If you’re a gamer, low latency and low jitter are the keys to an internet connection that delivers—much more so than (admittedly still vital) upload and download speeds, which we normally look at annually in our Fastest ISP: Canada testing. But in this specific case, moving packets across a network—even the internet—in the smallest number of milliseconds (latency) and making that consistent (jitter) is something only the best fiber-optic based networks can provide for top-quality gaming. The lower the two numbers, the better.
To measure them, here at PCMag we add them to create a PCMag Gaming Quality Index (GQI). It doesn’t matter if you’re in the USA or Canada; the index shows the best. You can read the results below.
In case you’re wondering, the data all comes from tests made using the PCMag Speed Test. Which you can take right now, but warning: Turn off your VPN and plug into an Ethernet port on your router for the best results.
Each test gathers the stuff you’re used to caring about (upload and download speeds) as well as the aforementioned latency and jitter numbers. We collect them and average them out across ISPs and sometimes locations. If we got 100 tests, we’ll include them. Again the lower the Gaming Quality Index number, the better (as opposed to the PCMag Speed Index, where a higher number is better—you’ll find that in use in our Fastest ISPs Canada feature).
Before we dive in, here are the logistics: We recorded tests from 146,071 people in Canada this year between December 1, 2020, and November 29, 2021. That’s a 394% increase over last year’s number. We break down the ISPs into two lists, the “major” providers that are big names in broadband with a multi-province presence and a minimum of 500,000 customers, and the list of all the ISPs (or locations) that we saw with at least 100 tests. (For more, read The Best Gaming ISPs for the USA for 2022The Best Gaming ISPs for the USA for 2022.)
Canada’s Best Gaming ISPs
The competition amid the major ISPs in Canada is fierce, almost as if they really compete! (That’s a dig at the United States. Where ISPs don’t. Much.) Even if they don’t compete in the same locations all the time, Canadian providers strive to up their performance constantly. Nowhere is that more evident than in the last several years we’ve been measuring ISP gaming quality.
For a couple of years, Cogeco cable was on top, even with an index number as high as 50.9 (this was before we broke out the “major” ISPs separately). Then the competition got serious. In subsequent years, the title went to Virgin Mobile (27.9), Telus (22.1), and last year to Shaw Communications with a 26.3.
Finally, the big names have cracked the line below 20.0—barely. That new best score, of 19.9, goes to Bell CanadaBell Canada. This is its first win in this category.
Shaw fell to 3rd place with a 27.2, not far off from the 26.3 it won with previously, and Telus had a nice improvement from 26.3 to 22.5. So this is a true feather in the cap for Bell Canada, as it had the biggest improvement of the majors from year-to-year. It doesn’t hurt that Bell also broke out its different services in our data testing this year. This meant we could ID the fiber users separately from the DSL users (as you can see in the chart). Telus did the same thing, but we didn’t get enough tests from the DSL users to include here. (For the major providers, we look for 1,000 tests or more, not that numbers from a DSL provider would exactly make gamers tremble with anticipation).
When it comes to looking at all the ISPs we had tests for in Canada (with a minimum of 100, anyway), things become different. The smaller ISPs that service smaller areas, sometimes as small as a neighborhood, have more control over what they provide, down to the fiber lines from their HQ to the home. That means better quality control. Usually.
Last year, we had a record-setting Gaming Quality Index from the Toronto-based provider Beanfield Metroconnect of 3.3! And while Beanfield is again in our data set, it is not on the list. That’s because its GQI went up precipitously to a 42.4. It didn’t hurt its speed, though—it was the fastest in our summer Fastest ISPs for Canada story and remains the fastest this winter with a 350.0 Speed Index.
But this story isn’t about speed, so we have to look at the quality score earned, and this year that winner is Valley FiberValley Fiber. It was in 2nd place in 2021 with an 8.9; now with a 5.9 index, it’s the best in the land, as long as that land happens to be Valley Fiber’s home base of Winkler, Manitoba.
The number 2 slot on the list this year is another newcomer for us, Novus, which specializes in connections in high-rise buildings mainly in Vancouver. FibreStream at number 3 also does condos and apartments in cities, such as Toronto and Ottawa. And 4th is a small locally owned fiber ISP in Port Perry, Ontario named Communicate Freely, which in its case means communicate with high quality. Only then, at number 5 do the major ISPS make an appearance via Bell Canada’s previously mentioned GQI. Only Bell Canada, Telus, and Shaw were fast enough majors to compete with the smaller and more nimble providers.
The Best Gaming By Province
The tests we get come from all over. They aren’t only for the ISPs above, which gives us a chance to provide location-based breakdowns as well. Doing so by province makes the most sense (minus the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut, which we never get enough tests to include).
Last year, the best place to have an internet connection, on average, was Newfoundland and Labrador, with a 27.3 Gaming Quality Index. No other province else could touch it.
But what a different year we’re having. Manitoba, assisted by the amazing scores from Valley Fiber and others, is the top province for online gaming this year. However, it took that title with a 31.2 index—not exactly crushing the numbers from last year. The issue was that Newfoundland and Labrador had a bad year, as the score went in the wrong direction, up to 46.4. Still, Manitoba, on the whole, scored a lot better than its 43.7 last year.
Still, it is interesting to see the changes from years past like 2015, when provider Bell Aliant (now subsumed into Bell Canada) put Nova Scotia on the map as the fastest. (We didn’t do a Best Gaming ISPs story for Canada that year, so maybe it didn’t make Nova Scotia the location with the highest quality… but probably.)
Don’t forget: Test your internet connection right nowTest your internet connection right now and you’ll be part of future Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs stories.
