Why internet upload speed in Canada lags world average

[marty_1986]

A pretty good article from the CBC

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/why-internet-upload-speed-in-canada-lags-world-average-1.2578682

[DoubleY]

I'm sure the US is worse 

[TheNinjaNextDor]

At least you don't deal with Comcast and TWC, oh wait, I only have to say one now.

[Ertman]

I would love access to those speeds as download speeds

[dragosudeki]

Meh, I think the problem is more on the price of internet in Canada. We don't really get good deals on internet.

[Imaginaerum]

I'm sure the US is worse 

Nope, US average speed is about 22mbps, more than Canada's 7. Sure some parts here are particularly bad (I'm looking at you desert regions) but at least we aren't Canada slow.

[kuzimins]

Meanwhile my country, of which 99% of world population has never heard of, has the 4th fastest internet in the world...

[DoubleY]

Nope, US average speed is about 22mbps, more than Canada's 7. Sure some parts here are particularly bad (I'm looking at you desert regions) but at least we aren't Canada slow.

Not according to The Verge. I am not sure where you are getting your information. http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/1/2990469/average-global-internet-speed-drop-us

[Yoinkerman]

The LTE on my phone is faster than my home connection. Its about the same down (25mbps) but the upload is like 15mbps compared to my 4 at home

[Ertman]

Meanwhile my country, of which 99% of world population has never heard of, has the 4th fastest internet in the world...

I am sure it's only 90% has never heard of Latvia, 9% has heard of Latvia by name only, and 1% actually knows a little bit about Latvia.

[Imaginaerum]

Not according to The Verge. I am not sure where you are getting your information. http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/1/2990469/average-global-internet-speed-drop-us

From the very website of the article. I can't look at the verge because their site refuses to load for me, I have no idea why. Also my 7 mbps for Canada was the upload speed, my mistake.

 

http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/

[DoubleY]

From the very website of the article. I can't look at the verge because their site refuses to load for me, I have no idea why. Also my 7 mbps for Canada was the upload speed, my mistake.

 

http://www.netindex.com/download/allcountries/

I dont' believe that website. They are saying that Australia has 14mbps...

[Imaginaerum]

I dont' believe that website. They are saying that Australia has 14mbps...

It probably needs more tests but that's just what the article uses

[SangeetKhatri]

I'm sure the US is worse 

 

Nope! In India the place where I live the best unlimited Internet with no data cap offers me only 1Mbps upto 6GB and after 6GB the speed drops to 0.5 Mbps. The speed remains same for both upload and download. I am sure that even the Open Wi-Fi hotspot in USA would have better speeds. 

 

I am moving to Bangalore soon where the plans are little better with 4Mbps unlimited at reasonable cost but the upload speed is still 0.5Mbps so very low.

[DoubleY]

Nope! In India the place where I live the best unlimited Internet with no data cap offers me only 1Mbps upto 6GB and after 6GB the speed drops to 0.5 Mbps. The speed remains same for both upload and download. I am sure that even the Open Wi-Fi hotspot in USA would have better speeds. 

 

I am moving to Bangalore soon where the plans are little better with 4Mbps unlimited at reasonable cost but the upload speed is still 0.5Mbps so very low.

We're talking about averages. I'm sure there are places in India with Gigabit speeds.

[xAcid9]

I pay $50/month for 0.5Mbps up.

[SangeetKhatri]

We're talking about averages. I'm sure there are places in India with Gigabit speeds.

Gigabit? You've got to be kidding me. The maximum speed I have heard from anyone here is about 10-20 Megabits. That too very rare. Most people rely on Internet speeds below 2Mbps and even a 512Kbps Internet is still advertized as broadband here.

So a gigabit? Of course no. Watching a YouTube video at 1080p or heck even 720p is a dream at most of the places. Heck before this year many people including me relied on 2G EDGE speeds of like 128 Kbit/sec.

So the Internet situation is a lot more worse here in India.

Just for your information the Average Internet speed in India is 1 Megabit/sec which is way less than in the USA. So guys really stop complaining, you guys have got some real good Internet infrastructure and it is continuously evolving by companies like Google.

So I am real tired of USA guys complaining about their Internet. There are many many places where Internet is a lot more worse like India, China, Philippines and all the third world countries. Be thankful for what you have.

[SangeetKhatri]

I pay $50/month for 0.5Mbps up.

This is what I am talking about. USA has pretty good Internet when compared to other countries, but these guys are gonna keep complaining.

[DoubleY]

Gigabit? You've got to be kidding me. The maximum speed I have heard from anyone here is about 10-20 Megabits. That too very rare. Most people rely on Internet speeds below 2Mbps and even a 512Kbps Internet is still advertized as broadband here.

So a gigabit? Of course no. Watching a YouTube video at 1080p or heck even 720p is a dream at most of the places. Heck before this year many people including me relied on 2G EDGE speeds of like 128 Kbit/sec.

So the Internet situation is a lot more worse here in India.

