May 21, 2015 – Ottawa–Gatineau – Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today invited Canadians to participate in a project that will measure the performance of their home broadband Internet services. The CRTC is collaborating in this project with major Internet service providers (ISPs) across the country and SamKnows, a company that specializes in measuring broadband services.
The CRTC is recruiting up to 6,200 Canadians to help measure the Internet services provided by the participating ISPs. Volunteers will receive a device, called a "Whitebox", that they will connect to their modem or router. The Whitebox will periodically measure broadband performance, testing a number of parameters associated with the broadband Internet connection, including download and upload speeds. The measurement tests will run when users are not actively using their Internet connection. The privacy of Canadians will also be assured. No information concerning online activities will be collected.
The results of this project will enable Canadians to gain additional insight into network performance, including actual connection speeds, and provide them with a better undestanding of whether certain Internet services from participating ISPs are delivering speeds as advertised. These results will also provide data that will enable the CRTC to improve its broadband policy-making.
Using these results as a baseline, the CRTC intends to publish a comprehensive report highlighting the findings of this project. While the initial project is set to last for one year, the CRTC intends to continue gathering data beyond the initial year. The data will ultimately form part of the CRTC’s data collection and monitoring activities.
Canadians who wish to become involve with this project can review the criteria for eligibility and apply by completing an online form.
The CRTC recently launched a major proceeding to review basic telecommunications services in Canada, including the services that all Canadians need to participate in the digital economy.
Barbara Motzney, CRTC Chief Consumer Officer
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These documents are available in alternative format upon request.
The CRTC is seeking volunteers to participate in a broadband measurement project. At the moment, eligible participants must subscribe to Internet services offered by the following ISPs: Bell, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Eastlink, Videotron, Rogers, Shaw, TELUS, Northwestel and MTS Allstream. In addition, the broadband services being tested are limited to those that are advertised as having download speeds of 5 megabits or higher. Other ISPs may decide to participate later on.
