Bell Mobility Fires Up 4G LTE Network in Canada

Wireless services provider Bell Mobility is yet another Canadian carrier to have a 4G LTE network up and running in the country. Today, the new airwaves went live in areas of Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph.

The new network should provide users with what Bell claims to be the fastest mobile Internet speeds available in some of the most populous urban areas in Canada, such as the Waterloo region innovation hub.

Both business users and consumers will be able to enjoy fast Internet speeds on the new 4G LTE airwaves, as well as HD quality online TV and video, video conferencing, as well as much faster download times than before.

Later this year, the wireless carrier plans on expanding its new network to more areas, and will continue to expand its coverage in 2012.

In the beginning, the company will deploy the new network to urban areas, but will move to rural areas too in the near future.

“LTE is the next step in ensuring Bell continues to deliver the best networks in the world to Canadian consumers and businesses, backed up by the newest data devices and the leading mobile services and content available,” Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility, stated.

“LTE will deliver amazing data access speeds - at least three times faster than the Bell HSPA+ network originally launched less than three years ago.”

In addition to announcing the LTE roll-out, Bell also announced that its customers can already purchase Bell LTE/HSPA+ Turbo Sticks, and that these devices will offer them the possibility to connect to either Bell's LTE network, or to the carrier's HSPA+ airwaves.

Before the end of the ongoing year, the wireless carrier plans on making available for purchase on its airwaves a series of smartphones and tablet PCs that will deliver support for LTE/HSPA+.

Today, users can purchase the 4G LTE Sierra Wireless U313 Turbo Stick from Bell, for $79.95 on a three-year term ($219.95 with no term contract), online on the carrier's website. The company will launch the 4G LTE Novatel Wireless U679 Turbo Stick to the offering in the coming weeks.

LTE (Long Term Evolution) can deliver average data speeds ranging from 12 to 25 Mbps, while being able to top 75 megabits per second (Mbps). In the not-too-distant future, data speeds on LTE should hit 150 Mbps.

“We partner with mobile technology start-ups, developer communities and established innovators across Waterloo and the GTA - they're a big part of the more than $800 million in R&D spending that Bell invests in Canada each year,” said Stephen Howe, Bell's executive vice president and chief technology officer (CTO).