According to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), which manages the .CA domain, 87 percent of households in Canada are online. The country ranks at No. 16 in the world for full Internet penetration, ahead of the U.S. at No. 28 with 81 percent of households online.

Clearly, Canadians like their Internet. But where do they turn to for the fastest Internet access? That's what we're here to explore.

For our looks throughout this year at the Fastest ISPs, we've utilized a couple of methodologies looking at the entire set of data from our partners at Ookla when it comes to international settings, like the U.K., South Korea, or Mexico—or a specific subset of Ookla, like that used for the United States. The latter was based on tests performed only by PCMag readers. Canada is technically international, but we're using that same data subset again, as we've got a readership that extends well across the northern border—and it makes comparison to last year's numbers clearer. Those tests, of course, came from use of the PCMag.SpeedTest.net site from October 1, 2013 to August 13, 2014 (you can read the full methodology here).

Note that this is a look at the broadband ISPs typically using some sort of landline, be it a copper for DSL, cable modems, or the fast fiber optics to the home or nearby node. Like the U.S., it looks like Canada is one of those locations where fiber optics haven't managed to take a firm hold as yet. But we were happy to see that from year to year, while most of the players stayed the same and used the same tech (mostly cable), they tended to get a speed boost over the last 12 months.

Because we require a certain number of tests (50 unique IP addresses minimum from the same ISP), we couldn't include every broadband provider in Canada. Little companies with a small audience tend to provide fast service, but without enough customers to take our tests, they didn't make the cut. That's why you won't see many of the small launches that are happening with fiber optics, for example, such as the town of Olds, Alberta, where all 8,000+ residents get 1000Mbps download speeds. Thankfully, big-name companies like Shaw Communications are stepping up in some cities—Shaw offers fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), usually found in larger buildings, in areas of Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton.

Will it be enough to put Shaw in the top spot at the fastest ISP in Canada? Read on to find out.

Fastest ISPs in Canada

Last year's winner for fastest ISP in Canada makes a return, with improved performance. Rogers is the country's biggest TV and Internet provider, with 930,000 Internet users across Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, yet still manages to get the overall best PCMag Speed Index score among its completion. And that 30.3 score is a major improvement over last year's index of 22.2.

We mentioned Shaw Communications earlier as one of the major players finally offering some fiber-optic connections, mainly in its territories in Western Canada. Despite that, Shaw went from the No. 2 spot last year to third place this year. And this was despite a slight increase in speed, from an index of 20.6 in 2013 to 21.8 for 2014. It just couldn't best the tests from Bell Aliant. It went from a fifth place spot last year with an 11.8 index to an amazing 26.4 this year. Bell Aliant's major shareholder, Bell Canada, plans to buy out the smaller provider this year, and this speed offering might be reason enough.

The next couple of ISPs from our 2013 results dropped their speed from 2013. For example, Distributel, which is doing fiber to the node in some areas at a cost of only $42 CAN per month, dropped to No. 11 with a speed index of just 9.0. Videotron stayed on the chart, but fell from fourth place to fifth, despite, again, a decent 1 point gain over last year. That's because Cogeco Cable, located in Montreal, Quebec, jumped from a 10.7 index up to 17.4, almost as good an improvement for customers as that shown by Rogers Cable from year to year.

Fastest ISPs in Canadian Cities

When it comes to picking a place to live in Canada based entirely on Internet speed—and of course, why wouldn't you?—the place to move is Brampton in Southern Ontario, a suburb just west of Toronto. On average, the speed in this city of 523,911 hits a PCMag Speed Index of 34.1—and remember, that includes all the ISPs in town, even the slow ones.

When you go to Toronto, the speed rating drops to 24.6 overall, but that's not the fault of Rogers. Our No. 1 ISP for the country is also No. one in the country's biggest city (pop. 2.6 million): Rogers manages an amazing PCMag Speed Index of 50.9 in the city. In contrast, the rest of the city's ISPs have some serious catching up to do.

Our data is limited for other cities, but we have some by-province numbers to point out. In Alberta, the top ISP is Shaw with an index of 24.1; in British Columbia it's Shaw again with a 20.1, Quebec goes to Videotron with a 15.5, Manitoba's is MTS Allstream at 8.9, and of course, all of Ontario is Rogers at 30.1.