Bell announced that it’s rolling out 3,800MHz 5G+ spectrum to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), bringing the company’s fastest mobile speeds yet to people in select parts of southern Ontario.
With the update, you’ll get improved reliability, lower latency, and faster speeds. Bell says that the 3,800MHz spectrum delivers speeds up to 65 per cent faster, theoretical download speeds of up to 3.64Gbps, better support for HD video playback and improved “gaming and real-time collaboration on the go.” However, it’s worth noting that Bell still caps video streaming quality on its mobile plans.
While what’s included in the GTA is always an argument among people who live in the outskirts like Oshawa and Hamilton (I stand strongly against these cities being included in the ‘GTA’), Bell has listed which regions will benefit from the improved 5G+ speeds. And lucky for my friends in the Shwa and our Editor-in-Chief, Jon Lamont, out in Hamilton, Bell will be rolling out the 3,800MHz spectrum in those outer regions.
Cities and towns included in Bell’s 3,800MHz spectrum rollout include:
- Toronto
- Mississauga
- Hamilton
- Brampton
- Vaughan
- Markham
- Oakville
- Burlington
- Oshawa
- Whitby
- Milton
- Ajax
- Pickering
- Aurora
- Halton Hills
- Grimsby
- Lincoln
Doesn’t Bell already have 5G+?
If you’re confused about the difference between this 5G+ rollout and previous announcements, it’s all in the spectrum.
A bit of history, when Bell launched its 5G network in Canada in 2020, it was on the Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) using 1,700MHz spectrum, which has been since retired. Following this, in 2022, Bell launched the 3,500MHz “5G+” spectrum, which could reach theoretical speeds of 3GBps. And last year, Bell deployed some 3,800MHz spectrum in Toronto and Kitchener, Ont. Now, the company’s 3,800MHz spectrum is more widely available, and capable of delivering faster speeds up to 3.64Gbps.
While these speeds seem quick, in comparison to mmWave used by the U.S telecoms, we’re still in the past. The mmWave 5G spectrum has theoretical speeds of 10GBps – with average speeds of 5Gbps, still beating our 3,800MHz spectrum. However, mmWave also has much shorter range, making it less useful outside of dense urban areas.
That being said, until Rogers and Telus roll out their share of the 3800MHz spectrum, theoretically, Bell customers will have the quickest 5G speeds in the country.
Update Dec. 04, 2025, at 9:15 a.m. ET: Added some additional details about Bell’s 5G history.
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