850 on Fido/Rogers Network

I was reading on HowardForums that now that Fido and Rogers integrated their networks, your best bet for good reception is with an 850 compatible phone. Is there any truth to this?

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That is what Fido say about the 850MHz, see below link:

http://www.fido.ca/portal/en/support...ogers_network4

Believe it or not, my E316 which has 850/1900 performs much better than other phone that doesn't has 850MHz at my home.

My Fido phone is always "Roaming the Rogers AT&T Network" all the time. I didn't pay the extra $5 to use the Rogers network on the 850Mhz. When I search for available networks on my Treo 600, it only comes up with Rogers on 850. The Fido network doesn't even come up. I don't think the extended coverage fee would have made any difference since I am using the Rogers network anyways. Maybe they wanted me to pay the extra $5 since they knew I would be able to roam the Rogers Network eventually. Anyone know?

I ocassionally visited the rural area and I used to be able to receive Fido although the reception is not very good, like 2 bar out of 5. However, for the last month, I can only receive Rogers and Fido is just like disappeared in the same rural area which I use to be able to receive Fido. The bad thing is the reception is same as before, i.e. 2 bar out of 5. I got the feeling that I am receiving signals from the same station but they only change the name. I am also a bit confused about this $5 thing. I would be very disappointed if Fido/Roger intentionally shut down or rename their base station to force us (the user) to pay the $5 extra.

To avoid confusion, I am using SE T310 for my Fido which doesn't has 850MHz. My E316 is using Rogers.

We went on holidays on the weekend where Fido doesn't have any coverage. We were there and both phones, mine and my wifes phones, did not work. I called Fido to put us on the extended coverage for $5 and they activated it for us. My phone, the Treo 600 picked up the 850Mhz Rogers network and my wifes SE T610 dd not. So mine worked and my wifes phone didn't work with the extended coverage. I thought this was pretty interesting...anyone else experience this? Why try to sell the extended coverage on non 850 phones? or did I just make a mistake and have a mis-understanding somewhere?

That is very interesting indeed. I think to make the best use of the extended coverage, it is better to have a 850/1900 phone. However, even if your phone doesn't has 850, you may still get advantage from the extended coverage if you visit a place where it has 1900 Rogers but not 1900 Fido. One thing I don't understand is why you can't receive Rogers until you pay the $5 for extended coverage. Is it because Roaming is not allowed between Fido and Rogers or Roaming is not enabled for your phones? The only problem with Roaming is that you cannot use your Fido airtime.