Readers’ Choice 2023: The Best Mobile Phone and Service Providers in North America

With 5G networks, you can enjoy broadband-style internet download speeds when you’re on the go, streaming your favorite shows, participating in video conferencing, and more. All the major carriers in the US and Canada have upgraded their networks to 5G, but not all mobile networks are built alike, nor do all mobile service providers—whether major carriers or smaller companies—provide the same pricing or level of customer service.

If you haven’t bought a new phone in a few years, you’re likely stuck on an older, slower network. Now is a good time to upgrade and take advantage of this new generation of mobile connectivity.

In this month’s PCMag Readers’ Choice Award survey, we asked our audience to rate mobile providers (carriers) as well as phone manufacturers, to get their take on that endless debate: Android versus Apple iOS. Read on to see what they recommend. Our survey includes multiple satisfaction categories. There are 12 in the chart below; you can use the arrows in the chart to page through the results.

Top US Mobile Carriers for 2023

Google Fi (Android Users)

The Google Fi service (which uses T-Mobile and UScellular’s networks) is a clear favorite among our survey respondents. Just make sure you have an Android phone. iPhone users are welcome, but they won’t get 5G connectivity (at least for now; that might change with the release of iOS 16.4)(Opens in a new window). Android users, particularly Google Pixel owners, should be pleased.

Consumer Cellular (iPhone Users)

If you want 5G speeds and use an iPhone, your best option is Consumer Cellular. The service, which uses AT&T or T-Mobile network access, wins our Readers’ Choice Award for the ninth time in 10 years.

T-Mobile (Major Carrier)

For those who are more comfortable sticking with one of the major carriers—which own and operate their own towers—the clear winner is T-Mobile. The “Un-carrier” takes the award for the third straight year.

Google started providing mobile service back in 2015 with Project Fi. Our audience was impressed, and the company earned the Readers’ Choice Award in 2016 and 2017. Since then, Google Fi has dropped the word “Project“ from the name, but the service still scores well. This year, we see a marked improvement in the company’s ratings, to the point where it beats all the competition in nearly every measure of satisfaction.

Even when Google Fi isn’t in the lead, it isn’t far behind. The company comes in second to Consumer Cellular in satisfaction with customer support. For satisfaction with fees, it’s only a few tenths of a point behind Mint Mobile, last year’s Readers’ Choice winner. (Mint Mobile was recently purchased by T-Mobile for $1.35 billion.) Google Fi is slightly behind T-Mobile—the carrier that provides some of Google Fi’s network—in satisfaction with the choice of phones.

There’s one catch, as we mentioned: Google Fi delivers 5G service to Android users only. That explains why just 2% of Google Fi respondents in our survey said they use iPhones.

Consumer Cellular, which had its Readers’ Choice award-winning streak broken last year by Mint Mobile, is the clear choice for iPhone users this year. The service, which offers discounts to older Americans but is available to everyone, runs on AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks. (According to Consumer Cellular support, new users are added to the AT&T network.) When we filter survey results to include only iPhone users, Consumer Cellular is on top of every measure for which it receives enough responses, except in choice of phones.

Google Fi, Consumer Cellular, Mint Mobile, and most of the other top providers in our survey are mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs. Instead of having their own network infrastructure, they typically use the networks of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, or combinations of those services. (Google Fi also uses UScellular, a carrier with its own towers that did not make the cut in our survey results; Dish Networks’ relatively new network also didn’t receive enough responses to be included.) Whether because of inertia, greater comfort with the familiar, or both, 70% of our respondents use one of the big three network providers.

Among the big players, T-Mobile rates much higher than the others in overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend. The primary reasons are likely related to satisfaction with fees, for which AT&T and Verizon’s ratings are abysmal, and satisfaction with customer support, where T-Mobile’s large competitors also lag far behind. When it comes to satisfaction ratings that are related to the networks, such as satisfaction with coverage, T-Mobile’s ratings are generally similar, though it does rank best among the big three for satisfaction with the speed of the data network.

The Top US Phone Manufacturer for 2023

Google

Google’s affordable, innovative Pixel phone lineup resonates with our survey respondents. Nearly any way you slice it, the company comes out on top in customer satisfaction.

Google is doing things right in the mobile space, according to PCMag’s US readers. In addition to operating the top mobile service (Google Fi) and the top mobile operating system (Android, which was primarily developed by Google), the company also has the top smartphones in its Pixel line. Last year, Apple won our Readers’ Choice Award, but Google was pounding on the door, posting top ratings in several of our categories. This year, Google busts through, earning the best satisfaction ratings on 16 of the 17 measures we asked you to rate, making it the clear Readers’ Choice Award winner for 2023.

