Bell, Rogers, and Telus consistently claim they offer Canada’s best 5G service. But a recent analysis from Opensignal reveals the competing providers don’t have the stronghold they all claim to possess.
The analysis found Bell offered the best 5G download speed in Canada, averaging at 158.7Mbp. The figure is nearly 15 percent faster than Telus and 21 percent faster than Rogers. However, the analysis also found that Rogers improved its download speed from its last report, published in August 2022, the most, increasing its speed by 32.6Mbps.
Rogers offered the fasted 5G upload speed. It has a score of 29.9Mbps, with an 8Mbps gap with Bell and Telus, which tied for second. Rogers also led in the last report and increased its speed by 5.8Mbps this time around. While Telus and Bell customers also saw an increase in the recent analysis, they weren’t able to catch up to Rogers.
Image credit: © Opensignal Limited
Telus offered the best 5G video experience, scoring 75.1 points out of 100. Bell and Rogers statistically tied for second. However, all three fall in the “very good” category, which has scores from 68-78.
The big three also had tied scores in the 5G reach and availability categories.
The results are based on device data Opensignal collected between October 1st and December 29th, 2022.
Mobile Network Experience
Opensignal used the same parameters to collect data for network experiences and found Rogers offered Canadians the best video experience. It was the only company from the big three to score a “very good rating” from Opensignal.
This means the devices surveyed streamed video at 1080p or better. Users were also satisfied with the time it took to load videos and there was “little stalling.” In comparison, both Bell and Telus had statistically similar scores and fell in the “good” category.
However, both Bell and Telus stayed ahead of Rogers when it came to 4G coverage. The telecom companies received a score of 9.8 compared to Rogers’ 8.8.
“Our users on Bell and Telus connect to 4G in the most locations out of all those visited by our users across all carriers,” the analysis found.
Bell offered the fastest overall download speeds in Canada, a category it has taken for the second time in a row. The average download speed was 74Mbps, almost 4 percent faster than Telus and nearly 26 percent faster than Rogers.
When it came to core consistent quality, Telus took top honours. With a score of 91 percent, it paced Bell by less than 2 percent.
Source: Open Signal
First up, the national providers. These are your Big Three, Rogers Bell and Telus. If you have cell service in Canada, you’re probably using one of these three or a provider owned by one of these three. Unless you want to dig into the technical nitty-gritty, there isn’t a lot that’s different between the Big Three carriers and, in all the ways that matter to most Canadians (like price), they’re effectively the same.
Next up, we have the flanker brands. Chances are you’ve heard of these guys: Fido (owned by Rogers), Virgin Plus (owned by Bell) and Koodo (owned by Telus). Despite looking and acting like separate entities from the Big Three, the flanker brands are very much part of the Big Three’s strategy. Moreover, they operate on the same wireless network as what’s offered by the respective Big Three carrier — in other words, if you have poor service at home with Rogers, switching to Fido probably won’t help.
There are several budget brands available in Canada as well that are owned by the Big Three. This includes Chatr (Rogers), Lucky Mobile (Bell) and Public Mobile (Telus). Like the flanker brands, the budget brands offer service on the Big Three networks but at a reduced price (and usually at a reduced quality, such as capping data speeds at a 3G level).