Telus has topped ranks as the fastest mobile operator in Canada for Q3 2020, according to Ookla’s latest market analysis report.
The carrier received a speed score of 66.79. To determine speed scores, Ookla measures each provider’s download and upload speed to rank overall network speed performance.
Bell wasn’t far behind with a score of 64.37, and Rogers’ flanker brand Fido followed in third place with 60.17. Rogers came in fourth with a score of 51.46, and Vidéotron followed with 44.67.
Bell and Telus tied in the 4G availability category with 95.5 percent. Rogers followed with a score of 93.8 percent.
Further, the report notes that “although Bell shows a slight lead in median 5G download speeds with 280.41Mbps versus Telus’ 266.03Mbps, it’s too close to determine the fastest.”
Rogers followed with 149.48Mbps. The report acknowledges that although 2020 brought a taste of 5G to major Canadian cities, the key requirement for fulfilling the promise of fast speeds is currently missing due to the postponement of the government’s 3.5GHz spectrum auction until 2021.
However, the national carriers have rolled out the non-standalone aspect of 5G, which allows for the aggregation of 5G channels on top of the existing LTE core. The carriers have also begun testing Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DDS), which allows them to roll out both LTE and 5G on the same part of spectrum.
In terms of latency, Vidéotron and Fido had the lowest latency at 33ms. Freedom Mobile followed with 34ms and Bell ranked fourth with 38ms. Telus and Rogers followed with 39ms and 40ms, respectively.
When it comes to the consistency score category, Vidéotron had the highest score with 88.5 percent of results showing at least a 5Mbps minimum download speed and 1Mbps minimum upload speed.
Fido followed with 87 percent, and Freedom ranked third with a score of 79.8 percent. Rogers came in fourth with 79.3 percent, and Telus and Bell followed with 76.8 percent and 76.5 percent, respectively.
Further, Alberta showed the fastest mean mobile download speed at 79.15Mbps, and Saskatchewan had the slowest at 50.15Mbps. Quebec City showed the fastest mean mobile download speed among Canada’s most populous cities at 95.89Mbps.
The report reveals that Rogers was the fastest fixed broadband provider among top providers with a speed score of 151.51. Shaw came in third with a score of 126.48 and Telus followed with 91.69.
Further, the report notes that Rogers had the highest consistency score in Canada during Q3 2020, with 88.0% of results showing at least a 25Mbps minimum download speed and 3Mbps minimum upload speed.
“Calculating mean latency for top fixed broadband providers in Canada during Q3 2020, Telus
had the lowest latency at 14ms,” the report states.
Ookla’s Q3 report is based on results from July to September 2020. In Q3, 429,378 unique tests were taken on mobile with Speedtest. Ookla generated 134,945 samples from that for this report.
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