Canadians who have resolved in 2016 to get the fastest speeds possible on their mobile phones should set their sights on Bell (TSX:BCE), according to a report from OpenSignal.
Between September 1 and November 30, the London-based wireless coverage mapping firm compared speeds among the nation’s big three wireless companies, Bell, Rogers (TSX:RCI.B) and Vancouver’s Telus (TSX:T).
It determined Bell’s 4G network offers average download speeds of 19.9 megabits per second (Mbps). A speed like that would allow users to download a 50-megabyte app in about 30 seconds.
Rogers ranks No. 2 with average 4G download speeds of 17.75 Mbps, while Telus ranks last at 17.24 Mbps.
“Canada's Big 3 are all surprisingly close when it comes to matching each other’s 4G performance. In OpenSignal's tests, Telus, Bell and Rogers all averaged more than 17 Mbps, which is far above the global average of 12.6 Mbps,” the January 4 report revealed.
When it comes to 3G download speeds, Bell once again ranks No. 1 with average speeds of 3.97 Mbps. Telus is second with 3.36 Mbps and Rogers is third at 3.12 Mbps.
“One possible reason why Canada's operators are so evenly matched is the prevalence of network-sharing agreements. Telus and Bell share towers and infrastructure with one another in their respective home territories, while Rogers has struck similar deals with many regional operators like Videotron in Quebec and MTS in Manitoba,” the report said.
“While Canadians often tire of the constant comparisons to its big neighbor to the south, in this instance the comparison is quite favorable. In our most recent global LTE report, there was a full 5 Mbps difference in speed between U.S.'s fastest network and Canada's slowest.”
OpenSignal also measured 4G coverage, and 3G and 4G latency (the delay data experiences travelling through a network) among the top three wireless carriers.
Rogers and Bell either ranked first or tied for first in each of those categories.
OpenSignal’s data was collected from 15,639 Canadian users of the company’s mobile app for iOS or Android. The company measured more than 27 million datapoints to reach its results.
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