Telus takes the crown for the second year as Canada's fastest mobile network—and in part, it has Bell to thank for that.

Canada's number-two and number-three carriers share spectrum and equipment, and have pooled their wireless assets in many places so they're capable of wider channels and faster speeds than Rogers or the regional carriers. That's resulted in the fastest 4G LTE speeds we've ever seen in North America, with peaks over 780Mbps on Bell and Telus' new 1.2Gbps network in Kingston, ON.

We've been reporting this story every year since 2013, and spent the month of August this year tooling around cities large and small with phones from all three major carriers to give you the best picture of comparative performance in 2018. (For more on how we test, see our testing methodology page.) We measured speeds in 36 cities of varying sizes in all 10 provinces, from the tiny Trinity Peninsula in Newfoundland to the towering Greater Toronto Area.

Wireless prices are still high in Canada, but urban Canadians are getting what they pay for, with speeds much higher than US carriers. Speeds and performance are getting better year on year, as well. We were shocked to see speeds over 400Mbps last year; this year, the carriers raised the bar with results over 500Mbps in multiple cities.

National

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 780.1 355.98 742.26 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 159.42 104.37 174.67 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 99% 98% 99% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 67.38 66.80 66.53 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 30.68 27.63 31.48 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 98% 96% 98% Average Ping (ms) 36.47 32.52 29.98 Time on LTE (%) 99% 99% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 96 89 100

The highest overall speeds came in eastern cities where Bell runs the infrastructure, but Telus notched out wins because of a slightly better-optimized core network. (The two carriers mostly use the same towers, but route traffic via different paths through the internet.) Along with Kingston, we saw blazing speeds in Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, and even St. John's, NL. In Canada's easternmost city, download speeds on the two networks averaged over 200Mbps.

There's still a real urban-rural divide, and even a big city-small city divide, as we saw in our testing. Midsize cities like Victoria, BC and Red Deer, AB showed average speeds that were considerably slower than the biggest metro areas. And while some small cities held their own, like Swift Current, SK, average speeds really ran low in rural east coast locales like Guysborough County, NS.

If you're in a big city and you feel you aren't getting the speeds you're paying for, consider a new phone—specifically, a phone with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 modem, like Samsung's Galaxy S9+ or Note 9. As we showed in our US testing, these modems are able to get noticeably higher speeds than older devices or iPhones. The effect will be even more dramatic in places like Ontario and Newfoundland where Bell is turning on 1.2Gbps capability.

Along with the big three, we tested three smaller regional carriers: Sasktel, Freedom Mobile, and Videotron. Eastlink, which operates in the Atlantic provinces, decided not to participate this year, so we took a look at its performance using Speedtest.net's crowdsourced database. (Note: Speedtest is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company.)

In our tests from 2014 to 2016, regional carriers offered both lower prices and leading performance. But they seem to have hit the limits of their limited wireless spectrum: The regional carriers were noticeably slower than the big three. Videotron, for one, says it can improve that situation if it clears a deal with Rogers to share its fast Band 7 spectrum. The regionals do still offer much lower prices than the major carriers, though, which could win you over. (For more, see our pick of the best wireless plan in Canada.)

Take a look at the chart above for our national speed test winners, or click through for province-by-province results.

Canada's Best Wireless Plans

Let's start with the good news: Although Canadian wireless prices are still among the highest in the world, some of them are coming down slowly. The CRTC commissions an official report on wireless plan prices each year, and we do our own analysis as well.

The most recent CRTC report, from late 2017, says Canadian prices for mobile service without data dropped from 2016 to 2017, but prices for the most popular data buckets rose.

Things seem to be improving a bit in 2018. The Globe and Mail reported on August 3 that, "Increased competition from Shaw Communications Inc.'s regional carrier Freedom Mobile has put pressure on the Big Three to offer bigger data packages and collect fewer overage charges from customers who go over their limit." So although prices may not appear to be dropping, packages are getting more generous.

Looking at our own comparisons between 2017 and 2018, using 5 to 6GB plans as comparisons, Bell's prices have stayed the same, but Rogers and Telus have become slightly more affordable. Telus, for instance, dropped from $110 for 5GB (before bonus data) to $105 for 6GB, a drop of about $4.50 per GB per month.

As always, Quebec, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan residents get the best deals. In Quebec, the big carriers match whatever promotion Videotron is putting on. Last year, it was $49.95 for 6GB; this year, it's $60.95 for 5GB—a price rise, but still much cheaper than Albertans or Ontarians are paying. You see similar deals in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

In other provinces, Eastlink and Freedom offer considerably lower rates than the majors: Freedom has a 5GB plan for $50 and Eastlink offers 5GB for $70 to $80. But they don't seem to have the same competitive effect as we see in other provinces. Our tests show that network quality may have a lot to do with that. Freedom still has a very limited native coverage area, with small roaming buckets outside its native coverage; within its native coverage, speeds are a third of what we're seeing on the Big Three. Eastlink, which once led on network quality in Nova Scotia, is also showing slow speeds, possibly because it has much less spectrum than other carriers.

The Best Plan in Canada

At the moment, our recommendation for the best wireless plan in Canada is Koodo. Koodo uses Canada's fastest wireless network, but it charges rates considerably less than mainline Telus does. For heavy data users, it's also a better deal than Telus' online-only brand, Public Mobile. Koodo is often in a promotion war with Bell's Virgin Mobile brand, which slings out various time-limited bonus data deals that may be more affordable from time to time—just keep an eye on the fine print to see when that bonus data gets cut off.

For family plans, the major carriers are all pretty similar on pricing, but I'd like to call out Videotron as the best choice for families in Quebec. While Videotron's speeds don't measure up to the Big Three, its coverage is excellent and its rates are considerably lower than the major carriers' family plans. For example, three lines with 5GB each are $152.85 per month on Videotron, while three lines with a total of 14GB shared costs $180 per month on Telus. That's real savings on a reliable, province-wide network with roaming on Rogers throughout Canada.

What Canada Needs

Canada is still missing two key elements of the US mobile landscape that could make rates much more affordable and flexible. The first, which Canadians are quite aware of, is "unlimited" data. Unlimited data in the US isn't entirely unlimited; it's soft-capped after a certain point so that it doesn't overtax the networks. But Canadian carriers don't even offer that option, even though they appear to have more spectrum and greater capacity in cities than the major US carriers do.

Competition plays a role here, but it's not the only factor. MTS offered unlimited data in Manitoba when it was independent; now that it's owned by Bell, it doesn't. But Freedom and Eastlink, which are constrained by limited spectrum, don't offer unlimited data in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Very few wireless users consume more than about 10GB per month, so unlimited is more of a psychological balm than anything else. Canadian carriers do offer high-data nationwide plans, but those are typically much more expensive than US carriers.

T-Mobile's unlimited plan costs $70 US ($90 CAD) per month for one line. Its MetroPCS brand will sell you something similar for $60 US ($77.95 CAD). A 10GB plan, in Ontario, even including carrier bonus data deals, costs $125 CAD from Telus. (Freedom Mobile charges only $60, but has a very limited coverage area for that data.)

The less visible factor is Canada's lack of a thriving MVNO, or virtual operator, sector. Here in the US, there's a thriving shadow-world of low-cost, experimental plans running on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks. MVNOs like Consumer Cellular, Google Fi, Republic Wireless, and Ting have all won repeated awards in our Readers' Choice survey, but the big Canadian carriers don't typically wholesale their networks in the same way. The few MVNOs they do allow—most notably 7-Eleven, PC Mobile, and Petro-Canada—tend to be very restricted in service and pricing.

The CRTC hasn't shown itself to be open to widening the MVNO market. This March, it ruled against allowing virtual operators to take advantage of lower roaming rates available to the regional carriers.

Ting's VP of sales and marketing, Michael Goldstein, lives in Toronto and only sells his service in the US, because the Canadian networks don't make it possible.

"In Canada…we don't have any real competition, and the prices are the worst in the world," Goldstein said. "The problem with Canada is that the US has two clear leaders in AT&T and Verizon and a pretty big gap for Sprint and T-Mobile. So Sprint and T-Mobile can say, it makes sense for us to have wholesale partners. …Nobody needed to mandate to them that they embrace wholesale. It made perfect strategic sense: they say, even if they lose a customer to us, they rightly say, better that it stay on our network than go somewhere else. Telus, Bell, and Rogers are so even that nobody cares to embrace a wholesale strategy."

Limited coverage means that Freedom's network can't provide an alternative—if Shaw wholesaled Freedom, its customers would still need to turn to the Big Three outside Freedom's coverage areas.

"The voice is great, everything's great, and then it's really, like, you know, the same plans," Goldstein sighs. "Maybe there's some limits in their wholesale agreements or what they can do."

Testing Methodology

Our methodology for testing Canada is a lot like our US methodology, but in some ways distinctly different.

We gave all Canadian carriers an opportunity to participate. Bell, Freedom, Rogers, SaskTel, and Telus agreed. Eastlink declined. MTS, which we tested in previous years, is no longer an independent network (it's just Bell.)

Just like in the US, we used custom field-test software designed by Ookla, the creator of Speedtest.net (note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company). The software was loaded onto Samsung Galaxy S9+ phones, chosen because they're able to access the fastest network technology in Canada, including Bell's new 1.2Gbps network in Kingston, ON, and on the east coast.

The software runs tests every 90 seconds. It alternates between testing to the nearest host in Ookla's Speedtest server network, which is usually run by the same wireless carrier as the phone, and an off-network host run by Speedtest in Toronto (for tests in Manitoba and east) or Vancouver (for tests in Saskatchewan and west). The carriers cache a lot of data inside their networks, but sometimes you have to go outside—and sometimes you have to go a significant distance—to get what you're looking for.

We stopped at a range of locations within a metro area, for at least 15 minutes each. The number of locations varied by the population of the area. Very small towns got one or two stops. Midsize cities like Kingston and Saint John got five or six. The big metropolises saw 20 or more stops.

Our national score is a population-weighted average based on 2016 metropolitan area census data from Statistics Canada. Results in larger cities, such as Toronto, received more weight in the final score than smaller cities, such as Halifax.

We tested mostly during business hours, from July 25 through August 25. We visited different cities on different days. We ended up with about 38,000 test runs, which we processed through a MySQL database and summarized on an Excel 2016 spreadsheet.

The PCMag Speed Score

The PCMag Speed Score is a weighted average that looks at six components of the mobile data experience.

For the second year, we are taking our cues from the new CRTC report on "modern telecommunications services," released in late 2016. While the CRTC decided not to choose a target speed for mobile broadband, it said it was prioritizing availability of LTE technology across Canada. So we increased the importance of "percentage of time on LTE" versus our US report.

Since most mobile internet usage is web page downloads or small-screen video streaming, it's just as important to have a consistent experience as a fast one. Smartphone users may not be able to see the difference between 20Mbps and 100Mbps, but they can definitely feel the difference between 2Mbps and 5Mbps. So we created a "threshold score" showing the percentage of downloads over 5Mbps, and the percentage of uploads over 2Mbps.

Here's how it all comes together:

Average download speed (20 percent)

Downloads over 5Mbps threshold (20 percent)

Average upload speed (10 percent)

Uploads over 2Mbps threshold (10 percent)

Ping time (10 percent)

Time on LTE (30 percent)

A Note on Bell vs. Telus

Because Bell and Telus share wireless spectrum and base stations, it can be hard to tell their performance apart. Last year and this year, we have done so by directing half of our tests to an off-network server—basically, making the data run a relay race across the country, on the principle that much of the data you use daily is stored at Amazon or other large cloud providers. That gives a workout not only to the carriers' radio networks, which are very similar, but to their internet networks, which are different.

Last year, we directed all of these requests to an Amazon instance in Toronto. After consulting with the carriers, this year we also used a Speedtest server at VANIX, a popular network facility in Vancouver used by multiple internet service providers. Half of our tests west of Manitoba went to that server, rather than to Toronto.

This helped us discover an enlightening fact, which we backed up by looking in the Speedtest database: Bell has shorter paths to many servers in the east, while Telus has shorter paths to several servers in British Columbia. This is an artifact of the two companies' history. Bell is originally Montreal-based, while Telus was founded in Edmonton and is now based in Vancouver. We think that's an interesting fact to point out.

