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 moves further ahead for Consistent Quality
Rogers keeps hold of the Consistent Quality award as Rogers users continue to see the greatest proportion of tests that meet the minimum thresholds to support more demanding commonly used mobile applications, such as video calling or uploading an image to social media. The operator wins this time with a score of 79.6% and a lead of three percentage points over second-placed Bell. Rogers moves even further ahead of the pack as it was the only operator to see an increase in score since the last report — an increase of two percentage points.
Our Canadian users have the most reliable experience on Rogers’ network
Rogers is the first Canadian operator to win the Reliability Experience award — Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. Rogers takes home the award with a score of 909 points on a 100-1000 point scale. Telus and Bell share second place, around 25 points below Rogers.
Bell replaces Rogers on the winners’ podium for Games Experience, joining Telus
In the previous report, Games Experience was won by Telus and Rogers jointly — this time around, Telus and Bell share the Games Experience award with statistically tied scores of 68.7-69 points on a 100-point scale. Rogers places in third, two points below Telus and Bell. Rogers steps down from the podium due to a decrease in score of five points, larger than the decreases seen on both Telus and Bell.
Bell still boasts the fastest average download speeds
Bell remains top for Download Speed Experience, as our Canadian users have the fastest average download speeds on Bell’s network. Bell’s score of 72.6Mbps is slightly above that of Telus, which places second.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Rogers continues to win the most awards — either joint or outright — taking home five total wins. Not only does Rogers win both national awards for consistency — Reliability Experience and Consistent Quality — it also does incredibly well regionally, topping the leaderboard for Consistent Quality and Reliability Experience in five and six provinces, respectively.
In terms of awards won, Bell is hot on Rogers’ heels — just one total win separates the two. Bell performs especially well for the two coverage metrics, both nationally and regionally. Bell is a joint winner for Coverage Experience in all seven regions examined and shares the top spot for Availability in all but British Columbia. Telus wins two awards this time around, both joint victories with Bell, and performs well regionally for Games Experience, Download Speed Experience and Coverage Experience.
In this report, we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Canada — Telus, Bell and Rogers — over a period of 90 days starting on April 01, 2024, and ending on June 29, 2024, to see how they fared. Along with our national analysis, we've also examined our users' mobile network experience across Canada's major provinces to see how regional carriers Videotron, Freedom Mobile or SaskTel compare to the national operators in their respective 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 wins the Video Experience award outright for the fourth consecutive time in Opensignal reports. Rogers wins with a score of 70.1 points on a 100-point scale and is the only operator to place in the Very Good (68-78) category — Telus and Bell place in second and third, respectively, and are one category lower, in Good (58-68).
A Very Good (68-78) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. A Good (58-68) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams 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
In the previous report, Games Experience was won by Telus and Rogers jointly — this time around, Telus and Bell share the Games Experience award with statistically tied scores of 68.7-69 points on a 100-point scale. Rogers places in third, two points below Telus and Bell.
Scores have dropped across all three Canadian operators. Rogers' score has decreased the most, five points, while Telus' and Bell’s scores have each fallen by two points.
All operators place in the Fair (65-75) category, meaning that our users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling like they have control over the game. The majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
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
For the second report in a row, Bell is the outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award, doing so with a score of 72.6Mbps. Bell’s lead of 1Mbps over Telus has lengthened slightly since the previous report — while average download speeds decreased across all three operators, Bell’s score fell by a smaller margin than Telus’. These decreases could potentially be down to differences in seasonal market behavior, with users spending more time in rural areas during the warmer spring and summer months.
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 award outright for the third consecutive time. Rogers’ score of 12Mbps is 18% faster than those of Telus and Bell, which tie for second place.
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
Regional Analysis Summary: Canada, Mobile Network Experience Report, August 2024
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Coverage
National Analysis
The Coverage Experience award continues to be shared by Telus and Bell. The pair win with identical scores of 9.39 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of two points over Rogers, which places in third.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
National Analysis
Competition for the Availability award remains fierce, with just 0.1 percentage points separating the operators. In the previous report, the award was jointly won by all three operators — this time around it is shared by Bell and Rogers, as Telus slips down to third. Bell and Rogers’ identical score of 99.3% means that users on either network spend 99.3% of their time with a 3G or better connection.
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 Analysis Summary: Canada, Mobile Network Experience Report, August 2024
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Consistency
National Analysis
Rogers keeps hold of the Consistent Quality award, this time winning it outright with a score of 79.6% and a lead of three percentage points over second-placed Bell — Telus is not far behind in third.
The gap between first and second place has grown since the previous report. Rogers was the only operator to see an increase in score — two percentage points — Telus' score dropped one percentage point and Bell's score did not change a significant amount.
This metric 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 demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
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.
National Analysis
Rogers is the first Canadian operator to win the Reliability Experience award, taking home the award with a score of 909 points on a 100-1000 point scale. Telus and Bell share second place, 25 points below Rogers.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It consists of the following components:
- Signal Availability — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
- Data Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
- Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
- Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user
Definitions
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.
Regional Analysis
Regional Analysis Summary: Canada, Mobile Network Experience Report, August 2024
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A-I
- Alberta
- Atlantic provinces
- British Columbia
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J-R
- Manitoba
- Ontario
- Quebec
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S-Z
- Saskatchewan
in Alberta
in Alberta
in Atlantic provinces
in Atlantic provinces
in British Columbia
in British Columbia
in Manitoba
in Manitoba
in Ontario
in Ontario
in Quebec
in Quebec
in Saskatchewan
in Saskatchewan
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