The Rural Municipalities of Alberta has teamed up with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority and are conducting internet speed testing to collect real-world internet speed data from rural Alberta.
The Government of Canada declared high-speed internet as an essential service back in 2016, outlining a minimum target of 50 megabits per second for download speed and 10 Mbps for upload speed for all Canadians. Currently they have announced the goal of providing those speeds to all Canadians by 2030.
Many Albertans living outside of major urban centers do not have speeds meeting those standards.
The RMA is collecting information through this test to tell the federal government and other decision-makers what internet service is actually like for rural Albertans.
The RMA website has information about the speed-test, what the results mean and how they will use the data along with their partnership with CIRA.
The RMA asks you to pass this along to friends and neighbors because they need as many data points on rural internet speeds as they can get. They say the more real-world data they can collect, the clearer and stronger the message.
-Jared Gomes, Trending 55 Newsroom