Crowdsourcing vs. Drive Testing

There are a lot of "fastest" awards out there. They're all correct, according to their own testing and methodology, and they all have something interesting to say.

In network testing, the main division is between crowdsourcing and drive testing. Right now, we think we're the only organization doing public drive testing in Canada.

Crowdsourcing, which is done by Sensorly, Ookla Speedtest, and OpenSignal, relies on users to run speed tests on their own devices. With a big enough crowd, you can get a good picture of a network. Crowdsourcing is always happening, so it's up to the minute. And you don't have to have carriers' cooperation. We dip into Ookla's crowdsourced data set to look at Eastlink's performance, for instance.

But crowdsourced apps often can't tell whether a test is indoors or outdoors, which makes for very different results. They may not do a good job of finding dead zones, if their users don't run tests in places that obviously have no signal. They may have bigger crowds with some carriers, or in some cities. And if a carrier throttles some users' data plans for overuse, it's difficult to tell in a crowdsourced report who's been throttled, and where the network is just slow.

Drive testing is what we do. Drive testing lets us compare carriers using the same device, in the same place, at the same time. This way we can eliminate variables and map out coverage on our route. It lets us make sure we have as much data as we want in each city, so we can be confident in our results. And it lets us serve small cities where there might not be enough of a crowd for the other testers to create good results.

The Best Network Underground

As Christine Dobby reported in the Globe and Mail, Canada's two major metro systems take very different approaches to cellular service. Montreal has worked with all four Quebec carriers to create a joint system that now covers about half of the city's tunnels. Toronto's network is run by an independent company, BAI, which has only made an agreement with Freedom Mobile.

We took a ride on Toronto's Line 1 from Wilson to St. Andrew to measure Freedom's speeds. Freedom actually acquitted itself very well, with average download speeds of 34.5Mbps and upload speeds of 20.4Mbps. That actually under-measures the in-station performance—I'll get to why in a second.

The weakness, of course, was in the tunnels—and that's often where you need service the most. Freedom only has tunnel coverage from Sheppard West to Vaughan, and from Bloor-Yonge to King. On the other hand, there's no Wi-Fi in the tunnels at all.

Looking more closely at our TTC testing, we got speeds of 50 to 55Mbps down in several stations on Freedom. Some of our lower-speed results came as we were pulling in or out of stations, as the signal faded.

Freedom's TTC service is a great differentiator, but it needs to cover the tunnels better to truly stand out.

It doesn't look like the other providers will offer service in the TTC tunnels soon. Users of other carriers can access in-station Wi-Fi, but that can be a little awkward as you have to click through a portal page and view an ad to use it.

In Montreal, meanwhile, we rode the rails on the orange and green lines and got surprisingly fast speeds—similar to what you'd see on the surface. This is the way to build a subway network. Telus led underground even more than it led on the surface, with average download speeds of 194Mbps in our tests, followed by Bell with 135Mbps, Rogers with 122Mbps, and Videotron with 65Mbps.

The major gaps in Montreal coverage, as we saw in our testing, are on the Green Line south of Lionel-Groulx and north of Beaudry. STM says the system will be fully wired by 2020.

Kingston: North America's Fastest City

Who needs 5G? In Kingston, Ontario, 4G is doing just fine. The college town on the St. Lawrence is Bell's testbed for its new 1.2Gbps 4G system, which combines adjacent lanes of spectrum into the fastest connection we saw this year: We got peak speeds of 780Mbps down in the city. With average download speeds of 292Mbps on the Big Three networks in our tests, we're willing to declare Kingston the fastest wireless city in North America.

We sat down with Kingston's mayor Bryan Paterson to find out what working with Bell is bringing beyond letting people hit their data caps more quickly. The way he puts it, Bell's speedy system is just one aspect of a broader partnership that will include informational kiosks downtown, free Wi-Fi, and smart city services, "So you can follow your garbage truck to know when it's going to pick up your garbage, or the snowplow to know when it's going to plow your street."

Paterson is running for re-election against three other candidates on Oct. 22, on a platform that emphasizes growth and innovation.

"The city of Kingston wants to be a partner," Paterson said. "We're going to put our resources and our infrastructure into play, and then you can have private-sector entities come and say, well, we're going to put in our infrastructure, and we're going to collaborate."

That public-private partnership helps get around some of the conflicts that we've seen in the US between municipalities and internet providers, Paterson said. The city is helping with permitting and siting the 4G system (although there have been "hiccups along the way"), and is also looking into offering public Wi-Fi in cooperation with, not conflict with, Bell.

"We want to see technology not as a divider, but as an equalizer," Paterson said. "So that, for example, leads to our thinking along investments in free public Wi-Fi. Looking at areas of the city, perhaps areas which may be lower income, we're saying, maybe that's where we invest in our public Wi-Fi."

At least some of Kingston's push comes from a desire to keep the ideas coming out of Queens University in town, as opposed to losing technology startups to rivals like Kitchener-Waterloo. (Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge is our second-fastest wireless city, at 193Mbps average downloads.) Paterson said he's trying to make the city a "platform" for innovation

"University education is changing. There's a greater demand for these kinds of internships, opportunities that go from the classroom today to the entrepreneur down the street tomorrow. The university is very interested in building up that ecosystem as well. Maybe that alignment hasn't been there in the past, but it's definitely there now," Paterson said.

Bell's 1.2Gbps system is coming to more places. We saw peak speeds over 500Mbps in Halifax and St. John's, cities where Bell is currently reorganizing its spectrum but doesn't yet have the fast, citywide internet backhaul it has in Kingston. If this partnership pushes innovation on the St. Lawrence into the fast lane, we'll probably see more cities lining up to make similar deals.

Alberta

Telus started in Edmonton, and this year it dominates its historic home province. Calgary showed some of the best peak speeds in the country, with our Bell phone scoring over 500Mbps at one point. (Telus runs the towers that both Bell and Telus operate on in Calgary.)

