Canadians who switched mobile operators last year had a below-average mobile network experience, according to newly released data.
Opensignal has released a report analyzing why urban and rural Canadian users change mobile operators. The report notes that on average, users that changed carriers had a worse mobile experience before they switched compared to the typical experience on their original network.
It outlines that users who switched had either a better or similar experience on their new mobile network depending on whether they connected in urban or rural areas.
“For example, our urban Canadian users who switched their network spent less time without a mobile signal on their new network while their rural counterparts saw 4G Availability increase after moving to another mobile carrier,” the report notes.
Opensignal looked at users’ mobile experience during the 30 days before they made the change and compared that against the average experience of all users on their respective networks during the entire period.
Users who switched in urban areas spent more than twice the amount of time without a mobile signal than network users in general. Rural users who switched spent 1.7 times more time without a mobile signal than the average scores on their networks.
Canadians who switched, regardless of location, also spent less time connected to either a 3G or 4G mobile connection.
The report found that Canadians who switched providers had a better mobile experience on their new mobile operator when compared to their previous one.
Users who switched in urban areas spent less time without a mobile signal on their new mobile network than on their previous one. The difference wasn’t statistically significant for users in rural areas.
However, rural users did experience better 4G available on their new mobile network, while urban users did not experience much of a difference.
“While the mobile experience of Leavers in Canada, both urban and rural, is, on average, significantly higher than in many other countries globally, it is also true that some Canadian users will have a worse mobile experience than others,” Opensignal notes.
