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TELUS Tour & Storm “will not work on our HSPA network”
Over the past few weeks we’ve seen activity on the upcoming launch of both TELUS and Bell. With Telus we’ve seen their back end system confirming HSPA devices and the addition of SIM cards. Plus with Bell, there has been news about the BlackBerry Bold 9700 (and other devices) making its way over.
Today we’ve received an internal document (dated July 28th) specifically about the TELUS BlackBerry Storm and Tour which work on their current network. The document titled ” BlackBerry Tour, BlackBerry Storm & International Roaming and HSPA” states that “Please note that our current line up of HSPA devices won’t be compatible with the Canadian HSPA network. When the HSPA Network launches TELUS will be providing a new HSPA line up of devices that will work on that Network”.
It goes on to say that the “BlackBerry Tour 9630 and BlackBerry 9630 Smartphones suport dual-band 800/1900 MHz CDMA/EVDO Rev A Networks in North America… If our clients are located overseas, these BlacBerry Smartphones can roam onto a HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network. Note: These overseas networks should not be confused with the future launch of our HSPA network… Our current devices will not work on our HSPA network.”
So, if you have a Tour or Storm and want faster speeds… you’ll have to either upgrade to a new device or stay with the current speeds you have now.
Thanks “dumbdumb”
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17 comments for “TELUS Tour & Storm “will not work on our HSPA network””
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Will Telus’ HTC Touch Pro 2 be compatible with the new network?
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No, the TP2 only works on a 2100 MHz HSPA network. Bell and Telus (and Rogers) are building a 850/1900 MHz network (the North American standard)
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Im assuming the same can be said about Bells Storm and Tour on their network since they share it will Telus? This is a little surprising that these new phones don’t work on the network.
I was going to buy a tour in the next few weeks, but if it isn’t compatible with the new network I might as well just wait things out a bit and see what develops.
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The Storm and Tour devices are designed to use HSPA as an out-roam capability. So Verizon spec’ed them as EVDO Rev A when in Verizon’s home network, and HSPA/UMTS/EDGE/GPRS/GSM when “out and about”. Same is true when Tour and Storm are sold by TELUS and Bell, with EVDO on Home network, out-roam on the GSM standard.
New HSPA devices will be 850/1900 MHz in North America, World frequencies elsewhere.
A TELUS Tour customer experiences no difference in perceived speeds (web-browsing, downloads, video etc) relative to a Rogers (or other) HSPA Bold customer, when in Rogers’ HSPA coverage. Outside of Rogers’ HSPA coverage, the TELUS EVDO Tour and Storm are much faster than the Bold.
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I would tend to question the authenticity of the document. One, because TELUS computers don’t run off Vista, as this screen shot would indicate. TELUS always refers to its employees as “team members”, not as “team”. Furthermore, TELUS systematically capitalizes its name (it’s part of its branding to which is is very attentive), which did not happen under the “procedures” section.
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THe screen shot actually looks like Windows 7. What business would be running a Beta or Release candidate on their internal computers? I say its a fake!!
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dumbdumb Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 9:43 am
the screen shot is from a home computer…all telus employees have access of emails from home…the screen shot was then edited to remove all info that can be traced back to the source.
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Telus reps, CSR, and L&R people have assured me my TP2 and BB Tour will work on their new network. So this confuses me
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dumbdumb Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 9:52 am
This email was sent to all L&R reps becasue many of them were telling people that the phone will work…TELUS doesn’t want to deal with the backlog of client that will call in once the HSPA network is launced and they are unable to use the phones…this email was sent to ensure the correct information is being relayed to clients
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My feeling is still that, since there is an 800/1900 Mhz RADIO on the phone, the hard part is done – the device has the capability to transmit on that frequency. Now it’s up to TELUS to enable the software componment to handle the HSPA signalling stuff in the ROM, if they so desire.
Surely TELUS is not going to sell someone an advanced smartphone this week and cut it off from the next gen network next week, while allowing next gen network use everywhere else. Their roaming clientele would be furious if the phone was faster everywhere but Canada.
So, my instinct is that the device will get a ROM update once the new network launches. Especially since everyone that gets a TP2 today is more or less expected to lock into the device for 3 years
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dumbdumb Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Please remember that RIM has never designed a phone for Bell or TELUS. The Storm and Tour were both design for Verizon. Verizon has no plans to launch a HSPA network and is going from CDMA to LTE, so the don’t need north american HSPA radios in the phones. RIM isn’t going to make a whole new set of Storms and Tours just for Bell and TELUS.
Remember how Verizon didnt want wifi in the Storm. Because of that all Storms dont have wifi. RIM wont spend the mony to make spin-offs of hardware for certain carriers.
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I wonder if the 3G EVDO Rev A components are the same as the UMTS/HSPA ones. Also what about the UMTS/HSPA 850mhz band?
Since the chipset is able to handle the required bands, I believe the missing parts could be the 850mhz power Amp (like in the Euro TouchPro).
But like you stated it might have what’s needed…Time will tell.
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Alistair Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Try playing an HD-DVD in a Blu Ray player… same idea!
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Nicolas Seigneur Reply:
August 18th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
What…that’s not very constructive. Try fitting a VHS in a DVD…?Wait what?
Both HD and Bluray could play DVD btw, some components are the same no matter the technology!
In the Euro TouchPro, the Qualcomm chipset and most of the hardware was able to do 850/1900 UMTS/HSPA the missing component was the UMTS 850 Power amp. So even the genius hacker couldn’t bypass the hardware limitation.
NOW my question was: since this device also adds some components for the EVDO bands, is it possible that it include whatever was missing on the TP1 and that TELUS can unlock it whenever they start using their HSPA network? You can’t deny that’s a possibility! Especially since from what I read the network will be 850/1900.
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You all have to remember that many TELUS reps don’t know anything about the radios in the phone and arent trained on that, especially CSR and L&R. They see HSPA and tell clients the phone is an HSPA phone without knowing any better. TELUS found out this was happening and sent the email to all L&R reps to correct the misinformation. The screen shot was then taken from a home computer, yes TELUS employees have access from home, and edited to protect the person that leaked the info. To all the people who this that this is fake please ask yourself this. If you were going to leak an internal email, would you really do it from work where it can be traced?
If you look at the scrren shot, even the date and time was removed so they could see when the screen shot was taken.
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Also remember, when they flip the switch to turn on the HSPA network, they won’t be turning off the CDMA/EVDO network in the same flick… The current network will remain opperational for (probably) the next couple of years. Don’t think that if you go and buy a brand new handset this week that it will be useless in a couple of months time! EVDO Rev. A was released to match the speed of HSPA, so you aren’t really suffering from a speed deficit. My view is that if you want one of the current crop of EVDO handsets, go for it; there are some excellent phones available, and if you’re being offered a good deal on one, and you don’t need to be the first person on your block with an unlocked iPhone running on Telus’ network, take advantage of the offer. Who knows; this time next year, they may be trying to convince everybody to transition to the new network, and offer you an excellent deal on an HSPA phone.
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Yeah Client Care and L&R really know very little about the hardware, frequency range meanings, and network itself, really.
They can get your plan set up, talk about your bill, and do some basic troubleshooting but that’s about it.
For HSPA it’s compatible with the EUROPEAN HSPA from what I’ve heard, but is only going to be CDMA within Canada for existing units. The reps likely just read the specs and said it’s compatible with HSPA w/o checking which range/version/whatever it’s on.
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