Rogers also often charted very high speeds in Calgary, but its averages were dragged down by some tests in residential areas where Rogers' network seemed a bit choked up—and actually didn't do better than much slower rival Freedom. In Aspen Woods and Willow Park, for example, we wanted a better showing from Rogers than we got.

Calgary: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 500.37 94.72 348.57 419.88 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 198.06 37.45 110.80 201.96 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 97% 99% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.47 34.55 66.48 63.88 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 30.34 21.90 31.82 31.56 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 93% 99% 100% Average Ping (ms) 51.53 67.66 35.95 30.06 Time on LTE (%) 100% 97% 100% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 95 73 89 100

Overall speeds in Edmonton weren't quite as fast as Calgary, but they were still respectable. Telus won by a nose, but the real news here is how evenly matched Bell/Telus and Rogers are—on average, it's a very even three-way battle.

We were very impressed by the consistency of Freedom's low-cost network in Edmonton. While limited spectrum meant its average speeds couldn't approach anywhere near the other carriers, it kept up a broadband experience consistently across the metro area, at prices that can be $40 less per line than you'd pay with the other options. If cost is any sort of issue and you primarily stay in Edmonton and Calgary (as Freedom doesn't reach as far as Red Deer), it's a better option than before.

Edmonton: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 428.62 91.63 343.83 393.07 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 143.47 31.25 136.19 142.46 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 62.11 34.36 68.77 62.75 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 24.24 20.64 34.05 27.63 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 100% 100% 99% Average Ping (ms) 56.73 72.13 46.36 31.89 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 93 75 96 98

We made two stops in Red Deer between Calgary and Edmonton. As we've seen in other smaller cities this year, the networks in Red Deer aren't quite as fast as the ones in the bigger cities. Another interesting trend developed here, as well. While the combined Telus/Bell network had better average download speeds, Rogers' network proved more reliable—the Bell/Telus network got pretty slow on uploads at one of our two spots. That resulted in Rogers tying Telus because of our reliability measures.

Freedom doesn't serve Red Deer. Now that it's a subsidiary of Calgary-based Shaw, we think it should build out a network there to offer a low-cost alternative—the company does own spectrum in the area.

Red Deer: Rogers and Telus (Tie)

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 224.98 130.04 262.26 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 82.46 58.56 85.80 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 90% 100% 97% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 60.45 65.12 58.69 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 14.60 32.10 14.58 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 78% 100% 64% Average Ping (ms) 54.42 43.76 29.93 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 85 90 90

British Columbia

Telus and Bell showed very similar performance in our two dozen Vancouver-area tests, which makes sense; they're both operating on Telus' towers and spectrum. But Telus' better connectivity to other ISPs in the Vancouver area led to a lower latency number, which combined with higher download speeds to eke out a win.

As we saw elsewhere in the west, Freedom isn't quite in the speed class that the major carriers are in, but it acquitted itself pretty well. We're impressed by Freedom's consistent coverage around our test area, and while its speeds rarely broke 50Mbps, they were usually above the 5 to 10Mbps range that many people would see as mobile broadband.

Vancouver: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 382.24 104.73 374.19 370.35 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 157.24 38.73 90.53 151.52 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 62.36 33.27 66.57 63.89 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 26.76 20.43 29.95 28.95 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 99% 100% 99% Average Ping (ms) 50.43 24.80 25.67 23.27 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 100% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 93 81 91 99

For our Victoria testing, we checked spots both in town and up along the peninsula, including Brentwood Bay and Sidney. Bell and Telus were locked in an effective tie here; Bell's win is because of the weightings of the various components in our score. The two companies together have built the better networks in British Columbia.

Rogers showed some excellent speeds in some parts of town, but it needs to make those speeds more consistent across the broader Saanich Peninsula. Rogers did great at tests in Saanich, for example, but could work on its speeds in Sidney.

Victoria: Bell

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 287.24 314.85 269.35 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 105.38 75.13 107.42 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 92% 99% 91% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 56.03 65.46 54.64 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 16.66 16.34 16.92 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 92% 91% 83% Average Ping (ms) 31.48 34.83 26.81 Time on LTE (%) 100% 99% 95% Speed Score (out of 100) 97 91 96

New Brunswick

We did five or six stops in each of New Brunswick's midsize cities, where we found significant differences between Bell and Telus performance. In Moncton, while our Telus phone grabbed higher average download speeds, our Bell phone was more consistent and reliable. We saw the same phenomenon in Saint John; the reason the carriers split those two cities was just down to how much faster versus how much more reliable each one was.

Moncton: Bell

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 249.43 318.59 396.30 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 120.15 76.66 150.37 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 87% 99% 81% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.46 59.61 64.73 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 16.52 9.34 13.88 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 93% 93% 89% Average Ping (ms) 37.58 72.98 48.71 Time on LTE (%) 97% 98% 98% Speed Score (out of 100) 93 81 92

In Fredericton, meanwhile, Telus not only blew Bell out of the water, every single test we got on Telus was fast.

Rogers just isn't competing on speed here. Our Rogers tests, in general, showed half the speed of our Bell/Telus connections.

Eastlink declined to participate in this year's tests, although it's expanded in NB recently. Using crowdsourced data, we found that the Maritimes' local provider is much slower than the competition, with average LTE download speeds around 23Mbps.

Fredericton: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 303.02 200.90 498.90 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 151.41 66.58 241.22 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 90% 90% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 65.46 52.21 66.65 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 42.98 14.67 42.57 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 87% 84% 100% Average Ping (ms) 41.13 60.62 49.11 Time on LTE (%) 91% 93% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 87 70 98

Saint John: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 458.62 216.98 524.07 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 120.15 76.66 150.37 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 87% 99% 81% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.65 59.61 64.32 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 27.27 16.11 28.58 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 93% 93% 89% Average Ping (ms) 37.58 72.98 48.71 Time on LTE (%) 97% 98% 98% Speed Score (out of 100) 94 83 97

We checked speeds in tiny Sackville, on the NB/NS border, to continue to check our theory that small towns consistently have slower networks than nearby, larger cities. That's the case here. Average speeds in Sackville were up to 50 percent lower than speeds in Moncton, a 40-minute drive away. That's not to say speeds were awful—the averages we saw in Sackville were still higher than most US cities. But small-town New Brunswick isn't getting accelerated quite as quickly as the larger towns are.

