Well, I USED to recommend TekSavvy...

[matdwyer]

I was a fairly big supporter of TekSavvy for their prices / packages, but after digging a bit deeper into my bills at home & their packages offered, I'm pretty pissed now.

About a year ago I bought a modem from them and started service - It was a good deal, and I was getting OK speeds. Not the 24 Mb that was advertised, but I thought that it was due to this being an extremely large building and a very large concentration of connections (SQ1).

Now, a year later, those speeds are bordering on ridiculous - but that's not even the biggest problem.

The plan I was originally on (24Mb) was upgrade to 28Mb, and "separately" a price increase up to $53ish with tax. But here's the thing - their equipment which they sold me (and I'm learning that they sold to me incorrectly) was a Thomson DCM425 - which is incapable of reaching even the 24Mb speed they offered me, let alone the 28Mb they "upgrade" me to.

I need to set up internet at a new place and was looking into the pricing etc, which had me looking at this - the account which I have doesn't even work with the DCM425 - yet no where was I alerted to this, no where was I told "Hey, you know that modem we told you to get, it would only work up to the capabilities of this $38 plan, instead of "bumping you up" we're going to "bump you down". I realize that these things are automated, so that's fine - but good luck getting a discount or credit from Teksavvy for this. They said the best they could do was offer me an open box DOCSIS 3.0 modem at $20 off retail. Whoooopdiiiiedoo basil, I can set up a new account instead of your $65 move fee and get a bigger discount on a new modem anyway. I'll note that the tech support guy was at least polite, even though there was nothing he could do/say.

How many other people are out there with the 425 and paying for speeds they can't even get?

The super low speeds are my locations fault, so I can't harp TOO much on that, but the speeds during peak times are ridiculous, and even off peak times are no where near the modems capabilities. I guess that means it wouldn't matter about my issue above, but two crappy situations don't make a good one :lol:

http://s17.postimage.org/awkshp3vj/Screen_Shot_2012_05_22_at_4_23_02_PM.png (http://postimage.org/)

http://s17.postimage.org/np8whmfhb/Screen_Shot_2012_05_17_at_10_01_45_PM.png (http://postimage.org/)

I understand that by avoiding Rogers / Bell as much as you can you're also going for less support and less "flexibility", but I know damn sure that if this happened at Rogers I'd be getting credited for everything and a significant discount on top of it.

After a year on the other side, it might be time to go back. I never thought I'd say that :|

So to make this more then just a big complaint, Do you still recommend TekSavvy?

[Jimboski]

I would upgrade to the higher speeds but I have the DOSCIC 2.0 modem therefore can't handle higher speeds.

[blaznazn22]

I would upgrade to the higher speeds but I have the DOSCIC 2.0 modem therefore can't handle higher speeds.

doc 2.0 can reach speeds up to 30mb/s according to wikipedia, not that tech savvy so Im not too sure about tht number. I do know that the max speeds I get when my internet turbo boosts is around 28-30mb/s and my profile is set to 12mb/s

[ichpen]

I had them looong ago at dsl speeds and even then I didn't see fit to keep them. Took them many weeks to get my service up and running. I was on their edge of a 5 mbit service as I discovered on my own and no way could I get even close to 5 (more like 1). Nonetheless I was still charged at full rate and still ended up with a useless modem. Walked away and judging from a few friends made a good decision.

As much as I'd like to see the Rogers/Bell monopoly broken I won't tolerate badly run outfits.

[terrorencee]

Wow, after reading all these complaints about Teksavvy, I might have to steer away from them.

Since I'm moving into Guelph, are there any other alternative budget ISPs around?

[Sprite_TM]

Tek support sucks. Anyways, here's my results and I am on the 28 Meg plan. Mediocre speeds. You can never get any credit from Teksavvy for ****** speeds. I used to love them, their services have gone downhill now. The reason I am still with them is because rogers's $50 overage is too much. Maybe I should call in to downgrade my plan since I am NOT getting my promised speeds. Too bad Canada is such a communist country, thinking of moving out soon. Zero competition over here, government protects weakass Canadian companies like Rogers and Bell. Rogers and Bell wouldn't last a year if doors were opened to foreign companies. High price for everything, government doesn't care if Canadian companies gouge consumers.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1966134810.png

[Jimboski]

We have a Teksavvy employee reading this thread!

