We review PCMag’s 2023 Best Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Quebec. Thanks to their new methodology, PCMag are no longer looking just at who’s the fastest – they’re also considering customer satisfaction, coverage, and price. That allows them to form a more comprehensive view of Canadian ISPs and how they work in the real world for real customers. The more in-depth methodology has also allowed them to break the figures down by province.
In this article, we break down the numbers to determine who is best overall and in each of the four categories for Quebec.
- Bell Canada
- TekSavvy
- Virgin Plus
Quebec often goes its own way, but Bell Canada takes the top prize here, as it does in many eastern provinces. Thanks to its relative high speed and low price, it comes out way ahead in PCMag’s rankings. It matches a lot of competitors in terms of coverage, too. And while many companies get a higher customer rating, Bell Canada’s customer rating doesn’t let it down.
Looking at the individual categories, it is clear there is plenty of competition and variation in Quebec. Speeds absolutely run the gamut, though Bell Canada is very much the fastest. It provides a median speed of 324.7, while second-place Telus PureFibre provides a median speed of 111.4. The speeds slowly drop the further down the rankings you go, until you reach TekSavvy and B2B2C at the bottom, with median speeds of 15.9an 13.0, respectively. Similarly, coverage percentages vary widely among the ISPs. SpaceX Starlink has the benefit of satellites, so it covers 100% of the province, while Bell Canada, EBOX, Oricom Internet, Altima Telecom, Distributel, VMedia, and Bell DSL all cover 79% of the province. Again, numbers fall somewhat steadily until you reach the bottom of the rankings. Telus PureFibre, Sogetel, and DERYtelecom cover just 2% of Quebec, covering more than IHR Télécom, which services 0.15%.
Unsurprisingly, there are also a wide range of prices to choose from in this market. At the lower end is Bell Canada, which charges on average $0.03 per Mbps, Telus PureFibre, which charges $0.04, and Rogers, which charges $0.05. At the other end is Xplore, charging $1.20, SpaceX Starlink, charging $1.40, and Bell DSL, charging $2.00. Most ISPs keep their rates under $0.25, however. Finally, we turn to the Readers’ Choice Overall Satisfaction survey, and there we find some consistency across the companies that received reader feedback. The most highly rated service is TekSavvy, garnering an impressive 8.1 out of 10. Virgin Plus ad Videotron both enjoy a rating of 7.8, while Cogeco is rated 7.4. The lowest-rated ISP is actually Rogers, but it still has a healthy 6.7 rating.
Quebec has more choices than many other provinces with Bell Canada, TechSavvy and Virgin Plus ranking highly overall. It is typical that national ISPs hold the most advantage thanks to their combinations of coverage, name recognition, and pricing; but, that isn’t the whole picture in Quebec.