Canada
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Canada
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
Rogers leads in Video and Live Video Experience
Our Rogers users observe the best quality of experience while streaming on-demand videos as well as live videos in Canada. As a result, Rogers is the outright winner of the Video and Live Video Experience awards with scores of 68.1 points and 55.7 points on 100-point scales, respectively, earning a Very Good rating in both categories. Rogers leads over Bell and Telus by 3.3 points for Video Experience and by 3.1 points for Live Video Experience.
Rogers users have the most consistent experience
Rogers is the first operator to win the new Consistent Quality award in Canada. Rogers comes top for Consistent Quality with a score of 76.4% — a narrow lead of 0.6 points over second-placed Bell. Telus isn't far behind, given its score of 73.2%.
Rogers edges out to win the Upload Speed award outright
In the last report, this award was shared by Rogers and Telus with statistically tied scores, but this time Rogers wins it outright. Rogers users experience average upload speeds of 11.6Mbps — 2.2% faster compared to our last report — ahead of Bell and Telus users' scores of 10.4-10.7Mbps.
Telus keeps hold of the Voice App Experience award
Canadian users continue to observe the best overall quality of experience while using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — with Telus.
Bell and Telus are top for Download Speed Experience.
Previously, Bell won the Download Speed Experience award outright. However, since then, the average speeds on Bell have remained statistically unchanged, while those on Rogers and Telus have improved by 3.5%. As a result, Telus catches up with Bell to jointly win the Download Speed Experience award. The average download speeds of Bell and Telus users clock in at 73.9-75.2Mbps — 22.5% (13.7Mbps) faster than those seen with Rogers.
Users observe 99-99.1% Availability across Bell, Rogers and Telus' networks
Our Bell, Rogers and Telus users do not see a statistically significant difference in Availability — therefore, the three operators share the podium with average scores of 99-99.1%. This means users across all three networks spend at least 99% of time connected to a 3G or better cellular signal.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
In Opensignal's latest Mobile Network Experience report on Canada, we analyze the overall experience of our users across all network technologies. For the first time ever, we include Consistent Quality, which replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards used in previous reports. We also introduce Live Video Experience, which quantifies the experience of our users watching live events.
Rogers dominates the awards table this time, coming top in six out of eight award categories — either jointly or outright. Rogers is the first carrier in Canada to solely win the Consistent Quality and Live Video Experience awards. It is also the outright winner of the Video Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. Furthermore, Rogers shares the top spot for the Games Experience and Availability awards, alongside Bell and Telus, as users across all three national carriers do not see a statistically significant difference in their experience. On the other hand, Bell and Telus are joint winners of the Download Speeds Experience award, as users across Canada enjoy the fastest overall download speeds with these carriers — 13.7Mbps (22.5%) faster than Rogers on average.
The telecom landscape in Canada continues to evolve as Rogers and Shaw completed their long-awaited merger in April 2023. Rogers announced that this merger combines their mobile and fixed networks, offering cable internet to nearly 70% of Canadian households. The merger was valued at CAD 26 billion, and final approval involved the transfer of Shaw’s subsidiary Freedom Mobile to Videotron. The acquisition of Freedom Mobile by Videotron has created a larger fourth market player with approximately 3.5 million mobile subscriptions. This merger aims to enhance competition, affordability, and innovation in the Canadian telecom sector, bringing significant changes to the market landscape.
In this report, we examine the mobile network experience of the three national mobile carriers in Canada — Bell, Rogers and Telus — over a period of 90 days, starting on April 1, 2023, and ending on June 29, 2023, to see how they fare. Along with our national analysis, we've also examined our users' mobile network experience across Canada's major provinces to see how regional carriers such as Quebec's Videotron, Ontario's Freedom Mobile or Saskatchewan's SaskTel compare in their service areas.
We have also published a companion Canada 5G Experience report which analyzes the experience of our 5G users when they are connected to 5G.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Rogers is the outright winner of the on-demand Video Experience award with a score of 68.1 points on a 100-point scale — 3.3 points ahead of Bell and Telus with statistically tied scores of 64.8 points. Rogers remains the only operator to rate as Very Good (68-78) for Video Experience — meaning our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. Bell and Telus, on the other hand, place in the Good (58-68) category. Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real video experience, including video streams of up to 4K quality.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
Rogers wins Opensignal’s inaugural Live Video Experience award in Canada with a score of 55.7 points — 3.1 points ahead of Bell and Telus, which tie for second place. Live Video Experience score comprises a range of measures that impact users’ perceived live streaming viewing experience, including e.g. initial delay, total stalling time, but also live offset — the time difference between real-time and the current playback position a viewer sees. Unlike Video Experience, which represents on-demand video streams, Live Video Experience quantifies live video streaming used for current events. For example, when users watch live sports, game streams, music concerts or news.
