Rogers Telecom Inc. is a subsidiary of

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 is a Canadian company based in Toronto that focuses on integrated communications as a provider of data, e-business and voice services to business and households. It used to be known as Sprint Canada Inc., pursuant to a 1993 branding agreement between parent Call-Net Enterprises Inc. with what is now

Sprint Nextel Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by 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. Th ...

. In 1998, Call-Net acquired long-distance service and data-circuit provider Fonorola of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

for about $1.8 billion and merged it into Sprint Canada. On May 11, 2005,

Inc. and Call-Net jointly announced that they entered into an agreement under which RCI would acquire 100% of Call-Net under a plan of arrangement

. The deal was approved by shareholders and an Ontario court on June 30, 2005, and completed July 1. The deal allowed Rogers to enter the residential phone business to challenge

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, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

. On July 7, 2005, Sprint Canada Inc. became Rogers Telecom Inc. and Call-Net Enterprises Inc. became Rogers Telecom Holdings Inc.

History

Sprint Canada was launched in the early 1990s with

Candice Bergen Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an American actress. She won five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards as the title character on '' Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also known for her role as Shirley Schmi ...

as its spokesperson. Bergen also was pitching the products of their U.S. sister company. CallNet licensed the name Sprint from the United States

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by 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. Th ...

up until it was bought out and renamed by

Home Phone service

Current

The Rogers Home Phone service in Canada was launched on July 1, 2005, on the same day that Rogers Telecom was acquired by Rogers Communications Inc. The current offering is

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

technology using Rogers's Internet cable. A special converter offers home-phone service with traditional

RJ11 A registered jack (RJ) is a standardized telecommunication network interface for connecting voice and data equipment to a computer service provided by a local exchange carrier or long distance carrier. Registered interfaces were first defined ...

telephone-line jacks within the house. The VoIP service is currently available in regions served by Rogers Hi-Speed Internet. This service operates using the

PacketCable PacketCable network is a technology specification defined by the industry consortium CableLabs for using Internet Protocol (IP) networks to deliver multimedia services, such as IP telephony, conferencing, and interactive gaming on a cable televisi ...

technology over the company's cable network. Service is delivered by cable to the subscriber's residence and is connected into a home-phone terminal, which then provides the connection to the internal wiring at the address. The home-phone terminal has a six-hour backup and can support up to two different phone numbers.

Legacy (2005–2010)

The

landline A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

service, which was available from mid-2005 to mid-2010, operated switches co-located in the

network. As such, Rogers did not maintain the phone lines and was affected by the Bell Subco strike of 2005, which impaired its ability to provide timely service. The same also applied to the Telus strike in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. During the time of the local strikes, Rogers Telecom was not able to provide exact installation dates in those two provinces. Due to legal obligations, however, Rogers's customers received higher-priority service during strikes than actual

Telus Telus may refer to: * Telus Corporation, a Canadian publicly traded holding company ** Telus Communications, a telecommunications company ** Telus Digital, a technology company ** Telus Health, a health technology provider ** Telus Mobility T ...

customers. Rogers wanted to discontinue its traditional voice services by the end of 2008. For this reason, Rogers's customers with this service were sent a notice in June 2008. They could either switch to Rogers's VoIP home phone or have their accounts automatically cancelled. However, Rogers did not take these steps until August 2010, when Rogers partnered with Primus Canada. The latter company now manages all traditional home-phone accounts formerly served by Rogers.

References

Rogers Communications Announces Agreement to Acquire Call-Net Enterprises in all Stock Transaction
- May 11, 2005
Call-Net Shareholders Approve Acquisition by Rogers
- June 29, 2005
Rogers Expands Telephony Offering Effective Canada Day 2005
- June 29, 2005
Rogers Communications Completes Acquisition of Call-Net
��July 1, 2005
Call-Net and Sprint Canada Name Changes Following Rogers Acquisition
��July 7, 2005

External links