Net speed faster than touted, report says

Canadians love to complain about telecommunications services, but when it comes to Internet speed they typically get more than they pay for from major providers, according to data from the federal telecom regulator.

The majority of Internet providers actually deliver faster download and upload speeds than advertised, according to a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission report released Thursday, based on Internet performance data from 3,000 volunteers across the country.

All major service providers except Sasktel participated in the study. Regardless of a plan’s promised speed or whether the connection used digital subscriber line (DSL), cable (including hybrid fibre coaxial cables and DOCSIS variants) or fibre-to-the-home, the report found that all but five of the 41 Internet packages tested had higher speeds than advertised.

For Canadians skeptical their speed is truly better-than-advertised, the CRTC acknowledged that speeds were measured to the home and don’t account for impediments within a home such as faulty routers, poor Wi-Fi connectivity or multiple devices used at once. Factors that can affect speed outside a home include heavy traffic on a particular website, latency and packet loss.

Still, the results were favourable when compared with other countries including the United States, according to the CRTC. Canadians pay among the highest prices for fixed broadband when compared to G7 countries plus Australia, with prices in the top three for most service levels, the regulator revealed earlier this year.

The CRTC decided to collect performance data to improve policymaking and to encourage providers to improve their networks.

“The results of the first phase of the project provide valuable insight on the real-world performance of Internet services across Canada,” CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in a statement.

Bell Aliant’s DSL package was the worst tested, only delivering 77 per cent of its advertised seven megabits per second (Mbps) speed. Eastlink had two packages that operated below advertised speeds, and Telus and Northwestel had one each.

Bell Canada’s DSL package beat expectations by the widest margin with actual speeds reaching 135 per cent of the five Mbps promised.

The CRTC hired SamKnows, a broadband measurement company, to conduct the research. It used devices called Whiteboxes to measure speed between midMarch and mid-April during the peak period between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.