Telus has the fastest mobile speeds in Canada, report finds

A new study of internet speeds has found a wide disparity among Canada’s providers for fixed and mobile services, with Rogers taking top rank for fastest fixed broadband speeds and Telus internet (Telus Stock Quote, Chart TSX:T) winning for fastest mobile speeds.

The annual Speedtest Market Report by data analysis company Ookla looks at mobile and broadband speeds worldwide, this year finding Canada ranking 9th internationally for mean mobile download speed and 36th for mobile upload speed. For broadband, Canada placed 15th worldwide for download speed and 30th for upload speed.

But the speed differences between the various operators in Canada was on display, with Rogers receiving a Speed Score of 116.93 for fixed broadband, Bell coming in second at 74.53, Shaw in third at 73.28 and Telus fourth at 59.53.

How fast is Telus internet for mobile?

On the mobile side, Telus won with a Speed Score of 57.99, with Bell Mobility a close second at 57.08 and Rogers’ Fido Solutions coming in third at 39.56. Shaw’s discount provider Freedom Mobile placed last with a score of 20.38.

“Canadian mobile customers enjoyed some of the fastest average download speeds in the world during Q1-Q2 2018,” reads the report. “TELUS and Bell Mobility led the way with chart-topping speeds at the national level and in Canada’s ten largest cities; they also showed a geographic spread of Speedtest results. TELUS was the country’s fastest mobile operator and was also fastest in seven cities. With smart network sharing and continued investment by the country’s major operators, we expect to see even better speeds in Canada in the 5G future.”

Overall, Canada posted a mean mobile download speed of 46.96 Mbps (megabits per second) and a mean upload speed of 11.85 Mbps. In a city-by-city comparison, the Speedtest found that Quebec City has the fastest mobile download speeds, followed by Calgary and Montreal. For fixed download speeds, London, Ontario, ranked the fastest followed by Toronto and Ottawa.

In June, the federal government announced that it will auction wireless spectrum for fifth-generation mobile networks — said to be as much as 100 times faster than 4G networks — in 2020. That’s not quick enough, according to Telus, which has stated that the wait will put Canadian mobile customers at a disadvantage when it comes to using the latest 5G-enabled smart phones.