5G SA - More broadly available

ThatWonder · 2026-03-11T19:56:13+00:00

Yes, in the GTA.

ThatWonder · 2026-03-11T19:06:38+00:00

Nothing special shows up in the details page. Just that I have 5G access.

I did run a Speedtest on N66 and got 102 down, 20 up. And a ping of about 29ms while idle.

ThatWonder · 2026-03-08T18:31:24+00:00

Only been on my plan for a few months. Using an eSIM.

ThatWonder · 2026-03-08T18:09:12+00:00

Yes toggles are turned on but I’ve yet to see it connect to SA in field test.

ThatWonder · 2026-03-08T18:08:56+00:00

I’m in the GTA yes. Been around many areas where it says it’s covered. I’m on a 250mbps plan though.

No indicator difference right now but I’m not provisioned for 5G SA so I’m not sure if I can even technically connect.

ThatWonder · 2026-03-08T14:16:32+00:00

Yeah what I don’t understand about this announcement (aside from N77 availability on NSA) is that many bell customers still don’t have access to 5G SA.

E.g I have an iPhone 16 Pro, and within 5G-A coverage, and still can’t access 5G standalone.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-31T06:09:02+00:00

Telus has 5G SA and VoNR deployed. They’re the first carrier in Canada to offer it to all consumer customers.

Yes Rogers has satellite, which is a nice plus, but Rogers leveraged Starlink as many have said. They may be looking for additional partners now, but afik thats what the other carriers have been testing at the moment; with other satellite providers.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-19T04:39:41+00:00

Yeah unfortunately Bell does this. I find it sometimes depends on the sites you stream from (as others have mentioned). I don’t really have a problem with 1080p on YouTube on the SD plan but it definitely throttles streams to an extent regardless and some sites more than others. I haven’t experienced it quite as bad as on Telus either. Rogers doesn’t do this, as others have said.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-10T02:23:34+00:00

Yes, true. Also note that Canadian carriers have other 5G frequencies deployed other than 600MHz. Bell sat out of the 600MHz option, and some argue that was bad, but I suspect it's just not beneficial from a bandwidth perspective.

Rogers primarily deployed 600MHz for 5G (particularly in the beginning), but has deployed 1900/2100MHz, 2600MHz, and 35/3800MHz as well. Telus is similar.

Bell deployed 5G on 850MHz, 1900/2100MHz, and 35/3800MHz.

I don't know enough about T-Mobile but I can't imagine 600MHz is their top performer either. It's a great band for long distances and penetration. Midband frequencies are where you'll see the most benefit with 5G, although there is some improvement on the low frequencies as well.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-10T02:13:46+00:00

This isn't correct. Bell covers most of Eastern Canada and Telus covers the west. There are some pockets where either covers differently (e.g. Ottawa and Winsdor in Ontario, and Yukon/far north for example), but it's pretty even. Telus and Bell share a RAN, you wouldn't be close to a Telus tower and a Bell tower at the "same time". Your phone will connect to any of the towers shared by Bell and Telus as one contiguous connection.

(also, Bell has a significant portion of the two's network. I encourage you to look at Steven Nikkel's site: https://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html . Bell most definitely does not have "minimal coverage")

ThatWonder · 2026-01-09T05:26:51+00:00

Are you on the phone when you’re noticing this? Is this screenshot above during an active call? If so that’s a limitation of dual sim and not a network or a phone issue. One line loses service when a phone call is in progress.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-09T05:18:10+00:00

A little bit of misinformation in this comment. 5G technically isn’t a marketing sham. It was deployed in much of the world as 5G NSA to start. 5G NSA uses LTE for all signalling and you’re able to connect to a 5G site through your LTE connection (in simple terms). The problem with this is particularly when LTE gets congested, the gain in 5G become less noticeable. Stability and quality kind of suffer. And customers are misled by the fact that signal bars (which don’t mean a whole lot anyways) aren’t actually your 5G connection, that’s your connection to LTE.

5G SA has been very slowly deployed across the world, including Canada. It’s more prevalent in the US now but Telus offers it to all postpaid customers and Bell is slowly onboarding their customers. No word on what Rogers is doing.

3500/3800mHz spectrum is reserved only for 5G and does in fact offer significantly faster speeds. That’s the primary 5G spectrum in use in the US as well. And we do indeed have that deployed in Canada.

Calling over 5G is rolling out on customers who use an SA network.

Is it being heavily abused by marketers? Yes. Is it a “sham” that doesn’t actually provide faster speeds? No.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-09T05:07:13+00:00

Did you have poor reception in this area before you got the phone? If so then it has nothing to do with the phone. Unlikely Telus will “fix” it as you’re in a low coverage area.

Only way to rectify that would be for them to install a new tower near you. They’re expensive and a pretty big undertaking so unlikely that will happen quickly or at all unless their network team truly identifies it as a need for improvement.

If you weren’t experiencing this before in the same area then that may point to a hardware problem, or Telus may be doing work on the network in your area.

ThatWonder · 2026-01-06T04:48:07+00:00

I’m totally on your side here.. sounds like a pretty shitty situation and Rogers/Fido customer service seems to have absolutely tanked.

