No LTE in Manitoba / SLOW data speeds

[Jason_in_Manitoba]

Seems that since the Bell-MTS merger and its implication to the Telus network, data speeds in Western Manitoba have been horrible.  As well, according to the Telus coverage map, all of Southern Manitoba should have 4G LTE coverage - I'm certainly not getting LTE anywhere from Carberry to Portage (and only occasionally getting LTE in Brandon).

Here are some speed test results from within Brandon:

                

Speeds like this are unusable!!

Also - why no LTE when I am clearly in an area that, according to Telus' map, should be covered by LTE.  

Same results with both my and my wife's Telus iPhone 6S.  And yes, LTE is enabled on the phones.  

Thanks!

[Nighthawk]

I believe in Manitoba that Telus and Bell have shared infrastructure there. That and if the cell site map is right, Bell took over MTS' towers as well. Telus's own LTE towers were in a limited line in the south end of the province along highway 1 and a bit north of Winnipeg. Everything else will be using Bell/MTS towers.

Have you called support to see if they can track down the cause of it? Even on 3G those speeds are painful. If you had LTE before, you should be able to get it still if the tower sharing is being done. If not, a fair number of the towers in western Manitoba according to the above map, appear 3G only instead of LTE. Varies depending which community you live in.

[Jason_in_Manitoba · Accepted solution]

I finally had the chance to get in touch with Telus this morning.  They confirmed that two towers in my area are having trouble, and that repairs are in the works with an ETR of next month.

Another interesting point the rep mentioned: 

LTE connectivity is never guaranteed as it depends on tower support, Some towers are HSPA only which is 3G OR 4G. LTE is dependent on how many people are connected at a particular time thus congestion comes into play as the band can only be connected by 100 people at a time. If you adjust your device to just pick LTE you might end up not having service at all.

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And Nighthawk - thank you for your reply and links.  Appreciate it!