The military and cell phones?

[rdschultz]

I think this is probably the appropriate forum for this. 

Anyways, my cell phone contract is up for renewal, and this got me thinking.  I'm pretty much ready to upgrade to a new phone, and I'm unsure if I want to stick with Bell Mobility, or change providers.  I'm jumping the gun here a little bit, but I figure I'll do the research now when I have time, rather than put it off.

If everything goes as planned (or rather, if the military agrees with my plan), I'll be spending about 7 months in St. Jean and another couple years in Kingston.  My choices if I do anything now are stick with Bell, or switch to Telus or Rogers Cantel.  I presume there are no issues with having a cell phone during second language training, or during my phase training.  I'm assuming that during basic training, I won't be allowed a cell phone, nor would I have the time or inclination to use it.

Mostly what I'm wondering is coverage.  All three of my choices indicate they have coverage in both areas, nevermind the fact that most providers have agreements to use eachothers networks (at least in Alberta).  But sometimes there are other issues at play in specific areas.  At the University of Alberta, people using rogers would get lousy service on campus (although I suspect that might be the lousy internal antenna on some of those small nokia phones), but my Bell phone worked everywhere.  Or here in Saskatchewan, Sasktel customers have digital coverage throughout much of the province (I'm told), but if Telus customers go outside the cities, they only have access to the analog network.  I'm just curious if there are any region specific issues in either Kingston or St. Jean.  Or if anybody else has any input, I'd be happy to hear about it.

Anyways, I'll leave it at that for now. 

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Been all over and have never had a problem with Telus. Even out in the middle of the training area in Gagetown.

 

[commando_wolf63]

I've had a Fido and I found it sucked as I couldnt get service about midway to Rosedale my phone was useless in Agassiz or In Hope.  I now have a Bell mobility and I find that I have no probs with service here in BC and according to their map of coverage I have fairly good coverage across Canada

 

[whitefang2004]

My cell phone is with T-Mobile and I've never had any problems with it. Only trouble is, it's a rather unpopular make (sagem)
and because of this, buying accesories for it can be a real nightmare.

 

[Guardian]

I'm a Rogers customer, and it was the worst decision I've ever made.....

I would strongly suggest you look at Telus or Bell. Rogers' customer service is terrible. I had to order a replacement adaptor to recharge my phone once; you'd think that they'd sell those sorts of items at the service kisoks or centres, but they didn't. They promised they'd call back in a couple of days. Four weeks later, I managed to find one via other means, but I never canceled the order, just to see if they'd ever call back. That was in November 2002, and I'm still waiting.

From time to time I call them regarding service difiiculties - text messaging won't work, voicemail disappearing, etc. Each time, I'm bounced from agent to agent, none of whom talk to each other, and so I have to repeat my problem at least three times every call.

Coverage isn't that great in the Gagetown area, either, if you ever wind up here (and if you wear a green uniform, you will). Digital coverage goes up to about the base gate, and then you're analog. For some strange reason, though, there's points on Shirley Road in the training area that are clear as a bell, but in Oromocto digital coverage is spotty at best. That means that the batteries drain three times as fast (analog is hard on power) and you don't have digital-only goodies like text messaging.

I don't have a top-of-the-line phone, but the problems I identified above aren't hardware. Most people I know who are Rogers customers are very dissatisfied with their service as well. I tell you, there's been days I've wanted to drop the blasted thing in a howitzer and fire it into Lawfield....  :rocket:

Just my two cents' worth...

 

[childs56]

telus or bell both share towers and have very good coverage (almost all of Canada, the US, even over in Europe). customer realations could be better but none the less they are the most dependable. i have been in the middle of the mountains,training areas in western Canada and the US, with both a telus and other brand name phones and the other phone had no reception while my telus had excellant reception. my telus has always worked when others have failed ,good luck and make sure you get a good deal on your new contract

 

[Bzzliteyr]

Wow, Guardian. that's kind of odd, what phone are you using?  I have been posted here for seven years and I have been with Rogers since my time in Valcartier.  There are spots that you can get a signal, and there are spots where you can't.. go figure, the same goes for Telus and Aliant!!  I have always been able to use text messaging, in fact sometimes when I can't get voice, I rely on Text to send messages home.  I use to have a TDMA phone with rogers but then I upgraded to a GSM.. it is great.  I can text message and even surf the mini-internet from inside my tank on some days.. reception depends on many things: The phone you are using, interal/external antenna, battery power, signal type (Gsm, TDMA, Cdma), indoor/outdoor, terrain, weather conditions, and many other factors.

All cell phone providers have their respective ups and downs and I like the bonuses that Rogers give for DND employees.  I think I earn a couple of extra daytime minutes.. not too sure though.  Honestly, the most "Canada-wide" cell phone provider is Rogers.  I seem to recall that Bell seems to have some issues tranferring numbers from Aliant(New Brunswick) and little hiccups like that. 

Just my two cents.