The IT Nerd

Rogers HSPA+ rollout which I’ve discussed previously has gone live in five cities in Canada:

“With Rogers 21 Mbps HSPA+ network, customers in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal are the first in North America to experience the fastest world-class wireless speeds,” said John Boynton, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President, Rogers Wireless.

The only problem is, nothing that customers have in their hands now can take advantage of this speed. Rogers apparently thought of that too by bringing out a new “Rocket Stick” that does HSPA+:

The new 21 Mbps HSPA+ Rocket Mobile Internet Stick brings Canadians the freedom to enjoy mobile Web experiences at speeds that are as fast as those you would find at home or at the office. The HSPA+ Rocket Mobile Internet Stick features a USB connection to a laptop or a desktop PC, easy installation with no CD required for Windows or Mac Operating Systems, integrated antenna for maximized reception performance and data transmission and multi-colour LED indicating connection status.

Starting today, Canadians can pre-order the new HSPA+ Rocket Mobile Internet Stick for as low as $74.99 only from rogers.com.

Great. So they have one thing that does HSPA+. What about people who simply have 3G devices? I’m assuming that there must be backend upgrades of some sort which will mean that existing customers who have 3G devices may get better performance.  That’s not clear from the press release. Perhaps my “new best friends from Rogers” could be kind enough to fill in that blank for me.

In any case, while you have to give Rogers points for being the first North American cell carrier to have HSPA+, it really doesn’t mean much if Canadians are still paying way too much for wireless access.

This entry was posted on September 14, 2009 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Canada, cellular, Rogers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.