iana.ca

Learn

How the wires actually work, who owns them, and why it matters where you live. Plain language first; the jargon is explained as we go.

  1. How the internet reaches your house

    Your connection is a chain of links owned by different companies, and the weakest or most expensive link decides what you get. Here's the chain, from your router to the rest of the world.

  2. Coax vs DSL vs fibre

    Three kinds of wire bring wired internet to Canadian homes. They are not equal, and the differences that matter (upload speed, distance, sharing and future headroom) rarely show up in the ads.

  3. What an internet exchange is

    An internet exchange is a neutral meeting point where networks swap traffic directly. The Internet Society's tracker lists 19 active ones in Canada, two of them in Alberta, and none in southern Alberta outside Calgary.

  4. Why your traffic detours through Calgary or the US

    Two networks in the same southern Alberta town can only swap traffic where they physically meet. With no local exchange, that meeting point can be Calgary, or further, and your traffic makes the round trip.

  5. What wholesale access means

    Many internet providers don't own any wires. They rent the phone and cable companies' lines at CRTC-set rates. Here's how that works, what changed with fibre in 2024 to 2026, and why we doubt it changes much in smaller centres.

  6. How to read the government availability map

    The federal broadband map is the official word on who can get what. It's useful, but it's built from provider-reported service areas, statistical households and a 75% rule, and in our view it tends to make coverage look better than it is.

  7. What Alberta SuperNet is, and why it didn't bring fibre home

    Alberta has spent about $1 billion of public money building and running SuperNet, fibre to public buildings in 429 communities. It was never built to reach homes, and outside the towns only about one household in five can get gigabit service.

  8. How to read the town pages

    Each town page puts four kinds of data on one map: what providers tell the government, where they report fibre or cable, what speed tests have measured, and how each provider's tests compare. Here's what each one shows, and what it can't.