Google receives a rating of 9.0 or better in 11 categories, with top marks for satisfaction with setup and taking photos. In a couple of categories, Google shares its top spot with one or more competitors, including satisfaction with cost (OnePlus and LG), reliability (Apple), and Wi-Fi hotspot (OnePlus).

As is often the case, Apple’s Achilles’ heel is the price of its products. Apple’s 7.2 rating for satisfaction with cost is far behind every other brand except Samsung, which is second-to-lowest at 7.8. Apple also rates lowest in satisfaction with calendar management (tied with LG) and voice assistant (tied with Samsung). Oddly, while Android’s voice assistant did not rate very well in the Mobile OS portion of our survey (7.9, in the table below), the rating of 8.7 for the voice assistant on Google’s phone (the Google Assistant itself) is impressive.

The Top US Mobile Operating System for 2023

Android

Google’s Android (even when customized by other phone makers) and Apple’s iOS are two very good choices in mobile operating systems, but respondents give the edge to Android, earning its 10th straight Readers’ Choice Award this year. 

Before you choose a phone, you should decide whether you’re going to get an Android device or an iPhone. If you choose the former, it opens you up to a wide array of phone brands—Google is the primary developer of the Android OS, but other companies can modify the OS for their own phones.

As has often been the case with this part of our survey in recent years, satisfaction levels are similar for the two platforms. For instance, both Android and iOS earned 8.7 in overall satisfaction last year, but we gave our Readers’ Choice Award to Android because of its higher likelihood-to-recommend rating. Android’s overall-satisfaction rating is unchanged this year, while Apple slips slightly to 8.6, giving Android the edge and its 10th consecutive Readers’ Choice Award.

If you’ve used both mobile operating systems, you know they’re similar but not the same. That’s reflected in the ratings. While Android and iOS tie for satisfaction with reliability and satisfaction with app selection, Android comes out on top for free app selection, email, contact and calendar management, Wi-Fi hotspot, and voice assistant, all categories that are important to those who use their phones for productivity.

iOS, on the other hand, rates highest in satisfaction for app quality, car mirroring (CarPlay or Android Auto), taking photos, shooting video, and its digital wallet, Apple Pay. It’s important to note, however, that the difference in satisfaction ratings never exceeds 0.3.

The lowest-rated measure for both platforms is voice assistants: Siri (Apple) and Google Assistant (or Bixby, for Samsung users). It’s apparent that few people like talking to their phones, let alone talking on them.

Our Full US Results

Bienvenue au Canada

PCMag has been surveying American readers for more than a decade to gauge their satisfaction with their mobile service providers and their phones. This year, we expanded our survey to learn about users north of the border. As in the US, Canadians can choose getting mobile service from the company that owns the mobile network (there are a handful, but the three largest networks with nationwide coverage are owned by Bell, Rogers, and Telus) or from a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) whose service runs on top of another carrier’s network.

Unlike in the US, Canadians currently can’t get 5G service through an MVNO. While 4G is sufficiently fast for most people, 5G can deliver much faster speeds.

When it comes to choosing a phone, Canadians face the same decision as the rest of the world: Get an Android phone from one of a variety of phone makers, or just get an iPhone. Many of the same handsets are offered in both countries, especially flagship phones, but that doesn’t mean preferences are the same. Read on to see which phones and services are our Canadian readers’ top choices.

Top Canadian Mobile Carriers for 2023

Public Mobile (MVNO)

Public Mobile blows away the competition on most of our satisfaction measures, earning the Telus subsidiary a Readers’ Choice Award. Even though Public doesn’t yet support 5G, readers who use it gave it high accolades even for network speed.

Telus Mobility (Major Carrier)

If you want 5G speeds plus a signal you can get almost anywhere in the country, a major nationwide provider is your best bet. Survey respondents give Telus Mobility the edge over Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless.

Thirteen Canada-based mobile service providers receive enough responses to be included in our results. Some of these, like Bell, Rogers, and Telus, have their own mobile networks (these also happen to be major broadband internet service providers in the country). Others, such as Freedom and SaskTel, also own a small network of towers.

Several of the other carriers in this survey are MVNOs that run on another company’s mobile network—usually that of Bell, Rogers, or Telus. MVNOs often provide more affordable service and better support, but most can’t currently provide 5G service in Canada.

