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Planning to use Teksavvy DSL

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Aug 21, 2009
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Planning to use Teksavvy DSL

Since cable is not offered in my area I suppose I would downgrade from 10 mbps to 5 mbps in return for my bandwidth.

A few questions:

1) Should I just buy the modem from Teksavvy to save myself the headache from searching for my own modem or would it be best to get my own modem? Is the $75 one sufficient?
2) If I have a phone jack in the living room, would I be able to place the modem there once service is up and just plug and play my current router to get wireless running?
3) How do they calculate dry-loop rates?
4) I don't think the house was ever set up by Bell for anything (1 year old house), I think the lines are outside my house but they haven't been hooked up yet, will this be a problem? Will the Teksavvy technician run the lines for free assuming there is no installation fees?
5) Anything else I should know?

After being a cable user for 8 years, I've decided it would be best to know what I am getting into before making the jump... Otherwise I sign up with Rogers again...
7 replies
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Nov 9, 2008
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1. I use this and it's quite popular from what I've heard for it's price: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=024298
I had used the Speedtouch 516 they provide and it broke in a month but that's likely just a coincidence. The TP-Link is just as good IMO.
2. Modem, yes. Make sure on all your phone lines, you have a filter. Don't split lines whenever you plug in the modem, it slows your speed down (confirmed by TSI).
Your router will take in all the configuration settings, not the modem. It's a 10 minute thing normally.
3. I don't know but why not just get their phone line as well, it's not any more expensive than the other providers.
4. There are no Teksavvy technicians as far as I know. Any problems, Bell agents have to take care of it, and they likely will charge a fee. Call TSI and ask if anything needs to be done.
5. You may not even be able to get internet in your area. At times, one has to sign up with Bell and then have it ported over to Teksavvy (like I did) but that may not be the case for you. Call TSI and have everything clarified first. If you plan to torrent without throttling, you'll need to pay extra for MLPPP ($4).
Buy Bell, and you go to HELL! :-0
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Aug 21, 2009
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Nook wrote: 1. I use this and it's quite popular from what I've heard for it's price: http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=024298
I had used the Speedtouch 516 they provide and it broke in a month but that's likely just a coincidence. The TP-Link is just as good IMO.
2. Modem, yes. Make sure on all your phone lines, you have a filter. Don't split lines whenever you plug in the modem, it slows your speed down (confirmed by TSI).
Your router will take in all the configuration settings, not the modem. It's a 10 minute thing normally.
3. I don't know but why not just get their phone line as well, it's not any more expensive than the other providers.
4. There are no Teksavvy technicians as far as I know. Any problems, Bell agents have to take care of it, and they likely will charge a fee. Call TSI and ask if anything needs to be done.
5. You may not even be able to get internet in your area. At times, one has to sign up with Bell and then have it ported over to Teksavvy (like I did) but that may not be the case for you. Call TSI and have everything clarified first. If you plan to torrent without throttling, you'll need to pay extra for MLPPP ($4).

1) Thanks, I'll most likely buy that from CC if it works for a modem, $50 savings would help me in my payback period.

2) What do you mean by split lines? We have phone jacks but we don't use home phone since all household users are mobile phone users. I would assume given since we don't use a home phone - this eliminates the need for a filter?

3) Answered in #2, no phone lines.

4) Yeah, I called - they are awaiting Bell's response on whether or not I have service in my area.

5) How bad is the throttling? Is the fee a one time thing or is it monthly? Rogers never throttled before so I am concerned with my browsing experience (I'm usually a heavy streamer and occasionally torrent for a few things - though I would say I download a lot more than I do torrent).

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!
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Mar 18, 2009
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Renous
Lovable wrote:
5) How bad is the throttling? Is the fee a one time thing or is it monthly? Rogers never throttled before so I am concerned with my browsing experience (I'm usually a heavy streamer and occasionally torrent for a few things - though I would say I download a lot more than I do torrent).

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!
If Rogers wasn't throttling you, Teksavvy won't for sure. Rogers was the WORST imho for customer experience
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Jan 11, 2008
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GTA
Teksavvy doesn't throttle themselves, but Bell does (and this impacts those with TS DSL). You won't have any issues with browsing/streaming - I don't. With torrents, they are throttled between 4 p.m. - 2 a.m. Usually for me at 2 a.m. on the dot, the throttling ends.
When your mind says give up, hope whispers "one more try"
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Nov 9, 2008
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Lovable wrote: 1) Thanks, I'll most likely buy that from CC if it works for a modem, $50 savings would help me in my payback period.

2) What do you mean by split lines? We have phone jacks but we don't use home phone since all household users are mobile phone users. I would assume given since we don't use a home phone - this eliminates the need for a filter?

3) Answered in #2, no phone lines.

4) Yeah, I called - they are awaiting Bell's response on whether or not I have service in my area.

5) How bad is the throttling? Is the fee a one time thing or is it monthly? Rogers never throttled before so I am concerned with my browsing experience (I'm usually a heavy streamer and occasionally torrent for a few things - though I would say I download a lot more than I do torrent).

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!
1. :)
2. By splitting, sometimes people have those adapters in the wall that connect two phone lines rather than one or whatever, but since you don't have a home phone, everything is fine. Just plug the modem straight into the wall.
5. It's 30 KBps during throttle time I think or maybe a bit more. Bell does the throttling as someone said, not Teksavvy. Just because Rogers never throttled, it doesn't mean your DSL won't get throttled. Bell is worse than Rogers. It shouldn't affect your downloads, but your torrents it will. But if you do choose to get MLPPP, you'll need a compatible router (Linksys WRT54GL is very popular but it's wireless-G, some Netgear ones are quite good too like the WNR3500L I have and it's wireless-N) so choose accordingly. If you don't get MLPPP, then your choice of routers is much more open.
patpond wrote: If Rogers wasn't throttling you, Teksavvy won't for sure. Rogers was the WORST imho for customer experience
He's getting DSL, not cable internet from Teksavvy. ;)
Buy Bell, and you go to HELL! :-0
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Aug 6, 2010
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Lovable wrote: Since cable is not offered in my area I suppose I would downgrade from 10 mbps to 5 mbps in return for my bandwidth.

A few questions:

1) Should I just buy the modem from Teksavvy to save myself the headache from searching for my own modem or would it be best to get my own modem? Is the $75 one sufficient?
2) If I have a phone jack in the living room, would I be able to place the modem there once service is up and just plug and play my current router to get wireless running?
3) How do they calculate dry-loop rates?
4) I don't think the house was ever set up by Bell for anything (1 year old house), I think the lines are outside my house but they haven't been hooked up yet, will this be a problem? Will the Teksavvy technician run the lines for free assuming there is no installation fees?
5) Anything else I should know?

After being a cable user for 8 years, I've decided it would be best to know what I am getting into before making the jump... Otherwise I sign up with Rogers again...
1. I as well bought the exact modem (http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_ ... _id=024298), no problems for a year now and its always on.
2. I'm using dry loop. And my main phone line is in the living room, so Teksavvy just calls Bell to make a dry line. And you're still able to have your modem in your room instead of the living room.
3. It depends on your area. Call them and they can tell you which rate, just provide them with your postal code and a local number, I gave them my neighbours.
4. There is a $20 fee for the dry loop installation fee. On the teksavvy site it's under Activation Fee.
5. I've been with them for a year now. And seriously nothing for me to complain. They increased 200gb limit to 300gb thanks to the UBB scare. Proves how awesome Teksavvy is! :lol:

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