Fast Canadian 5G Expands to More Cities
The fastest 5G is growing in Canada—fast.
From one city just two weeks ago, Rogers now shows at least 14 cities on its coverage map with the new, fast, 3500MHz 5G.
The new frequency band, also known as n78, was auctioned last year and launched on June 15. Since then, Rogers, Bell, and Telus have been adding cities on a weekly basis. Only Rogers shows its 3500MHz coverage or cities on its online coverage map, though, giving you the best picture of all three carriers in terms of where the new spectrum is available.
MobileSyrup has the best rundown(Opens in a new window) of the plans and phones you need to access the speedier service. In general, it helps to have an unlimited-data plan and one of a small set of recent phones, for now. Rogers' cities now include:
BC: Abbotsford, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver
AB: Calgary, Edmonton
ON: Windsor, Niagara, Guelph, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa
QC: Montreal
Right now, coverage maps from Bell and Telus don't show 3500MHz coverage.
Rogers' map shows how the carrier is turning on 3500MHz tower by tower. It's unusually precise. For example, take a look at the blob of coverage in North York, above. Using the public-domain Canadian towers map(Opens in a new window) at ertyu.org, you get the idea that it's radiating from at most two panels, the one at North York Centre and one on Sheppard just west of Yonge. Other nearby panels, for example at Yonge and Ellerslie or at Sheppard and Dudley, haven't been activated yet.
A few speed tests are starting to come out, and they're showing how 3500MHz is starting to elevate Rogers to true performance competition with Bell and Telus. This Reddit post(Opens in a new window) claims 829Mbps down in Mississauga; I didn't see any Bell or Telus 5G+
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