Each year, RootMetrics compiles reports of the carriers in the US, and also Canada, and sees how they stack up against each other in a few areas. These numbers in their reports are from real life testing on the networks. And they just recently released their 2015 Performance Review in Canada, which now tests 8 key markets, instead of just three in 2014. Bell has come out on top for both being the fastest and most reliable. In this test, over 214,467 tests were taken, and about 505 indoor locations were tested as well.
For overall performance, Bell barely squeaked by the competitors, coming in at 94.5 out of 100 and Rogers and Telus both coming in at 93.7. With reliability, it was still pretty close with Bell taking home the trophy in a tie with Telus. 95.7 for Bell, 95.2 for Telus and 95 for Rogers. Bell actually won every category, either outright or in a tie, and all three carriers were pretty close with each other, which is nice to see. When it comes to LTE percentage though, Rogers wins at 86.3%, Bell at 82.4% and Telus in third at 80.5%.
Bell had the best speeds in Toronto, hitting the highest average of 39.1Mbps download and 22.6Mbps upload. Rogers also had their fastest speeds in Toronto, however beating Bell with a 41.8Mbps download and a 17.8Mbps upload speed. While Telus highest average was in Montreal with a download of 29.0Mbps and upload of 18.0Mbps. These are all averages, so some tests will be below that speed and some above, as you’d expect.
While only a few awards were won outright, in this test in Canada, it shows that the three major carriers are all pretty good in Canada. Or at least in the 8 markets that they tested in. When RootMetrics expands the report to more than just 8 markets, we’ll likely see a bit of a difference in the outright awards and speed tests as well. It also wasn’t too surprising to see the fastest speeds for Rogers and Bell be in Toronto, as that is a pretty major city in Canada. You can check out the full report from RootMetrics in the source link down below.