Wondering which mobile provider offers the best signal in your area? PlanHub has introduced Signal, a new feature in its mobile app. Signal lets you explore nearby cell towers and compare mobile networks at any selected location. Whether you live in a major city, a rural community, or are planning to move, this new tool helps you identify the provider best suited to your location.
How does Signal work? Simply enter an address or city to explore nearby cellular infrastructure on an interactive map. You can view sites associated with Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Freedom Mobile, Videotron, SaskTel, Xplore, and Cogeco. Signal displays the number of nearby sites and the distance to the closest antenna. The app also uses your phone’s modem to measure received signal strength, expressed in decibel-milliwatts (dBm). It combines this information to calculate comparative scores and highlight the three providers offering the best network conditions at your selected location. This helps you compare available networks before choosing a mobile plan or moving to a new neighbourhood.
Coming soon: Signal analysis throughout your daily routine. In a future update, PlanHub plans to collect measurements over several days to evaluate network quality throughout your daily travels. The app will be able to consider reception at home, at work, and during your commute. The goal is to identify which provider offers the best coverage based on your actual usage patterns, rather than at a single address. Signal joins the existing features in the PlanHub app, including mobile plan comparisons based on your data usage, travel eSIM search, and Internet speed testing. Explore Signal today in the PlanHub app.
Explore the technical details of individual cell towers. By tapping any antenna on the map, you can access its detailed technical information. Signal displays the provider, distance from your location, antenna height, geographic coordinates, and associated radio frequencies. You can also see how many sites operated by that provider are located within a 2 or 5 kilometre radius. The app also indicates whether frequency data suggests potential 5G compatibility, although this does not guarantee that 5G service is active. These details help you better understand the mobile infrastructure around you and compare the networks available in your area.
