Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Telus is the operator to beat in Canada. In this report, Telus won four of our awards outright and tied for two others. The mobile operator took first place awards in Video Experience, Voice App Experience, Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience. It also scored a draw with Rogers in Games Experience and another draw with Bell in 4G Coverage Experience.
Mobile gamers in Canada have an overall gaming experience that is best described as fair. All three Canadian operators received “Fair” rating in Opensignal’s new Games Experience award, which measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Telus and Rogers statistically tied for the top spot with scores of 70.9 and 69.9 respectively, which puts them into the Fair category (65-75) on a scale of 0-100. Bell was just slightly behind with a score of 68.5. A Fair rating means that users found the experience “average” and in most cases the game was responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they felt like they had control over the game.
Once again Telus was the winner in the Download Speed Experience category, this time with a score of 72.7 Mbps, a slight decline since our February report when we logged download speeds of 75 Mbps. Telus has consistently won this category in every Opensignal report since January 2017. In Upload Speed Experience, Telus also was the winner with a score of 10.9 Mbps; this is a slight decline from the average upload speed of 12.8 Mbps that was observed by our Telus users over the data collection period for our February report.
In our last report, we praised both Telus and Bell for scoring coveted Excellent ratings in Video Experience. However, in this report all three Canadian operators saw a decline in their Video Experience scores. This is likely a seasonal trend that occurred as the weather became nicer. People left their homes becoming more reliable upon cellular networks and less on WiFi for their video viewing which caused some congestion. Telus won the category with a score of 74.5 on a 100-point scale., which gives it a Very Good rating and is just shy of achieving an Excellent score. This is a small 3.2% decline from its score of 77.0 in our February 2020 report which represented a period before the COVID crisis. Bell came in second with a score of 72.8, which is also a Very Good rating, and is a 3.7% decline from its score of 75.6 in our last report. Rogers also saw its score decline by 1.6% for a score of 69.1. A Very Good ranking (65-75) means that users experienced generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling.
Rogers made the biggest strides in 4G Availability in the last six months rising from third place to first place and jumping up by three percentage points from 91.2% to 94.2%. This is the first time Rogers has won the 4G Availability award outright since our January 2016 report. Telus, which has won the award outright three times, came in second with a score of 93.2% and Bell came in third with 92.2%. However, Telus and Bell tied for first place in Opensignal’s first 4G Coverage Experience award in Canada. This measures how mobile subscribers experience 4G coverage on an operator’s network relative to locations visited by users of all network operators. Both Telus and Bell received a score of 9.6 on a scale of 0-10. Rogers was behind the two other operators with a score of 8.3.
Canada’s big three nationwide operators are now moving to 5G. Telus announced in June that its 5G network was available in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and the Greater Toronto Area. The company added that it will continue to expand to an additional 26 markets across Canada throughout the remainder of the year. Bell also said in June that its 5G service was available in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. And Rogers revealed in March that it was offering 5G service in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
But Canadian operators are somewhat limited to deploying 5G in lower spectrum bands for now because the government has delayed the auction of desirable 3.5 GHz mid-band spectrum until June 15, 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One interesting new development in the Canadian wireless market is the launch of Shaw Mobile, a new 4G wireless service that debuted at the end of July (after the data collection period for this report). Launched by Shaw Communications, Shaw Mobile is only available in British Columbia and Alberta.
Canadian users still benefit from having some of the fastest 4G network speeds around. As we found in our State of the Mobile Network Experience 2020 report earlier this year, Canada and South Korea deliver the fastest download speeds of all the countries that we measure, clocking in with average download speeds around 59 Mbps.