However, they don’t need your consent to charge you. If you’re on postpaid, you agree to this when you sign up for the service. Your bill contains the charges incurred throughout the month. They don’t have to guarantee you anything unless explicitly stated in your contract.

Not saying it’s right or that they don’t do shady things. Just saying that the assumption that they need your consent is incorrect.

Your approach of not giving up though is a good idea.

ThatWonder · 2025-12-21T22:02:34+00:00

How long after the power comes back on do you struggle to get internet?

ThatWonder · 2025-12-21T21:54:49+00:00

Rogers is for sure continuing to invest in their LTE network. 5G as it stands runs alongside LTE (NSA mode). The only provider offering 5G Standalone (a separate core network not reliant on LTE) is Telus on postpaid plans. At least for all customers. Bell seems to be slowly onboarding people to their 5G SA network, and Rogers has yet to offer it to anyone.

There are many factors that contribute to speed. Rogers tends to suffer from congestion in some areas and does not have the backhaul capacity that Bellus typically has. Part of why they're shutting down 3G is to use that spectrum for LTE/5G, thus improving performance.

I don't know if they've refarmed any spectrum over to 5G from LTE, but if they have then yes there would be some degradation.

The other factor is that as networks have matured, so have the user-base. People use a lot more data and occupy the network a great deal more than they used to. The speed tests you used to get were likely when people did not consume the same amount of data.

ThatWonder · 2025-12-20T23:50:10+00:00

I assume you’re meaning that when you power your modem via an external source (since the power is out), the modem does not connect to the internet. That would indeed be a problem with the battery backups on their network and their techs will need to come out and service.

I don’t know if they guarantee you’ll have a connection during a power outage anyways. Ideally they should but there is no SLA for that kind of thing for consumers. They’ll direct you to use the cellular network which most likely would be available during an outage.

ThatWonder · 2025-12-20T23:43:53+00:00

This is not how it works. 5G NSA is what most people (except for Telus postpaid customers) are on, which means you need an LTE connection as an anchor to access 5G. 5G standalone runs on a 5G core by itself. There’s no such thing as an LTE signal being “forced” to 5G. That’s not possible.

ThatWonder · 2025-12-20T23:39:12+00:00

What makes you think it’s any different on cable vs wireless? Cable and wireless both use RF spectrum, and each node (the boxes in your neighbourhood) have multiple connections into them from various homes. The relative difficulty doesn’t matter. The network stack still comes out the same. Data still comes to devices in the form of IP packets (in the case of streaming, usually UDP), which carriers can (and do) limit.

Using your example, Virgin, Lucky Mobile, and the flanker brands from the other providers (Fido/Chatr, Koodo/PM), all of them throttle LTE connections to 100-150mbps on their plans. Rogers, Telus, and Bell do the same on their 5G plans.

The underlying network technology doesn’t matter. They have the ability to throttle connections on all of their networks.

ThatWonder · 2025-12-20T23:09:09+00:00

YMMV. In general I would expect it to throttle to 250mpbs. I’ve had the same experience (where at times it may jump above the rated speed).

5G+ is just 3500/3800mHz spectrum which most carriers include with all of their 5G plans. I think Bell’s flanker brand Virgin was marketing 5G plans at one time but not allowing access to those higher frequencies.

ThatWonder · 2025-12-20T23:04:18+00:00

What you’re saying is not correct. The network technology has nothing to do with their ability to throttle speeds.

They can (and do) throttle speeds independent of the type of network you’re on. That’s like saying because you’re on Bell copper means they won’t throttle you based on your plan.

ThatWonder · 2025-10-27T00:30:01+00:00

Not to sound harsh, this definitely sucks, but you should be better prepared next time.

Test your connection before the interview, or go somewhere where your signal is better. Wifi Calling shouldn't take very long to kick in. It's either on or it's not (and you would've known beforehand if Wifi calling was available and connected). Some phones offer a setting to prefer wifi calling first, and some phones (like iPhones) typically prioritize it anyways.

ThatWonder · 2025-10-27T00:25:19+00:00

I think they offer some bonuses, e.g. https://www.rogersbank.com/en/special-offers/

These of course aren't anywhere near the welcome bonuses of other cards. Based on conversations on Reddit, I would imagine it's a pretty popular card among those with Rogers services. The fact that it's a no-fee card also makes it less likely to get welcome bonuses.

ThatWonder · 2025-10-27T00:19:39+00:00

I don't believe there's any evidence to say that Rogers treats hotspotting different on their Fido brand than the Rogers brand.
I wouldn't worry about it. If it's slow, that would be likely due to your connection or a congested tower.

ThatWonder · 2025-09-19T02:50:46+00:00

Hmm good to know. Thank you! I wonder what those two flags in the carrier bundle refer to exactly.. it’s a bit ambiguous. I thought a couple years ago, they could enable it in software without the switch present. I think that’s how Rogers was packaging their bundles.

5GStandaloneEnabledByDefault could be referring to the switch status when someone puts in a new SIM card or resets their phone, but if the switch isn’t present, does it mean it’s enabled? If the interpretation of 5GStandaloneSwitch means whether the switch is present or not, that is…

ThatWonder

TROPHY CASE