Cell Coverage, who has the better reception

[jayquiver]

My iPhone is dying quickly, may change carriers. With recently moving to Calgary I plan on spending the majority of my free time west of Calgary in the foothills and mountains, hiking, fly fishing and hunting.

I've checked Bell, Telus and Rogers cell coverage maps. They seem similar.

What is the "real world" cell coverage like from these companies in the foothills/mountains from Sundre south to Pincher Creek and west into the mountains?

What cell coverage is best?

[tirebob]

Originally Posted by jayquiver

My iPhone is dying quickly, may change carriers. With recently moving to Calgary I plan on spending the majority of my free time west of Calgary in the foothills and mountains, hiking, fly fishing and hunting.

I've checked Bell, Telus and Rogers cell coverage maps. They seem similar.

What is the "real world" cell coverage like from these companies in the foothills/mountains from Sundre south to Pincher Creek and west into the mountains?

What cell coverage is best?

As much as I loathe dealing with their people, Telus absolutely provides the most consistent and reliable coverage that I have ever found.

[Talking moose]

Telus for the boonies. I think maybe bell and koodo run off Telus towers?

[jayquiver]

Originally Posted by tirebob

As much as I loathe dealing with their people, Telus absolutely provides the most consistent and reliable coverage that I have ever found.

I hear you. I left them 4 yrs ago for Bell. lol. Might have to go back with my tail between my legs.

[CNP]

Telus. But don't go with the name go with the network/coverage area. Public Mobile and KooDoo are both running on the Telus network. Buy your next phone outright and go with Public Mobile for 1/4 the price. I live in the mountains in SW AB..........you're covered from every peak lol

[350 mag]

Alot depends on your phone antenna.

Samsung seems to be the best right now for antenna strength...IMHO.

[Dubious]

If you get the rona vaccine you’ll also get 5G, if you go far enough in the hills even the rona 5G won’t help you and you’ll need a 2 way gps messenger.

[Brankon]

I've rarely had issues with telus when camping in the rocky mountain house area

[Newf]

Think I would rather do without the cell then switch back to telus.

[bushnell]

Originally Posted by Newf

Think I would rather do without the cell then switch back to telus.

Have to agree, would never go back to them

[Parker Hale]

I've been with Bell for years now. I spend a lot of time out around the Cranbrook area and get decent coverage. Of course my favourite places to go nobody has coverage. I have dealt with Telus twice, once with a cell plan and once with fiber optic for home, both experiences left a bad taste for me.

[ghostguy6]

Im with Koodo. They use the telus network but have far better customer service..

[Gade81]

Originally Posted by bushnell

Have to agree, would never go back to them

Curious why? Been with them for 20 years and never had a single problem, yet hear all kinds of Telus hate ?*??

[Brankon]

Originally Posted by CNP

Telus. But don't go with the name go with the network/coverage area. Public Mobile and KooDoo are both running on the Telus network. Buy your next phone outright and go with Public Mobile for 1/4 the price. I live in the mountains in SW AB..........you're covered from every peak lol

Do you know if a guy can keep his existing number from telus switching to public mobile? Just looked up their site and I think once my contract is up on this phone I'll be switching over

[HalfBreed]

Telus gives alright dividends.

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by Gade81

Curious why? Been with them for 20 years and never had a single problem, yet hear all kinds of Telus hate ?*??

Ya me too. 14 years now. Never had a bad experience talking with a representative because I’ve never had a reason to talk to them. Everything always works.

[jayquiver]

I switched from Telus to Bell about 4 yrs ago only because i could get a better business plan from Bell. Don't need that now.
Just looking for best coverage in remote areas.

Will talk with Telus today. I may switch my TV over to them also. Hopefully get a package deal.

[tirebob]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Ya me too. 14 years now. Never had a bad experience talking with a representative because I’ve never had a reason to talk to them. Everything always works.

Just the most recent?

The first week of December I get a call from telus saying that they see I was previously a customer for the Telus Hub internet service but wasn't anymore and that they saw I cancelled it because the service was extremely unreliable and poor where I lived. Our rural property is low in a valley with no line of site to a tower so not telus' fault, but it would almost never work and when it did, it was less than 1MG download speed.

So I said yeah it's too bad because we use telus for all our other stuff and it would have been great if it worked out. Well the person on the phone says we are in luck! They have just installed a more powerful tower and they actually told me that "they had someone come out to our property and confirmed it will work now!" and that I only had to sign up for the new two year contract and we will have solid, reliable, cheaper internet!

I asked if she was certain and she says again "yes sir! We had someone at your place and it will now work..." She says don't worry, you have 30 days if it is not to you liking to cancel free of charge so I said okay, why not... Let's give it a shot.

It was going to take a couple weeks to get the gear and have a tech come out and get it set up, so about a week later I was talking with a client who is a person who does this kind of stuff and he says, since you have virtually no cell service on your property (we get service like 1 km away once we get to the top of the long hill) there is no way the hub will work. I told him what the lady said and he laughed saying she just gets paid on contract signings. I go home and call telus and speak to technical services and the person I get immediately tells me that there is no way it will work where I live and it should never have been recommended! Naturally, I was choked!