Sackville: Bell

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 222.74 95.30 189.77 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 85.55 41.96 85.70 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 98% 100% 88% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 56.05 21.97 52.19 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 16.52 9.34 13.88 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 88% 100% 94% Average Ping (ms) 37.47 64.96 48.05 Time on LTE (%) 91% 100% 98% Speed Score (out of 100) 95 81 93

Newfoundland

We didn't come to Newfoundland expecting to find screaming-fast LTE speeds, but we did. St. John's is one of the places (like Kingston, ON) where Bell has two 20MHz bands of spectrum that it has combined into a 40MHz channel; that resulted in multiple 500Mbps-plus speed tests around the Avalon Peninsula.

As we saw in some other metro areas, our Telus phone got slightly faster speeds than our Bell phone, even though Telus' latencies were slightly longer; that may have to do with fewer customers in Newfoundland using Telus, or other factors we don't understand.

Rogers is way behind, not having that broad 40MHz channel to work with. Eastlink declined to work with us this year and there was not enough Eastlink data in the Speedtest Intelligence crowdsourced database for us to judge its performance.

St. John's: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 545.03 187.59 553.48 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 202.14 76.54 221.36 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 99% 99% 99% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 67.40 60.81 68.29 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 35.92 13.72 40.14 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 84% 99% Average Ping (ms) 54.81 69.43 57.78 Time on LTE (%) 100% 94% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 97 75 99

Our Newfoundland driver headed down along the Avalon Peninsula, up to Trinity, and then over to Gander. Rogers coverage is pretty limited once you get out of metro St. John's, and there's none at all north of Clarenville. Rogers phones will roam on the Bell/Telus network.

We were impressed by Bell/Telus speeds in Gander. It's a small town, but we saw average speeds of 105Mbps with our Telus phone and 86Mbps with our Bell phone. Things were definitely slower on the Trinity Peninsula, with average download speeds around 25Mbps and some notable dead zones.

As we saw in St. John's, our Telus phone got higher average speeds than our Bell phone did in these rural areas, even if Bell is running the physical infrastructure.

Rural Newfoundland: Telus

Bell Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 253.62 222.48 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 86.03 105.41 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 87% 86% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 58.63 58.32 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 15.25 26.09 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 80% 87% Average Ping (ms) 79.50 73.45 Time on LTE (%) 97% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 90 100

Nova Scotia

Eastlink, Nova Scotia's local, family-run wireless carrier, opted out of our tests this year. Typically when a carrier opts out, it's because it knows it won't do well. That turned out to be the case. Eastlink was early with LTE in Nova Scotia, had previously won our award in Halifax, and has been spreading its somewhat lower-cost service into New Brunswick. But crowdsourced Speedtest Intelligence data shows that Eastlink needs more wireless spectrum to be able to compete with the major players: In July and August tests, Eastlink averaged only 27.49Mbps down. That would have been considered a good speed a few years ago, but the competition is advancing by leaps and bounds.

Nova Scotia

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 485.30 229.48 624.20 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 172.62 77.43 198.91 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 98% 98% 96% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 66.61 62.01 66.44 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 31.59 13.75 36.62 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 91% 87% 93% Average Ping (ms) 32.93 67.39 45.15 Time on LTE (%) 99% 98% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 96 75 97

We saw one of the fastest results in the whole country in Halifax, a 624Mbps speed in Dartmouth that helped push Telus to win here. Our Telus phone grabbed that insane speed although Bell runs the network hardware and has better paths to the internet from Halifax. We got noticeably faster upload and download speeds with our Telus phone than our Bell phone in the same locations, although Bell's network had noticeably better latency.

Halifax: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 403.43 229.48 624.20 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 178.40 82.36 206.83 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 98% 98% 97% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.67 62.01 66.27 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 32.35 14.31 37.36 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 91% 86% 92% Average Ping (ms) 32.33 67.74 44.86 Time on LTE (%) 99% 98% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 96 75 97

Smaller Nova Scotia Cities

Bell has the best network in rural Nova Scotia. In some places, Bell has the only LTE network in rural Nova Scotia—that's what we found in rural Guysborough County, for instance, where Rogers just roams on Bell. However, as we saw in Halifax, using a Telus subscription in Nova Scotia can get you better speeds.

Rogers is just way behind in Nova Scotia, and that's damaging competition. While Rogers' network is reliable where it has coverage (and roams on Bell where it doesn't), its speeds are not by and large competitive. Canada's number-one carrier needs to seriously step up its game in NS.

Amherst: Bell

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 193.24 56.58 205.85 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 100.03 31.65 104.65 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 100% 83% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 59.81 11.38 59.60 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 36.46 8.10 40.70 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 93% 100% Average Ping (ms) 35.35 61.76 48.75 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 92% Speed Score (out of 100) 98 73 91

Truro: Bell and Telus (Tie)

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 485.30 61.56 391.03 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 158.78 30.51 163.60 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 94% 99% 96% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 66.61 24.16 66.44 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 25.73 9.41 33.22 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 94% 94% 94% Average Ping (ms) 36.77 71.15 48.12 Time on LTE (%) 99% 99% 95% Speed Score (out of 100) 96 72 96

