016, VoLTE is available in BC and Alberta, but only on two smartphone models.[26]

Radio frequency summary

Frequencies used on the Telus Mobility Network
Frequency range Band number Protocol Class Status Note(s)
850 MHz CLR 5 UMTS/HSDPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+ 3G/"4G" Active Fallback for calls.
1,900 MHz PCS 2 UMTS/HSDPA/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+ 3G/"4G" Active Fallback for calls.
850 MHz CLR 5 LTE 4G Active / Being deployed Used for extra bandwidth within cities and rural coverage. Only seen in British Columbia.[27] Re-farmed from Decommissioning CDMA network.
1,900 MHz PCS 2 LTE / LTE Advanced 4G Active / Being deployed Secondary LTE Band being deployed and used for LTE / LTE Advanced coverage. Re-farmed from Decommissioning CDMA network.
700 MHz A/B/C/E 12/13/17/29 LTE / LTE Advanced 4G Active / Being deployed Mainly used in rural areas / rural coverage.
1,700/2,100 MHz AWS 4 LTE / LTE Advanced 4G Active Main LTE Band used across the country. Also being used to provide LTE Advanced coverage.
2,600 MHz IMT-E 7 LTE / LTE Advanced 4G Active / Being deployed Found in select markets, but being developed slowly in new markets alongside to provide LTE Advanced coverage.

Products

Telus' product lineup mainly consists of smartphones but also includes a few feature phones. Smartphones are currently sold with one of four operating systems preloaded: Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS or Windows Phone.

Telus also sells several mobile broadband modems for use with its mobile broadband service. All modems currently sold support HSPA+ and LTE, and can connect to a personal computer via an Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, while some also provide Internet access to multiple devices via Wi-Fi and thus do not require a wired connection.

Services

Voice

Telus Mobility sells a variety of voice plans. These include a fixed amount of minutes plus unlimited calling on weeknights, weekends and with up to four other Telus lines on the same account. Caller ID and a basic voicemail for up to three messages are also included as calling features, although airtime is charged for accessing the latter. All voice plans except for the least expensive one also allow the choice of one additional feature: double minutes, five favourite numbers or unlimited Canada-wide SMS/MMS messaging. For the five favourite numbers, unlimited calling is available in either local or Canada-wide options while messaging to these numbers is Canada-wide.

Partners Skype and Telehop offer long distance services for Telus Mobility customers. The first service uses Voice over IP (VoIP) and requires a mobile broadband connection, while the latter uses traditional telephony through the dialing code #100. The Telehop service, which deducts minutes when used during weekdays, cannot be use for calls terminating in Canada or the United States.

Mobile Internet

Telus offers several Internet-only and smartphone plans and add-ons for customers wishing to access mobile broadband. Only one plan can be added per device, and certain plans are only available for certain devices.

Mobile payment

See also: Mobile payment

Telus Mobility postpaid customers with a compatible smartphone can subscribe to Skype (and formerly also Rdio) and be billed for the service on their monthly bill. Use of either service on the Telus Mobility network requires a subscription to one of the provider's data plans or add-ons.[28]

Controversy

Project Cleanfeed Canada

Main article: Censorship in Canada § Internet

In November 2006, supposedly to prevent access to child pornography sites, Telus and many other Internet service providers agreed to partner with Cybertip.ca[29] with the latter organization's Project Cleanfeed Canada. This project is an initiative which backers claim is designed to block access to child pornography on the Internet via an encrypted blacklist of known sites that host images of prepubescent children.[30] Telus Mobility customers using mobile Internet services cannot access the sites blocked by the project.

The initiative has been denounced, as it is fundamentally a censorship system applied to public communications.[31] Critics point out, that, among other problems common to censorship systems, it could easily later be re-purposed, perhaps quietly or too quickly to stop, for whatever desired object, that may have nothing whatsoever to do with the reasons backers claimed to have built/to be building it for.

Sale of pornography

In 2007, Telus Mobility began selling in-house pay-per-download pornographic entertainment, including explicit pictures and videos, via its phones.[32] Industry analysts described the action, the first by a North American wireless company, as a landmark move.[33] However, the company later discontinued sales of such content in response to objections from religious groups.[34][35]

Incoming text message fee

In July 2008, Telus Mobility and Bell Mobility simultaneously introduced charges of 15¢ for every incoming text message received by all customers not subscribed to a text messaging plan. Critics were quick to point out that there is no way of blocking incoming message fees and suggested Telus and Bell were price fixing as both had announced the fees simultaneously.[36] Both companies have been sued by frustrated consumers and subscribers, as they demand change in text charges.[37] Many customers were frustrated because this fee also applies to existing customers with ongoing contracts.[38] As of 2014, the only plans in which Telus and Bell charge per message (either outgoing or incoming) are pay-per-use prepaid plans.[39][40] All monthly rate plans include at least unlimited text messaging to numbers within Canada.[41] Additionally, in a 2014 press release Telus stated that charges elicited from unwanted spam text messages can be waived at the customer's request.[42][43]

