This blog post comes courtesy of Mike Fujimoto, a summer intern of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC). I hope to add occasional pieces on the open Internet from a telecom-regulatory-consumer-advocate perspective and not to make them too dull. Thanks, John Lawford, Counsel, PIAC
Rogers LTE and 4G: Beyond Sales Puffery?
In July 2011, Rogers announced the launch of its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network providing the Ottawa-area with access to the fastest wireless internet in Canada, eclipsing the performance of their competitors' HSPA+ networks. Although estimates vary significantly, Rob Bruce (President of Rogers' communications division), pegged the new network at four to five times faster than existing networks in an interview quoted by The Globe and Mail's Iain Marlow.[1] However, the launch of their new network has presented a marketing problem for Rogers since they had already followed the lead of their rivals in labelling their HSPA+ network as a '4G' (fourth-generation) network. In order to "differentiate" their new LTE service, Rogers has opted to market it as "Beyond 4G" in their web advertising and on their website although their LTE network is incapable of reaching speeds 'beyond' the upper limits of what can be considered '4G' (speeds which are currently only being reached in laboratory-settings). Read more »