Guysborough: Telus

Bell Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 19.25 23.57 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 10.78 16.88 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 84% 93% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 6.40 6.65 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 4.72 4.46 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 97% 100% Average Ping (ms) 48.98 46.87 Time on LTE (%) 78% 96% Speed Score (out of 100) 80 94 Ottawa Ottawa is special. It's not just the federal capital; it's the only city in all of Canada with five wireless providers. In our tests, the combined Bell/Telus network performed head and shoulders above the competition, although Rogers also acquitted itself well. But in Ottawa, pricing is a big part of the story. On the Ontario side of the river, Videotron's rates are so much lower than the majors that we think it's worth putting up with somewhat slower speeds, especially because Videotron says it's working to get access to Rogers' Band 7 spectrum (which will make Videotron's performance pretty much on par with Rogers'). A 5GB Videotron plan costs $60.95 per month, while 6GB plans on the major carriers cost $100 to $105. If you want the best speeds, try to use an address on the Quebec side of the river, where major-carrier rates are $40 less per month. Freedom did not acquit itself well in Ottawa, and Freedom's contiguous coverage area doesn't extend far outside the immediate city environs. We see Freedom as more of a solution for people in the GTHA who travel to Ottawa sometimes. Ottawa: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Videotron Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 444.10 27.23 357.94 477.98 137.27 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 170.08 11.64 116.13 173.34 46.97 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 75% 94% 100% 93% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 62.22 10.17 59.53 61.28 30.31 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 26.22 6.40 26.95 26.31 17.50 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 94% 99% 100% 93% Average Ping (ms) 32.08 37.69 31.55 26.08 34.83 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% 98% Speed Score (out of 100) 97 65 90 100 77 Prince Edward Island We did 12 tests across Prince Edward Island to find out that Bell is the best network for the whole province. Unlike other cities where we stayed in one metro area, we tried to test locations in Charlottetown, Summerside, and rural PEI for a broader view. Bell runs the towers used by both Bell and Telus in the province. The two carriers' speeds were pretty much on par, although Bell won primarily because its more comprehensive internet network led to lower latencies. Our fastest tests came, as you'd expect, in central Charlottetown. Rogers' score suffered a bit because we hit a dead zone at Argyle Shore. Prince Edward Island: Bell

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 427.48 161.74 436.66 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 109.91 40.23 111.43 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 91% 91% 82% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.75 54.71 63.23 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 18.93 6.12 18.31 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 81% 69% 86% Average Ping (ms) 37.13 77.46 48.40 Time on LTE (%) 99% 88% 98% Speed Score (out of 100) 99 70 95 Quebec Telus' strong performance in Montreal, Bell's historic headquarters, was a surprise this year. While the two carriers share towers in Montreal, we saw better performance on our Telus phone—perhaps because Telus isn't as popular a choice as Quebec's old-school, incumbent carrier. Rogers was behind the two winners, but its speeds were still very good. Rogers wanted to point out to us locations in the Montreal metro area, especially on the south shore, where its speeds turn out better than Bell's and Telus', so we measured at two locations Rogers recommended in St. Lambert and Brossard—and yes, we got 214Mbps down on Rogers there but only 138Mbps down on Bell and Telus. If Rogers can extend that kind of performance into central Montreal, it could take the crown here again. Videotron shares a physical network with Rogers, but its speeds are much slower because it doesn't have access to Rogers' Band 7 spectrum. The company tells us it's working on it; if it gets access to the full network, its average speeds in urban Montreal should double. We also tested in the Metro system, where we were wowed by speeds that were similar to what we saw on the surface. Montreal's underground coverage, with all four carriers supported, is much better than Toronto's. Montreal: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Videotron Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 433.87 362.02 501.80 163.29 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 148.50 119.80 187.62 52.00 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 99% 99% 99% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.67 60.67 64.03 42.02 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 35.87 30.55 30.55 35.18 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 98% 100% 100% 97% Average Ping (ms) 27.91 23.52 23.52 23.19 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 100% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 94 91 99 79 Telus excelled in both Montreal and Quebec City in our tests. That said, Quebec City was a near tie between the Bell and Telus, and you'll get very similar speeds that are some of the highest in the country. Our Fastest ISPs Canada story explains a reason to go with Bell, though: Gigabit Fibe. Bell will let you bundle wireless plans with its extremely high-speed residential fiber internet for a considerable savings, while Telus does not offer bundles in Quebec City. As the two carriers have pretty much the same performance in Quebec, you'll get a better deal with Bell Mobility if you also have Bell internet. Rogers also performed well in Quebec City. The gap between Rogers and Videotron is because, while they share towers, Videotron does not have access to Rogers' fast, urban Band 7 spectrum. If Videotron gets access to that spectrum in the future, its average speeds in the area should double. Quebec City: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Videotron Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 485.33 336.02 444.69 159.60 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 180.19 131.68 181.77 61.55 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 98% 100% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 66.40 59.57 62.98 42.37 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 28.84 27.28 27.61 26.51 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 98% 99% 100% Average Ping (ms) 30.68 29.64 25.78 25.43 Time on LTE (%) 100% 98% 100% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 98 91 99 86 Smaller Quebec Cities We made a few stops each in three smaller Quebec cities on our way between Montreal and Quebec. All three have much slower overall speeds than the big metros do, although that's relative; they're still faster than most major US cities. Telus had the highest download speeds in each of the three cities. Videotron did better in Drummondville because the other carriers ran into dead spots where their LTE networks failed, but our Videotron phone stuck with LTE the whole time. Reliability is very important in our tests. Although Telus was the fastest, you may get a better deal from Bell as part of a bundle with your home internet service. Bell offers bundles in most of Quebec, while Telus only offers bundles in the eastern portion of the province, where we did not test. Drummondville: Videotron

Bell Rogers Telus Videotron Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 189.38 164.77 224.59 130.52 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 55.72 66.07 73.26 60.13 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 83% 79% 80% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 60.26 53.24 42.93 37.15 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 9.27 13.69 10.05 15.90 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 82% 76% 82% 98% Average Ping (ms) 37.42 29.22 33.93 31.48 Time on LTE (%) 90% 91% 90% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 81 87 86 96 Sherbrooke: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Videotron Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 242.38 138.36 339.18 125.87 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 91.52 59.57 121.78 48.97 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 99% 100% 98% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 59.36 46.62 62.58 38.59 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 21.37 16.82 25.03 20.46 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 98% 99% 99% Average Ping (ms) 31.14 26.63 27.55 31.74 Time on LTE (%) 99% 100% 99% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 92 86 99 85 Trois-Rivieres: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Videotron Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 288.21 278.62 469.52 160.56 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 126.57 129.58 164.90 72.07 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 98% 100% 98% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 49.46 55.48 49.29 39.33 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 26.61 26.89 23.82 29.00 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 98% 99% 99% Average Ping (ms) 29.49 25.12 27.09 31.14 Time on LTE (%) 99% 100% 95% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 92 95 96 87 Saskatchewan Rogers was the clear leader over our 15 tests in Saskatoon, with download speeds head and shoulders above its three competitors. Rogers' advantage was especially stark in some of the densest parts of town, such as Broadway and 12 St E in Nutana, where Rogers averaged 148Mbps down while none of its competitors could break 50Mbps. SaskTel returned to our project this year after opting out last year, and the Crown corporation's network acquitted itself quite well against Bell and Telus in Saskatchewan. (The three companies share some elements of network equipment.) The low monthly rates that Saskatchewan residents pay for wireless are largely because of SaskTel's presence, which is something Saskatchewan residents should factor in when shopping around. Saskatoon: Rogers

