topic Re: Whos towers? in Get Support

Whos towers?

pylon — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 19:01:48 GMT

Hey there PM Community,

Just curious as to whos cell towers PM uses? I searched for Canada's largest 4G LTE network and got Bell but I saw another post saying that Telus is PM's parent company? I've also read that Bell and Telus do some tower sharing to mitigate costs.

So I guess really my question has two parts: Whether or not Public Mobile is owned by a parent company and if not then whos network they are using unless Telus and Bell have identical networks?

Thanks for sating my curiosity, I just want to be able to explain to potential new customers exactly how PM's network works! (Got to get those referal discounts, am I right?!)

Re: Whos towers?

Luddite — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 02:08:09 GMT

PM is owned by Telus but is operating "independently". It shares all the Telus towers and frequencies. Even phones locked to Telus, or Koodo, will work on PM.

Re: Whos towers?

deltatux — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 02:20:36 GMT

@pylon wrote:
Hey there PM Community,

Just curious as to whos cell towers PM uses? I searched for Canada's largest 4G LTE network and got Bell but I saw another post saying that Telus is PM's parent company? I've also read that Bell and Telus do some tower sharing to mitigate costs.
So I guess really my question has two parts: Whether or not Public Mobile is owned by a parent company and if not then whos network they are using unless Telus and Bell have identical networks?

Thanks for sating my curiosity, I just want to be able to explain to potential new customers exactly how PM's network works! (Got to get those referal discounts, am I right?!)

@Luddite is right, Public Mobile is owned and operated by TELUS. It was acquired in 2013 as Public Mobile used to be its own CDMA mobile network running on the PCS G Band. After the acquisition, TELUS decommissioned the original CDMA network in August 2014 after they moved everyone off the original network on to TELUS's network.

Fun fact: The independent Public Mobile used to run the world's only PCS G Band network. Now it's been rolled into TELUS's stock pile, likely to be used for future LTE deployments.

Re: Whos towers?

NDesai — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 06:19:04 GMT

Telus and possibly Bells because Telus uses some bell towers.

Re: Whos towers?

deltatux — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 13:39:52 GMT

@dhanadhan wrote:
Telus and possibly Bells because Telus uses some bell towers.

@NDesai, BELL & TELUS share towers. Bell builds most of the towers in Eastern Canada and TELUS builds most of the towers in Western Canada. Customers of both networks can roam freely between the two company's towers. Both Bell & Telus share the 880 MNC.

Re: Whos towers?

Rick — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 00:29:03 GMT

Public Mobile runs on Canada's Largest 4G LTE network. The are owned by Telus and use the same network. Telus, Bell and Rogers all have network sharing agreements so that you have coverage everywhere on the best networks in canada.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/01/06/canadian-carriers-using-domestic-roaming-agreements-to-fill-in-coverage-gaps/

Check out the amazing coverage map as well:

http://publicmobile.ca/en/on/coverage

Re: Whos towers?

deltatux — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 02:39:09 GMT

@Rick wrote:
Public Mobile runs on Canada's Largest 4G LTE network. The are owned by Telus and use the same network. Telus, Bell and Rogers all have network sharing agreements so that you have coverage everywhere on the best networks in canada.

http://mobilesyrup.com/2015/01/06/canadian-carriers-using-domestic-roaming-agreements-to-fill-in-coverage-gaps/

Check out the amazing coverage map as well:

http://publicmobile.ca/en/on/coverage

@Rick, correction: the network sharing agreement is not available to Public Mobile customers as you can see on the Public Mobile coverage maps. Public Mobile does not get to go on the "Extended" network which is the agreement with Rogers. This same goes with Chatr, Chatr customers use the Rogers network but are not covered by the "Extended" network which is their agreement with Bell/Telus. Since Bell and TELUS share the same network regardless, that's why Public Mobile gets coast-to-coast coverage. It's only that extended network coverage is not included.

For extended network coverage, you need to go on Rogers, Bell, Telus, Fido, Virgin or Koodo mobile.

