In this report, Opensignal has analyzed the real-world fixed broadband experience of our users across Canada and then separately across seven of its regions. To reflect the varying ways in which fixed broadband is used, we have included five different measures of user experience: Consistent Quality, Download Speed, Peak Download Speed, Upload Speed and Video Experience.

For our national award tables, we have only included the providers with comparable scale and extent of geographic coverage: Bell, Rogers (which now includes customers of Shaw following the merger in April 2023), Telus and Starlink. In our regional assessment, we have further analyzed the experience of providers that have a significant presence in their selected provinces: Videotron, Cogeco, EastLink, Xplore and SaskTel.

Consumers often face decisions about choosing specific broadband access technologies offered by their local providers. That is why we have further divided our comparisons into three sections: Overall Experience, which looks at the experience of our users regardless of the broadband access delivery technology used; Fiber Experience, which focuses on the experience of users with fibre-to-the-home; and FWA Experience, which examines the experience with Fixed Wireless Access.

At the end of 2023, The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) made a significant regulatory decision requiring large telecom providers like Bell and Telus to provide wholesale access to their fibre-to-the-home networks in Ontario and Quebec. In response to this, Bell argued that mandatory wholesale access would undermine its investments and announced a reduction in its fibre network expansion plans.

Bell Canada was, until recently, the largest fixed broadband provider in the country based on the number of broadband subscriptions in the market. With a broad geographical presence, Bell leverages its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) infrastructure across Ontario, Quebec, all four Atlantic provinces, Manitoba and the Far North. Bell has been extensively upgrading its infrastructure footprint with fibre-to-the-home – covering around 7.3 million premises as of July 2023, replacing legacy xDSL connections. The provider also operates FWA services, having focused heavily on expanding its wireless broadband infrastructure.

Rogers Communications expanded its footprint significantly by acquiring Shaw Communications in April 2023. The combined entity now serves seven provinces, making it the largest provider in fixed broadband and pay-TV subscriptions, surpassing Bell Canada. Rogers and Shaw have extensively deployed DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 technologies across their hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) networks of comparable size, each covering just shy of 5 million homes as of July 2023. Rogers has further plans to implement DOCSIS 4.0 across its networks, and also provides FWA services leveraging its 5G infrastructure – targeting rural and other areas underserved by traditional broadband.

Telus is the third largest broadband provider in Canada by market share, and the largest in Western Canada by the number of fixed network subscriptions, serving as the incumbent local exchange operator (ILEC) across British Columbia and Alberta. Telus has a growing fibre footprint, with 3.1 million fibre-to-the-home/building premsises passed as of July 2023 it is now substantially bigger than its legacy xDSL footprint. Telus maintains significant growth in terms of subscriptions added, and has further aims of expanding its “PureFibre” gigabit network.

We have included Starlink, operated by SpaceX, in our comparison, as it is the most prominent pure satellite internet provider in Canada. Canada and the United States were the first markets to experience Starlink's satellite internet services, starting in January 2021. Despite its cost, Starlink has become an important provider in Canada, particularly in rural and remote areas that lack access to traditional fixed broadband. Starlink has been continuously expanding its satellite constellation, which, as of May 2024, had over 6,000 active satellites.