In this report we noticed that two of the three mobile operators saw slight declines of 2.3 Mbps and 2.2 Mbps in their Download Speed Experience compared to our February report. However, this data was collected from April 1 until June 30, during the height of calls from the Canadian authorities to stay at home when possible (which began around mid-March), we attribute this decline to the COVID-19 pandemic. In some countries stay-at-home orders resulted in an increase in mobile data consumption. We examined this trend more closely in our Mobile Network Experience during the COVID-19 pandemic: June update.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on mobile network experience. Overall, the Canadian experience has been resilient compared with many countries. But there have been changes in mobile data consumption both in the volume of data and the locations where users are consuming mobile data. In some areas this has increased load on mobile networks. COVID-19 was one of the reasons behind declines that we saw in Video Experience rankings, Voice App Experience rankings and Upload Speed Experience scores as well.
Nonetheless, Canadian operators continued to make strides in 4G Availability, which measures the proportion of time 4G users spend connected to 4G. Rogers made the biggest jump, moving up to first place with a score of 94.2% and it is now close to achieving the highly coveted 95% mark for 4G Availability.
In 4G Coverage Experience Telus and Bell tied for first place. This measures how mobile subscribers experience 4G coverage on an operator’s network relative to locations visited by users of all network operators.
In this latest report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience for Canada’s three nationwide operators, Telus, Bell and Rogers, over a 90-day period starting April 1 and ending June 29. Along with our national analysis, we've also examined the operators’ scores in 11 of the largest cities.
| Mobile Experience Awards Canada | |||
|---|---|---|---|
August 2020,
Canada Report
|
T
Telus
|
B
Bell
|
R
Rogers
|
Video Experience
| |||
Games Experience
| |||
Voice App Experience
| |||
Download Speed Experience
| |||
Upload Speed Experience
| |||
4G Availability
| |||
4G Coverage Experience
| |||
|
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
|
August 2020,
Canada
|
|---|---|
|
Video Experience
|
T
Telus
|
|
Voice App Experience
|
T
Telus
|
|
Download Speed Experience
|
T
Telus
|
|
Upload Speed Experience
|
T
Telus
|
|
4G Availability
|
R
Rogers
|
|
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
|
August 2020, Canada
|
|---|---|
|
Games Experience
|
T
Telus
R
Rogers
|
|
4G Coverage Experience
|
T
Telus
B
Bell
|
Telus was the winner of the Video Experience category with a score of 74.5 on a 0-100 scale, which gives it a Very Good rating (65-75). This means that users experienced generally fast loading times and only occasional stalling.
Bell and Rogers also placed in the Very Good category with scores of 72.8 and 69.1, respectively. As we noted above, all operators earned slightly lower scores than those in our February report. This was likely due to seasonal changes as the weather became nicer and people left their homes and became less reliant upon WiFi.
|
Video Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Telus
|
B
Bell
|
R
Rogers
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Video Experience
| 76.1 (± 0.29) | 74.8 (± 0.29) | 71.4 (± 0.38) |
|
3G Video Experience
| 53.8 (± 1.64) | 52.1 (± 1.58) | 44.3 (± 1.82) |
| 4G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Telus
|
76 (± 0.29) |
|
B
Bell
|
75 (± 0.29) |
|
R
Rogers
|
71 (± 0.38) |
| 3G Video Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Telus
|
54 (± 1.64) |
|
B
Bell
|
52 (± 1.58) |
|
R
Rogers
|
44 (± 1.82) |
When we look solely at the 4G Video Experience, Telus again had the highest score (76.1), which put it in the Excellent category, while Bell and Rogers both placed in the Very Good category, with scores of 74.8 and 71.4, respectively.
All three Canadian operators scored in the Fair category with a score between 65-75 on a 0-100 scale. Telus and Rogers statistically tied for this measure of the mobile experience with scores of 70.9 and 69.9, respectively, but Bell wasn’t far behind with a score of 68.5. A score in the Fair category means that users found the experience “average”. In most cases the game was responsive to the actions of the player with most users reporting that they felt like they had control over the game.
|
Games Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Telus
|
B
Bell
|
R
Rogers
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Games Experience
| 75.0 (± 0.58) | 73.7 (± 0.44) | 74.4 (± 0.51) |
|
3G Games Experience
| 36.7 (± 0.43) | 36.3 (± 0.35) | 37.1 (± 0.41) |
| 4G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Telus
|
75 (± 0.58) |
|
B
Bell
|
74 (± 0.44) |
|
R
Rogers
|
74 (± 0.51) |
| 3G Games Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Telus
|
37 (± 0.43) |
|
B
Bell
|
36 (± 0.35) |
|
R
Rogers
|
37 (± 0.41) |
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. The metric is measured on a scale of 0-100 and looks at how the user experience is impacted by network conditions.
