Telus announces lights out for analog network, not a dry eye in the house
by Sean Cooper 
posted Sep 18th 2008 at 3:26PM
Look ma, no more analog! In the glorious pic above, the map shown in green represents Telus' analog coverage, the other shows digital coverage. If the maps are really representative of the various signal types, we'd guess that Saskatchewan (above) will be mostly alright. Telus commented that a few "very, very small rural communities" in British Columbia will be left in the lurch in all this, as they only had analog service and are rightly concerned about the lack of 911 and general public safety. Part of the reason for the shut down seems to be the shrinking stockpile of hard to find spare parts and keeping the network lit for so few customers just isn't cost effective. All subscribers with analog sets will get a shiny new digital set for free and there's even talk of finding some way to boost digital coverage to those left without.
[Via intomobile]
[Via intomobile]
Filed under: Telus Mobility, Misc
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
oakie @ Sep 18th 2008 6:48PM
"are rightly concerned about the lack of 911 and general public safety."
i love how people make it sound like 911 services only began due to the proliferation of cellular telecommunication. *news flash* people got along just fine before cellphones became ubiquitous.
lejupp @ Sep 19th 2008 5:23AM
And so did they before the invention of the invention of electricity, jet airliners and penicillin. So would you rather like to go back to the middle ages then?
FC1 @ Sep 18th 2008 8:36PM
psst. Telus doesn't have coverage in Saskatchewan to begin with. That would be roaming on SaskTel's network ;-)
Cody @ Sep 19th 2008 3:09AM
Sasktel has native coverage in Regina/Saskatoon, which is still more than the native coverage in Manitoba
Cody @ Sep 19th 2008 2:12AM
The main reason behind "no analog" anymore is because Telus and SaskTel reached a deal on a roaming agreement in Saskatchewan. Sasktel is where all that orange is. Before they were roaming on the analog coverage. However it doesn't look like they're roaming on EV-DO.
MTS in Manitoba on the other hand has its head up its derriere, they won't allow Telus do the same kind of roaming that SaskTel is now allowing, and on the flipside, MTS customers are sometimes out of luck when roaming on Telus in Alberta/BC (ie data).
SaskTel and MTS are the only options for the rural folk in Sask/Manitoba since Rogers doesn't have many towers, and Telus doesn't provide local numbers (or didn't before). When I visit my parents farm, I can see an MTS tower right out the window and I live in an area with only 50 or so people, and I can't get a signal on Rogers if my life depended on it.