Sprint Canada was a Canadian

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

s service provider active from 1993 until 2005, when it was acquired by

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

. It offered both residential and business services, and was a key company in the long-distance wars of Canada.

History

U.S.-based

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The ...

entered the Canadian market in the mid-1990s as a reseller of bulk long-distance telephone lines that it bought from domestic companies. Under Canadian foreign ownership regulations, Sprint could not open its own network. In 1993, Sprint entered into a strategic alliance with Call-Net Enterprises, a Canadian long-distance service, and bought 25 percent of the company. Call-Net's long-distance service was renamed “Sprint Canada”, and expanded to include landline and internet services. In a partnership with Fido Solutions, it offered wireless services. In 2005, Call-Net and Sprint Canada's 600,000 customers (including 31,000 wireless subscribers) were acquired by Rogers Communications.Post, May 18, 2013, “The short history of telecom startups in Canada”, Josh Smuel.
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Services

Sprint Canada charged a

system access fee The system access fee is a non-governmental surcharge imposed by most Canadian telephone companies on their customers' monthly bills. Although it is normally charged for wireless services, Rogers Communications and the now-defunct Sprint Canada ...

for all of its services. The home phone, long-distance and Internet services each had a $4.25 fee, while the Sprint and Fido bundles have a $6.95 fee. For clarity purposes, prices stated in this article already include such fees.

Landline phone

Both traditional and VoIP landline phones were available.

Long distance

Sprint Canada's flagship product was its long-distance. It was available landline and mobile phones. The rates at the time were very competitive and challenged

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in ...

's monopoly.

Internet access

Multiple dial-up Internet access options were available for Sprint Canada customers. Both time-limited and unlimited plans were available. "THE MOST online Basic Unlimited" had a cost of $23.20 per month and included a single

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

address. For an additional $3, one could upgrade to "THE MOST online XTRA", which included Internet

call waiting Call waiting is a telephone service where a subscriber can accept a second incoming telephone call by placing an in-progress call on hold—and may also switch between calls. With some providers it can be combined with additional features such a ...

and four additional email addresses. This allowed the customer to answer calls while surfing online.

Wireless

Sprint Canada had a partnership with Fido Solutions. It consisted of bundling Sprint Canada's landline phone service with Fido's wireless phone service. Sprint's long-distance plans could be used on either or both phones, but Fido month minutes would be deducted for any calls made on the Fido phone. Two monthly plans were offered, with different allowances for local wireless minutes: * $51.90 for 150 anytime minutes * $63.90 for 150 daytime minutes and 1000 evening and weekend minutes * $71.90 for 300 daytime minutes and 1000 evening and weekend minutes Daytime minutes could be used from Monday to Friday between 8 am and 7 pm. Evenings and weekend minutes could be used at any time on Saturdays and Sundays. From Monday to Friday, they could only be used between midnight and 8 am, and between 7 pm and midnight. If a customer has any unused minutes at the end of a month, they cannot be carried over to the next month. All plans included

conference call A conference call is a telephone call in which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call or set up so that the called party merely listens into ...

and 1000

call forwarding Call forwarding, or call diversion, is a telephony feature of all telephone switching systems which redirects a telephone call to another destination, which may be, for example, a mobile or another telephone number where the desired called party ...

minutes. In addition, customers could add two extra calling features at no cost:

Caller ID Caller identification (Caller ID) is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call i ...

voicemail A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to ind ...

, or 50 sent

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

to Canada and the USA. All features could be obtained for $3/month Sprint Canada's wireless division had 31,000 customers in Q3 2005 before being acquired by

Rogers Wireless Rogers Wireless Inc. is a Canadian wireless telephone company headquartered in Toronto, providing service nationally throughout Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The company had revenues of just under $15.1 billi ...

References

External links

Sprint Canada website
(December 28, 2004, from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

) {{Authority control Telecommunications companies established in 1993 Companies disestablished in 2005 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2005 Companies established in 1993