(Credit: René Ramos)
For nearly two decades, PC Mag has been putting out a yearly report on the fastest internet service providers (ISPs) in Canada. But this year we're bringing you something bigger.
Here in 2023, we're armed with new data partners and deeper information about ISPs in Canada, which allows us to rank them based not only on speed, but also on price, coverage, and customer satisfaction. This new methodology provides a fuller, rounder look at broadband service across the country and allows us to zero in on the best ISPs—not just the fastest ones.
That said, we still need your speed tests to help us narrow down future winners, so before you scroll any further, do us a favor and test your ISP.
Now, read on to see which ISP is the best.
The Best Canadian Broadband ISPs for 2023
To make our results a bit more user-friendly, providers are split into different divisions here. The first is Major ISPs, which indicates large household-name internet providers that can reach multiple provinces and (usually) own their own last-mile lines. Also, to be included in the Major category, an ISP must have received 1,000 Speed Test results. The second is the All ISPs division, which includes all other ISPs that received at least 100 Speed Test results in the past year.
Those latter providers could be small, in that they operate in one town or even one neighborhood—but they also could be large, thanks to Canada's Third Party Internet Access (TPIA) laws. These rules allow independent ISPs to lease lines from major ISPs at a wholesale rate. The independent players must build an entire back-end infrastructure to run an ISP—but they don't have to run all the cable or fiber to homes. That part is already done by the dominant players.
TPIA is the reason you might see an independent ISP in our charts below that has customer reach far exceeding that of dominant ISPs. For example, major ISP TekSavvy has a coverage percentage of 84%—yet dominant companies like Bell Canada, Telus, and Rogers all have less coverage. All of those companies license lines to TekSavvy, as do Cogeco, Shaw, and Videotron. TekSavvy also operates its own small fiber network and has some fixed-wireless customers. (For more, read these excellent TPIA explainers by ISPs Babbl and Oxio—the latter was recently purchased by Cogeco.)
In short, coverage percentage is an amorphous factor in Canada. Yet it still doesn't prevent a dominant ISP from taking the top spot in the list of major ISPs and across all ISPs: Bell Canada.
Bell won our Fastest ISP title several times in the past (as did now-absorbed subsidiary Bell Aliant). The award went to Telus for the last three years, but now, with our new methodology taking more than speed into account, Bell is back. And that's because as a broadband fiber-based ISP (we separate its DSL service), Bell offers an almost perfect mix of speed, coverage, price, and user satisfaction.
Dominant ISPs Bell, Telus, and Rogers all share a great advantage: charging a lot less than others for their highest-price tier of service. That's why each has earned a score of 10 for price index. But Bell is the only one of the three with a coverage number that rivals those of the TPIA providers.
Look again at the chart, and you'll see that only one ISP has a speed index rating of 10—Telus, for its PureFibre service. When we look at just the PCMag Speed Index on which the 1-to-10 scale is based, Telus is on top, with a 270.6, well ahead of even Bell's 239.1. That makes Telus the fastest major ISP in the country.
But the major ISPs are a small group of 23. To really determine the best in Canada, we also compare each ISP in the country (as long as they receive 100 responses on the PCMag Speed Test). Again, using our new methodology, no single ISP of any size beats Bell Canada when we consider the numbers nationwide.
Many of the same ISPs appear on both the Major and All ISPs list; a big change from what we saw when quantifying speed alone. Because this is a much larger list (85 ISPs), the index ratings shift for speed, coverage, and price. Bell Canada's speed earns a score of 9 as a major ISP, but compared with all the nation's ISPs, its speed only achieves a score of 5. We pit ISPs against one another only within the same chart.
That doesn't stop Bell from reaching the top, though, thanks to its great numbers for pricing and a decent coverage rating. Bell's overall satisfaction score of 7.2 from our Readers' Choice survey earlier this year isn't the highest, but it still gives the company the highest score on the PCMag Cumulative Broadband ISP Index.
When it comes to speed, only one Canadian ISP achieves a score of 10. That's our Fastest ISP all-around for the country, repeat winner telMax: a small fiber provider in regions of Ontario. Last year, telMax won as the all-around fastest with a speed index of 603.3—and at that time, the score was based on its average download and upload speeds. This year, calculating median speeds, telMax reaches 578.8. The next-fastest is Lakeland Networks, which jumps from 201.7 last year (based on average speeds) to a stellar 323.3 (median speeds) this year. (For more details, see the full chart showing the fastest ISPs and other data below.)
A quick note about SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, which dominates our coverage of the best ISPs for the US: Starlink does appear on many of the charts for Canada, and its massive coverage area is always larger than any other in Canada, since it covers essentially 100% of the country. But Starlink doesn't make the cut in our Readers' Choice survey of Canadian ISPs, which helps it place high in the US results even before we consider price and speed. Starlink's speed isn't impressive in comparison with the speed of fiber providers (though it delivers decent throughput for satellite). Likewise, its pricing isn't the best. All are factors that keep Starlink strictly middling when it comes to a final PCMag Cumulative Broadband ISP Index in Canada.
The Best ISPs in Canada by Province
Our previous overage of the Fastest ISPs typically identified the Canadian coasts as the place to be for fast internet. That becomes even clearer with our switch to Best ISPs. The color-coded map below shows where two ISPs in particular—Telus and Bell—continue to earn Best ISP designations in the provinces to the west and the east, respectively.
