Top usage spots since July beta launch have included national and provincial parks
Rogers announced Tuesday it has expanded the coverage of its satellite-to-mobile texting service, Rogers Satellite.
“Now, when connected to Rogers Satellite, customers can send a text to friends when taking the ferry from Newfoundland to Nova Scotia, fishing off Haida Gwaii or crossing James Bay, with the expansion across bodies of water and along waterways off the Canadian coastline,” reads a Rogers press release.
With the expansion of the service, which launched as a beta trial in July, Rogers now provides three times more coverage than any other Canadian wireless service provider, according to the release.
“We’re proud to expand this ground-breaking technology to Canadians across the country including national parks, remote highways, and waterways,” said Mark Kennedy, Rogers’s chief technology officer, in a statement. “Since we launched Rogers Satellite, we’ve had a tremendous response from Canadians, and we can see the service is helping people stay connected in places they weren’t before.”
Initially supporting text messaging and text-to-911, Rogers Satellite uses low-earth orbit satellites and Rogers national wireless spectrum to automatically connect customers’ phones in areas without cell service. Rogers has said the Rogers Satellite service will expand to support apps, data and voice services, including 911 voice services.
Since its launch, Rogers Satellite’s top usage spots have included Yoho National Park in British Columbia, Banff National Park and Kananaskis Provincial Park in Alberta, Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, areas around Mont Tremblant in Quebec, and Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Rogers said in its press release.
Some of the most remote locations where Rogers Satellite has been used include: Telegraph Creek, British Columbia, a community with a population of 51, according to the 2021 Census; Brochet, Manitoba, a fly-in community on the northern shore of Reindeer Lake; and North Twin Island, Nunavut, an Arctic island in James Bay.
Rogers Satellite is available outdoors, including on bodies of water, where the user has an unobstructed view of the sky. For coverage areas, see Rogers’s updated coverage map here.
Once the beta trial ends in October, Rogers Satellite will be included at no additional cost to subscribers of the Rogers Ultimate Plan, and it will also be available for all Canadians for $15 per month. Canadians participating in the beta trial will receive a $5/month discount for the first 12 months, Rogers said.
Photo borrowed from Rogers’s website
