Stop The Cap: Canada falls further behind in Internet speed and cost

Image from DVQ via Google Images

Many people who have travelled outside the country have told us, and the statistics confirm: Canada is falling behind the rest of the industrialized world, and unless we take action, our digital future is looking dim.

Whether it's the lack of affordable access to high-speed Internet or to cell phones, our anticompetitive and oligopolistic communications marketplace (i.e. Big Telecom) is preventing Canada from reaching its potential. Stand up for Canada by signing & sharing our latest petition: http://StopTheSqueeze.ca/

Article by Phillip Dampier for Stop The Cap:

North America’s broadband rankings continue to take a beating at the expense of countries deploying fiber optic broadband. While the United States and Canada cope with aging landline technology and an uncompetitive marketplace that tells consumers they don’t need fiber-fast broadband speed, countries like Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia are lighting up 50-100Mbps networks that often charge lower prices than North Americans pay for 1-3Mbps DSL.

Ookla, a global leader in broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications, reports that the best performing broadband networks for speed, value, and performance are increasingly in Europe and Asia. While both the United States and Canada used to be among the world leaders in broadband infrastructure, that is no longer true.

Some examples:

• The United States now scores 31st in average download speed, Canada is 33rd;
• In upload speed, America now ranks 37th, Canada a woeful 69th;
• Ookla’s Household Quality Index, which ranks packet loss and general reliability of home connections found Canada scoring 27th place, the United States 38th;
• At a cost per megabit, neither the US or Canada offers very good value. The USA ranked 29th ($4.95 per megabit), Canada 33rd ($5.85 per megabit);
• Neither country does a great job delivering the speeds and service promised either. The USA ranked 25th, Canada 32nd.

Ookla found that while speeds are rising in North America, they are not increasing nearly as fast as in other, higher-ranked countries. Most of the speed gains in North America come from cable or limited fiber-broadband deployments like Verizon FiOS or community-owned fiber to the home networks. Wireline ADSL service, which represented a larger proportion of home Internet connections in 2008, continues to lose ground to faster options from cable companies, community-owned broadband, and phone company fiber upgrades. In eastern Europe, the Baltics, Russia and Ukraine, many of the dramatic boosts in broadband speed and quality come as a result of national fiber network upgrade projects. Read more »

--
Read more at stophecap.com

Sign the Stop The Squeeze petition »