At SamKnows, we believe in building a better internet for everyone. And that starts with helping all of us understand our internet performance.
Together with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), SamKnows is conducting the Measuring Broadband Canada project so we can all better understand the state of Canada’s internet performance, and know what needs to be done to improve it for the future.
For more information about this project, visit the Measuring Broadband Canada website.
Project overview
The goal of the project is to create an annual report on the state of Canada’s fixed broadband connections. All of the volunteers’ results we collect will be pooled and SamKnows will produce a report that provides a detailed analysis on how Canada’s internet is performing.
To ensure that we cover as much of the country as possible, we conduct the project using a sample plan.
Here’s a very quick breakdown of the project and how it works:
- Working on behalf of the CRTC, ISPs recruit volunteers for the project.
- SamKnows selects volunteers according to our sample plan.
- Whiteboxes are dispatched to the volunteers and performance testing begins. The project will typically run for at least 12 months, and then continue until further notice.
- Month by month, the data collected by Whiteboxes will steadily paint an accurate picture of broadband performance, and volunteers can see this on their ConnectedHome dashboard and through their monthly Report Cards.
- After a set period of time, the results of this project will assist SamKnows and the CRTC in producing a report on the nation’s broadband performance. A report will be published once a year and be publically available from the CRTC. This is normally based on one month of data (e.g. September).
2019 marks phase two of SamKnows’ collaboration with the CRTC.
Curious about the outputs of our first project? Take a look at our previous joint reports:
- SamKnows Analysis of Broadband Performance in Canada – October & November 2015
- SamKnows Analysis of Broadband Performance in Canada - March & April 2016
Get involved
To sign up for the project, visit the Measuring Broadband Canada sign-up page.
If you’re wondering about your sign up status, take a look at this help article explaining how we manage new volunteers.
For further information about the Whitebox, ConnectedHome and the benefits of being part of the SamKnows community, see Getting started.
Want to receive a Whitebox? Please sign up
