Business

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

'Fastest, most reliable' cell network disputed

By: LuAnn LaSalle

Posted: 11/23/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

MONTREAL -- Cellphone users are routinely hit with the buzz words "fastest" and "most reliable" when it comes to wireless networks.

So who has Canada's fastest wireless service? Is it Rogers, Bell or Telus?

Technology watchers say consumers will have a hard time telling the difference despite the claims each network makes.

"Broadly speaking, in a dense urban area -- downtown Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary -- you are going to tend to get about the same speed on each network," said technology analyst Duncan Stewart.

If all conditions are perfect -- there is no rain, no one else is on the network and you have the latest device -- you will get top speed, said Stewart, director of research and analysis at DSAM Consulting.

"But in the real world, that's not the way it works," Stewart said from Toronto.

Nevertheless, Telus is suing Rogers in an attempt to force its competitor to abandon long-standing claims to having Canada's fastest and most reliable network.Telus argues that Rogers can't support that claim, as of the launch of new advanced wireless networks this month by it and Bell.

Rogers has said it stands behind its claims, adding that its internal and third-party testing since 2007 has "consistently demonstrated" it has the most reliable network.

But PC Magazine's Sascha Segan said these kinds of claims are almost impossible to prove and knocked the description "most reliable."

"You can define that any way you want," Sagan said. "It could mean it drops fewer calls. It could mean it's available in the most rural areas. Who knows?"

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 23, 2009 B4

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