Just for your information the Average Internet speed in India is 1 Megabit/sec which is way less than in the USA. So guys really stop complaining, you guys have got some real good Internet infrastructure and it is continuously evolving by companies like Google.

So I am real tired of USA guys complaining about their Internet. There are many many places where Internet is a lot more worse like India, China, Philippines and all the third world countries. Be thankful for what you have.

We all complain about the stuff that we have. You complain about your 1Mb/s, I complain about 50Mb/s, the next guy complains about 150Mb/s and so it continues. There are people with worse internet than you who think you should stop complaining.

 

By the way, India does have Gigabit 

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/internet/news/gigabit-internet-comes-to-india-at-kochis-startup-village-300295

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/SCT-NEWS-fastest-internet-connections-india-readies-for-1-gbps-broadband-speed-3891132-NOR.html

[SangeetKhatri]

It might have had been here in India at like one or two places but it is still a lot far away from succeeding because :

 

1. The Internet infrastructure in India is mostly copper based.

2. 90% of the hardware currently is limited to 100 Megabit bandwidth capacity because there isn't any faster Internet here, so no one invested that much.

3. The government here sucks. I know this applies to almost every country but in India it really sucks. They are some kind of morons controlling India. Maybe people like Arvind Kejriwal will change that. 

[StingBull]

"average upload speed of 5.67 Mbps"

 

I envy you.

[Nomelas]

Nope, US average speed is about 22mbps, more than Canada's 7. Sure some parts here are particularly bad (I'm looking at you desert regions) but at least we aren't Canada slow.

The article reports 7.03 for the US and only 5.67 for Canada, where are you finding these numbers? By the way this is UPLOAD speeds, not DOWNLOAD speeds. For the average user, upload speeds mater even less.

 

So I'm not sure where the article even gets these numbers. On the east coast of Canada (Nova Scotia) I pay for 80mbps down and 30mbps up... Not sure where and how they get their averages (average people pay for? or average availability?) But we get Fiber here and the upload speeds are all 30mbps for residential (Max of 250mbps download). It's not the fastest by any stretch and it's definitely no google fiber, but it's much much faster than the average for my province. The cheapest is 50 down and 30 up (for fiber). So I would really like to know where they get these numbers

[rashdanml]

The article reports 7.03 for the US and only 5.67 for Canada, where are you finding these numbers? By the way this is UPLOAD speeds, not DOWNLOAD speeds. For the average user, upload speeds mater even less.

 

So I'm not sure where the article even gets these numbers. On the east coast of Canada (Nova Scotia) I pay for 80mbps down and 30mbps up... Not sure where and how they get their averages (average people pay for? or average availability?) But we get Fiber here and the upload speeds are all 30mbps for residential (Max of 250mbps download). It's not the fastest by any stretch and it's definitely no google fiber, but it's much much faster than the average for my province. The cheapest is 50 down and 30 up (for fiber). So I would really like to know where they get these numbers

The main reason you get better internet connections available in Eastern Canada (Fiber, etc) is because the majority of Canada's population is clustered in the East. Specifically, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces cover over 50% of the population, and in a smaller area. 

 

BC and Alberta (and provinces in between) cover a much larger area with a smaller proportion of the population. 

 

High speed/capacity internet connections are only viable for residential housing if the population density is high enough. Most places in Canada (being the second largest country) has a very low population density. OneGigabit in Vancouver is in the same position - it's not economically sensible to include Fiber connections to residents all over Vancouver, which is why they're focusing on retrofitting apartment buildings first, and if enough demand arises, they'll open up to residential houses. 

 

These numbers are based on ordinary copper/cable connections provided by the big ISPs - Shaw, Telus, Rogers, Bell, and a handful of other big names. These are all available pretty much everywhere in Canada (with some exceptions like the Northern provinces or in between Alberta and Ontario). Even Teksavvy, a reputable ISP, doesn't go above 2.5Mbps upload for around $35-40/month. If you want any more than that, the price goes up. A lot. The big names above usually cap at about 2Mbps. These are the types of connections that the average consumer goes for - the ones who don't know or care enough about Fiber to want it. The ones who don't realize that Fiber is necessary due to content becoming digital. 

[Imaginaerum]

The article reports 7.03 for the US and only 5.67 for Canada, where are you finding these numbers? By the way this is UPLOAD speeds, not DOWNLOAD speeds. For the average user, upload speeds mater even less.

 

So I'm not sure where the article even gets these numbers. On the east coast of Canada (Nova Scotia) I pay for 80mbps down and 30mbps up... Not sure where and how they get their averages (average people pay for? or average availability?) But we get Fiber here and the upload speeds are all 30mbps for residential (Max of 250mbps download). It's not the fastest by any stretch and it's definitely no google fiber, but it's much much faster than the average for my province. The cheapest is 50 down and 30 up (for fiber). So I would really like to know where they get these numbers

Yes, I realized that in my second post and linked the website that the article used. Read the entire thread next time please.