About the 5G symbol showing up on your phone in Yellowknife

No, you are not mad. If you saw your phone flip to 5G and back in Yellowknife lately, there is actually something happening behind the scenes.

5G is the latest kind of mobile network. It’s designed to be faster than LTE and more reliable, and is already in use across much of southern Canada.

Various Yellowknife residents have reported seeing the 5G icon temporarily appear on their phones in recent days, only to switch back to LTE after a short period.

This is mysterious as Yellowknife doesn’t officially have 5G service yet. Look at the coverage map for Bell, Telus or Rogers at the time of writing and they’ll all tell you the same thing: you’ll get LTE at best.

Rogers and Telus don’t own or operate their own infrastructure in Yellowknife. Ice Wireless, which does have its own Yellowknife infrastructure, doesn’t offer 5G according to its own map and hasn’t announced firm plans to introduce it.

So we approached Bell, which operates cell towers in Yellowknife.

On Tuesday morning, a Bell representative said by email: “Bell is currently upgrading the mobile network in Yellowknife. We are making great progress on the build and plan to have some sites complete by end of year.”

That’s all the company was prepared to say. Note that Telus referred us to Bell when we asked for comment, so Bell’s answer can be considered to apply to customers of both Telus and Bell.

That answer doesn’t explain in full detail exactly why 5G icons are flitting on and off your screen, but it suggests work is taking place toward a more formal rollout by the end of 2024.

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