This approach was developed from several years of research looking at the relationship between the technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Minecraft and PUBG) played around the world.
In Opensignal’s Voice App Experience analysis all three Canadian operators saw their scores drop slightly from our February 2020 report and have fallen into the Acceptable (74-80) category. Telus was the winner with a score of 79.4 on a 0-100 scale, followed by Rogers with a score of 78.6 and Bell with a score of 78.5.
An Acceptable ranking means that users were satisfied but some experienced perceptible call quality impairments such as clicking sounds for a short duration and/or the volume may not have been sufficiently loud.
|
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Telus
|
B
Bell
|
R
Rogers
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in 0-100 points | |||
|
4G Voice App Experience
| 80.2 (± 0.23) | 79.5 (± 0.19) | 79.6 (± 0.22) |
|
3G Voice App Experience
| 69.9 (± 0.83) | 68.4 (± 0.68) | 68.3 (± 0.93) |
| 4G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Telus
|
80 (± 0.23) |
|
B
Bell
|
79 (± 0.19) |
|
R
Rogers
|
80 (± 0.22) |
| 3G Voice App Experience | in 0-100 points |
|
T
Telus
|
70 (± 0.83) |
|
B
Bell
|
68 (± 0.68) |
|
R
Rogers
|
68 (± 0.93) |
However, when we look solely at 4G Voice App Experience Telus earns a score of 80.2 which puts it into the Good category. But Bell and Rogers are still in the Acceptable range with scores of 79.5 and 79.6, respectively.
Telus was the winner in Download Speed Experience. The average overall download speed experienced by Opensignal users on Telus’ network was 72.7 Mbps, which is 5.2 Mbps faster than its closest rival, Bell, and a whopping 18.8 Mbps faster than Rogers. However, our Rogers users were the only users that saw their Download Speed Experience improve from our last report. Roger users saw their download speeds increase from 51.2 Mbps last February to 53.9 Mbps.
|
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Telus
|
B
Bell
|
R
Rogers
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Download Speed
| 77.8 (± 0.89) | 73.4 (± 0.82) | 58.3 (± 0.63) |
|
3G Download Speed
| 5.7 (± 0.19) | 5.7 (± 0.19) | 5.3 (± 0.17) |
| 4G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Telus
|
78 (± 0.89) |
|
B
Bell
|
73 (± 0.82) |
|
R
Rogers
|
58 (± 0.63) |
| 3G Download Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Telus
|
6 (± 0.19) |
|
B
Bell
|
6 (± 0.19) |
|
R
Rogers
|
5 (± 0.17) |
When we look at 4G Download Speeds, Telus maintained its strong position with a score of 77.8 Mbps. The average 4G download speeds observed by our Telus users were 4.4 Mbps faster than their Bell counterparts and 19.5 Mbps faster than Rogers users.
Telus won this category — our users on its network observed average upload speeds of 10.9 Mbps, which is just slightly faster than its next closest rival Rogers. Our users on Rogers’ network and Bell’s network observed average upload speeds of 10.5 Mbps and 10.3 Mbps, which means they statistically tied for second place. Upload speeds are becoming increasingly important as mobile users spend more time uploading videos to social media services like TikTok.
|
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics |
T
Telus
|
B
Bell
|
R
Rogers
|
|---|---|---|---|
| in Mbps | |||
|
4G Upload Speed
| 11.6 (± 0.15) | 11.2 (± 0.14) | 11.3 (± 0.14) |
|
3G Upload Speed
| 1.2 (± 0.08) | 1.1 (± 0.06) | 1.0 (± 0.06) |
| 4G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Telus
|
12 (± 0.15) |
|
B
Bell
|
11 (± 0.14) |
|
R
Rogers
|
11 (± 0.14) |
| 3G Upload Speed | in Mbps |
|
T
Telus
|
1 (± 0.08) |
|
B
Bell
|
1 (± 0.06) |
|
R
Rogers
|
1 (± 0.06) |
When we break down 3G versus 4G connections, we find our users on Telus observed average 4G upload speeds of 11.6 Mbps, while Rogers scored 11.3 Mbps. Our Bell users had 4G upload speeds of 11.2 Mbps.
