TORONTO—Canada’s Bell Mobility launched the country’s first 1x wireless network in the greater Toronto area, with plans to extend the coverage throughout the year to cover most of the country.
Bell Mobility said the new network will deliver “cruising speeds” of up to 86 kilobits per second, with the capacity to support 144 kbps data speeds.
The Kyocera 2255 handset is the only currently available model to support the 1x network. However, Bell Mobility said the Samsung SCH-N370 handset will go on sale soon. The Sierra Wireless AirCard 555 will also be available soon and will support voice via a headset attachment and short message service capabilities.
The operator said the new service will offer numerous business services in addition to new consumer offerings, such as downloadable ring tones and screen savers, focused on the youth market.
1x data rate plans start at about $16 per month for 3 Megabits of data, and an introductory offer of $31 for unlimited use for six months is also available. In addition, customers with 1x handsets can pay $3 for unlimited use of basic mobile browser menu access. Ring tones and screen savers are charged on a per-use basis at about $1 per download.
Nortel Networks supplied Bell Mobility’s 1x network.