When they said they offered no-frills service via Public Mobile, they literally meant it as Extended network coverage is considered extra since it costs more for the operator for you to go on "Extended" coverage zones..

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Re: Whos towers?

Rick — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 02:57:56 GMT

Interesting....I didn't realize that we didn't get the extended coverage....its whatever for anyways I'm never in those areas.

Re: Whos towers?

Griff — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 03:22:43 GMT

@Rick I've also never heard that.

TELUS coverage map:

Public Mobile cover map:

Re: Whos towers?

Rick — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 03:40:43 GMT

You can only really see a difference in Manitoba and I'm pretty sure if you live there you get some sick plans, for example koodo has a $48 plan over there with Unlimited Canada wide calling, Unlimited International text, and 5 GB of data.

Re: Whos towers?

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 03:52:52 GMT

Hello,

I can assure you that there is no difference in coverage between Telus and Public Mobile.

If PM's coverage appears less than Telus', it's simply due to the former's map being out-of-date.

As a matter of fact, the map was so outdated a few months ago that only a very small portion of BC displayed coverage. It was only after a BC customer brought the error to PM's attention was an updated map deployed.

The same holds true for LTE and LTE-Advanced. There is no difference between the two carriers.

Cheers.

Re: Whos towers?

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 04:37:49 GMT

deltatux,

Can you cite a written reference that states that PM customers do not receive the same extended coverage as do customers of Telus?

I look forward to your reply.

Cheers.

Re: Whos towers?

chukdefatey — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 06:00:47 GMT

FYI Everyone: I only post facts. PM has excess to all Bellus Native Tower except Bell's 2600Mhz LTE network. Also Prepaid Clients of Bell, Solo, Virgin, Koodo, Telus, & PM DO NOT have access to Extended Coveage. Extended Coverage is Rogers, MTS & Thunderbay tel. Only Post Paid Clients of Bell, Solo, Virgin, Telus & Koodo Have access to the Extended Network of Rogers, MTS & Thunderbay tel.

Re: Whos towers?

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 06:09:50 GMT

Hi chuk,

When you say extended coverage, do you mean:
1: physical coverage area,
2: LTE, or
3: LTE-Advanced?

Cheers.

Re: Whos towers?

chukdefatey — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 06:13:31 GMT

Fun fact: The independent Public Mobile used to run the world's only PCS G Band network. Now it's been rolled into TELUS's stock pile, likely to be used for future LTE deployments.

Did you just make UP this Fun Fact? Or Did you research or you just knew.

FYI: You fun fact is not correct. Sprint in the US has the G band which is still in use in some markets on CDMA and has been deployed for LTE in a few test markets.

Re: Whos towers?

chukdefatey — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 06:17:04 GMT

@Martin wrote:
Hi chuk,

When you say extended coverage, do you mean:
1: physical coverage area,
2: LTE, or
3: LTE-Advanced?

Cheers.

Extended Coverage means coverage of Rogers, MTS & Thunderbay tel for Post Paid Clients of Bellus

Re: Whos towers?

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 08:13:40 GMT

Hi chuk,

If I understand you correctly, the coverage area for a postpaid customer of Telus is larger than that of a prepaid customer because of agreements with other carriers.

Correct? A simple yes or no will suffice.

Thanks.

Re: Whos towers?

chukdefatey — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 07:24:49 GMT

Yes,

Postpaid Customers of Bellus have free access to Rogers, MTS & Thunderbay Tel's Network. So if a Postpaid Customer ventures out of Bellus's Native Network you will Roam onto the Networks I mentioned & Prepaid Bellus Customers will have no Service.

Let me know if you need anymore clarification.

Re: Whos towers?

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 07:55:25 GMT

Hi chuk,

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated!

Cheers from Ontario!

Re: Whos towers?

Martin — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 09:13:44 GMT

deltatux,

It seems that both of us were right and wrong.

You stated that Telus customers had extended coverage, but without stipulating that it applied only to postpaid ones.

I made the same error when I said, without elaboration, that the coverage between the two carriers was identical.

LOL!

Cheers.