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Good news, everyone! Canada’s finally getting 4G LTE through Rogers this summer, and Ottawa has just been announced as the first market to launch. At launch, Rogers will only have a Sierra internet stick available, but it’s expected that smartphones will follow soon after. The stick will cost $79.99 with a three-year contract, support HSPA+ for when you’re outside of LTE coverage, include GPS, and even have a microSD card reader built in. Peak speeds will be in the neighbourhood of 150 Mbps down, 70 Mbps up.
Rogers intends to roll out to Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver by the end of the year, with another 21 markets planned for 2012. Of course, the competition isn’t resting on their laurels; Telus and Bell will be making the jump soon, and even the little guys like Wind are working on a similar upgrade.
Being a native to the national capital and continually hearing about the joys of 4G south of the border, I’m pretty stoked about the announcement. Any fellow Canadians that want to stay up to speed with LTE news from Rogers over here, or can use Rogers’ new reservation system to pre-order their own Sierra Rocket Stick.
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About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
