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Virgin Mobile has an “LTE” category in their upgrade system

By on October 24, 2011 at 10:57am in Mobile News, Virgin Mobile News


Bell launched their new LTE network with a couple internet sticks and promised an LTE smartphone and tablet by the end of the year. Last week the LTE-capable LG Optimus “Eye” surfaced online, plus the tablet we can only assume as being the LTE Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 that is now “coming soon”. Bell currently has coverage in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and Guelph but will be expanding to Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa.

What’s more impressive is the LTE reach, not just for coverage but carriers. According to this internal screenshot Bell-owned Virgin Mobile will also be releasing LTE devices. A category has been added to their hardware upgrade system that shows LTE is on the way. No indication of when or which devices will be launched, most likely all the one’s that Bell has.

(Thanks tipster!)

Related posts:

  1. Virgin Mobile prepping to release the Samsung Galaxy Tab?
  2. Bell initial LTE coverage is impressive
  3. Rogers going live with LTE in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto on September 28th
  4. BlackBerry Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 pops up in the Rogers upgrade system

Discussion

12 comments for “Virgin Mobile has an “LTE” category in their upgrade system”

  1. Well no sh*t, its owned by Bell and is on Bell’s network so ofcourse it’ll get LTE..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 8

    Posted by KidCanada | October 24, 2011, 11:26 am
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  2. KidCanada, Fido isn’t getting LTE and Rogers owns them

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 2

    Posted by Greg | October 24, 2011, 11:31 am
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    • Thank you Greg. i guess Kid Canada has not understand that yet. Not every carrier that is owned from the Big 3 will get LTE at the moment. In soon time we will see more carrier having LTE networks.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1

      Posted by Dimitri k | October 24, 2011, 11:33 am

    • Well, Fido has HSPA+, the iPhone 4S, and the Nexus S. What if the Galaxy Nexus uses some form of LTE? It’s already happening with Verizon, so why should Fido customers miss out on the higher speeds and lower latency? Chances are that Fido doesn’t currently have it simply so that Rogers can claim “another first”.

      Virgin is a budget brand, so that’s why they are receiving LTE second. They have the Samsung Galaxy S II and the HTC Sensation, but no Motorola Atrix or XT860. If they get LTE, their selection will likely be limited compared to Bell. Much like Rogers compared to Fido, Bell can claim they have “exclusive” superphones.

      So don’t be surprised if Fido gets a few LTE devices. The selection will almost certainly be short and sweet, however. :)

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Alex Perrier | October 24, 2011, 11:57 am

  3. Since Bell owns Virgin, they use the same system as us, therefore when they upgraded our system to say HSPA+/LTE that included virgins system as well.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Jake | October 24, 2011, 11:53 am
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  4. I hope they’ll let me keep my 6gig of data for $30 on LTE ;)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    Posted by McBain | October 24, 2011, 11:54 am
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  5. I am guessing its going to go like this for me.

    1. Buy Galaxy Nexus HSPA version on November 10th from Virgin assuming thats the release date (Need it ASAP as I am currently without a phone)
    2. Be super happy and satisfied with it
    3. A few months later Virgin announces LTE availability
    4. Virgin gets LTE version of Galaxy Nexus
    5. I throw a brick through a Virgin Mobile store window in frustration.

    Hoping so badly they announce LTE before or as the Galaxy Nexus launches but I highly doubt that will happen.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0

    Posted by Adrastos | October 24, 2011, 12:50 pm
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    • Even if they annonce LTE, it will probably not reach your area and it may be expensier anyway. I’ll get a Galaxy Nexus from Virgin too, but nothing’s like the good ol’ HSPA: still fast and reliable for me.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

      Posted by GENERAL WONG | October 24, 2011, 7:30 pm

  6. WHY is wind not doing anything with LTE? I will tell you what it is because the big 3 are BLOCKING them! They bought up all the LTE equipment and keep blocking the WIND signal! Wake up people WIND is killing them all so they have to do something! They block the signal and tell you it is because AWS is weak! That is a lie!!!

    Protest the Big 3!!!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 5

    Posted by T1MB1T | October 24, 2011, 5:48 pm
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  7. T1mb1t – you r a moron

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0

    Posted by jazzyjazz | October 24, 2011, 6:45 pm
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  8. this is on bell too, bell has simply changed their labeling from SIM/HSPA+ to HSPA+/LTE because the two systems are cross compatible (ie: both use sim cards). This isn’t huge news. It’s a change of wording and nothing more.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0

    Posted by anon | October 24, 2011, 8:27 pm
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    • Do you know if Bell will be getting the Samsung Galaxy Nexus when it releases in November, or will it be Rogers?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

      Posted by Tara | October 26, 2011, 12:22 pm

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