Telus beats rivals on speed
TORONTO Telus Corp.’s wireless network was crowned Canada’s fastest in PCMag’s fifth-annual speed test ranking.
Telus, the country’s third-largest communications company, beat its top competitors BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. in PCMag ’s Fastest Mobile Networks Canada 2017 ranking, released Monday.
It’s the first time Telus topped the list. Its average download speed hit 102 megabits per second (MBps), edging out Bell’s average speed of 99 MBps and doubling Rogers’ average speed of 51 MBps, according to PCMag ’s nationwide test.
Telus and Bell, which topped PCMag’s ranking in 2016, share much of their network. Both carriers have been investing in network improvements.
While consumers need the latest devices to reach these speeds, all of the Big Three networks have improved markedly since 2013 when average speeds hovered around 25 MBps in PCMag’s first ranking.
PCMag also tested Shaw Communication’s Inc.’s Freedom Mobile, Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, Eastlink (owned by Bragg Communications Inc.) and MTS (owned by Bell). SaskTel declined to participate.
It found that Telus posted top speeds in major cities, Bell was the fastest in mid-sized Ontario cities and Videotron was the best bet in smaller Quebec cities.
The 2017 ranking is based on about 36,000 speed tests conducted using Ookla software in dozens of locations in major cities and small towns across Canada between July and August.
PCMag compared carriers’ speeds — it measures maximum and average download and upload speeds, ping time, and time spent on LTE networks — on the same device (Samsung Galaxy S8 phones) in the same location at the same time in up to 20 different locations per city.
PCMag conducts similar annual tests in the United States, where average wireless speeds are far lower than they are in Canada. In its most recent U.S. ranking based on tests conducted in May, average speeds for the Big Four providers hovered between 20 MBps and 35 MBps.
Verizon ranked the fastest, followed by T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint.