elec999
join:2005-12-19
 ·Acanac
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
| Why does Broadband in Canada suck so much?
I have friends who had Tekksavvy and not 100% pleased, only 5mbit max kinda slow. Acanac I have it now and I'm so happy with their customer service/support/etc. My friend got screwed by them, he got billed for a full year even tho he canceled their service in advanced. I am starting to feel that Cable Rogers was good, but expensive.
What you guys think? |
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Acanac Inc
Premium
join:2007-03-05
Mississauga, ON
| Just for clarification. If if the account was renewed for the second year for what ever reason the client can cancel at any time. Any prepaid funds will be returned minus the time used. So if you just used an extra month you would only be charged for the month of service at the month rate and returned the rest.
As for your concerns with our support please let me know how I can help. |
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MacGyver
Bell Sucks
Premium,ExMod 2003-05
join:2001-10-14
Orleans, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Bell Sympatico
| reply to elec999
In the last 10 years, the majority of small independent ISP's disappeared, and the big cablecos and telcos have taken over the ISP business. There is little choice for the consumer. Profits of said big companies trump the idea of empowering customers. Current regulatory and legislative structure has entrenched this position. |
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cpsycho
join:2008-06-03
Orangeville, ON | reply to elec999
Free market = What ever company has the most moneys gets the monopolies, right of way access, bought and payed for politicians and less regulation. With no customer protections. |
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Telek
join:2009-11-03
| reply to elec999
Honestly I've run both Acanac and Rogers simultaneously now for a few years. Overall I find Acanac support to be ok but not spectacular, depending on the type of support needed. There are a few guys who are awesome and lurk around the forums and answer technical questions relatively quickly and try to help out which is great and you certainly don't see that from Rogers/Bell, but if there is an actual problem that needs someone to address it I find Acanac slower to respond.
For the actual internet service Rogers is more expensive but faster. For $50/mo after tax you get 10/.5 with Rogers or $34/mo for 5/.64 with Acanac that clocks in at 4/.62 for me. Latency is around 12ms with Rogers and 24ms with Acanac (for the majority of use don't notice the difference).
Interestingly enough Bell seems to have 12/1 for the same price as Rogers 10.5 plus added perks... don't know anything about reviews on that though.
If Acanac was able to offer higher DSL speeds I think I would exclusively be with them. Anyone know why they are stuck at 5/.6? |
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elec999
join:2005-12-19
·Acanac
·Rogers Hi-Speed
1 edit | I'd wish Acanac would offer higher speeds. I am thankfull to the Acanac PN on these forums, otherwise their support over the phone is 25%.
I am worried soon Broadband will become $30-$60 a month with 10mbit, but 20gig limit, really bad caps like Australia. |
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Croaker
join:2009-10-01
Ottawa ON
| reply to Telek
said by Telek  :If Acanac was able to offer higher DSL speeds I think I would exclusively be with them. Anyone know why they are stuck at 5/.6? I believe it's because Bell has been able to ignore a CRTC request to offer matching speeds for wholesale. Instead of providing a tariff, we got distracted by UBB/throttling. |
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slimeblob
join:2008-08-25
| reply to elec999
The slow speeds are the least of our problems.
We suffer (or will soon suffer) from extremely low monthly caps, severe throttling (less than 10% of normal speed during the time of day you'd normally be using your connection), privacy issues, basically no competition, and obviously, shameless and very public corruption in the government entities supposed to regulate broadband.
Canada currently has piss-poor conditions when it comes to broadband internet access and, instead of improving, it's actually more likely to become much much worse very quickly.
TSI is the best option I know of right now. Electronic Box seems like an excellent alternative around here.
I can't really give you any decent ideas given the country we live in. Personally, with things being the way they are (with broadband, health care, absurd laws, etc) I'm strongly considering moving to another country. |
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Taraban
join:2008-11-01
North York, ON | Bravo slimeblob!
Your absolutely right! I can say the same about big manufacturing companies, steel producers and power generation industries.
