Mississauga Asks Residents to Help Measure Local Internet Performance

The City of Mississauga and the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) are asking for residents’ help as they launch a six-month pilot to test Internet performance around the city.

Residents and businesses can test the speed and quality of their Internet connections using an Internet browser on any computer or mobile device at https://performance.cira.ca/Mississauga.

This pilot will help find the areas in Mississauga that have adequate Internet service and areas where service could be improved. Internet service is provided by many different commercially available Internet Service Providers (ISP) who offer Internet connectivity to residents for a fee as part of a phone, cable or internet package. Internet performance may differ from these providers and the types of Internet services they provide.

City staff will use the pilot’s test data and crowdsourced data to analyze Internet performance across the city. A customized heat-map will be used to display the data collected. The heat-map will identify variations in the quality of internet performance and offer insight into the relationship between geography and connectivity. Data will also be available by ward or neighbourhood.

“Studying our Internet performance will help improve the City’s ability to deliver programs and services through technology,” said Shawn Slack, Director, Information Technology. “Reliable Internet service is crucial to the services residents depend on every day. Everyone can help measure the quality of Internet service in Mississauga. It only takes a few minutes.”

This pilot supports Mississauga’s IT Master Plan by ensuring the city has fast, dependable Internet service to meet the city’s technology demands now and for the future.

“Having consistently high quality Internet services across the city is a key element to continuing to provide reliable, two-way communications with citizens,” says Ivana Di Millo, Director, Communications.

Di Millo added that with more than 34,000 subscribers to the Corporate eNewsletter, over 27,000 self-service online and mobile interactions, more than 15 million website visits, 91,000 followers on Twitter and 73,000 likes on Facebook in 2016, ensuring citizens have a strong digital connection to the City of Mississauga is critical.

CIRA’s Internet performance test is built on the globally recognized M-Labs testing technology, with test nodes across the country. The test operates independently from any major Internet service provider network, ensuring unbiased measurements and data.

“High-performance Internet is a backbone for the smart community projects that help economies flourish and citizens engage,” said Dave Chiswell, VP of Product Development at CIRA. “At CIRA, we built our Internet Performance test to do two things. First, we wanted to provide decision makers in communities across the country with a way that they can measure and benchmark their Internet performance, helping add data to their decisions about digital policy and programs. Secondly, we wanted to empower individual Internet users in those communities with information about their Internet connection, helping them understand what they pay for and make informed decisions about their connectivity needs.”

Find out more about CIRA’s national Internet performance testing program at https://cira.ca/performance.

To learn more about Mississauga’s Internet performance test, visit mississauga.ca. For more information about your Internet service, please contact your Internet Service Provider.

Background

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services that support its goal of building a better online Canada. The CIRA team operates one of the fastest-growing high-performance global DNS networks, and supports the Canadian Internet community through investments in Internet exchange points, the Canada Internet Forum, and the CIRA Community Investment Program.