I spend the next two day and about 6 hours of time getting passed from the wrong person to the wrong person saying I just want to cancel the service since it won't work and nobody that I get passed to says they can help and that I keep getting the wrong people. Finally I get someone who says they already sent the stuff and I will have to drive it into the city (100km one way) to return it and I asked them to send me return shipping labels instead. 3 weeks go by and no labels. I spend another 3 hours trying to get someone who knows what's up before they say they don't know why they were not sent and say they will do it again. Still no labels so finally this past Monday I get in my truck and drive into the city to a telus store and return the unopened boxes.

Yesterday I get an e-mailed invoice for $250 plus a late payment fee of $5.14 for the goods. I snapped. Another 2 hours holding trying to get it all done and finally after threatening to go to the CRTC and letting them know I want to file a claim against their agent who blatantly lied to me just to get me to sign a contract someone got the charges wiped and account closed.

I hate telus...

[daveyn]

Cell phone companies are like banks, for everybody that loves their bank somebody else has a customer service horror story that caused them to switch, but the majority of people just don't spend a lot of time thinking about it and just hang around because its easier than switching.
I'm with Bell over 20 years now, my kids are with Telus and Koodo, none of us have any issues, however wife is with Telus and hates them, ex wife used to be with Bell and hates them.
As for coverage, who ever posted about the antenna is correct, if its remote coverage you are looking for, then the internal antenna is more of a factor than the network.
And if you are really concerned about being out of touch and remote then satellite is the way to go.
I may not be the best person to ask because it makes me a little happy when I don't have cell reception.

[Jack Hardin]

My cell phone on Telus works at the dam at Abraham Lake west of Nordegg. It is good for about 5 miles west of the dam, then fades out.

[Dick284]

Bell piggybacks on Telus’ system.
My work phone with Bell
My personal phone is with Telus.

Both phones get and loose service pretty much identically, and I work in west central Alberta, travelling HWY 11 to Abraham Lake weekly.

[cody j]

None of them work in my yard

[lone wolf]

Originally Posted by ghostguy6

Im with Koodo. They use the telus network but have far better customer service..

......... PLUS their self serve portal is user friendly and painless to use.

[One'n'Done]

I just switched to Koodo from Telus. I have been with Telus mobility for over 30 yrs. No big complaints about Telus' service over the yrs but I just retired and I switched for the $45/month savings over my old plan I no longer need. Just be aware that Koodo and Public are both owned by Telus and the Koodo's service is piggybacked on Telus' 4G/LTE system and Public's on the older 3G system.

[Mulehahn]

If your phone is dying, or you want a new one, also look at who is offering what. I had to renew my phone last September but when talking to Telus the exact same phone on pretty much exact same plan (only difference was price on North America calling) Telus would only lease me the phone. I would of had to return it at end of contract. Any damages I had to pay for at that time. Bell was selling me the phone for same price. Coverage has been the same as when I was on Telus.

Yes, I could of bought the phone out right but it would of been close to $1000 or pay about $30 a month extra. Since I can invest the 1000 at more than 3% I decided to keep my money.

[CNP]

Originally Posted by Brankon

Do you know if a guy can keep his existing number from telus switching to public mobile? Just looked up their site and I think once my contract is up on this phone I'll be switching over

Yes you can keep your number. It's called "porting" which is talked about on the Public Mobile website. It will lead you there in the process of signing up with them. Use code PQ8Y8O when signing up to get $10 off your first bill. I would get $1 every month for using my code.

[does it ALL outdoors]

Originally Posted by CNP

Public Mobile and KooDoo are both running on the Telus network. Buy your next phone outright and go with Public Mobile for 1/4 the price. I live in the mountains in SW AB..........you're covered from every peak lol

^^ Agree..

[jcrayford]

Originally Posted by jayquiver

I switched from Telus to Bell about 4 yrs ago only because i could get a better business plan from Bell. Don't need that now.
Just looking for best coverage in remote areas.

Will talk with Telus today. I may switch my TV over to them also. Hopefully get a package deal.

I went away from Telus and stayed away from Bell and Rogers. I've tried them all and have either bad customer service experiences, or bad reception.

I'm now currently with Freedom (Shaw I understand is the parent company) and I think t also piggybacks on the Telus network - not sure on that though. I went with Freedom 2+ years ago for the no-nonsense, no extra charges, high volume data plans. Still with them afteer my contract ran out last fall and just signed up my wife on a new phone with an even sweeter deal and data plan than what I have.

I have no problem keeping signal alongside my buddies while out in the hills. They run Telus/Bell/Rogers and we all seem to run out of signal around the same areas. It's good - when the signal runs out I'm finally free of the civilized world and can enjoy some peace and quiet.

Freedom has treated me awesome, can't see me switching back to any of the big 3 anytime soon.

J.

[FCLightning]

As far as I know there are only 2 sets of towers across Alberta - Telus and Rogers. Every other company rents service from one of them and uses their towers.

[TBark]

Was Rogers for years,
The wife switched us to Telus mobility in Dec to bundle services and save a bit.
Went to our property E of Valleyview and couldn’t get reception with Telus the same as we got with Rogers.
So I swapped back to Rogers only 2 weeks ago.
So it depends on where you are in the stix.

TBark