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Communities

Brooks

Population 14,924 (2021 Census)

Speeds by provider

M-Lab speed tests from Brooks in 2025, by the network they ran on (Mbps). The fastest tenth shows what a network can deliver.

ProviderTestsDownloadUpload
TypicalFastest 10%TypicalFastest 10%
TELUS (incl. NETAGO) 1,481 44 110 10 33
Rogers (Shaw network) 1,255 160 460 46 160
Galaxy Broadband 722 290 570 230 600
EIDNet 469 28 370 23 110
AEBC Internet 77 36 210 3 75

The fastest tenth by year, download / upload:

Provider202420252026 (Jan–Sep)
TELUS (incl. NETAGO) 120 / 40110 / 33100 / 33
Rogers (Shaw network) 370 / 140460 / 160490 / 180
Galaxy Broadband 480 / 450570 / 600630 / 630
EIDNet 280 / 85370 / 110290 / 95
AEBC Internet –210 / 75–

Satellite, across Alberta in 2025: Starlink typically 75 down and 7.1 up, fastest tenth 200 / 14; Xplore typically 30 down and 2.8 up, fastest tenth 72 / 12.

Source: The M-Lab NDT Data Set, 2024-01-01 to 2026-09-30, queried 2026-10-22, CC0. How to read this.

What the government map says

The 321 km of road in and around Brooks, by the best wired speed providers report along it (download/upload, Mbps).

Best wired speed reportedShare of roads
50/10 Mbps 32%
25/5 Mbps under 1%
10/2 Mbps 0%
5/1 Mbps 3%
No wired service reported 64%

Source: National Broadband Data, ISED, retrieved 2026-10-17. How to read this.

Who can get gigabit

Fibre and cable can deliver 1 Gbps. Of the 14 government-data hexagons with 5 or more households in and around Brooks, by what providers report in them:

Reported in the hexagonHexagons
Fibre to the home reported 3
Cable reported, no fibre 0
No fibre or cable reported 11

Fibre to the home reported by Shaw and Telus. Cable reported by Rogers and Shaw. (Names as ISED lists them; Rogers bought Shaw in 2023.)

Across southern Alberta, 911 of the 1,102 populated hexagons the government map counts at 50/10 have no fibre or cable reported at all (83%).

Reach, not how many homes can order gigabit. Source: National Broadband Data, ISED (providers by hexagon), retrieved 2026-10-17. How to read this.

Measured speeds

The best wired-like Speedtest result each ~390 m square in and around Brooks has reached, up to 2026 (Jan–Sep) (232 squares tested). Share of squares by best download:

Best downloadShare of squares
500 Mbps or more 20%
100–500 Mbps 22%
50–100 Mbps 7%
Under 50 Mbps 18%
Only wireless-like results 33%

Share of squares tested so far whose best reached 100 Mbps; fast upload is a good sign of fibre. The slider under the map shows the same years.

YearSquares100+ down100+ up
2019 116 34% 2%
2020 147 31% 1%
2021 170 33% 2%
2022 188 35% 2%
2023 206 37% 17%
2024 219 37% 29%
2025 224 39% 33%
2026 (Jan–Sep) 232 42% 33%

Source: Speedtest® by Ookla®, 2019 to 2026 (Jan–Sep), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; full credit under Sources. How to read this.

What's actually in the ground

This section uses public and provider-reported data and hasn't been independently verified yet.

In our view Brooks is the town in this region that decided not to wait: rather than rely on TELUS and Rogers for fibre, the city set out to own the fibre itself.

In 2021 the City of Brooks reached an agreement in principle with a consortium led by Community Network Partners: the city would put $5.3 million into a backbone it owns, and the consortium $15.7 million to connect homes and businesses to it (Lite Access). The network was to be open access, so competing providers can sell service on it. Arcadis, which helped put the consortium together, describes a network designed for 10 Gbps to more than 5,000 homes and businesses (Arcadis). The numbers differ slightly between sources, and we haven’t found a public record of when construction finished or how many homes are lit today.

The government figures above lag behind: only about a third of roads in our box report 50/10 or better, and most report none. The box includes plenty of county road, and provider-reported data is slow to pick up new builds. If BrooksNet is lit city-wide, the official map is understating Brooks badly.

In our view Brooks is the proof of concept for southern Alberta: a small city can own the fibre in its streets and let providers compete on it.

Providers

resells owns the lines Galaxy Broadband BrooksNET documented

Galaxy Broadband sells service over BrooksNET's lines.

Who rides on whose lines, among the providers listed for Brooks that we profile. A solid line is documented: the provider says which network it uses. Illustration Sources: Galaxy Broadband in Brooks (galaxybroadband.ca); Who resells whom, profiles and sources

Incumbent telephone company

  • TELUS The incumbent phone company. Topicks, working from CRTC network-owner filings, lists TELUS DSL across Brooks and fibre to the home in part of it. Source: topicks.ca

Cable company

  • Rogers (formerly Shaw) Shaw's network, owned by Rogers since 2023. Topicks lists Shaw fibre and coaxial cable in parts of the city. Source: topicks.ca

Resellers (renting someone else's lines)

  • Galaxy Broadband A business-focused provider. It says it was the first to sell symmetrical business fibre on BrooksNet, the city's open-access network. Source: galaxybroadband.ca

Regional and community networks

  • BrooksNet (City of Brooks with Community Network Partners) An open-access fibre network. The city owns the backbone; a private consortium funds the connections to homes and businesses. O-NET, the community operator from Olds, was named as the first retail provider. Source: newswire.ca

Fixed wireless

  • EIDNet The Eastern Irrigation District's internet service. Topicks lists it as a fixed-wireless network owner in Brooks. Source: topicks.ca
  • Xplore Listed by Topicks for fixed wireless and satellite. Source: topicks.ca

Infrastructure and exchanges

Alberta SuperNet fibre, built with public money for public buildings, reaches Brooks. It was never built to reach homes (what SuperNet is).

High level only: what exists, roughly where, and who owns it. Know of something public that's missing? The About page explains how to send a correction.

Want fibre in your community? Register your interest.

Related explainers

Sources