Thanks to PCMag’s updated ranking methodology, The Best Internet Service Providers across Canada evaluate more than just speed – they also consider customer satisfaction, coverage, and pricing. This approach offers a more comprehensive understanding of Canadian ISPs and their real-world performance for actual customers. The enhanced methodology enables a detailed breakdown of the data by province and territory. In this article, we delve into the data to determine the top performers both overall and within each of the four categories specific to the territories.

PCMag only received a sufficient number of speed tests from users in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, which is why Nunavut isn’t included.

Northwest Territories

1. NorthwesTel

Yukon Territories

1. NorthwesTel

NorthwesTel wins by default in both territories because it was the only ISP that was tested in the areas. As PCMag puts it, when you’re the only one in the competition, you’re the default winner. There weren’t any customer satisfaction responses, either, so it’s hard to tell just how good NorthwesTel really is in the PCMag graphs. Still, they are undeniably the best in the territories.

Thanks to PCMag’s new methodology, we can compare the two territories to each other and give a national context for these, even if we can’t compare ISPs. NorthwesTel covers 100% of both the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory, and they charge a consistent rate of $0.44 per Mbps. In the rest of Canada, the cheapest rate tends to be Bell Canada, which charge $0.03, but many companies charge much more. Xplore charges $1.20 in other parts of the country, and SpaceX Starlink charges $1.40. Bell DSL has topped every provincial ranking thanks to its price of $2.00. Speeds in the territories don’t reach the dizzying heights of those in Ontario or Quebec, but they aren’t too far off many options. The fastest ISP in the rankings is telMax, which hits a median speed of 578.8 for users in Ontario. Some consumers in Newfoundland and Labrador were at the other end of the spectrum, receiving a median speed of just 2.0 from Burgeo Broadcasting Systems. In comparison, NorthwesTel provides a median speed of 60.1 to the Northwest Territories, which puts it easily in the top half of the national rankings. The median speed of 15.1 in Yukon is obviously much slower, but it is still fast enough to see it beat out eleven other providers around the country.

As you can see, larger national ISPs hold the most advantage thanks to their combinations of coverage, name recognition, and pricing. Still, when the categories get broken down, there are many areas, usually speed and customer satisfaction, where smaller companies can really shine through. The ‘best’ ISP is the one that fits a customer’s need best, whether they prefer a personal touch, a speedy connection or just great value. With these rankings, it should be even easier for consumers to find the right ISP for them.