Thread: Going with K2 in Canada afterall
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Old 03-30-2009, 09:53 PM   #16
All4Fun
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SteGar View Post
Interesting point all4fun.

This being said, I agree that Bell and Telus would not be able to accomodate a service like whispernet, but my understanding is that Rogers would be.

As a matter of fact, Rogers is apparently the only one of the 3 carrying G3 network (ie this is why the IPhone is only available through Fido, a Rogers subsidiary). My brother in law was telling me last night that Bell Blackberry World was even piggybacking on the Rogers network...

I will investigate further, but since I have to travel to the US 6 to 8 times a year... I could use the wireless feature then at least.
Hi SteGar.

It's not my intent to discourage you but to inform you on what is possible and what is not.

The K2's whispernet uses a CDMA network (Sprint). Therefore the K2 could only ever possibly work on a CDMA network such as Bell or Telus in Canada (Rogers and Fido are GSM networks). For the K2 to work on Bell or Telus, Amazon would have to work out a roaming arrangement with Bell and/or Telus increasing costs. Could it happen? Maybe. But I suspect that Amazon will region lock a Canadian K2 to one of the 4 Canadian cellular providers and not allow roaming when in the U.S. similar to a U.S. K2 not being able to roam on Bell or Telus to reduce roaming costs.

The U.S. K2 in its current incarnation could NEVER work on Rogers or Fido because they are GSM networks. The reason why your brother-in-law's Blackberry "WORLD" phone works is that is supports its native CDMA network and the ability to use a GSM network which is the predominant cellular network outside of North America and parts of North America. Not many phones have that dual capability but the Blackberry WORLD phone does.

My "guess" is that Amazon will make a K2 compatible with a GSM network to reduce costs and work around the world where GSM is the predominant network but lock it to specific cell providers in their respective regions. In Canada, that would be with Rogers or Fido similar to how the iPhone is being distributed around the world.

Just my guess and $0.02
Last edited by All4Fun; 03-30-2009 at 10:10 PM.
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