[Dave98]

Speed issues are pretty typical of with the nature of cable internet if upgrades aren't installed and I know Rogers like to drag their ***** into getting them done.

I don't know how TS handled the modem issue but pretty sure most RFDers were recommending not to cheap out (not trying to pick on you here) and get DOCSIS 2.0 modems. I know I took the advice and spent the extra $20 at the time.

[blaznazn22]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1966297257.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

my speed in scarborough area, at peak hours...around 7:30pm on a weekday and my profile is currently 12/0.5. I ran the test a couple of times to get rid of the speed boost effect which was giving me 30mb/s. This is also on a wireless connection, and im pretty sure i have utorrent running on at least one computer on my network which is giving me the crappy upload speeds.

[ichpen]

Rogers, taken peak hours (2 mins ago). This is slow, typically it hovers around 75mbits offpeak. My profile is 50/2.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1966371840.png

I hate them still as they're crooks but their internet has been rock solid in this area.

TS alas cannot compete for the bandwidth hungry and I don't see any plans for them to do so.

Here's offpeak:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1967192880.png

I do pay a sh*tload for this though. On the positive side when I did have degraded speeds with Rogers they did without much hesitation cut my bill until it was resolved. Something I didn't see TS doing back in the day.

[willdacanucker]

This is what I consistently get with TSI. It does get a BIT slower during peak, but not bad. When I was with Robbers, on the BEST days I would get a little better than half the speeds I was promised for a few hours before the speed would tank and stay tanked for days.http://www.speedtest.net/result/1966963363.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[gwan]

i also cancelled teksavvy and switched to shaw

i used to pay $60 per month and now i pay $100...it is so much faster but now that i think about it...i should've stick with teksavvy because they're cheaper and just that

:(


my question:
the High Speed is 5M/800K but I did a speedtest last night with the new modem router and it's only 1.4M/600K.


answer:
Looking at your profile you are set to a 1728mb down and 800k up and that is why your only get those speeds as you will always loose some to overhead for the PPPOE connection. Also looking at your line you are connected at over 5.8kms away which is very far for DSL asfter about 4km you will loose speed. They only thing on your side that I can see cause a false reading is if your phone line going to your modem is over 14ft.

[zonetbh]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1967916295.png

Exactly what im paying for.

If I need more juice, I just offload that work to a vps.

greensboro

[Jimboski]

I think I'm getting the right speeds If not better.
Although It might be speedboost? Not sure.

[shabby]

Doing fine here on my moto sb6120

http://speedtest.net/result/1968200609.png

[Avatar]

Yup. At peak hours after 7pm. I got around 6M for cable instead of the 25M for $50+/mo everyday.

[world25]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1968270052.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

8:15 PM Wednesday Night

[frogger]

I also live very near SQ1 but am moving to Toronto a few months, and I've been pretty happy with the speed as of late.. It was probably late last year where the speed was awful at times. Just tried speedtest and it gives me 37Mbps down and 1.0 up at 8:45pm. I don't have the old modem issue though.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1968299102.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[Bobby S.]

This is why I left:
http://i48.tinypic.com/33yjja8.png

Not sure if it was their fault or Bell's but they couldn't fix it as it would spike from this to full speed and good ping from hour to hour.

[AstonM]

Anyone got any recommendations for ISP when living in Queen West? Moving in August. Is TS a good option in there?

[whampoa]

That's why I bought the limited number of Motorola SB6121 when signing up with TS.

I know **** like this will hit the fan one of this day.

[Euphoric]

I had huge problems with them when I signed up. so I bailed.

with bell and been happy. paying LESS too.

[ah802]

Anyone got any recommendations for ISP when living in Queen West? Moving in August. Is TS a good option in there?TS in my opinion is always a good option and in that area 'specifically', I'm a testament to good service and speed, most of the area has gone trunk optical fiber (thanks Bell) and I get what I'm paying for.

