Canadians are receiving the broadband speeds they're paying for
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The majority of broadband Internet services in Canada are as fast or faster than their advertised download and upload speeds, says a CRTC report on Internet services.
The preliminary report, released Thursday, found that most services from the country's major Internet service providers delivered between 109% and 122% of the advertised download speed, and that performance was largely consistent across all geographic regions of Canada in a mix of urban and rural settings.
Services using fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies delivered 119% of advertised download speed on average, while cable/hybrid-fibre co-axial (HFC) delivered 103%, the report continued. Most Digital Subscriber Line-based (DSL) services also met or exceeded the advertised rates, however, DSL services in the 5 to 9 Mbps category only attained 88% of the advertised speed rate.
Upload speeds also generally met or exceeded advertised rates, said the report. All Cable/HFC and FTTH services exceeded 100% of advertised upload rates. DSL services exhibited more volatility, with DSL services in the 5 to 9 Mbps bucket delivering 85% of advertised upload speeds.
In the latency, packet loss and web browsing metrics, Cable/HFC and FTTH services delivered the most consistent results, while DSL services exhibited more variance. The report said that even the highest latencies exhibited during testing would be more than adequate for any common Internet application at present, and latency and web-browsing in Canada compares favourably to those measured in other jurisdictions including the United States.
While this report focused on the service provided by ISPs, the CRTC said that a second report later this year will detail the performance of individual ISPs and their specific service offerings.
The report comes as a result of collaboration between the CRTC, broadband testing firm SamKnows, and ISPs Bell, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Northwestel, Rogers, Shaw, Telus and Videotron (SaskTel declined to participate).
Data presented in the report was collected between October 1 and November 30, 2015 from ‘Whiteboxes’ installed in the homes of 4,486 participants who signed up to measure the performance of their broadband Internet services when the Commission unveiled the Measuring Broadband Canada program last May. Only 3,471 Whiteboxes were used in this report, as the others were omitted due to measurement issues or because the Whiteboxes were on ISPs not included in the collaborative group. Most test results in the report reflect results gathered during the peak usage period of 7-11 PM (local time) on weeknights.
“We are pleased that Canadians now have better insight into the performance, including the actual connection speeds, of the broadband Internet services provided to them by the major ISPs in the country”, said CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais, in the report's news release. “Based on the preliminary findings, Canadians are receiving the broadband speeds they are paying for.”
Blais added that the report will also help the CRTC to improve its broadband policy plus will prove “valuable” during next month’s public hearing related to the Commission's review of basic telecommunication services.
