Anyone who’s had a beer at Peel Pub, situated a couple blocks away from the Canadiens’ home arena, knows Montreal is a lively place.
There’s a lot to do on a Friday in Canada’s second-largest city, much of it involving drinking. Hey, Montreal’s productive, and its residents need to kick back after a busy week.
Montreal is home to a variety of industries, including aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, software engineering, telecommunications, film and television production, and video games. It also boasts Canada’s oldest stock exchange and the headquarters of two of the country’s biggest banks, Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada.
All of which is to say, Montreal is a bustling, 21st-century city, with correspondingly high-tech demands. One of those demands is adequate mobile coverage.
Fortunately, they can rest easy knowing their city mostly has good coverage from Canada's major carriers. Read on to learn about the ins and outs of cell phone coverage in Montreal.
Coverage in Montreal At-a-Glance
Montreal skates in with a strong coverage score of 87 out of 100. Here's a guide to coverage for the entire province of Quebec.
What we love
- Rogers, Bell and Telus offer great coverage
- Quebec enjoys good coverage from Freedom and Videotron
- 4G LTE and 5G widely available
What could be improved
- Coverage less reliable the further you travel from the city
87/100
Carrier Network Coverage in Montreal
If you're from Quebec, you're no doubt familiar with Videotron. They are one of the biggest TV, internet and wireless providers in the province, and operate their own network that competes with the four you see below.
Putting aside the Videotron, three of the major networks perform excellently throughout Montreal. This means you can join any of these to get great coverage--or the multitude of smaller carriers that run on their networks.
Best Coverage in Montreal by Network
| Network | Covered Area % |
|---|---|
| Bell | 100% |
| Rogers | 100% |
| Telus | 100% |
Cell Phone Coverage in Montreal by Area
Montreal encompasses 356 square kilometers and all national carriers, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, cover every bit of it.
Geographic Area Covered in Montreal
Big Carriers vs. Small Carriers in Montreal
When choosing a cell phone providers, there's no need to limit yourself to the big companies. There are dozens of smaller carriers that run on the major networks, but charge a fraction of the price for service. Known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs for short), these carriers purchase network service from the major providers at wholesale prices, then pass the savings on to consumers.
Getting the Best Plan & Coverage
WhistleOut's industry-leading coverage check feature supercharges an already robust comparison engine by allowing you to instantly see what coverage is like at your location. Just punch in your address, and we'll do the rest.
In addition to showing you a map of your area with the coverage from the major carriers, we filter through the available cell phone plans and present only those from carriers who provide good reception to you.
Cell Phone Carriers in Montreal
Here's the list of wireless carriers big and small in Montreal, and the network that each belongs to. Note that the smaller carriers—Koodo, Fido, etc.—utilize the networks of the major carriers. Regional carriers elsewhere in the country use partner networks to reach Montreal.
| Carrier | Network | Available in Montreal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell Mobility | Bell | Yes | |
| Chatr Wireless | Rogers | Yes | |
| Fido | Rogers | Yes | |
| Freedom Mobile | Freedom | Yes | |
| Koodo Mobile | Telus | Yes | |
| PC Mobile | Bell/Telus | Yes | |
| Petro Canada | Rogers | Yes | |
| Public Mobile | Telus | Yes | |
| Rogers | Rogers | Yes | |
| Bell/Telus (partner) | SaskTel | Yes | |
| Telus | Telus | Yes | |
| Videotron | Videotron | Yes | |
| Virgin Mobile | Bell | Yes | |
| 7-11 SpeakOut | Rogers | Yes |
One More Thing: Using Public WiFi in Montreal
Montreal is an extremely mobile friendly city, with free public wifi ("MTLWiFi") covering a good portion of downtown. That becomes extremely useful when you either need a stronger connection or want to avoid draining your cellular data.
Here's a map of the covered area. You can expect this area to grow in the coming months, as the city has announced plans to both bolster the power of existing hotspots and expand overall coverage area.
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