But province by province, you'll see a few differences. We break them out below, with mentions of which ISP in each region is fastest.
Alberta
Telus PureFibre in Alberta is in a class by itself. Since it is also the Fastest ISP, it has a speed index rating of 10. And Telus also boasts the best price, a decent PCMag Readers' Choice survey overall satisfaction score, and enough coverage to offer service to 80% of the province. Add these numbers up, and Telus earns about as close to a perfect score as we typically see with our new methodology.
The Fastest ISP in Alberta: Telus PureFibre (PCMag Speed Index of 276.5)
British Columbia
Telus PureFibre has the same score in British Columbia as it does in Alberta, so it secures Best ISP in the province. While these charts are not meant to be compared to each other, it's easy to see that Telus claims the top spot in almost all criteria (though it lags behind Starlink for coverage).
The Fastest ISP in British Columbia: Telus PureFibre (PCMag Speed Index of 284.8)
Manitoba
TekSavvy doesn't have the reach in Manitoba of some other services, including Starlink and Xplore (keep in mind that coverage percentage for Xplore/Swift is based on limited data from PlanHub) and even Bell MTS (the Manitoban ISP that Bell took back in 2017). Nor is TekSavvy the fastest. But it makes up for that with the best price for broadband in the province, along with a great score for overall satisfaction. This places TekSavvy just ahead of Shaw (which is now owned by Rogers) as the best for Manitobans.
The Fastest ISP in Manitoba: Valley Fiber (PCMag Speed Index of 162.7)
New Brunswick
From Ontario and eastward, Bell Canada sweeps all the provinces for the title of the Best ISP. Taking them alphabetically, New Brunswick is first, and we saw little competition for the provider (one competitor is Bell's own DSL service). Only cable company Rogers puts up much of a fight, thanks to its speed index. The others don't compare; none can beat Bell's final index rating.
The Fastest ISP in New Brunswick: Bell Canada (PCMag Speed Index of 151.4)
Newfoundland & Labrador
Bell Canada once again is not the fastest ISP in the province, but the service more than makes up for that with stellar reach and pricing. Its final index is enough to keep it just ahead of Rogers for the title of Best ISP.
The Fastest ISP in New Brunswick: Rogers (PCMag Speed Index of 211.7)
Nova Scotia
In Nova Scotia, Bell Canada gobbled up Aliant, which was once the province's speed-demon ISP. That move paid off, as Bell has a speed score more than double that of the next-best ISP, as well as the best pricing. Bell keeps ahead of Xplore's coverage and the slightly better satisfaction score from Eastlink, so it once again takes the crown.
Recommended by Our Editors
The Fastest ISP in Nova Scotia: Bell Canada (PCMag Speed Index of 212.2)
Ontario
Bell Canada's win in Ontario is harder fought than in most other provinces, because Ontario's denser population means it has a larger number of ISPs as competition. That shows in Bell's speed rating index of 4; with fewer competitors, its speed score would likely be on top, as it is in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. But Bell snags the top rating for price and good numbers for coverage and satisfaction—enough to name it the Best ISP in the province.
The Fastest ISP in Ontario: telMax (PCMag Speed Index of 578.8)
Prince Edward Island
Bell Canada, again, has little competition in the smaller provinces, which don't come smaller than PEI—it's double the size of Rhode Island yet has seven times fewer people. Bell's competition with Eastlink is fierce across all the categories, but it pulls out a win thanks to better coverage.
The Fastest ISP in Prince Edward Island: Eastlink (PCMag Speed Index of 144.3)
Quebec
Bell Canada's Quebec win should have probably been harder to achieve, especially as it competes against longtime Québécois incumbents such as Videotron. But Bell's speed score in Quebec pushes the ratings way down for the rest. Bell also has the best price. It ties with numerous other ISPs in many categories, but in the end, Bell stands triumphant.
The Fastest ISP in Quebec: Bell Canada (PCMag Speed Index of 324.7)
Saskatchewan
Shaw is still Shaw in name, but it belongs to Rogers after a buyout that took a while to get regulatory approval. SaskTel is the only ISP in the province that puts up much of a battle here; otherwise, it's entirely Shaw's show in Saskatchewan.
The Fastest ISP in Saskatchewan: Shaw (PCMag Speed Index of 152.4)
The Territories
The three northern territories are made up of humongous tracts of land—48% of the land area of Canada—with very few people living in them (0.5% of the population, according to Wikipedia). But we still received enough Speed Tests from users to include NorthwesTel in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. (You'll have your day yet, Nunavut).
NorthwesTel (owned by BCE, Bell Canada's holding company) wins by default, since our charts are meant for comparison only to other ISPs in the same area, if you're alone, you are the best by default. Thankfully, the ISP has decent speed in the Northwest Territories, earning a PCMag Speed Index of 60.1. (Although speeds could be a lot better in Yukon.) We expect to see some actual competition next year, as Starlink becomes available to homes that are otherwise unreachable.
The Best Canadian ISPs: Full Tables
Below are the full tables of all the data, showing the ISPs beyond the top 10s shown above. Access each table using the arrows at the bottom; click the top cell for each column to reorder the rows (click again to reorder in the other direction).
Speeds are based on 331,078 PCMag Speed Test results from Canadian ISP users received between June 1, 2022, to June 27, 2023. Our thanks to PlanHub for contributing to this report. For the full methodology, click here.
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