Rogers won first place in our 4G Availability metric with a score of 94.2%, which is a 3% increase over what we reported for the operator in our February 2020 report. Rogers also surpassed Telus, which has a 4G Availability score of 93.2%. Bell was in third place with a score of 92.2%.
All three of Canada’s nationwide operators are strong in this measure of the mobile experience, as our users on their networks experienced 4G Availability scores higher than 90% on average. Even a small increase in an operator’s 4G Availability ranking will equate to a significant user impact because of the additional time connected to the 4G network.
Telus and Bell tied for Opensignal’s 4G Coverage Experience award. Both had scores of 9.6 on a scale of 0-10. Rogers came in third place with a score of 8.3. The higher the number means our users experienced 4G coverage in more locations of higher relative importance according to the population that spends time in them.
This is the first time we’ve reported on the 4G Coverage Experience in Canada. This metric analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators.
In our regional analysis, we compared 11 of Canada’s largest cities. Opensignal also published an analysis of how the mobile experience varies across Canada's major provinces. In our city analysis, Telus won our national Video Experience award and it also won or shared 10 out of 11 of our city-level awards in this category.
However, when we looked at some of the individual scores measured in those 11 cities, we saw some big variations. For example, in Montreal and Calgary Opensignal users on Telus’ network had Video Experience scores of 80.3 on a 0-100 scale, which puts them in the Excellent category. By contrast, Opensignal users on Rogers’ network in Winnipeg saw Video Experience scores of just 64.2, which puts them in the Good category (55-65).
We also saw interesting regional results in Games Experience. While Telus and Rogers tied for the national award and both received scores in the Fair category (65-75 on a 0-100 scale), at the city level Telus had the most awards with two wins and nine draws. We saw some of the highest Games Experience scores in Montreal where Videotron, Telus and Bell tied for first place with scores of 84.8, 85 and 85, respectively. Rogers was just slightly behind with a score of 81.4. This means Opensignal users in Montreal had a Good to Excellent gaming experience.
Telus, the winner of the national Download Speed Experience award, also won two city awards outright — Montreal and Winnipeg — for this measure of the mobile experience and drew for eight city awards. Bell won one city Download Speed Experience award outright — Kitchener — and drew for another eight cities.
We saw some blazingly fast speeds in Montreal where Telus users experienced average download speeds of 114 Mbps and Bell users experienced download speeds of 102.3 Mbps. We also saw the other extreme in Toronto where Freedom Mobile users had download speeds of just 27.4 Mbps or Ottawa where Freedom Mobile users had download speeds of just 10.3 Mbps. In seven of the 11 cities, our users on at least one operator had average overall download speeds greater than 90 Mbps.
Canadian operators in the 11 cities we analyzed also performed well in 4G Availability. In Vancouver, Hamilton, Edmonton, Montreal and Calgary our 4G users were able to find 4G signals from Telus, Bell and Rogers more than 95% of the time.
Select any region or city below to display individual breakdown
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the mobile analytics company committed to improving mobile connectivity across the globe. We are the independent authority for understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Get in touch for more information on our analytics solutions and industry reports.
Opensignal Limited retains ownership of this report including all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs & analysis. Reports produced by Opensignal Limited may not be quoted, reproduced, distributed, published for any commercial purpose (including use in advertisements or other promotional content) without prior written consent. Journalists are encouraged to quote information included in Opensignal reports provided they include clear source attribution. For more information, contact [email protected].
