Speeds still lower than national averages
LONDON, U.K. – Mobile download speeds in Canada’s cottage country regions are more than twice as fast on 5G as on 4G, according to Opensignal, a U.K.-based mobile analytics company, which today released a new report on mobile network experiences in cottage country.
“Our users’ average mobile download speeds in cottage country regions racked up an impressive 113.7 Mbps, when connected to 5G – more than twice as fast as when connected to 4G (52.9 Mbps),” the report explains. “However, the national 5G download speeds averaged 9.3% (10.6 Mbps) faster than those seen in cottage country, while average 4G download speeds were 11.9 (22.5%) Mbps higher.” (Please see chart above.)
Upload speeds were also higher nationally than in cottage country regions, although the gap was much smaller, with users’ average 5G upload speed in cottage country reported to be 17.6 Mbps compared to 19.8 Mbps nationally. For 4G, cottage country regions were reported to have an average upload speed of 10 Mbps compared to 11.8 Mbps nationally, according to the report.
Opensignal also “analyzed the time users were able to spend connected to different network technology generations, as high mobile speeds become more important the more time users are able to spend with that type of connection,” says the report.
“We found very little difference in these measures, with users in the cottage country region reporting 93.3% of the time connected to 4G or 5G and 10.1% of the time connected to an active 5G signal – only 0.9-1.4 percentage points lower than the national average.” (Please see chart to the right.)
Finally, Opensignal considered the video, games and voice app experience in cottage country compared to nationally. (Please see chart below.)
The report explains its users in cottage country enjoyed an excellent video experience on 5G and a good video experience on 4G.
“These results align with the national experience, with no statistically significant difference in scores on 5G. Meanwhile, the national 4G Video Experience score was 3.8 points higher than the cottage country regions.”
Games experience in cottage country was also aligned with the national games experiences, with cottage country users seeing a good games experience when connected to 5G and a fair experience on 4G.
“Likewise, there was no statistically significant difference in users’ quality of experience while using over-the-top (OTT) voice app services such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger,” the report says, adding the experience using such apps was good on 5G and acceptable on 4G.
“These results show that users in Canada’s cottage country regions have impressive mobile download and upload speeds, which are faster than those experienced by users in many countries across the world,” the report says.
“However, a significant gap exists between the mobile speeds seen by users in the cottage country and that seen by their peers nationally, on average. In contrast, the quality of users’ experience in cottage country regions while streaming videos, playing multiplayer mobile games and using (OTT) voice app services, was on par with the national experience, with very little or no significant difference in scores on both 4G and 5G.”
The report also indicates “that while Canada has yet to establish a global leadership position on 5G due to initial spectrum challenges, it continues to hold the advantage of strong 4G access and network capability that results in an excellent experience, even when in more rural surroundings.”
Charts borrowed from Opensignal’s report.