Bell Rogers Telus Sasktel Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 237.94 258.22 240.92 223.93 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 65.34 117.92 75.25 60.41 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 96% 100% 95% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 44.33 65.11 46.64 45.35 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 22.33 21.18 24.00 24.25 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 97% 100% 96% 100% Average Ping (ms) 64.09 42.39 58.43 70.83 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 99% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 86 99 88 86 Regina: Rogers and Telus (Tie) Bell had the fastest download speeds in Regina, but Rogers' higher upload speeds and lower latency helped push it ahead in a complex balance of all of our measurement factors. We were surprised at getting considerably lower Regina speeds on Rogers than Saskatoon speeds, which might just have come from the selection of our 15 semi-random Regina test locations.

Bell Rogers Sasktel Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 285.88 216.51 190.44 271.41 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 90.09 79.36 74.25 87.22 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 100% 100% 99% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 46.63 68.10 44.29 43.29 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 20.28 25.61 24.91 20.10 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 87% 100% 98% Average Ping (ms) 63.99 40.53 75.07 42.64 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 100% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 94 96 92 96 Smaller Saskatchewan Cities Odd things were happening during our testing in these smaller cities. Rogers typically has excellent performance in small-town Saskatchewan. Our Rogers phone performed consistently poorly during our time in Swift Current, but speeds picked up dramatically when we got to Saskatoon less than three hours later. This might reflect some work Rogers was doing on its network in Swift Current at the time, or other local network conditions. Our Sasktel phone, meanwhile, had a provisioning issue when we were in Moose Jaw, so we could not collect Sasktel speeds there. Still, though, we're showing results from these smaller cities because they illustrate a nationwide trend: Small cities are well covered by the major carriers' LTE networks now, but at noticeably slower speeds than the large metros. Swift Current: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Sasktel Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 140.57 7.36 107.42 123.83 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 52.53 2.86 55.50 57.92 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 21% 100% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 43.96 10.38 42.18 43.78 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 24.23 6.80 23.07 24.70 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 100% 98% 100% Average Ping (ms) 67.30 47.31 47.83 80.51 Time on LTE (%) 100% 97% 98% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 95 57 97 96 Moose Jaw: Rogers

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 158.64 94.68 154.88 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 60.19 71.98 59.68 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 100% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 41.04 26.36 43.50 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 18.97 14.80 22.53 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 100% 97% Average Ping (ms) 67.72 40.17 45.34 Time on LTE (%) 100% 100% 98% Speed Score (out of 100) 91 97 95 Southern Ontario Our Hamilton results were very similar to the Toronto results we saw next door. Bell and Telus, which both use Bell's base stations, showed very similar, excellent performance, with Telus ever so slightly ahead on downloads. Kingston is the nation's fastest city but is farther east than the other southern Ontario cities we surveyed. Southern Ontario

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 780.91 101.37 355.98 742.26 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 179.05 38.79 101.56 192.43 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 99% 97% 98% 99% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 67.71 36.07 63.11 66.39 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 34.34 20.64 28.10 35.13 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 95% 95% 98% Average Ping (ms) 28.59 29.57 25.93 29.73 Time on LTE (%) 99% 98% 98% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 97 77 87 99 Rogers' performance really lagged in Hamilton this year, struggling along with averages considerably lower than we saw in other cities. Freedom, on the other hand, did relatively well. While it offered broadband speeds slightly less often than the other carriers, we still judge it to be a reliable low-cost choice in the whole GTHA. Hamilton: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 478.50 93.25 259.22 491.26 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 175.83 33.72 68.76 183.73 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 99% 99% 99% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 62.97 32.52 59.11 62.14 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 25.16 17.91 22.28 26.45 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 98% 93% 95% 96% Average Ping (ms) 29.11 26.16 25.56 30.24 Time on LTE (%) 99% 98% 99% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 97 79 85 98 Canada's tech center came out as the second-fastest city overall in our 36-city test, with average downloads of 193Mbps between the Big Three carriers. (The fastest city was Kingston, a wannabe tech center where Bell has new network technology.) The fastest test spot we chose was out by the airport, probably because there weren't a lot of people using the network out there. That's why citywide average speeds are more reflective of your experience than the spectacular peaks are. BlackBerry and Google employees will probably be equally pleased with Telus and Bell service in their cities, and while Rogers looks much slower, note that it still provided broadband-level service (over 5Mbps down) more than 99 percent of the time. Students will find Freedom's speeds better in Cambridge and Waterloo than in Kitchener itself, from our tests. Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge: Bell/Telus (Tie)

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 487.01 90.83 279.81 534.88 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 222.48 39.94 114.72 242.12 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 100% 100% 99% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 67.71 34.10 63.11 66.39 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 39.45 21.21 26.11 35.49 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 96% 100% 94% 97% Average Ping (ms) 29.32 24.97 25.97 31.88 Time on LTE (%) 99% 100% 100% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 96 79 85 96 We saw a trend this year where Bell's strengths showed more in smaller cities and smaller towns in eastern Canada, London included. That's because Bell has historic internet infrastructure and great connectivity across the east, while Telus' core network may not be as developed outside the major cities. So although Bell and Telus share towers in London, we saw better download and upload speeds on Bell's network across our various tests. We were pleasantly surprised by the high average speeds, too. Canadians may not know how good they have it; average speeds in our tests in New York were from 37 to 52Mbps, not 181Mbps. Freedom's coverage in the London area has improved, but it's still somewhat less reliable than the Big Three, with issues on the north and east sides of the metro area. Freedom has a coverage gap between London and Woodstock that needs to be filled. London: Bell

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 463.68 92.70 304.75 488.11 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 187.60 38.91 105.54 181.47 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 92% 91% 100% 90% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.42 34.10 63.11 65.52 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 30.34 18.14 21.36 26.39 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 91% 90% 99% 88% Average Ping (ms) 29.95 26.66 25.72 31.90 Time on LTE (%) 97% 91% 100% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 95 74 88 93 Average speeds in Windsor, while very impressive, weren't quite what we saw in larger Southern Ontario cities. Bell hasn't laid in its latest network upgrades there yet, so it's lagging a bit behind Kitchener and Toronto. Bell and Telus tied here because while Telus had slightly better download speeds, Bell had slightly better upload speeds. The two carriers' performance was extremely close, though, as we saw in many cities across Canada. We got really good results on Freedom in part because of our site selection; the carrier has good coverage in parts of town north of the 401. Be aware that according to Freedom's site, coverage really wobbles south of the 401, though. Freedom's speeds are now delivering a broadband experience when you're on its network: Shaw just needs to invest in building more towers to extend that coverage through more of the metro area. Windsor: Bell/Telus (Tie)

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 282.99 101.37 210.07 271.67 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 97.01 41.48 68.00 104.49 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 98% 95% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 62.77 33.60 43.48 63.65 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 23.70 21.59 13.71 20.35 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 99% 79% 100% Average Ping (ms) 34.27 54.42 32.33 33.51 Time on LTE (%) 100% 98% 97% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 98 82 85 98 Smaller Ontario Cities Kingston, ON is the fastest wireless city in Canada. In cooperation with the city, Bell has installed a new 1.2Gbps system there that bonds two 20MHz, Band 7 channels to make one broad 40MHz channel. We did six tests at locations around Kingston, and saw peak speeds of 780Mbps—speeds we've never seen anywhere else in North America. During our tests, we think we also started to see this configuration in Halifax and St. John's, and Bell tells us it's coming to Calgary. But for this year, Kingston shows the absolute cutting edge of high-speed wireless in Canada. Kingston: Bell

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 780.91 27.87 229.31 742.26 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 412.93 7.05 80.48 384.47 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 99% 63% 99% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 64.56 9.78 28.42 64.14 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 39.24 6.01 11.26 39.25 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 99% 95% 87% 100% Average Ping (ms) 36.24 53.63 36.96 34.50 Time on LTE (%) 99% 100% 99% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 99 60 74 98 We also saw very fast speeds in Brantford and Guelph, which seemed to benefit from their proximity to Bell and Telus' excellent network build in Kitchener. Our Telus phone showed faster results than our Bell phone in both cities. Rogers also did particularly well in Guelph, a highly competitive city for wireless. Freedom Mobile has improved its coverage west of Toronto dramatically, and in the Brantford and Guelph areas, we saw much more reliable results than we had previously. We were not impressed with Freedom's performance in Kingston, though, either on speed or on coverage. Brantford: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 397.48 84.39 185.32 367.47 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 189.36 56.38 63.48 196.43 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 98% 98% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 60.41 30.73 33.48 60.33 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 19.12 17.53 10.13 19.76 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 98% 98% 100% Average Ping (ms) 31.16 28.78 29.76 32.40 Time on LTE (%) 100% 98% 100% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 98 83 81 99 Guelph: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 448.99 96.72 285.44 434.71 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 190.91 36.52 150.87 214.94 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 96% 98% 100% 96% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.45 33.56 56.46 65.38 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 34.72 18.29 23.70 35.39 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 96% 97% 99% 78% Average Ping (ms) 30.64 29.16 22.90 31.80 Time on LTE (%) 97% 97% 100% 99% Speed Score (out of 100) 93 75 91 94 Toronto Canada's biggest metro area holds the most weight in our population-weighted national score, and it's a good example of several trends we saw this year. Bell and Telus are both extremely fast, with Bell peaking over 511Mbps near Rogers and Keele in the Silverthorn neighbourhood. Telus eked out an overall win by the narrowest of margins, because the two carriers share much of their network equipment. Rogers is behind Bell and Telus, but note its very high peak speeds; the carrier could bring up average speeds without increasing its maximum. We went to a few locations around town, such as the corner of Islington and Norsemen and near the Wilson TTC stop, where Rogers was the fastest of the three carriers; it just has to spread that performance across Toronto. Freedom is in a class of its own for two reasons: it's much less expensive than the other carriers, slower, and is the only carrier with coverage on the TTC. Freedom's coverage in the GTA has improved dramatically over the past few years, and it's no longer less reliable than the other providers. Toronto: Telus

Bell Freedom Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 511.80 95.09 355.98 459.76 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 172.56 39.69 106.23 189.04 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 100% 97% 98% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 63.66 36.07 60.71 65.10 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 36.17 21.61 31.34 37.98 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 100% 95% 95% 99% Average Ping (ms) 27.71 28.65 25.33 28.84 Time on LTE (%) 100% 99% 97% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 97 77 88 99 Winnipeg Winnipeg is unique. After Bell bought MTS (and changed it to Bell MTS), Manitoba became the only area where Bell and Telus are running totally different radio networks, with no sharing involved. That has let Telus open up a much bigger performance gap with Bell than it has in other metro areas where they share some equipment. Because of historic competition from MTS, Winnipeg has some of the lowest wireless rates in Canada. Winnipeg was also all-around one of the slowest major cities in all of Canada; although the networks showed high peak speeds, average speeds were half what we saw in Quebec or Toronto. Winnipeg: Telus

Bell Rogers Telus Maximum Download Speed (Mbps) 325.77 352.61 288.97 Average Download Speed (Mbps) 74.02 73.21 130.02 Downloads Above 5Mbps (%) 93% 93% 100% Maximum Upload Speed (Mbps) 60.95 63.28 62.03 Average Upload Speed (Mbps) 21.03 19.97 19.79 Uploads Over 2Mbps (%) 93% 90% 98% Average Ping (ms) 53.55 87.09 40.28 Time on LTE (%) 98% 97% 100% Speed Score (out of 100) 87 82 99

Further Reading