Majority of Internet service providers deliver speeds above their advertised rates

CRTC releases final year 1 report on broadband Internet performance

OTTAWA and GATINEAU, QC, Sept. 29, 2016 /CNW/ - The results of a first-ever national, independent study on broadband performance in Canada, issued today by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), confirm that Internet service providers (ISPs) largely meet or exceed their advertised download and upload speeds.

Participating ISPs included all the main wireline service providers in Canada, with the exception of Sasktel, which declined to participate.

The data collected will provide Canadians with a better understanding of Internet services, enable the CRTC to improve its future broadband policy-making and allow ISPs to improve their networks to better serve their customers.

The CRTC will be launching a second phase this fall, and hopes to include more ISPs and Canadian volunteers, as the scope of the project expands.

Quick Facts

• In 2015, the CRTC launched a project to measure broadband Internet performance in Canadian homes, in collaboration with major Canadian ISPs and SamKnows, a company specializing in measuring broadband.
• Participating ISPs were: Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, Rogers, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Northwestel, Shaw, TELUS and Vidéotron.
• The measurement devices, known as Whiteboxes, collected data from over 3,000 volunteers as part of this initiative to study broadband performance.
• To protect the privacy of participants, no information about their online activities was collected.
• Speeds measured correspond to those delivered to the home by the providers, and not inside the home. Factors inside the home such as a large number of devices used at the same time, faulty equipment and poor Wi-Fi connectivity may impact user performance.
• Other factors outside the home such as heavy traffic on a particular website, latency and packet loss may also affect performance.
• The results measured in Canada compare favourably to those measured in other countries, including the United States.
• The CRTC issued a preliminary report published on March 31, 2016, focusing on performance by region and access technology.
• Canadians interested in participating in next phase of the project are encouraged to submit a request at Measuring Broadband Canada.
• In addition to the ISPs who participated in Phase 1 of the project, the CRTC is engaging with the following ISPs for Phase 2: Distributel, Nexicom, Primus, Teksavvy, VMedia, and Xplornet.

Quote

"We are grateful to the thousands of Canadians who volunteered for the first-ever broadband measurement project of its kind in Canada. We would also like to thank the ISPs who contributed to the success of this innovative initiative. The results of the first phase of the project provide valuable insight on the real-world performance of Internet services across Canada. Stay tuned for details about the second phase of the project, which will be launched in the coming weeks."

Jean-Pierre Blais, CRTC Chairman and CEO

Related products

Broadband Measurement report
Broadband Measurement Project 
How Does Your Internet Service Measure Up 
November 2015 News Release 
May 2015 News Release

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SOURCE Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission

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