Coverage close to US border

[Hans_Moleman]

^I find the Bell/Telus HSPA signal to be far more powerful and stable than Rogers pretty much everywhere. Not sure if that's because their transmit power is higher, or they have a more robust network, or both! I haven't been close to the US border with my Bell HSPA phone yet but I remember when I was with Rogers, I would always connect to AT&T while in the Niagara region...

In my case, it was using a SaskTel tower. The Telus towers in Manitoba are all only 1900mhz, so the signal in rural areas will be much weaker than Rogers' towers.

But checking out the Canadian cellular towers map site, the SaskTel tower is much much closer to the border I went through than the MTS/Rogers towers, so that would likely explain it.

[ToastyinCAD]

I don't own an iPhone.

I think you replied to the wrong poster.

My mistake - but the same principle works with other phones as well -force it to your Canadian provider. I did that with all my phones when I spent a majority of my time by the border.

[CGY Guy]

My mistake - but the same principle works with other phones as well -force it to your Canadian provider. I did that with all my phones when I spent a majority of my time by the border.

I believe I stated that earlier in the post.

[RogersUser1]

estimated 75 percent of Canadians live within 161 kilometers (100 miles) of the U.S. border.
So anyplace is good.

True but probably 80% of those are bunched up in Vancouver area, and the area running from London to Quebec City in Ontario, without much in between. Nothing to do with this thread, but just saying!

[cloneman]

Use the various websites for "canadian cell tower map" to determine which carrier has towers closer to where you are.

[microchip01]

I have access to both Rogers and Telus' HSPA networks through work. I've had time while working in the South Surrey/White Rock area to compare performance between the two. Every time I compare, I find Bell/Telus to be far better. Rogers HSPA coverage is like swiss cheese in the neighbourhoods of South Surrey and often roams onto AT&T. When you can get reception, the cell towers are often overloaded, making data connections slow.
Bell/Telus HSPA is completely different. Average latency is about 100ms even at rush hour. Rogers/Fido is all over the place between 100ms-1000ms.
Rogers really needs to boost their infrastructure out west. I get the feeling they're neglecting their HSPA+ network in favor of their LTE buildout.

[RogersUser1]

I have access to both Rogers and Telus' HSPA networks through work. I've had time while working in the South Surrey/White Rock area to compare performance between the two. Every time I compare, I find Bell/Telus to be far better. Rogers HSPA coverage is like swiss cheese in the neighbourhoods of South Surrey and often roams onto AT&T. When you can get reception, the cell towers are often overloaded, making data connections slow.
Bell/Telus HSPA is completely different. Average latency is about 100ms even at rush hour. Rogers/Fido is all over the place between 100ms-1000ms.
Rogers really needs to boost their infrastructure out west. I get the feeling they're neglecting their HSPA+ network in favor of their LTE buildout.

Same story here in MB. Rogers doesn't care about their network, its garbage and they have no plans to improve it. During rush hour you basically don't have service. Of course - their billing system for this network seems to be in full working order......

[jcalder]

At least Rogers/MTS HAVE a network in MB and it's not as bad as you're making it out to be.

I've been in the city during rush hour on many occasions and never had issues using my phone. The only time it's been sluggish is at Jets games in the MTS center and even then it was still usable.

Since you hate Rogers so much perhaps you should switch to Telus?