There is always a lot of wireless mobile news to report from the Canadian side of the border and today is no exception. Shaw owned, Wind Mobile, is getting a few upgrades starting with a new name – Freedom Mobile – to let their customers know they can have freedom from data overages, freedom from price-gouging, freedom to have a flat monthly fee, and the freedom to have everything affordable. These ‘freedoms’ will take place November 27, 2016.
Another significant change coming to Freedom Mobile is using the AWS-3 spectrum that Wind Mobile purchased to launch its new LTE network. Freedom Mobile (Wind) has been talking about LTE for a long time, and it looks like it will finally arrive. Their networks will not all be LTE – it will start in Toronto and Vancouver and eventually move further out as they work intensely to upgrade their 3G network. On their website, Freedom is showing that the summer of 2017 LTE coverage will hit Calgary, Edmonton, and Ottawa, while Southwestern and Southeastern Ottawa will be affected in the Fall of 2017. If you visit their website, you will be able to see the mapped areas for LTE, and one can even punch in where they live to see when they should receive LTE. Alek Krstajic, the president of Freedom Mobile, said, “We are extremely proud and excited to be launching LTE and giving our customers a service everyone can be proud of. We owe a debt of gratitude to our one million customers who have stood by us. We will continue on our journey to keep improving our offering and remain the most competitively priced wireless service.”
Eventually, Freedom Mobile expects to cover all of Canada and will also utilize voice over LTE (VoLTE) and voice over wireless (VoWiFi). Freedom also seems to be pushing the new LG V20 as their ‘future ready’ device by decreasing the price from $399 on a two-year to $249. The LG V20 is a great device offering up a 5.7-inch IPS LCD Quad HD resolution, a Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor, an Adreno 530 for graphics, 4GB of DDR4 RAM, 32GB/64GB of expandable memory, as well as 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel dual camera, a 3,200 mAh removable battery, and Android 7.0 (Nougat).
Freedom is also knocking $5 off some of their best plans for six months, now at $30, $35, or $40 for 12 months on their LTE plan, $40 for 12 months on another plan, or $50 for 12 months. Check them out at their website for all of the details. Freedom says that if you are happy with the plan you are currently on…no problem, you can keep it.