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ShawnyRHarvey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 6, 2018
184
174
Hamilton, ON
Got these speeds on Telus 5G in Oakville, ON (Canada) near Bronte area. Wondering what kind of speeds others are getting across the Great White North.

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  • Wow
Reactions: decypher44
Other than speed really, what is 5G for on iPhone? I mostly use for WhatsApp, reading news here and there. I "feel" 4G is fast enough.
 
In Toronto, just switched from Rogers (a non-5G plan) to Telus. As i just swapped my Sims and ported over, I did a test on my new iPhone 12 Pro one right after the other to test speeds. 1st is Rogers LTE, 2nd is Telus LTE (forced LTE only), 3rd is Telus 5G (forced 5G only).

Everything is more than fast enough. But interesting Telus 5G is slower than Telus LTE.

Rogers LTE

2486A4A7-1E79-4515-87A1-206ED6CEE7A8.jpeg



Telus LTE

115FEFB3-9119-4505-8664-1FF186BB6767.jpeg


Telus 5G

06B021DA-79EA-4345-BEB8-741C820DD4A1.jpeg
 
i went from a NON-5g rogers plan to a 5g rogers plan. I just put in my old sim card from my iphone x to the new iphone 12 and the new phone recognizes 5g but was much slower than LTE. LTE=143 dl and 5g=62 dl. I forced my phone to use 5g (not auto)
What gives? Do I need a new SIM card for 5G speeds?
 
i went from a NON-5g rogers plan to a 5g rogers plan. I just put in my old sim card from my iphone x to the new iphone 12 and the new phone recognizes 5g but was much slower than LTE. LTE=143 dl and 5g=62 dl. I forced my phone to use 5g (not auto)
What gives? Do I need a new SIM card for 5G speeds?

I don’t think so, if they didn’t tell you you needed a new Sim when you switched plans, presumably no problem. Especially since it’s saying you’re connected ro 5G.

Depending on where you’re located, I think the generally accepted view is that for now, Canadian 5G isn’t any faster than LTE (similar in US but for Verizon Ultrawide Band / mmWave). Some areas may have faster 5G, but I think it varies greatly on location and carrier.

My Telus LTE was faster than 5G (in Toronto) when I tested on a Fri evening.
 
Personally, I feel like these new 5G networks are currently just the same LTE networks simply labelled as 5G. I did speeds tests with both 5G enable and on LTE (both with full bars) and the results are identical. Biggest benefit of 5G was increased speeds (ok, LTE is plenty fast for most on mobile devices right now) but most importantly: ”fibre” level ping rates. Right now, 5G ping is exactly the same as LTE. To me it doesn’t matter that it says 5G, it‘s really just LTE.

Perhaps my area is not really 5G (midtown Toronto on Telus), but in that case, it should just say LTE.

5G long term goal was eventually to become a broadband replacement with Fibre speeds and reliability everywhere, replacing your home internet. We’re not quite there yet.
 
I don’t think so, if they didn’t tell you you needed a new Sim when you switched plans, presumably no problem. Especially since it’s saying you’re connected ro 5G.

Depending on where you’re located, I think the generally accepted view is that for now, Canadian 5G isn’t any faster than LTE (similar in US but for Verizon Ultrawide Band / mmWave). Some areas may have faster 5G, but I think it varies greatly on location and carrier.

My Telus LTE was faster than 5G (in Toronto) when I tested on a Fri evening.
Here's the thing, I did not speak to rogers at all. I bought the phone directly from apple online. Once i recieved the new phone, took out my old Rogers SIM from iphone X, put it in my new iphone. I realized my old Rogers plan wasn't giving me 5G. I then went to Rogers online and selected a new plan on my own. It switched automatically to the new plan within minutes and I could then see I was connecting to 5G on new phone. I guess the only way to know for sure is to call Rogers and see what they say. I'm in no rush, 5g during these times is very low priority.
 
Sadly, in my area (metropolitan areas in Florida) 5G is pretty underwhelming. The below sums up my experience over the past few week.

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i went from a NON-5g rogers plan to a 5g rogers plan. I just put in my old sim card from my iphone x to the new iphone 12 and the new phone recognizes 5g but was much slower than LTE. LTE=143 dl and 5g=62 dl. I forced my phone to use 5g (not auto)
What gives? Do I need a new SIM card for 5G speeds?
If it's anything like wifi calling in its early days it may be something Rogers needs to enable on their end. Something like "marking" your device as eligible for their 5g network. This is more likely if you didn't buy the device from Rogers directly. Just a theory, of course.
 
If it's anything like wifi calling in its early days it may be something Rogers needs to enable on their end. Something like "marking" your device as eligible for their 5g network. This is more likely if you didn't buy the device from Rogers directly. Just a theory, of course.
Agreed. @jgo78 I think it's most likely the case that you're on Rogers 5G (especially given you saw the top right change to 5G after you changed your plan online, when it was only LTE previously). And no new sim needed. But I guess you can't really be sure unless you ask them. Agree there's no urgency now
 
Downtown, Calgary with TELUS.

It spiked at 700 but then dropped down before cruising at 500 the rest of the test.
 

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