[jacquesstrap]

Anyone got any recommendations for ISP when living in Queen West? Moving in August. Is TS a good option in there?

I'm in the West end (Bloor West village area) and there has been a stop-sell in effect for a number of months now. You'll probably have the same issue. I went with another provider called Distributel and have been very pleased with the service.

[chaos1105]

Anyone got any recommendations for ISP when living in Queen West? Moving in August. Is TS a good option in there?

Try entering your postal code on the Teksavvy site to see if cable is available. TS is a great option and they're in the process of upgrading all the POIs. Cheaper and a greater or unlimited bandwidth cap compared to Rogers/Bell.

[XtremeModder]

My friend has never had an issue with TS. He got it after I told him about it and has a 300gb, im moving in as a room mate soon I think and we're gonna get the faster unlimited one. It's in an apartment building that ONLY has Rogers wired (thus TS works...) for everything and he can usually max his speed on any day at any time

[KorruptioN]

I live in North York. Zero problems. I don't hesitate to recommend the service.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1972105022.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[medalgo]

Teksavvy is great but if you have a problem you're on your own and they'll blame Rogers, but if you use Rogers they'll keep trying to tell you to reset the modem and if it doesn't work they'll send a guy in but by that time it'll resolve on its own

Network hiccups are network hiccups, and if the whole network is down tech support can't do anything, I'd rather save a few dollars at the end of the day

[bas00m]

The thing is with TS unlimited cable 28Mbps package it is around $60 dollars + tax

I could go with Rogers Business internet and get 12Mbps (which is always turbo boosted to around 25Mbps) for $70 something and at the same time have the peace of mind of having 24/7 tech support and better service ....

it is just too bad I dont want to signup with Robbers anymore!


PS: You could easily get business internet from rogers (unlimited downloads) you just need to come up with a business name .... some ppl state that Rogers never checks if the business is legit ... personally I dont know if that is true or not ... in my case I do have an actual legit business with a business # and all the legal stuff so I am covered in terms of rogers actually do check!

[chaos1105]

The thing is with TS unlimited cable 28Mbps package it is around $60 dollars + tax

I could go with Rogers Business internet and get 12Mbps (which is always turbo boosted to around 25Mbps) for $70 something and at the same time have the peace of mind of having 24/7 tech support and better service ....

it is just too bad I dont want to signup with Robbers anymore!


PS: You could easily get business internet from rogers (unlimited downloads) you just need to come up with a business name .... some ppl state that Rogers never checks if the business is legit ... personally I dont know if that is true or not ... in my case I do have an actual legit business with a business # and all the legal stuff so I am covered in terms of rogers actually do check!

The speedbost only lasts for the first 30 seconds or so, of any transfer. It's not a sustained 25 Mbps, so your point is moot. You can't compare a 28 Mbps to 12 Mbps, especially when you need to own a business to open a business account.

FYI, a number of POIs have been upgraded and signups are open in some areas again: http://blogs.teksavvy.com/

[Larsin]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1972827014.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
8.30am Sat.

[AudiDude]

One of my best

http://speedtest.net/result/1525031802.png

Today

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1972844292.png

[chaos1105]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1972861359.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[ichpen]

The thing is with TS unlimited cable 28Mbps package it is around $60 dollars + tax

I could go with Rogers Business internet and get 12Mbps (which is always turbo boosted to around 25Mbps) for $70 something and at the same time have the peace of mind of having 24/7 tech support and better service ....

it is just too bad I dont want to signup with Robbers anymore!


PS: You could easily get business internet from rogers (unlimited downloads) you just need to come up with a business name .... some ppl state that Rogers never checks if the business is legit ... personally I dont know if that is true or not ... in my case I do have an actual legit business with a business # and all the legal stuff so I am covered in terms of rogers actually do check!

I'd do the same but their business internet speeds are severely lacking for the money.