Top of Canadian society is shameless and corrupt. |
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freejazz_RdJ
join:2009-03-10
| While I am also disappointed about Canada's progress in many areas, where else would you move to? France, with their unemployment issues and huge deficits? The US, with unaffordable higher education, high poverty, poor health and fundamentalists? The UK with their economic and social problems?
Canada's got it pretty good and the only country I'd rather live in would be Sweden. |
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jfmezei
Premium
join:2007-01-03
Beaconsfield, QC
·ELECTRONICBOX
| In the end, the Reform's "market driven" policy would work if Canadians just didn't bend over and take the pain from monopolies with barely a grumble.
If Bell knew that it would lose 100,000 customers because of throttling, it wouldn't have throttled. It is exactly because it knows that people will accept throttling, UBB, slow speeds, antique copper that it knows it can get away with charging a lot of money, offer ever reduced services and delay upgrades until cable is so far ahead that Bell's growth starts to be hampered by higher churn rates.
Same happened when I was with Videotron. They had piss poor customer service (understatement) and didn't care because all Pedalo saw at the end of a quarter was continued growth. As long as they gaine 1 more customer than they lost in a quarter, the top managers were happy.
Bell kows it can get away with outsourcing customer surpport to some distant continent where drones are programmed to answer only a few limited questions. People are locked into contracts and they won't leave after having endured such a call. |
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slimeblob
join:2008-08-25
| reply to freejazz_RdJ
Funny you should mention that now, I was just going over a list of countries and taking notes. Some bits of information, such as religion percentages, are major factors and easy to find.
I'll admit that it won't be easy to find a decent one. The UK isn't even on my list, their laws are insane. I haven't researched France yet since I have basic stats already, but they do have serious issues (plus, isn't there still some military service requirement?).
Every country has its quirks. Canada is arguably "passable" right now, and rates quite high overall, but it's heading in the wrong direction and going fast.
I'm sure I'll find a few better options. I'll just have to look everywhere and finish learning my 3rd language before I can get started on a 4th, so I've still got three years here at least unless I find a country compatible with my current languages. |
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Noname
join:2009-09-04
Etobicoke, ON
·Bell Sympatico
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to MacGyver
said by MacGyver :In the last 10 years, the majority of small independent ISP's disappeared, and the big cablecos and telcos have taken over the ISP business. There is little choice for the consumer. Profits of said big companies trump the idea of empowering customers. Current regulatory and legislative structure has entrenched this position. I rather go back to dial up than deal with the Rogers or Bell. If it comes to that I will move to dial up. |
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InvalidError
join:2008-02-03
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Videotron
| said by Noname :I rather go back to dial up than deal with the Rogers or Bell. If it comes to that I will move to dial up. Unfortunately, as much as P2P throttling to 15-30KB/s 10+ hours per day sucks, it still beats dial-up hands-down. Watching the odd Youtube or other streaming video every now and then on dial-up would be an hair-pulling experience.
If I went back to dial-up, I would need a dedicated phone line and a dial-up account somewhere. Between spending $25/month on dial-up ($22/month for the land line, most of which still going to Bell + $3/month 295.ca account) and $30/month DSL, DSL wins: even at the slowest throttled speed, DSL is still at least 3X faster for practically the same price.
And before you bring caps/UBB into the picture, do note that with dial-up, you can only barely get to 15GB/month by staying connected 24/7... that's not even half the usage people around here consider normal. |
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EllioNET
join:2009-11-19
Vancouver, BC
| reply to MacGyver
To stop throttling and achieve more independent ISPs in Canada, it has to start with the CRTC. The CRTC has the ability to establish principles that would prevent throttling and protect small independent ISPs.
For everyone's information: An organization called SaveOurNet.ca publishes many updates regarding the issues of Canadian broadband. They also have a petition; they're attempting to put pressure on Tony Clement to enforce complete net neutrality principles (»saveournet.ca/TonyClement).
Canada definitely needs more choice and no throttling options for ISPs.
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Marie |
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