Manitoba internet speeds 2nd slowest in Canada

Manitobans face a (down)load of frustration with thesecond-slowest internet speeds in the country, tests suggest.

Manitobanson averageexperienced a download speed of 12.6megabits per second, compared to thenational average of 18.64 Mbps.

New Brunswick ledthe way in the tests at26.98Mbpswhile Yukon was last at 6.68Mbps.

The results came from126,000 testsperformed in60,000 Canadianlocations (multiple tests in some locations). The testswere conducted by ordinary internet users between May and December 2015using a tool posted online by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.

• CIRA report: Canada's internet performance

Access to fast, reliable and affordable internet service is not only critical to economic development, but also represents an important social good,CIRAstates in its report on the findings.

CIRAmanages the .CA domain andadvocates for betterinternetspeeds in Canada, noting the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's speedtarget is 25 Mbps while theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has a target of 5 Mbps.

CIRA encourages everyone to test theirinternetperformance and share the results on social media.

"The more data we have, the more we can help to effect policy change on theinternetin Canada," theCIRAreport states.

• You can test your internet speed here

As for the average upload speeds, theCanadian averagewas7.26Mbps. Manitoba camein at5.22, which is slightly ahead of Alberta (4.95) and British Columbia (5.19) but way ahead of last-place Yukon (1.80).

Once again, New Brunswick ledthe way at12.39Mbps.

• Canada's internet performance on trial with public's help
• CIRA internet performance tests show Western Canada lags

The tests also compared rural and urban areas, showing a wide disparity in Manitoba. The province's urban centreshave an average speed of 13.6Mbps,whereasthose in rural areas face a snail's pace of 4.6Mbps.

When looking at cities across the country,Winnipeg's combineddownload speed of 13.09Mbpsand upload speed of3.58Mbpsranked it24 out of 25 cities.