Hello Canada,
A couple of months ago, we asked whether you would like to help us improve Canada’s internet for the future. We received an overwhelming response!
We are now nearly half-way through the "recruitment phase" for Measuring Broadband Canada (MBC), where we contact volunteers and send out Whiteboxes to measure the fixed-line performance of individual homes. As we look back on our progress, we cannot help but be excited by what we're seeing.
Project update
Since the project began on May 27th, 27,266 volunteers have signed up to take part in the MBC programme. And this number keeps growing day by day.
56,943 people visited our website, and approximately 47.88% of those who did went on to sign up for a Whitebox. This is a fantastic result by all standards.
The average conversion rate for e-commerce is 1.84% and 3.71%, but varies across industries. Although this average is likely to be higher when products are free (the cost of the Whitebox is covered by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission), such a high conversion rate still shows us one thing is clear - Canadians care about their internet.
89.5% of you who signed up come from the Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec provinces. Given that 86.3% of the Canadian population live in these areas, we’re off to a good start.
A further 7.1% of you come from the remaining Canadian Provinces and Territories, which is also great. We’re always keen to ensure that these locations are well-represented, so do get in touch with us if you would like a Whitebox to measure your fixed-line performance.
Some of you also contacted us to tell us more about yourselves. Thank you, we love hearing from you. From talking to you, we learned that you’re either:
1. A tech-savvy individual looking for in-depth analysis on your connection.
2. A value-conscious customer who is careful to ensure you're receiving the service you expect.
3. A caring citizen, wanting to contribute to the greater good for Canada in whatever way you can.
If you’re reading this and feel like one of those descriptions suits your interests, it’s not too late to get involved. We’re still looking for volunteers from all over Canada, on all the speed tiers the program is measuring, to ensure that we can represent as much of your country's performance as possible. Simply visit www.measuringbroadbandcanada.com to find out more. Or have a read of our previous blog post to find out about the project.
You may have already been directed to project website via an email from your internet service provider (ISP), or from spotting press releases from the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), SamKnows, or a variety of other articles from Canada NewsWire, MobileSyrup, Cartt, and more. But if you haven’t, welcome.
Next steps
The next exciting phase of the MBC is to start analysing all the results your Whiteboxes measure. There’s so much to learn from the data and so much the CRTC and ISPs can do with it. It will help fuel conversations about Canada’s internet infrastructure, drive investment, and inform policy makers….
More from us later, but for now - happy testing!