MEDIA RELEASE
Blue Sky Net releases “The Speed of Northern Ontario Broadband” Report
For immediate Release
North Bay, Ontario – June 10, 2020, Many residents throughout rural Canada have limited access to affordable high-speed internet. It has never been so evident as during the COVID- 19 crisis. This is mainly because the investment needed to install and operate internet infrastructure is expensive, and there is uncertainty with telecommunication providers’ ability to return that investment. Over the past number of years, Blue Sky Net has led a partnership with FedNor, other Information Communication Technology Networks (ICTN’s) and area Telecommunication Service Providers (TPS’s) to create a visual database of all coverage in Northern Ontario and can provide a spatial view of where internet is, where it isn’t and what speeds it is delivered at.
Blue Sky Net based in North Bay, has created this GIS map as part of their ongoing technology development initiatives. One of the many features of the public portal includes a high-speed service availability checker where visitors can search their street address to see what TSP delivers connectivity to their cottage, home or office. Additionally, www.connectednorth.ca has over the last five years, collected speed test data retrieved from that portal. Recently, Blue Sky has partnered with CIRA’s Internet Performance Test, to collect the most detailed information relating to Northern Ontario’s internet speeds. When you take this test, users are helping to support applications to funding agencies such as the CRTC, the Universal Broadband Fund and the Provincial Broadband Fund. We use the information about speeds at the property level to show the need and the impact improved Broadband Infrastructure will have.
Blue Sky Net has released “The Speed of Northern Ontario Broadband”, a report of the collective data from those historical speed tests. The report findings are consistent with other reports issued showing disparity between urban and rural connections, as well as an overall average of test results being below Federal Government objectives.
Speed tests are typically run by internet users that are dissatisfied with their service. Aggregate results per community do not necessarily reflect the overall average of internet connections for every user within that community.
Key findings show that 4,330 speed tests were run in Northern Ontario over five years. The average download speed was just under 9 Mbps and upload is 5 Mbps.
When tests run from within the major urban communities were removed from the sample, the average speeds dropped to 7.2/3 Mbps. Urban community averages are 21.88/20.29 Mbps.
Not all internet services are created equal! Fibre is heads and tails the fastest, but only available to the largest population centres. The interactive map in the report demonstrates the disparity between urban and rural connections.
Viewers of the report are urged to continue taking speed tests at their locations by visiting https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/139.nsf/eng/home. Results of these tests will go directly to the government department of Industry Canada where speed test data is analyzed for use with funding programs.
The downloadable pdf is available online and can be found at: https://connectednorth.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Connectednorth-Speed-Test-Report.pdf
Contact: Susan Church
705-476-0874 ext. 211
susan.church@blueskyregion.ca
