Rogers Wireless

Through Spectrum auctions, Rogers has made the following purchases of spectrum:

Since 2002, the company's 2G GSM network with EDGE has operated in Canada.[12][20] It provides compatibility for GSM-based devices, including those frequently used by international travelers. However, this technology is limited to speeds up to 236 kilobits per second, which is only about four times the speed of dial-up.

As of July 2018, some of Rogers coverage footprint is covered by its GSM network, but not its HSPA or LTE networks. These areas include MacKenzie, BC and along the Highway 11 corridor east and west of Kapuskasing, ON.[24] It is unclear what the future is for these areas given that Rogers has already announced that it intends on shutting down its GSM network and because Rogers did not expand HSPA or LTE into these areas despite completing expansion of HSPA or LTE to all other areas by its GSM network years earlier.

Rogers has informed its customers that its 2G GSM network will be discontinued on December 31, 2020.[25]

In 2006, Rogers became the first Canadian carrier to operate a 3G HSPA network, which was upgraded to HSPA+ in 2009.[26][27] Enhancements included download speeds of up to a theoretical 21 Mbit/s.[28]

Rogers' HSPA+ network coverage is in all Canadian provinces and none of the territories and operating on 850 MHz.

It is impossible to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts in Canada without encountering a gap in cellular coverage as there are areas lacking cellular coverage in both British Columbia and Ontario.[29]

In July 2011, Rogers was the first Canadian telecom operator to launch a commercial long-term evolution (LTE) network.[30] In May 2013, Rogers deployed LTE service on its 2600 MHz spectrum in some markets, which the company began marketing as LTE Max. LTE Max is available in a fraction of Rogers' LTE coverage area.[20] On April 17, 2014, Rogers launched LTE service on its 700 MHz spectrum.[31]

Rogers has not announced its goals for expanding LTE coverage across Canada, but announced plans in June 2014 to have LTE coverage expanded to 98.3% of the population of British Columbia by the end of 2016.[32]

According to Rogers, as of December 31, 2016, its LTE coverage reached 95% of the Canadian population.[33]

On March 31, 2015, Rogers Wireless launched voice over LTE (VoLTE),[34] the first carrier in Canada to offer this service.

Cat-6 LTE-Advanced has been available since January 2015, through carrier aggregation of band 4 and band 7, with a maximum download speed of 225Mbit/s.[35]

Rogers launched its 5G network in January 2020 and uses Block I from the 2500Mhz Frequency Block Plan. The company stated that rollout will expand to use its further reaching 600 MHz spectrum later in the year for improved 5G coverage.[23] The initial network deployment will be in NSA mode, with an eventual upgrade to SA mode over the next 12-18 months.[36]

Rogers partnered with Swedish Telecom giant Ericsson to launch its 5G wireless technology.[37] Rogers 5G network is currently live in downtown areas of Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal.[23]

In 2004, Rogers bought Canada’s first and, at the time, only other GSM provider, Fido, along with Fido’s partner, Sprint Canada, for a total of $1.4 billion. At the time, Fido had nearly 1.3 million customers.[41] In 2008, Fido was rebranded as a discount network operator with a new logo and cheaper plans.[42]

Rogers launched the Chatr Mobile brand in mid-2010 in response to the emergence of new phone carriers Mobilicity, Public Mobile, and Wind Mobile to directly compete with the new carriers in their coverage areas. Chatr became a cheaper option than Fido, making Fido more of a mid-range offering.[43][44]

While Shoppers Drug Mart carried only Rogers Wireless prepaid phones at one time, the stores temporarily partnered with Rogers. As a result, Shoppers stores added both prepaid and postpaid products and services for Rogers and its two other brands, Fido and Chatr. As of March 2011, however, Shoppers stores ended their partnership. They only sell prepaid top-up vouchers for these providers.

In 2005, Rogers lost a court case against an Osgoode Hall Law School university professor, Susan Drummond, over a $12,000 charge for overseas calls that was placed on her bill after the phone was stolen, for which the company insisted she pay. Following the case becoming public knowledge, Ted Rogers issued a formal apology and cancelled the charges. Drummond filed a lawsuit, for which she was then also paid punitive and compensatory damages.[45] Drummond and her partner Harry Gefen published further on the case in an SSHRC funded research project, and for which she and her partner were cited by Time magazine as "heroes of the year" in 2007.[46] During her research, Drummond showed that the phones of Rogers executives had been cloned by members of Hezbollah and used to make thousands of overseas phone calls in 1997 and 1998.[47][48][49] It also turned up information that Rogers had been allowing phones that they were alerted had potentially fraudulent call patterns to continue to remain functional despite the warning.[50]

On July 7, 2009, Rogers Wireless began charging a nominal fee for incoming text messages to customers without a text messaging plan. The change was similar to policies of charging for incoming text message that were adopted in August 2008 by Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility.[51] Some users complained that Rogers had unilaterally changed the terms of their contracts. The company maintained that changes to services and fees are permitted in the "terms of service" document.[52]

Rogers has been criticized for its Government Regulatory Recovery Fee (GRRF), formerly known as the System Access Fee (SAF). The fee ranges between $1.93 to $3.35 per month. On July 4, 2012, Rogers announced it would no longer be charging a separate GRRF fee to new customers, instead raising the price of the Monthly Service Charge. The bills of existing customers would remain the same.[53] An $18 billion class action lawsuit against Rogers, Bell and Telus, originally filed in a Saskatchewan court in 2004 regarding these fees, is pending.[54]

Rogers launched the Chatr brand with low-end feature phones and pricing plans similar to that of new entrants such as Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile. Chatr was criticized for being a fighter brand created by Rogers. The brand's "fewer dropped calls" claim was disputed by the Competition Bureau.[43] In 2013, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that Chatr's advertising of fewer dropped calls, in connection with its 2010 launch, was fair and accurate.[55]