Does it matter what carrier (cell phone service provider) I use in the NEOnet catchment area?
The short answer is “it depends on where you travel in the region”. A few years ago, when all cellular networks were analogue, every carrier used the same technology; as long as your provider had a roaming agreement with other carriers, you could use your cell phone almost anywhere there was cellular coverage. Now that the cellular industry has switched to digital service however, there are two different types of technologies: CDMA and GSM, and they are not interchangeable. The NEOnet territory has three cellular service providers: • Rogers AT&T, which uses GSM technology • NorthernTel Mobility, which uses CDMA technology • Telus, which uses CDMA technology In areas where towers are both analogue and digital, you may use phones from either carrier, provided that there are roaming agreements between them. A roaming agreement allows you to use another carrier’s towers (for a fee per minute) in areas where your own provider doesn’t have coverage. This works only for analogue coverage. In
