Best iPhone carrier in West Coast of Canada?

I have been with Telus (EdTel/AGT) since I got my first cell phone back in 1987. They have had superior coverage in western Canada since then over all others after they acquired EdTel and AGT. I travel the west in our motor home and have never been caught without a strong and usable G3 or G4 signal in the past four years in the most remote areas of Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba to keep my website updated daily via a USB stick. Their agreements with SaskTel and ManitobaTel have never failed me in those two provinces. Our daughter on Bell and our son on Rogers continually have issues when visiting us in campsites while we have solid service.

It's true. Telus has historically had superior coverage.

Rogers has typically offered less expensive plans.

Fido offers all-you-can eat voice but with limited range.

I can't comment on Bell, the off-brand, or non-native carriers.

If Telus is king, how's koodo then since it is owned by Telus?


Sent from my iPhone

I know people on Koodo that are happy with it.

By all means, stay far, far, far away from Rogers. Get a landline with a rotary phone before you waste your money on rogers.

In my experience Telus has FAR better coverage out west, though with the introduction of the 3G gsm network a few years back which they share with bell, bell should have the same coverage. Rogers/fido have crap coverage in my experiences in Calgary. (Grew up there and still visit regularly.)

Telus has the most coverage by far. If you're going to be in the city though I've had good luck with all of them. If you're going to be in the boondocks? Telus is the best bet, probably followed by Rogers.

Telus seems to be the consensus. Thanks for the feedback! Was offering suggestions to someone else going to do an RV vacation on the west coast. Maybe he will join the thread.

Rogers stinks

Stay far far away from Rogers. Every other company is better.
Even the reps at the retention department lie to you, promising great deals
to keep you. Your bill states the opposite tptptptp
Rogers is a Bingo where the numbers can change every day. Unfortunately the Bingo
has only one winner, that's Rogers the whole time, certainly not the customer.

Virgin should have better plans and I've been told they are using both Bell and Telus network in Bc

I think when it comes to phone carriers what it really comes down to is that there really isn't a best one, but you can probably make the case for which one is the least worst.

FWIW I've been happy with Fido for years now. Mind you, their coverage in rural areas is terrible compared to Bell, but I don't often head to rural areas so this is a non-issue with me.

The CityFido Plan has been great for me -- unlimited talk and texting with the stuff that Canadian carriers (alone among civilised nations) charge extra for (like Caller ID, voicemail, call waiting etc) -- for $35/month. Data is extra.

I've only ever been with Fido since I moved here so I'm not directly comparing anything. I'm just saying that Fido has, thus far, given me no grief and offered me a plan I can afford and live with.

ehMax said:

Telus seems to be the consensus. Thanks for the feedback! Was offering suggestions to someone else going to do an RV vacation on the west coast. Maybe he will join the thread.

Click to expand...

That would be me!

We will be spending 3 weeks, starting in Calgary and ending up in Vancouver via the Rockies and Vancouver Island.

Last time we visited Canada the iPhone hadn't been invented. This time I would like to use the iPhone for maps, email, the internet etc. Hence my question about the best carrier in Alberta and BC.

How easy is it to get a short "contract" SIM? In the UK we can just get a pay-as-you-go SIM from just about any of the carriers by just walking into a shop.

I'll throw in a +1 for Telus. I rode my motorcycle coast to coast this summer, and the reception was flawless other than in Winnipeg where it was spotty and in Brandon MB where it didn't work at all.

Out west my Telus phone picked up 3G signal everywhere, even on the island (Tofino etc), compared to my friend's Rogers phone that was out of service most of the time outside of the cities, and when it did have service it was on the Edge network.

I was a long term Rogers customer but switched to Telus this spring. It sure paid off for me this summer testing the network from coast to coast!

In the city of Vancouver I've been happy with Fido for about 12 years. It uses the Rogers network, but the people at Fido seem friendlier. It's a Quebec company that was bought by Rogers about 6 years ago. Right now they have some pretty good plans for the $40/mo price range.

I should add that on a recent road trip from Vancouver to Edmonton, I often had no signal from Fido in remote areas, while my friends with Bell generally (not 100% of the time, but frequently) did. Obviously when I was in an actual town of any significance, no issues. But now I'm a little worried should I ever want to go camping ...

My wife and I have been with Bell ever since out first cell phone (you remember, those gigantic Motorola grey plastic things), and we've been grandfathered to a fairly reasonably priced plan every time we renew. There have been some pretty frustrating moments when a billing problem had to be dealt with, but we're reasonably happy otherwise. Coverage has been pretty good too, I get service in places where others have spotty performance.

Bell and Telus pretty much have the same coverage, they operate a shared network. Virgin is fully-owned by Bell, and also has identical coverage. I've heard the same of Koodo.

Essentially, there are only two nationwide networks: Bell/Telus/Koodo/Virgin and Rogers/Fido. Rogers/Fido is absolutely horrible in Saskatechwan. The Bell/Telus/Etc. net is not that great in Manitoba. Otherwise, it's pretty darn close. Virgin has some of the cheaper plans with the Choice options.