Freedom to start deploying 2500MHz spectrum, promises compatibility for vast majority of LTE devices

[Michael77]

Shaw announced that deployment to enhance its LTE-A network is already underway and subscribers in Western Canada will experience it first with a completion date set for “early December 2017.” The rest of Freedom Mobile’s coverage map is pegged for “early 2018” completion.

Read more at MobileSyrup.com: Freedom to start deploying 2500MHz spectrum, promises compatibility for ‘vast majority’ of LTE devic...

[Taekgun]

Agreed, I can't see why these "Big Gig" plans would appeal to anyone with a phone.  Sounds like a better Tablet plan for devices that can use cellular data.

[Michael77]

FM's Big Gig plans do not give you Canada wide calling. You have to pay .05 cents per minute. Lol

[jman]

Lol! I just saw the prices. They are out of their minds. 

[Michael77]

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@jman wrote:

I struggle with Freedom. I appreciate the competition they created, almost allowing a Public Mobile to come into a market and compete with them. However, their Network needs major upgrades where I live. At the price point of plans being offered, I would sticky with PM just on the fact that it operates on Telus. But to each his own! Just my 2 cents. 

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@jman,

I am a big supporter of FM but I cannot support their new plans.  Their new plans are terrible. I hope someone over there wakes up and smells the coffee. 🙂

[Acekiller]

hopefully they will become a better competitor!

[jman]

I struggle with Freedom. I appreciate the competition they created, almost allowing a Public Mobile to come into a market and compete with them. However, their Network needs major upgrades where I live. At the price point of plans being offered, I would sticky with PM just on the fact that it operates on Telus. But to each his own! Just my 2 cents. 

[computergeek541]

Unless/until VoLTE is introduced, none of this fixes the problems with the high frequency MHz used for voice calls. 

[chakri264]

Good to know. But Freedom needs to do a lot of work to improve their network coverage. 

[xCameron94x]

Band 4 is live in the following markets:

Oshawa

Abbotsford

Airdrie

Fort Saskatchewan

Windsor

[sheytoon]

I would say they need both bands equally. B7 for added capacity, and B13 for enhanced coverage.

[will13am]

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@Taekgun wrote:

The release of new spectrum for Freedom is all well and fine but at 2500 Mhz it's not exactly a game changer.  It'll be the release of their 700 Mhz spectrum that will really make a difference in respect to increase "propagation, penetration and coverage" (to quote the terms from @sheytoon).  Does anyone aware of the timetable for 700 Mhz spectrum release by Freedom?

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700 Mhz is not the panacea.  While it may penetrate buildings better, the data carrying capacity is lower.  Their network has been set up for AWS so far and the set up for 700 Mhz is quite different. 

[will13am]

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@Michael77 wrote:

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@jeffster1970 wrote:

Interesting....Freedom still needs better coverage, LTE or not. 

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@jeffster1970

It's only a matter of time before the Freedom coverage in the zone will be as good as the big 3. Give them a couple of years.

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I spent 4.5 yeara hoping tomorrow would be a better day.  I would recommend that their customers not hold their breath, lol.

[denkom]

This is very interesting. Let's hope they can become a big player soon!

[Taekgun]

The release of new spectrum for Freedom is all well and fine but at 2500 Mhz it's not exactly a game changer.  It'll be the release of their 700 Mhz spectrum that will really make a difference in respect to increase "propagation, penetration and coverage" (to quote the terms from @sheytoon).  Is anyone aware of a timetable for 700 Mhz spectrum release by Freedom?

[sheytoon]

@koimr1

You are correct. Higher frequencies have less propagation, penetration and reduced coverage.

[mimmo]

@Michael77  did you see a map of the new coverage areas?

[Michael77]

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@NDesai wrote:

On top of that, they currently have 1.1 million users and growing. High chance we will still stay with Public Mobile, but we are just hoping they bring some quality competition to the current market to make their way to the Big 4. 

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@NDesai,

Yes, they have 1,147,173 wireless subscribers.

[NDesai]

On top of that, they currently have 1.1 million users and growing. High chance we will still stay with Public Mobile, but we are just hoping they bring some quality competition to the current market to make their way to the Big 4. 

[koimr1]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 2500MHz's building penetration and range even worse than their current AWS-1?

Of course, any improvement is good news for Freedom customers but I think Shaw really needs to work on obtaining more towers.

[Michael77]

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@jeffster1970 wrote:

Interesting....Freedom still needs better coverage, LTE or not. 

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@jeffster1970

It's only a matter of time before the Freedom coverage in the zone will be as good as the big 3. Give them a couple of years.

[sheytoon · Accepted solution]

Yep they're deploying their 10 MHz of B7 for LTE.

An additional 5 MHz of B13 will come in the future.

https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf11311.html

[jeffster1970]

Interesting....Freedom still needs better coverage, LTE or not.