[sklnd]

> The one issue with T-Mobile is it uses the fairly nonstandard 1870 MHz frequency. I don't know of any other carrier that does (anywhere).

I think you mean GSM/UMTS band II (PCS), as 1870 is in the uplink portion of PCS (1850–1910MHz). That's a pretty standard frequency in North America. All four major US carriers (ATT, T-Mo, Verizon, and Sprint) operate in it (CDMA band class 1 overlaps with UMTS band II), as well as Bell and Telus in Canada, and Telcel in Mexico.

The only somewhat-oddball spectrum T-Mobile has is AWS, which they use for UMTS service. Even then, that's still a standard band according to the ITU.

[mmastrac]

FWIW, Wind Mobile in Canada also uses AWS. The rest of the Canadian providers match AT&T.

[paulschreiber]

US -> Canada carrier rough equivalency chart

  Bell, Telus, Rogers = AT&T
  Wind Mobile, Mobilicity, Videotron = T-Mobile*
  Public Mobile = Sprint/Verizon
  Bell, Telus (old network) = Sprint/Verizon

* T-Mobile USA also has a legacy 2G/EDGE/GPRS network, whereas Wind et al. do not.

[nerfhammer]

Wait, Canada has 7 mobile providers? And we get 3?

[icegreentea]

Wind, Mobilicity etc are all new (they popped in existence after our AWS auction), and only have limited coverage (outside of their coverage area, they all have sharage agreements with one of the big three). For example, Wind only services a few of the major cities, but the moment you leave Wind's towers range, you're switched over the Roger's network and are charged hilarious fees.

And our Big Three (Bell, Rogers, and Telus) are even worse than youres. It's beyond ridiculous.

[danudey]

Also of note that with Bell and Telus's new 3G network, Bell built out the Eastern half (its home base) and Telus built the Western, and they each share their networks with the other. That way, they could build out a next-generation network for half the cost, and twice as fast.

There are also a large number of non-major players (such as SaskTel in Saskatchewan, Aliant in the Maritimes, and so on) that are largely irrelevant unless you live in their coverage areas.

[mrgordon]

Yeah but Canada gets three year contracts...

[metageek]

Was AWS a standard before T-Mobile started using it, or was it standardized retroactively?