The State of 4G Wireless Networks in Canada

It wasn’t too long ago that we heard about 3G speeds and how they were finally crossing the border into Canada.  Little old Northwestern Ontario (where I’m located) is usually one of the last hold outs before the latest implementation of technology finally went live with 3G last November.So I’m quite impressed in that a short amount of time since 4G was implemented that there’s talk about it being introduced or in some cased brought in to Canada.

What is 4G?  You may remember people had referred to it as WiMax at one point in time, but essentially the 4th Generation of wireless data transmission – which allows for higher speeds and wider coverage areas.

So should you get it?  That’s up to you decide.  I’m currently reveling in the 3G speed – but I’m sure that, given time, I too will say “man is this slow”.

Should you want to get it here’s a list of some of the ‘roadmap’ for wireless providers for their 4G networks:

Carrier	Coverage
BELL	Available in some S. Ontario areas (Toronto / London / Kitchener / Hamilton) check their website: http://support.bell.ca/en-on/Mobility/Network_coverage/What_is_the_Bell_network_coverage_in_Canada
TELUS	According to their website it is live covering 95% of the population http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/network/index.shtml
Rogers	Slated for LTE 2024 deployment in select cities
Sasktel	Available in some areas March 2024 Check http://www.sasktel.com/cgi/network_rollout.cgi?search=&list_file=../data/network_rollout/network-launch-schedule&list_file_ext=txt&datafields=yes&max2=20&data_file= for more details
Wind	3G+ right now

This is a chart I’ve built from doing a heck of a lot of googling – without talking to the providers directly.  We can make this chart a ‘live doc’ and allow the carriers to update it.

Now true LTE should allow for up to 100Mbps downloads, however, most of what’s up on teh chart is only 21 at best.  There was some recent talk of Telus having 4G keys being able to reach 42Mbps.  But this is a blog for phones.

Why am I excited about this?  Hopefully I’ll be eligible for an update by the time that there’s coverage in my area and I can get some blazing speed.  But what’s really neat is to see that we’re not all that far behind from our American counterparts.  It’s been barely the gestation time for a baby ago that we saw the Evo go live in the states.  We’re seeing a closing of the gap between what happens in the states and us.

More to the story is that LTE will be a true breakthrough for wireless technology for our remote communities.  The greater range and higher speeds make it a cheaper alternative to having to put in cables which will mean a shortening of the distances to remote communities for information.

Need more on 4G?