The Big Three race to offer the fastest home internet in Canada

Picking a provider for at-home fibre internet services can be a difficult task. Cost, location, and available speeds are some of the factors that play a role. It also isn’t helpful when Canada’s largest telecom companies come out with one announcement or another claiming to rule the game.

The latest stream of announcements involves delivering upload and download speeds of 8 Gigabits per second (Gbps).

Back in April, Rogers announced that it completed fibre broadband tests to deliver up to 8Gbps of symmetrical speeds. Earlier this week, Bell followed suit with a similar announcement.

To help you stay up to date with the information, MobileSyrup has put together a guide to give you a roundup of everything you need to know about the deployment of 8Gbps speeds.

Rogers

In April, the Toronto-based telecom giant said 8Gbps symmetrical speeds would be available through Ignite Internet this summer for customers in parts of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Now, select customers in these regions can place their pre-orders for the service. 

Until the 8Gbps speeds are implemented, Rogers’ fastest speeds currently under Ignite Internet are symmetrical speeds of 2.5Gbps in parts of Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. More information is available on Rogers’ website. 

Bell

Bell recently announced it would introduce 8Gbps symmetrical speeds in September in parts of Toronto, where download speeds will be five times faster and upload speeds 250 times faster than cable technology.

“New 8Gbps speeds will be available starting in September in select areas of Toronto, and later rolling out in other parts of the country. We’ll share more information about specific locations closer to the time of availability,” a Bell spokesperson told MobileSyrup.

Bell currently offers 3Gbps download and upload speeds under Fibe Internet. Anyone interested in the service can visit their website to check if the offer is available to them.

Telus

At this time, Telus hasn’t made plans to launch 8Gbps symmetrical speeds (if it has any) public. But past instances have told us it’s likely the company isn’t too far behind from launching something similar.

For example, all three companies were quick to announce the rollout of the 3500MHz spectrum to their respective customers, making announcements in close succession.

At this time, Telus offers symmetrical speeds up to 2.5Gbps in communities with its PureFibre network.

Telus did not respond to requests for comment ahead of publication.

Updated 05/08/2022 6:41am ET: The article has been updated to reflect speeds in communities with Telus’ PureFibre network.

Updated 02/09/2022 2:35pm ET: The article has been updated with information on Rogers’ 8Gbps speeds.