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Internet in Canada

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Canada ranks as the 11th country in the world for Internet usage with 20.45 million users, 63.5% of the total population.[1] 53.6% of Canadians connect to the Internet using a type of high-speed connection, compared to 33.8% in the US. In addition, habits of online Canadians differ greatly from Americans. In particular, 48% of Internet users connect at least three times per day. The topic of Internet market research has become very important in recent years. Internet marketers will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for reports, surveys, and other relevant data. However, it is possible to discover a wealth of information using the very tool being investigated, the Internet.

Web use

Canadian web users are similar to those in the other English speaking countries, especially the United States. The most popular sites in Canada are the major international ones, such as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.[2] There are several important differences from the United States. Facebook is the dominant social network in Canada, and is considerably more popular than MySpace, a reversal of the American situation.[3] In Canada Kijiji is a close rival in popularity to Craigslist, also unlike the United States where Craigslist dominates.[4]

The most popular native Canadian sites are those of the major Canadian news companies, all of which maintain an extensive web presence. According to a February 2008 report by comScore, the most popular Canadian sites are those of Quebecor Media, principally Canoe.ca, followed closely by the sites of CTVglobemedia which includes globeandmail.com and CTV.ca.[2]

File sharing

Main: File sharing in Canada

Canada has the greatest number of file sharers per capita in the world according to a report by the OECD. [5] As well, the same report states that the number of file sharers in Canada is steadily rising unlike the number of file sharers in the U.S.A., bringing to the forefront issues dealing with the legality of file sharing.

Canada's copyright laws are unclear on the legality of some file trading. In general, the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted material, whether for profit or for personal use, is illegal under Canada's Copyright Act. [6] However, certain exemptions are made for fair dealing copying of small portions of copyrighted works, for activities such as private study, criticism, and news reporting. Furthermore, the Act allows that the copying of sound recordings of musical works for the personal use of the person who makes the copy, is not copyright infringement. This is supported by a levy on blank recording media, which is distributed to record labels and musicians. While the unauthorized downloading or uploading of complete copyrighted works such as books, movies, or software is illegal under the Act, the situation regarding music files is more complex.

Broadband offerings

The following table summarizes residential broadband offerings in Canada:

Service Provider Basic Standard Pro Extreme
Shaw 256 kbit/s down, 128 kbit/s up 5 Mbit/s down, 512 kbit/s up 10 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up 25 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
Rogers Cable 500 kbit/s down, 256 kbit/s up 1 Mbit/s down, 256 kbit/s up 7 Mbit/s down, 512 kbit/s up 10 or 18 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
Videotron 600 kbit/s down, 128 kbit/s up 5.1 Mbit/s down, 810 kbit/s up 10 Mbit/s down, 900 kbit/s up 20, 30 or 50 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
Cogeco 640 kbit/s down, 150 kbit/s up 10 Mbit/s down, 640 kbit/s up 16 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up N/A
Eastlink 256 kbit/s down, 128 kbit/s up 5 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up 15 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up N/A
Bell Sympatico 128 kbit/s down, 64 kbit/s up 1 Mbit/s down, 640 kbit/s up 7 Mbit/s down, 800 kbit/s up 10 or 16 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
Telus 256 kbit/s down, 128 kbit/s up 1.5 Mbit/s down, 512 kbit/s up 3 Mbit/s down, 640 kbit/s up 6 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
Sasktel 256 kbit/s down, 64 kbit/s up 1.5 Mbit/s down, 128 kbit/s up 5 Mbit/s down, 640 kbit/s up 7 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
Colbanet N/A 5 Mbit/s down, 800 kbit/s up N/A 24 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up
TekSavvy 288 kbit/s down, 288 kbit/s up 5 Mbit/s down, 800 kbit/s up N/A N/A
ElectronicBox N/A 5 Mbit/s down, 800 kbit/s up N/A N/A
Novus N/A 10 Mbit/s down, 10 Mbit/s up 30 Mbit/s down, 10 Mbit/s up 50 Mbit/s down, 10 Mbit/s up
Velcom 288 kbit/s down, 288 kbit/s up 5 Mbit/s down, 800 kbit/s up 6 Mbit/s down, 800 kbit/s up N/A

The legal definition of broadband in Canada is 1.5 Mbit/s (megabits per second). This is essentially the bandwidth required to transmit compressed VGA (640x480) motion video with modest quality. However, in recent years the competition between the major broadband Internet providers has caused frequent increases in the available bandwidth provided to home users.

Regional Canadian ISPs peer through a few major Internet Exchange Points, the most notable of which is the Toronto Internet Exchange. However, these regional networks usually share the same backbones for longer distance connectivity.

The largest DSL provider in Canada is Bell Sympatico. Bell owns and maintains physical layer connectivity through a combination of optical fibre networks, DSLAM and Customer Premise Equipment. Few other DSL providers have comparable network infrastructure and instead use lines provided by Bell through a service called "Dry DSL". ADSL is the predominant technology while ADSL2+ is quickly emerging as the new standard, fueled by the urgency to compete with cable companies in the digital TV market. In British Columbia, Alberta, and parts of Quebec, the incumbent telco is Telus, owning the DSLAMs, the fibre, and provides many services Bell does, however at slower speeds. An example of the speed difference is a standard DSL line in BC/AB is 1.5 Mbit/s, while a standard DSL line in ON/QC can be up to 5 Mbit/s; the top tier internet speed is 6 Mbit/s in BC/AB and 16 Mbit/s in ON/QC.

The other major players offering DSL and IPTV services are Sasktel (in Saskatchewan) and MTS (in Manitoba). Download speeds are approx. up to 8 Mbit/s, though recent upgrades now make HDTV and much higher rates possible.

For Cable offerings, standard North American DOCSIS based equipment are used.

(listing http://canadianisp.ca/).

See also

References

  1. ^ eTForecasts - Executive Summary, Internet User Forecast by Country
  2. ^ a b comScore - Top Canadian Web Rankings for February 2008.
  3. ^ Yum, Kenny (2007-05-18). "Facebook says 'Thanks, Canada'". National Post. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  4. ^ Tedeshi, Rob. "In Restless Pursuit of Craigslist’s Success" The New York Times. December 31, 2007
  5. ^ "Digital Broadband Content" (PDF). OECD. 2005-12-13. Retrieved 2006-07-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Copyright Act of Canada". Department of Justice: Canada. 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  • DSL Reports - Extensive site on broadband with user reports from around the USA and Canada
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