Rogers Telecom Inc. is a subsidiary of

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...

. 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 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 co ...

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

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

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 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

. 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 for her portrayal of the title character on the CBS sitcom ''Murphy Brown'' (1988–1998, 2018). She is also know ...

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 it Merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 ...

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. 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 ...

The current offering is

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...

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 service provided by a local exchange carrier or long distance carrier. Registration interfaces were first defined in the ...

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 televisio ...

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 (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...

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 one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. 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 Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...

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 Primus (Latin, 'first') may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Primus (DC Comics), a character in the Omega Men team * Primus (Marvel Comics), a character created by Arnim Zola * Primus, a character in the novel ''Stard ...

. The latter company now manages all traditional home-phone accounts formerly served by Rogers.

Merger with Shaw Communications

On March 15, 2021 Rogers Telecom's parent company

announced they would acquire

Shaw Communications Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...

for $20 billion and would divest Shaw Communication's wireless assets.

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

Rogers Home Phone
{{Rogers Communications Telecom Telecommunications companies of Canada