[Acey]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

The unnecessary is what I'm getting at. If every tower they have is Hspa, why would you want edge?

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...he-new-network

Take ten minutes and read the first post of this thread and all will be revealed. The important part I will post below and you can go to the thread and read the whole post if it doesn't make sense, which it probably won't. Bottom line is this: there's nothing hobbed about your iPhone or any other, and Telus' network is decent considering they attempted to build an HSPA+ network across the second biggest country in the world, basically from the ground up, and with no GSM backhaul to boot. Ignoring the fact that the Canadian cell market badly suffers from price fixing and we are raped on a monthly basis, we are lucky in that we have 3 national carriers with solid HSPA networks on the same frequencies, a luxury they most certainly do not have in the United States. Away we go:

Well, there is no easy, straight-forward way to explain all the technically complicated items like these. To average Joe, they are just different technologies deployed by different providers. So far in Canada, we have seen...

1G: Analog cellular beginning... AMPS (once deployed all carriers)

2G: Digital PCS era... TDMA (IS-136, once deployed by Rogers), GSM (Rogers 2G network), iDEN (TELUS Mike), CDMA (IS-95 cdmaOne, deployed by TELUS and other regional Mobility carriers)

3G: Mobile data evolution... WCDMA (UMTS, the 3G network that Rogers currently uses, also by TELUS now), CDMA2000 (1x, the 3G network that TELUS currently uses)

WCDMA based UMTS is the de-facto 3G migration path for GSM carriers. So in many parts of the world where GSM is the dominant / only choice, "3G" simply refers to UMTS. But for the CDMA carriers like TELUS, their 3G migration path of choice back then has been CDMA2000, starting with the first phase, 1xRTT (though some have since abandoned CDMA and switched to UMTS for their 3G migration).

In the course of technological advancement, progress to allow more data-centric applications has led to "enhancements" to the mobile data connection...

1G: CDPD (in AMPS)
2G: CSD (in TDMA & GSM) -> GPRS -> EDGE (in GSM)
3G: HSPA [HSDPA, HSUPA] -> HSPA+ (in UMTS); EVDO Rev. 0 -> EVDO Rev. A (in CDMA2000)

For the marketing sake, TELUS has been careful about the confusion with the "3G" when they first launched the CDMA2000 network (even though many argues the first phase of 1x has never realized the potentials or advantages of 3G from a subscriber perspective). So TELUS just called it "1x".

Then when the next iteration, 1xEV-DO was deployed to bring the "real 3G" experience with data-centric applications, TELUS has chosen the term, "EVDO". However, as more and more people get used to the idea that 3G means more about "going online, web-browsing, video streaming with cellphones" than the underlying technologies / air-interfaces, TELUS has started to market its network as "3G" alongside with "EVDO" references.

When TELUS announced to deploy the WCDMA based UMTS network, which is the de-facto "3G" network for GSM carriers, confusion then arises... "TELUS goes GSM"? "3G"? "EVDO"? "UMTS"? "HSPA"? What the hell? Unlike GSM carriers with the natural "3G" path to go with UMTS, TELUS will maintain BOTH "3G" networks: CDMA2000 (1x/EVDO) and WCDMA (UMTS/HSPA).

On the other hand, Rogers has been using the "3G" for a while along with the deployment of HSPA (up to 3.6Mbps, then in the following iteration 7.2Mbps downlink) and now HSPA+ (up to 21Mbps downlink).

So if TELUS has opted for just calling the new network as "3G", it could not immediately differentiate itself from the existing "EVDO" one. If it has opted for just calling it "UMTS", some may think it would be the earlier phase of "3G" and "slower speed" than what Rogers has right now. To catch up with the global trend, TELUS picks the terms, "HSPA+" / "3G+" for better positioning its progress among the rest of the "3G" crowd around while differentiates itself from other 2G "GSM" networks (which TELUS is NOT going to deploy).

It is also a good idea for TELUS subscribers when picking the handsets for the new network because it will be better to describe its compatibility than calling it "3G"... use the TELUS "HSPA" / "HSPA+" / "3G+" network compatible devices - NOT "GSM", NOT "EVDO".