One of two 5G towers Sasktel now has operational in Prince Albert with more to come over the next year or so. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Cell service improvement

Cell service expands as Sasktel rolls out 5G in Prince Albert

Feb 15, 2024 | 3:00 PM

Prince Albert now has two new 5G cell towers as part of a plan to improve coverage across the city.

The 5G towers are located near the Exhibition Park and Carlton High School but are not the only improvements being made to coverage. Lack of service has long been a complaint of residents on the eastern side of the city.

“Today we announced that we have started the rollout of our 5G network in the city of Prince Albert,” said Greg Jacobs, external communications manager with Sasktel. “We’ve successfully upgraded two of our cell sites in Prince Albert to 5g.”

Right now, Sasktel has 10 towers in Prince Albert, but most are smaller and not suitable for upgrading to the fifth generation of cellular network.

Many of the towers need to be upgraded, with three approved last November and city council giving their nod of approval to locations for the construction or upgrade of three new towers on Monday evening.

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Council voted on Monday to support in principle locations at Miller Hill Park near the drainage channel, a second tower at the Sasktel office at 1200-6^th Ave East and a third one at Kinsmen Park.

There is still work to be done before the city has blanket 5G coverage and it will take at least a year – if things go smoothly – before it is complete.

“Today’s announcement is a good first step. We’re moving in a good direction to improve services in the city,” Jacobs said.

“There’s still quite a bit of work that needs to be done before we have full 5G coverage in the city.”

5G technology allows data to move at much higher speeds and also allows more devices to connect to it.

“You’ll be able to stream data, stream movies and share large files faster than you’ve ever been able to before,” Jacobs explained.

As the network evolves along with device applications, there will be more advancements.

“One of the primary benefits of a fully mature 5G network is real-time connectivity,” he said.

In other words, the quality of the connection gets very close to a fibre internet connection and buffering is drastically reduced.

This helps in areas like remote surgeries and self-driving cars, not to mention watching movies or video chats. Modern smart homes have everything from the garage door to the thermostat or kitchen appliances connected to the web.

With the blanket coverage, dead spots or areas with current problems like Crescent Acres, should see those issues resolved.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com