MONTREAL – The launch of its new HSPA network on Wednesday resulted in a flurry of news releases from Bell Canada.
One announced the network’s new video calling service that lets clients make and take phone-to-phone video calls with other Bell Mobility clients, or receive video calls on their mobile phones through an exclusive application built on the Facebook platform.
Another unveiled the new LG Xenon HSPA touch screen smart phone which will retail for $89.95 on a three-year contract or for $289.95 without a contract. In addition to the touch screen display, the phone features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 2 megapixel camera with camcorder, an integrated media player, HTML web browsing, and memory expandable up to 16 GB.
Bell also launched a range of 3G rate plans tailored specifically for iPhone customers, beginning at $45 per month. This plan includes 150 voice minutes, free evenings and weekends starting at 9 p.m., unlimited calling and text to five local numbers and 500 MB of data usage.
The $55 plan includes up to 300 voice minutes and data usage to 1GB, while the $65 plan includes 400 voice minutes, 2GB of data usage and adds visual voicemail and call conferencing. The $90 plan provides 500 voice minutes, 3GB of data visual voicemail, call conferencing, and adds unlimited picture and video messages.
Pricing for the 8GB 3G iPhone is $600, while the 16GB and 32GB 3GS versions sell for $700 and $800 respectively, with a $500 discount for consumers who sign up for a three year plan. This brings its mobile device lineup to more than 40 different options, including 18 different smart phone models.
"Our new network is now Canada’s fastest and largest high-speed mobile network and offers a wide range of the very latest smart phones and other mobile devices”, said Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility and chief brand officer for Bell, in a statement. “Its launch also means Bell offers Canadians the broadest range of mobile devices and coverage of any wireless provider."
The new network offers mobile speeds as high as 21 Mbps. Spanning 1.2 million square kilometres, it covers approximately 20,000 Canadian towns and cities and 93% of the population. It also supports international roaming in more than 200 countries, and across the U.S. via a roaming agreement with AT&T.
