Bell first in Netflix ranking of Canadian ISP speeds

This Jan. 29, 2010, file photo, shows the company logo and view of Netflix headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

TORONTO -- Bell is first and Rogers ranks last in Netflix's first Canadian comparison of connection speeds.

Users accessing Netflix through Bell's fibre optic network in April had an average speed of 3.19 megabits per second, while Rogers' average speed was just 1.67 Mbps, according to the streaming company.

The overall average speed across all Canadian ISPs was 2.52 Mbps, which was faster than what American users experience but slower than the average connections of most European countries.

A Rogers spokesman said the company has invested in speeding up customers' connections to Netflix since the testing was done.

Netflix has its own content delivery network called Open Connect, which allows ISP customers to access streaming content more directly rather than being routed through third-party servers.

Rogers has recently "virtually doubled" the capacity for its customers to get speedier access to Netflix, said Raj Doshi, senior vice president of products.

"Our investment timing relative to the testing was probably not coincident, meaning if the tests were done now we would be at a similar level (to Bell) and probably top of the heap," Doshi said.

"We've been at this for quite some time looking at the capacity growth on Netflix and we're in the process of implementing these increased connectivity solutions to Netflix directly."

Second fastest on the Canadian list of ISPs was Bell Aliant (fibre optic network), followed by Shaw, Videotron, Cogeco, Eastlink, TekSavvy, Distributel, Telus, Bell (DSL), Allstream, SaskTel and Bell Aliant (DSL).

The average U.S. speed according to Netflix was 2.33 Mbps compared to speeds of 3.49 Mbps in the Netherlands, 3.21 Mbps in Sweden and 3.167 Mbps in Denmark.