Philanthropy

From 2008 to 2011 inclusively, Telus Mobility sold pink BlackBerry phones where a portion of each sale would support breast cancer research. This included the BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry Pearl consumer models.[44] In 2012, Telus introduced a new campaign entitled "$25 for Free the Children" to replace the breast cancer campaign. For every purchase of the Samsung Galaxy S III or the Samsung Galaxy Ace Q, TELUS will donate $25 to Free the Children, up to a maximum of $650,000. Both phones include a We Day-themed gel skin to fit the respective phone purchased.[45]

Retail presence

Prepaid TELUS phones

Telus Mobility has its own corporate retail stores and also allows third parties to become exclusive dealers. Best Buy, Walmart and selected Loblaws stores in Canada provide Telus products, prepaid and/or postpaid services.

The Loblaws PC Telecom mobile virtual network operator repackages a mix of Bell prepaid and Telus postpaid services;[46] some stores also offer handsets and prepaid minutes under the original network banners.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-05-02. Retrieved 2014-02-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ TELUS History Archived 2016-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ TELUS Mobility 1999
  4. ^ Clearnet coverage map in 1998[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "CBC News - British Columbia - Telus upgrade could hurt rural B.C. cell customers". Cbc.ca. 2008-08-29. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved 2010-03-16. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ TELUS discontinuing pager service March 31st Archived 2016-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Important Service Notice: Mike is retiring Archived 2016-01-11 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Telus to shutter CDMA service on January 31, 2017 Archived 2016-07-01 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Mobile service updates Archived 2016-11-06 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ TELUS aims to shut down its CDMA network in 2015 Archived 2016-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ CDMA Network Changes in Canada Archived 2016-01-11 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Coverage maps & service availability Archived 2015-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Bell, TELUS Prepare for 3G HSPA Network Launch[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ 3G+ network[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ Coverage within Canada | Travel | Plans | TELUS Mobility[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ Trichur, Rita (2012-02-09). "Telus launches LTE wireless in 14 cities". Toronto: Globe and Mail.
  17. ^ Coverage map Archived 2016-11-06 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ BCE reports 2015 Q4 and full - year results, announces 2016 financial targets Common share dividend increased 5.0% to $2.73 per year[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ TELUS will invest $4.2 billion across Alberta through 2018 Archived 2016-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ TELUS will invest $4 billion across British Columbia through 2018 Archived 2016-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ TELUS reports results for first quarter 2016 Archived 2016-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ TELUS investing $370 million in Vancouver in 2016 Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ TELUS investing $275 million in Edmonton in 2016 Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ TELUS investing $62 million in the Greater Toronto Area in 2016 Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ Telus launches Voice over LTE in Lower Mainland B.C. Archived 2016-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
  26. ^ VoLTE Explained Archived 2016-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-08-12. Retrieved 2016-06-24. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  28. ^ Rdio | TELUS Mobility[permanent dead link]
  29. ^ Cybertip.ca Archived 2004-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ^ Michael Geist (2006-11-24). "Project Cleanfeed Canada". Michael Geist. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  31. ^ Michael Geist (2006-12-04). "Child porn plan a risk worth taking". Toronto: TheStar.com. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  32. ^ Naked ambitions put Telus on the spot Archived 2016-04-02 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ Unnati Gandhi (2007-02-13). "Is Telus willing to accept the scorn with its porn?". Toronto: The Globe and Mail.
  34. ^ Chris Fournier (2007-02-21). "Telus Stops Selling Porn After Protests From Catholic Church". Bloomberg.
  35. ^ World Business Briefing | Americas: Canada: Pornography Service Halted Archived 2016-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
  36. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/07/08/text-messages.htm. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link]
  37. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2008-08-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  38. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2009-05-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  39. ^ Telus Mobility. [1][permanent dead link] Retrieved March 29, 2014
  40. ^ Bell Mobility. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2014-03-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved March 29, 2014
  41. ^ Telus Mobility. [2][permanent dead link] Retrieved March 29, 2014
  42. ^ Canada Classic Edition. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2014-03-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  43. ^ Telus. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-02. Retrieved 2014-03-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  44. ^ "Go Pink". Telus Communications. Retrieved 2012-10-12.
  45. ^ "$25 for Free The Children". Telus Communications. Retrieved 2012-10-12.
  46. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-07-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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