Tag: rural internet

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Gap between rural and internet speeds is closing, CIRA report reveals

The internet speed gap between urban and rural communities is slowly inching closer, the CIRA’s annual Internet Performance Test (IPT) reveals.

The report shows urban speeds were still 3.8 times faster than rural speeds between March 2021 and 2022, but this was an improvement from the 6.1 times reported in 2020 and 2021.

The rural download speed was 7.2Mbps in 2020. It rose to 20.9Mbps in Q1 2022, almost triple the speed compared to the beginning of the pandemic. Upload speeds also increased, going from 1Mbps to 2.2Mbps.

But as the report notes, these figures are below what the federal government considers to be “high-speed internet,” with download speeds of 50Mbps and upload speeds of 10Mbps.

Comparatively, download speeds in urban settings continue to increase at a faster rate. The media speed went from 47.2Mbps in 2020 to 74.6Mbps in Q1 2022.

While the gap is closing, the repeated trend of faster internet speeds in urban settings compared to rural settings is still present. For example, the media download speeds for urban settings was 23.4Mbps in 2018, which was higher than the rural speeds seen in the current report.

“While the improvement in rural speeds is a step in the right direction, this report unfortunately still paints a grim picture of the state of connectivity in many parts of Canada,” Tanya O’Callaghan, CIRA’s vice-president of community investment, policy and advocacy, said.

The CIRA says they hope the gap will continue to close as government bodies invest in broadband infrastructure across the country.

Provinces

The median download speed in Newfoundland and Labrador was 84.5Mbps in Q1 2022, almost 60Mbps faster than the 25.1Mbps reported in Alberta. The figure represents Atlantic Canada’s hold on having the fastest urban median download speeds.

While Alberta has the slowest rural download speeds with 15.4 Mbps, Ontario joins it for having slower rural download speeds compared to the national average of 21.6Mbps.

Data for the analysis was collected from 2021 and January to April of 2022. It consisted of 183,926 urban tests and 185,193 rural tests.

Image credit: CIRA

Source: CIRA

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Mobile Syrup

Xplornet to offer fibre-to-the-home internet in rural Ontario

200,000 homes and businesses across rural Ontario communities will soon get fibre-to-the-home internet access through Xplornet.

This is part of the rural-focused broadband provider’s commitment to invest $500 million towards improved technology by 2025.

“To meet our customers’ growing demand for more speed and data, Xplornet is investing to deploy next-generation network technologies that deliver unprecedented speeds, unlimited data plans, and increased connectivity so that rural Canadians can benefit from the same quality of broadband as those who live and work in urban centres,” said Allison Lenehan, the president and CEO of Xplornet communications, in a statement.

A representative from Xplornet told MobileSyrup a full list of what communities will be “available in the weeks and months to come.” Homes impacted by the expansion will be notified directly through the mail.

Besides fibre-to-the-home internet access, the company is also introducing the first rural 5G standalone network in Canada.

The service will first be available in New Brunswick and will expand to 250 additional rural communities across the country over the next year.

Source: Xplornet 

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Mobile Syrup

Xplornet launches Canada’s first-ever rural 5G standalone network

Xplornet Communications is launching a rural 5G standalone network — the first of its kind in Canada, according to the press release.

The network will be built using technology from multinational telecom giant Ericsson, in a partnership that the rural-focused internet service provider (ISP) made public back in December 2020.

Ericsson is also the technology supplier for Bell, Rogers and Telus’ respective cross-country 5G network rollouts.

Xplornet says its new 5G network will begin offering fixed wireless broadband services to residents of New Brunswick — where the company itself is headquartered — over the next six months.

While based in Atlantic Canada itself, Xplornet offers internet services to rural areas in provinces across the country.

For example, in September 13th, the ISP announced it had acquired Swift High Speed, a rural broadband provider located in Manitoba.

Source: Xplornet