[chaos1105]

A bunch more POIs are now open again for signups! http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27186423-Cable-Stop-Sell-Areas-May-29th-2012-

[Teletran]

Tek support sucks. Anyways, here's my results and I am on the 28 Meg plan. Mediocre speeds. You can never get any credit from Teksavvy for ****** speeds. I used to love them, their services have gone downhill now. The reason I am still with them is because rogers's $50 overage is too much. Maybe I should call in to downgrade my plan since I am NOT getting my promised speeds. Too bad Canada is such a communist country, thinking of moving out soon. Zero competition over here, government protects weakass Canadian companies like Rogers and Bell. Rogers and Bell wouldn't last a year if doors were opened to foreign companies. High price for everything, government doesn't care if Canadian companies gouge consumers.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1966134810.png

You really should look up the definition of communism. Ugh...

[edgedamage]

Tek support sucks. Anyways, here's my results and I am on the 28 Meg plan. Mediocre speeds. You can never get any credit from Teksavvy for ****** speeds. I used to love them, their services have gone downhill now. The reason I am still with them is because rogers's $50 overage is too much. Maybe I should call in to downgrade my plan since I am NOT getting my promised speeds. Too bad Canada is such a communist country, thinking of moving out soon. Zero competition over here, government protects weakass Canadian companies like Rogers and Bell. Rogers and Bell wouldn't last a year if doors were opened to foreign companies. High price for everything, government doesn't care if Canadian companies gouge consumers.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1966134810.png
Good I hope you move soon frees up more bandwidth.

[poorwingman]

I'm switching from Rogers to Distributel.. I'm not actually saving any money but I'm switching to go uncapped.

I chose not to go with Acanac, TekSavvy etc.. because I didn't want to:
1) sign an annual contract (who knows what my experience will be like with a reseller - and I'm not sure if I will be moving in the next year)..
2) BUY a modem.. because.. if the service is crap.. you're stuck with a crappy modem like the OP

[fastlayne]

poorwingman, did you check your area for service with start.ca?

[george__]

I still recommend them because they are better than most ISPs BUT THEIR SERVICE QUALITY has gone down... I was put on hold for ~1 hour once when my internet went down because all their representatives were busy.

[poorwingman]

poorwingman, did you check your area for service with start.ca?

i had done some searching but hadn't found start.ca when i signed up with distributel...

looking at start.ca's site now.. there's a 300 gb cap compared to similar month to month pricing with distributel. with start i would have saved on the set up fee; but I don't want to buy the modem....

thanks for the suggestion though.. i changeover in early august.. will update later..

[aeolus811tw]

i had done some searching but hadn't found start.ca when i signed up with distributel...

looking at start.ca's site now.. there's a 300 gb cap compared to similar month to month pricing with distributel. with start i would have saved on the set up fee; but I don't want to buy the modem....

thanks for the suggestion though.. i changeover in early august.. will update later..

modem can be rented too. And since start runs on Rogers network, apparently they don't have ways to monitor usage yet, hence 300 is just for the show. for now.

[Junigenmukyoku]

I'm switching from Rogers to Distributel.. I'm not actually saving any money but I'm switching to go uncapped.

I chose not to go with Acanac, TekSavvy etc.. because I didn't want to:
1) sign an annual contract (who knows what my experience will be like with a reseller - and I'm not sure if I will be moving in the next year)..
2) BUY a modem.. because.. if the service is crap.. you're stuck with a crappy modem like the OP

I was thinking about Distributel because of the cheap installation and modem rental, and I didn't even know about Distributel until recently, but the bad reviews just turned me away.

TSI has a good reputation from the people I've talked with and I also heard that TSI did upgrades around my area, so I went with them and I'm quite satisfied. TSI also does tech support via DSLReports.com, which is a plus for me because I hate waiting on the phone. They respond quickly too, so that's nice as well.

This is what I'm getting now..

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2065598028.png

ps. tell us how it goes :P

[Adevictus]

I had a rough day or two with TekSavvy this week but now they are back on track giving me some good quality budget internet... No complaints from me, ISPs always flop every once in a while no matter how much you are dropping monthly.

[deep]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2065426949.png

Very slightly better than when I was with Bell at the same address...presumably, a better modem at my end since I was able to purchase one myself.

