Since its initial Alberta rollout in 1985 with two carriers (AGT Mobility & Cantel) using an analogue-based system, the cell phone industry has evolved and grown into a product and service that have become almost essential to our everyday lives. Now, 38+ years later we have multiple carriers offering various services marketed towards key consumer segments. There are a number of carriers that build and maintain physical networks; Bell, Rogers, Telus, Freedom, although there are many brand names reselling services on those networks (see notes below). The table below also outlines the technology breakdown of the carriers and their physical networks.

CARRIER (in Alberta)	NETWORK	VOICE Frequency Bands (MHz)	DATA Frequency Bands (MHz)
	3G HSPA1,5	1900	1900
	4G LTE8	none, VoLTE4 only	700, 850, 1900, 2100-1, 2600
	5G	none, VoLTE4 only	600, 2100-3, 3500, 3800
	3G HSPA1,5	850 & 1900	850 & 1900
	4G LTE8	none, VoLTE4 only	700, 850, 1900, 2100-1, 2600
	5G	none, VoLTE4 only	600, 2100-3, 3500, 3800
	3G HSPA5	850 & 1900	850 & 1900
	4G LTE8	none, VoLTE4 only	700, 850, 1900, 2100-1, 2600
	5G	none, VoLTE4 only	600, 2600, 3500, 3800
	4G LTE8	none, VoLTE4 only	700, 2100-1, 2600
	5G	none, VoLTE4 only	600, 2100-3

1 this is a joint-venture network shared between Telus & Bell
4 Voice over LTE, same as VOIP technology, phone must be capable and feature activated on account, may also include Wi-Fi calling
5 1900 MHz is used as needed for voice and/or data
8 LTE is a high speed data network only, most, but not all phones have VOIP-like VoLTE voice calling capabilities

Carrier discount sub-brands
Telus - Koodo Mobile, Public Mobile
Bell - Solo Mobile, Lucky Mobile, Virgin Mobile, PC Choice Mobile
Rogers - Fido, Chatr, SpeakOut

Voice Band includes: voice calls, standard text messaging, and voicemail notification
Data Band includes: multimedia text messaging, email, and web browsing

Tower height is very important in that a shorter tower will more likely be affected by terrain and obstructions.
Cellular signals will not penetrate or go over hills or metal structures.
(see coverage plot pictures in "getting started")

Antenna placement on a given tower is generally one of two configuration types.
The most common type is three antennas placed 120 degrees apart with the first pointing roughly north.
The second type is two antennas 180 degrees apart pointing along a road and/or through a valley.

Frequency Band (MHz)	Band Name	LTE/5G Band	real-world max data speed (meg)
600	RRBS - Remote Rural Broadband System	71	20
700	MBS - Mobile Broadband Service	12, 13, 17, 29	20
850	Cell - Cellular	5	20
1900	PCS - Personal Communication Service	2, 25	120-500
2100	AWS - Advanced Wireless Service	4, 66	120
2300	WCS - Wireless Communications Service	30	40
2600	BRS - Broadband Radio Service	7, 41	120-500
3500, 3800	(CBRS) or FWA 1	42, 48, 77, 78	300-1200

1 - Consumer/Cellular broadband Radio Service or Fixed Wireless Access,
I've seen it listed both these ways, although ISED, aka Industry Canada, is favouring FWA

One huge misconception about LTE and data speeds is that they will be super fast. Yes, they can be, and the carriers try to achieve that, but the reality is that the LTE data speed at any given time is determined by a number of variable parameters. Of the top three factors; the first is the frequency band you are on, second is how good the signal is, and third is network congestion.