You're probably used to our annual look at the Fastest ISPs in Canada, but as we barrel head first into the new year, we consider another type of Internet need: that of the gamer.
The methodology is the same we use in the US version of the Best Gaming ISPs 2017. In short, instead of considering the upload and download speed (as we do in Fastest ISPs), we look at the quality of the connection, by adding together the numbers for jitter and latency taken during the same tests. What test is that you ask? PCMag's own Speed Test, which you can take any time.
Adding the jitter and latency gives us a number we can use to compare ISPs. We call that number the PCMag Gaming Quality Index—the lower the number, the higher the quality of the connection. Fewer dropouts, less lag, and all around excellent gaming. (Fastest ISPs, on the other hand, adds 80 percent of the download speed to 20 percent of the upload speed to get a PCMag Speed Index; we'll compare that with the Gaming Quality below so you can see how speed and quality don't always match up—but it certainly doesn't hurt to be the fastest ISP as well.)
The data here all comes from tests performed by PCMag readers between January 1, 2016, and December 1, 2016, a total of 16,100 tests.
Canada's Best Gaming ISP 2017
Let's jump right to it: like last year, Cogeco Cable is the clear winner. It's got the lowest (and thus best) PCMag Gaming Quality Score of any of the national ISPs we had tests for (each ISP had to have at least 100 tests in the time frame to be included). Earlier this year, Cogeco also came in at No. 4 in our top 10 Fastest Canadian ISPs.
Cogeco, a provider for the provinces of Ontario and Québec, isn't doing as well as last year when it had a quality score of 32.3. But it looks like there was a slip for just about every provider, which allowed Cogeco to stay in the lead (and probably says something about our test or servers used in Canada). Videotron, for example, jumped to the second slot with a 55.4, despite last year's fifth-place finish with a better score of 42.2 (a tie with TekSavvy, which this year fell to eighth with a 68.3).
The rest of the top 10 is substantially changed from last year's ratings; the two sister Bells, Bell Canada and Bell Aliant, come in second and third last year, but this year drop to fifth and seventh, for example (Bell Aliant is our overall Fastest ISPs for the year, by the way). Ontario-based Fibernetics (which operates in residences as Worldline) didn't even place last year but managed third place this time around. Rogers Cable, the largest ISPs in Canada in terms of coverage, managed fourth place this year with a quality score of 63.3—just as it did last year with a 39.2.
Now compare those PCMag Gaming Quality numbers to the same ISP lineup but with a focus on speed. Bell Aliant and Rogers are the fastest in this group, as they were earlier this year. However, that ultra high speed (as much as 3x what our winner Cogeco managed) doesn't always translate to the highest quality connection. Cogeco is no slouch for speed though, managing a fourth-place slot for downloads/uploads. Third fastest Eastlink is only the eighth best in the quality for gaming—a little bit ahead of its ninth-place quality showing last year.
Best Gaming ISPs 2016 by Province
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- The Best Gaming ISPs of 2017The Best Gaming ISPs of 2017
Wondering where in Canada to move if you want the best quality connection? Last year, we had to recommend Nova Scotia, but this year's lowest PCMag Gaming Quality score goes to the province of Québec at 57.2 (which is higher than last year 42.6, as we've noted, but it's all relative as everyone's numbers are up for this year). Cogeco is a big player in QB as well as Ontario.
However, if you're looking for the standout Québec ISP, you want to try Bell Canada for its Quality score of 47.9; Videotron's 55.5 isn't bad either, though.
In Ontario, the standout is, again, Cogeco—it got a Gaming Quality score of 51.0 there, followed closely by Eastlink at 51.7. Eastlink also leads in Nova Scotia with a 64.9. In British Columbia, look at Telus (48.8); in Manitoba consider MTS (78.8), and in New Brunswick stick with Bell Aliant (46.9). Saskatchewan only had one ISP get enough tests: SaskTel with a Quality Score of 135, which won't make many gamers happy. The rest of the provinces didn't have any single ISP score with enough tests to be included.