[deep]

In the last month, I've switched from Tek DSL + Bell phone to Tek Cable and no phone, and it's clearly cheaper, but my speed is way up as well. On the 18Mb service, I get:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2083670914.png

Still happy with TekSavvy

[george__]

My speed recently has been ALL over the map... For the past 3 days or so.. Also had a friend who believed their web hosting was comprised and had a virus, called teksavvy only to be put on hold for ~20 minutes then transferred to a different department and put on hold again for ~20 minutes...

Anyone know a ISP in KW who also offers a Unlimited Bandwidth plan? I also think my area has messed up cabling or something that I can't get them to look at. Reason being the ping I see on speedtest.net is as high as 100+ sometimes...l

I just wish Teksavvy was a little more "stable"

[Jgarlocke]

I never had any problem with them for the past two years. I live in Ottawa and other people who I know use Teksavvy never had problems with them. I wonder if it's a city thing.

I will admit that wait times on the phone are long....but they are pretty courteous.

[george__]

@Jgarlocke, it is my "area" I think. I have a friend who lives about 10 minutes away and they use literally the same service and get much faster speeds. But my friend lives in a "newer" area than I do so this is why I think it's cable related.

[Jgarlocke]

@george__ You're probably right thinking it's infrastructure related. I know for us here in Ottawa they only started to offer the cable extreme package once the update to the cables were done.

Now I'm gonna check my speed at home to see if I still get my 25Mb/s

[george__]

@george__ You're probably right thinking it's infrastructure related. I know for us here in Ottawa they only started to offer the cable extreme package once the update to the cables were done.

Now I'm gonna check my speed at home to see if I still get my 25Mb/s

I can't get them to look at it though. Teksavvy tells me it's BELL problem but Bell tells Teksavvy everything is fine. It's been this point A to B for 3+ years now.

[Krantzstone]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2089305669.png

On my sister's line. Will have to check mine when I get home.

I have a friend who's on Teksavvy and she's really pissed at them right now, having major outages and their failure to fix it promptly. Any idea where she can complain and get some restitution? I told her to send some angry tweets down Rocky's way. ;P

Me, I haven't had many problems with Teksavvy thus far, and it's been fairly stable lately (used to be maintenance downtime occasionally a few years ago, but haven't had that in a while). I recommended to friends in Toronto and Ottawa and to my parents in Mississauga, and they seem fine, but of course, with internet, YMMV.

[Jimboski]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2089305669.png

On my sister's line. Will have to check mine when I get home.

I have a friend who's on Teksavvy and she's really pissed at them right now, having major outages and their failure to fix it promptly. Any idea where she can complain and get some restitution? I told her to send some angry tweets down Rocky's way. ;P

Me, I haven't had many problems with Teksavvy thus far, and it's been fairly stable lately (used to be maintenance downtime occasionally a few years ago, but haven't had that in a while). I recommended to friends in Toronto and Ottawa and to my parents in Mississauga, and they seem fine, but of course, with internet, YMMV.

What package did she get? The ping seems good.

[mlerner]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2089305669.png

On my sister's line. Will have to check mine when I get home.

I have a friend who's on Teksavvy and she's really pissed at them right now, having major outages and their failure to fix it promptly. Any idea where she can complain and get some restitution? I told her to send some angry tweets down Rocky's way. ;P

Me, I haven't had many problems with Teksavvy thus far, and it's been fairly stable lately (used to be maintenance downtime occasionally a few years ago, but haven't had that in a while). I recommended to friends in Toronto and Ottawa and to my parents in Mississauga, and they seem fine, but of course, with internet, YMMV.

Outages aren't anything TekSavvy can do anything about. The last mile and cabling is up to Rogers (for cable internet) or Bell (for DSL) who provides no SLA or uptime guarantee to either the end customer or to TekSavvy. She can go to TekSavvy but they may not credit her anything as there is no SLA and it's up to Bell or Rogers to fix who may charge a fee on her if they find there is no issue on the line.

Also with cable, it really is "up to" so even if she went with Rogers directly they will give her no guarantee of speed.

[george__]

mlerner I've had same issue with Teksavvy. But when they're running, it is great.