Despite the lack of 5G, Public Mobile, an MVNO owned by Telus and using the Telus Mobility towers, receives higher satisfaction ratings than any other provider in our survey on nearly every question—it wins a Readers’ Choice Award. Public Mobile’s overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend ratings are more than half a point higher than the company’s closest competitor. Paradoxically, Public Mobile has the highest rating for satisfaction with the speed of the data network, even though it can’t offer 5G connections.

Public Mobile receives its highest satisfaction rating for satisfaction with fees (9.0), more than a full point higher than any other company except Shaw (8.1). On the other hand, the company’s poorest rating is for satisfaction with customer support, where it just barely stays ahead of the worst of the bunch: Lucky Mobile, Bell, and Rogers.

Among the three major carriers that provide nationwide coverage (Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, and Telus Mobility), Telus comes out on top and earns a Readers’ Choice Award. The company edges out its competitors in overall satisfaction, likelihood to recommend, and satisfaction with choice of phones, customer support, and fees; while the rating of 6.6 out of 10 for satisfaction with fees is nothing to text home about, it’s still quite a bit ahead of Rogers.

Where Telus isn’t ahead, it ties at least one of its large competitors for the top spot. The only rating in which Telus doesn’t earn a top mark is satisfaction with coverage within the respondent’s home area, where it’s a tenth of a rating point behind Rogers.

A few providers focus on a certain region of Canada, such as SaskTel in Saskatchewan and Videotron in Quebec, though their services aren’t limited to these provinces. These regional companies tend to receive satisfaction ratings similar to the national carriers. The landscape next year could be different, though, as Rogers plans to buy Shaw, which must then sell its Freedom Mobile network to Videotron to meet the requirements of Canadian antitrust regulators.

Top Canadian Phone Manufacturer for 2023

Apple

iPhones may not be the choice for those on a tight budget, but Apple tops the satisfaction ratings on most of our phone-specific questions. It wins the first Readers’ Choice Award for Canadian phones.

Although Canadian survey respondents have a slight preference for Android over iOS, Apple is their top choice for phone brands and is our Readers’ Choice Award winner. iPhone users give Apple the highest ratings among all the brands in our survey on 12 of our 17 key measures of satisfaction. On most of the remaining measures, it finishes close behind. Apple’s main shortcoming is satisfaction with cost: It’s rated dead last, far behind all competitors. Motorola has the top satisfaction-with-cost rating. Apple phones are expensive, and that doesn’t make people happy—but what they pay for does.

In general, Apple’s closest competitors are Samsung and Google, which are both well regarded by survey respondents and earn identical overall-satisfaction ratings. Samsung bests Google in the likelihood-to-recommend rating, as well as in satisfaction with reliability, ease of use, repairs, and email. Google rates higher for satisfaction with setup, cost, and tech support, as well as satisfaction with taking photos, shooting video, calendar management, contact management, and voice assistant.

As with the US results, Google scores highest with its voice assistant, just ahead of Apple. Samsung’s voice assistant—which can now be either the company’s own Bixby or Google Assistant—scored the lowest, tying with LG. (You can, of course, disable Bixby.)

Top Canadian Mobile Operating System for 2023

Android

Even in Canada, Android users rate their overall satisfaction slightly higher than Apple iOS users—but the margin is slim. You’re likely to be happy with either mobile OS, but Android has the edge with its selection of free apps.

At the heart of your phone is its operating system (or platform). For years, the battle has been between Android, which is primarily developed by Google, and iOS from Apple. You can’t choose the operating system for your phone. If you use an iPhone, you run iOS. Just about every other phone brand uses Android.

Both operating systems are mature at this point, which probably accounts for the close satisfaction ratings. Still, for Canadians, Android comes out slightly ahead on the two most important measures: overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend.

The only other area where Android comes out ahead is on satisfaction with free-app selection. Android and iOS tie on satisfaction with reliability and calendar management. On every other rating, iOS is a notch better.

Apple iOS scores highest for satisfaction with its digital wallet, Apple Pay. A digital wallet contains virtual credit and debit cards, allowing you to make secure transactions without carrying physical cards. Digital wallets can also store other types of “cards,” such as loyalty cards and boarding passes. Apple Pay has the edge over the wallet options from Google and Samsung.

Consider the subcategory that is most important to you before you decide on a mobile OS. But chances are excellent that you won’t be disappointed by either choice.

Full Results for Canada

The PCMag Readers’ Choice surveys for Phones and Mobile Carriers was in the field from February 21 to March 13, 2022. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read our survey methodology.