When PCMag took a close look at the fastest ISPs in Canada last year, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), which manages the .CA top-level domain, said 86.8 percent of households in the country had Internet connections. In 2015, that number has stayed the same. Still, that puts the country at No. 16 globally for home Internet penetration, which is second among the G8 countries and well ahead of the U.S. at No. 28.

Canadians obviously appreciate their connections, but which providers offer the fastest Internet in the provinces? We're here to find out.

As always, we've teamed with our sister company Ookla, creators of Speedtest, the de facto standard used by ISPs around the world to check broadband connection throughput. In the past, we've used all the data from worldwide Speedtest users when looking at international ISPs, but for Canada (as we do for Fastest ISPs USA ), we took a subset of data provided strictly by PCMag readers. In fact, you should take our PCMag Speedtest right now:

The tests in this story came in between Sept. 1, 2014 and Aug. 28, 2015. Each consisted of results showing download speed and upload speed in Megabits per second. In PC Labs, we turn to the full power of modern spreadsheets and apply our own formula. It takes 80 percent of the download speed and 20 percent of the upload, adds them together, and provides what we call the PCMag Internet Speed Index, a quick way for us to visualize and compare the ISPsand determine the fastest ISP in a location or locations that have the fastest ISPs. (For more, read the full methodology from our Fastest ISPs U.S. story.)

To be included, each ISP had to have a minimum of 50 tests. That means a lot of smaller and maybe faster ISPs didn't make the cut—but we didn't want to base results on a handful of tests we couldn't back up statistically. Thankfully, some big-name companies that provide ISP service—those most likely to make the list because they have more users—are stepping up when it comes to better broadband. Canada's speeds this year are the best we've seen so far.

The question is, which ISP is the fastest? We're about to tell you, right after this test.

Curious about your broadband internet speed? Test it now!

Deactivate your VPN temporarily for the best results.

Fastest ISPs in Canada

In the past few years, Fastest ISPs: Canada had a clear winner: Rogers, the country's biggest cable provider for TV and Internet. And Rogers did indeed see a great speed increase this year, shooting up to a PCMag Speed Index score of 41.0, compared to 30.3 last year.

But it wasn't enough to keep up with the competition from fibre provider Bell Aliant. Found mainly in eastern Canada, it's owned by the same parent as Bell Canada—an ISP also in the top 10 at No. 7but each is operated separately. That approach is working well for Bell Aliant, which shot up from 26.4 last year to an index of 56.4 for 2015. That's up from fifth place in 2013. It's unequivocal: Bell Aliant is the one to pick if you are lucky enough to live in its service area.

Shaw Communicationsone of the leaders in bringing fibre-optic connections to the homes in Canadastayed at No. 3 this year, climbing to a speed index of 29.3. Similar things happened for Cogeco Cable and Videotron, both of which stay in the same spot despite nice gains.

There isn't a big change in the lineup from last year until EastLink shows up at No. 6, after last year's No. 7 placement. Bell Canada and Telus round out the improvers. The only two ISPs from last year's top 10 that dropped their index score—that's a no-no—are TekSavvy (down to 12.9 from last year's 13.9) and MTS Allstream, which didn't even make the top 10 this year (it's at No. 11 with a 7.8). Back in the top 10 for this year is Distributel, a fibre-to-the-node provider, but its 8.8 index is actually down a bit from last year's 9.0.

WINNER: Fastest ISP in Canada

Bell Aliant

Owned by Canada's largest communications company (BCE, owner of Bell Canada), Bell Aliant went private last year and managed through all that to bring enough improvement to its network to be declared winner of our fastest ISP contest for 2015. Aliant was one of Canada's first fibre operators, bringing its FibreOP FttH service to areas of New Brunswick in 2009, continuing into Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. That's obviously paid off.

Canadian Provinces with the Fastest Internet

Canada has 10 provinces and three territories, but our results only show eight of the provinces due to our strict need to have at least 50 tests per each ISP. And some of those remote spots simply don't have the user base. For example, the Nunavut territory has 1.9 million square kilometers, but a population of only 36,600 as of the last census in 2014.

Thus, it's no surprise that those eight lower provinces make up our list (neither Prince Edward Island nor Newfoundland and Labrador had enough response, either). What might be surprising is who leads in speed. It's the maritime eastern block of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with a 50.9 and 48.9 PCMag Speed Index, respectively. This is all buoyed by our top-speed ISP above, Bell Aliant.

Third place goes to Alberta with a 26.9. From there, the speeds only go down until you find Manitoba in last place with 7.9.

If you're wondering which ISP is actually the fastest in those provinces, we've got enough tests to show you the top players in six of them, with the index number they hit in each.

Nova Scotia : Bell Aliant59.2

: Bell Aliant59.2 Ontario : Rogers Cable41.7

: Rogers Cable41.7 Alberta : Shaw Communications36.7

: Shaw Communications36.7 British Columbia : Shaw Communications25.0

: Shaw Communications25.0 Quebec : Videotron19.0

: Videotron19.0 Manitoba: MTS Allstream7.5

(Hey, Saskatchewanians and New Brunswickerstake more Speedtests!)

Canadian Cities with the Fastest Internet

If you're a Canadian who gets to pick where you live based entirely on the potential for Internet speeds...can I be your intern? Also, let me tell you exactly where you want to live: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This urban community at the core of Halifax sports an astounding average PCMag Speed Index across all its ISPs of 186.1. That's because of the strong presence of Bell Aliant connections in the area. The next closest town we had enough tests for is Richmond Hill, Ontario, north of Torontoonce Canada's fastest-growing communitywith a 42.0.

As for the fastest ISPs in the major cities of Canada, here's a quick take of the fastest ISPs we saw in the metro areas, with respective PCMag Speed Indices:

Toronto, ON : Rogers Cable52.2

: Rogers Cable52.2 Montreal, QC : Videotron26.0

: Videotron26.0 Ottawa, ON : Rogers Cable33.7

: Rogers Cable33.7 Halifax, NS : Bell Aliant12.8

: Bell Aliant12.8 Winnipeg, MB : MTS Allstream7.4

: MTS Allstream7.4 Edmonton, AB : Shaw Communications41.2

: Shaw Communications41.2 Calgary, AB: Shaw Communications37.1

It's possible that a faster ISP is present in a city that didn't make our results. If you think your ISP is one, make sure to take our PCMag Speedtest.

Curious about your broadband internet speed? Test it now!

Deactivate your VPN temporarily for the best results.