Tag: 3500MHz

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Mobile Syrup

Bell expands 5G+ access across southern Ontario

Telecom-giant Bell has expanded its 3500MHz spectrum access to cities in Ontario.

The spectrum is presented as 5G+ and is now available in Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Barrie, and parts of Mississauga. The company initially launched the spectrum in Toronto last month and says speeds in the city are 50 percent faster.

5G+ gives customers faster services through improved speed, latency, and network capacity.

It’s available to customers in the selected areas who have a compatible device and an Ultimate plan. Bell offers two: the Ultimate 45 with 45GB of data for $85/ month and the Ultimate 50 with 50GB of data for $95/ month.

Bell will continue expanding the spectrum with plans to cover 40 percent of the country’s population by the end of the year.

“Ontario is just the beginning, and we look forward to rolling it out to more Canadians, and delivering on our promise to provide the latest technology and best experience for our customers,” Stephen Howe, Bell’s Chief Technology and Information Officer, said.

5G standalone core network

Bell says it will roll out its standalone network “soon.” As seen with the rollout of 5G+, Toronto will be the first to benefit, with enterprise customers getting access first. The move will unlock faster speeds and lower latency, eventually leading to network slicing.

Source: Bell

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Mobile Syrup

Bell announces ‘5G+’ deployment starting in Toronto

Bell announced its new ‘5G+’ network will soon arrive for Bell 5G customers starting in Toronto.

The Montreal-based national telecom detailed the news in a press release, saying it would work towards covering roughly 40 percent of the Canadian population with 5G+ by the end of 2022.

Bell’s release indicates 5G+ will run on 3500MHz spectrum and the carrier said it would offer “peak theoretical download speeds of up to 3Gbps in select areas.” Moreover, Bell said customers with ‘Ultimate 45’ or ‘Ultimate 50’ plans, and compatible devices, would be the first to access 5G+. These plans cost $85/mo and $95/mo respectively.

“Today’s announcement reinforces Bell’s commitment to provide the best networks to Canadian consumers and businesses so they can do more of what they love,” said Stephen Howe, Bell’s chief technology and information officer, in the release.

“I’m thrilled that 5G+ is here and with this release, we’ll take the country’s top-ranked 5G service to new heights with faster mobile data speeds. It’s a significant milestone in the evolution of next generation communications in Canada, and we’re proud to lead the way.”

Bell’s announcement comes on the heels of Rogers deploying 5G using 3500MHz spectrum in Nanaimo, B.C.

The federal government auctioned off 3500MHz spectrum licences in the summer of 2021 — the auction results went live in July. That spectrum is considered crucial to delivering the promises of 5G.

Specifically, 3500MHz spectrum occupies part of ‘mid-band’ 5G, also called ‘Sub-6.’ Compared to the ‘low-band’ 5G available in Canada now, mid-band 5G like 3500MHz should offer substantial improvements to speed, latency, and network capacity.

There’s also ‘high-band’ 5G, called mmWave, that can offer even faster speeds than Sub-6 but has a significantly shorter range. In Canada, the focus is on mid-band 5G, which will have a broader impact in both urban and rural regions — mmWave’s range makes it better suited for urban areas.

With Canadian carriers starting to deploy 5G using 3500MHz spectrum, Canadians should start to feel more of the benefits of 5G.

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Mobile Syrup

Rogers announces 3500MHz 5G deployment in Nanaimo, B.C.

Rogers says it’s the first to deploy 5G using 3500MHz spectrum. According to a release from the company, the Nanaimo, B.C. is the first location to go live with the spectrum.

The carrier plans to continue deploying 3500MHz spectrum across Canada, including in urban centres like Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. These regions will “follow as they are released according to the [Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)] timetable.”

Rogers says that the 3500MHz spectrum will allow customers to “experience faster speeds, range and improved response and download times.” Specifically, the company mentioned applications like network slicing in healthcare, improvements for wireless cusomters, and benefits to wireless home internet thanks to the increased capacity provided by 3500MHz spectrum.

“As the country’s biggest investor in 5G spectrum and the first to launch 3500 MHz, we are excited to expand Canada’s largest and most reliable networki to more families, businesses and communities through the deployment of our 3500 MHz spectrum,” said Tony Staffieri, president and CEO of Rogers Communications, in a release.

The rollout of 3500MHz spectrum has been a long time coming. The federal government auctioned off the spectrum in June 2021 and ISED published the results the following month. 3500MHz was widely considered integral to making the promises of 5G a reality for Canadians.

In part, that’s because most 5G available in the country so far has utilized ‘low-band’ spectrum that wasn’t significantly different from 4G. 3500MHz spectrum exists within ‘mid-band’ 5G, also called “Sub-6.” Networks utilizing mid-band 5G have access to higher capacity and can offer faster speeds, reduced latency, and other benefits.

Hopefully this will kickstart the rollout of 3500MHz spectrum across Canada, which should bring more palpable benefits to those with 5G plans and 5G-capable devices. The next chunk of spectrum to look forward to will be 3800MHz, also part of the mid-band. We’ll be keeping an eye out for ‘high-band,’ also called mmWave, spectrum too.

Source: Rogers