Rogers achieves a Very Good (53-58) rating for Live Video Experience, which means our users are, on average, able to stream live events at least at 720p with satisfactory loading times, little stalling and substantial live offset — meanwhile, Bell and Telus rate as Good (43-53).
Definitions
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Our users across Canada's three national networks do not see any statistical difference in the quality of experience when streaming videos over mobile internet. As a result, Bell, Rogers and Telus are joint winners of the Games Experience award with scores of 69.3-70.1 points, placing them in the Fair (65-75) category.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between 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, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Telus remains the outright winner of the overall Voice App Experience award with a score of 76.9 points, on a 100-point scale. This means Telus users enjoy the best overall quality of experience when using over-the-top (OTT) voice services — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — over mobile internet in Canada.
Definitions
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
In our last report, Bell was the outright winner of the Download Speed award. Since then, Rogers and Telus users have seen their average download speeds increase by 3.5%, while those on Bell did not see a statistically significant change compared to last time. As a result, Bell and Telus are now joint winners of the Download Speed Experience award with users’ overall download speeds clocking in at 73.9-75.2Mbps, on average — 13.7Mbps (22.5%) faster than Rogers.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
Rogers wins the Upload Speed Experience by a narrow margin. On average, Rogers users experience overall upload speeds of 11.6 Mbps — 0.9-1.2Mbps faster than Telus and Bell.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
Regional Analysis
Starting with regional on-demand Video Experience, Rogers is top in six out of seven provinces. Rogers wins outright in four provinces — Alberta, Atlantic Provinces, Manitoba, Ontario — and shares the top spot with Bell in British Columbia as well as Saskatchewan, where all three national carriers are joint winners. Likewise, in our regional analysis of the quality of live video streaming experience in Canada, Rogers comes top in the same six regions but with some differences. It shares the regional Live Video Experience award in British Columbia with Bell and Freedom Mobile and in Manitoba and Saskatchewan with Bell and Telus. Meanwhile, Videotron users enjoy the best on-demand as well as live Video Experience in Quebec.
Turning to Games Experience, the national joint winners — Bell, Rogers and Telus — occupy the top spot in Atlantic Provinces and British Columbia. This is also the case in Quebec, where Videotron is also a joint winner, and in Saskatchewan, SaskTel is also a joint winner. Meanwhile, Rogers is the outright winner in Alberta and Telus is the outright winner in Ontario. At the same time, Bell and Telus are joint winners in Manitoba.
Moving on to Voice App Experience, national winner Telus sweeps the board, winning in all seven regions — either jointly or outright.
For Download Speed Experience, the three national carriers each pick up one outright win — Bell in Quebec, Rogers in Alberta and Telus users see the fastest average overall download speeds in Atlantic Provinces. Meanwhile, Telus is joint top in four provinces, alongside Bell in British Columbia and Ontario, as well as Rogers in Manitoba. All three national carriers jointly win in Saskatchewan. Overall, Telus dominates the awards table for regional Download Speed Experience.
Regional Analysis Summary: Canada, Mobile Network Experience Report, August 2023
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Coverage
National Analysis
There is no statistically significant difference between Bell, Rogers and Telus in terms of Availability, with Canadian users being able to spend an impressive 99-99.1% of time connected to a 3G or better cellular signal. All three carriers are joint winner of the Availability award.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Regional Analysis
Regional Availability — the proportion of time users spend with 3G or better connection — in Canada ranges between 98.2-99.4%. Bell, Rogers and Telus jointly win in four provinces — including Alberta and British Columbia, where they share the award with Freedom Mobile. Freedom Mobile also achieves a joint win in Ontario alongside Rogers and Telus, while Videotron is top in Quebec alongside Bell. In Saskatchewan, Bell, SaskTel and Telus are joint winners.
Regional Analysis Summary: Canada, Mobile Network Experience Report, August 2023
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Consistency
National Analysis
Rogers is the first winner of the Consistent Quality award in Canada, with a score of 76.4%. Bell and Telus are slightly behind with scores of 75.8% and 73.2%, respectively. The scores reflect the percentage of tests in which users’ experience on a network is sufficient to support the requirements of more common demanding applications, such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications. This award replaces the Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality awards used in previous reports.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
Regional Analysis
The regional analysis of Consistent Quality shows that our users have the most consistent mobile experience in Alberta, Atlantic Provinces, and Quebec with Rogers. While Bell users have the most consistent mobile experience in Ontario and Saskatchewan. Additionally, Bell is joint top for Consistent Quality with Rogers in British Columbia and with Telus in Manitoba.
Regional Analysis Summary: Canada, Mobile Network Experience Report, August 2023
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Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience