Rogers pulls a Telus and sues Bell over network claims
Rogers Wireless division must be feeling pretty down lately. With the launch of the new Bell/Telus HSPA network, big Red lost exclusivity of the iPhone. Telus also managed to get a court ruling preventing Rogers from advertising themselves as the “most reliable network”.
Now, in what can only be seen as a fit of jealous rage case of turnabout is fair play, Rogers has launched a lawsuit to prevent Bell from saying essentially the same thing. Bell’s latest ads for the new network claim that it’s “the largest, fastest, and most reliable network” in Canada, and Rogers has taken legal issue over it.
There’s SOME merit to Rogers case, as there’s no way the new HSPA network has a lot of users on it, when compared to the number of customers still on the CDMA side of the equation. However, from personal experience, I’ve had chances to run side by side comparison of Rogers and Bell (on CDMA), and Rogers loses in every single case when it comes to reliability outside of major centers, be it on the train between Toronto and Montreal, traveling 5 hours north of Toronto or to central Manitoba.
Since Telus and Bell managed to cover the old CDMA network fast enough to launch 2 months ahead of schedule, I’m guessing the same will hold true on HSPA, as Rogers still hasn’t rolled out their own HSPA over their entire coverage area (which is smaller than the Bell/Telus HSPA network). One thing is for sure: as all 3 of the incumbant carriers try to take customers from each other before new entrants arrive, we can expect more of this legal wrangling.
As for the Rogers suit, no date has been announced for the hearing.
