I’m currently with Shaw and I’m sick and tired of their constant price increases and decreasing performance (last night I could not get more than 3Mbps on my 25Mbps service).
Does anyone have experience using one of the secondary ISPs in Vancouver (like Tekksavvy, LightSpeed, etc.)?
No, I don’t have access to Novus. VDSL is not available in my area, so I’m stuck with ADSL speeds or Cable.
I too have no experience with any of the “littler” ISPs, so am curious about the answer you get, as it sounds like we’re in a similar situation.
I’ve been doing some price comparisons, and can post them here if anyone’s interested, but I’d rather trust people with direct experience than with anonymish forum posts.
I’ve had two TekSavvy DSL accounts for over five years: one for myself and one for a rental property. The service has been excellent, although the initial install with Telus is a bit annoying. They give you a range of an entire day that they might come by to do the install, and sometimes reschedule at the last minute. I’m not sure if it’s the same when you buy Telus-branded DSL.
TekSavvy (and all of the non-Telus DSL providers) still have to use the last-mile copper phone lines into your house, and that infrastructure is maintained by Telus. That means that they need to coordinate with Telus to do the install. Some people call them “resellers” but that’s not apt as most of the rest of the infrastructure and network is separate and owned by TekSavvy.
One terrible incident I had a couple years ago was when Telus “accidentally” disconnected my tenant while they were doing upgrades. It took over two months to sort out who was at fault and get Telus to reconnect it. Throughout this, TekSavvy was pretty good. They provided an “air stick” for temporary Internet, very regular updates on the issue, and we were even contacted periodically by a TekSavvy VP who was personally watching our case. Despite their efforts, it was still unacceptably disruptive.
So avoid the incumbents, but know that you may still be subject to the incumbents’ poor service.
If you can’t get VDSL you’re probably better off with cable, sadly, unless you’re particulalry sensitive to latency and packet loss over throughput . You might qualify for 15/1 on ADSL2+
I can +1 TekSavvy as a good company to deal with but their network out west is basically single homed with a US provider so it’s not great, again especially if you’re latency sensitive.
Feel free to PM me your phone number or address and I can check availability of DSL service.
I’ve been with Teksavvy on a cable line for the past 3 years. It’s been great and a great price. About once a year my service goes down due to an IP assignment conflict with Shaw and it can take a few days to resolve. But apart from that I have no reason to change.
I have been on TekSavvy for years and years, I love them. They go to bat for their customers, too.
I had teksavy in Ontario and loved them.
I’ve had a mix of shaw and telus here, but only because I never stay in one place for long so teksavvy’s upfront cost doesn’t work well for me.
I try to get the 6 month deals by changing who signs up every 6 months. This only works if you get a new partner every 6 months.
TekSavvy Cable, 25/2 with unlimited geebees for $45/month (it’s $40/month with a cap). I love the price, and the service is very reliable but:
In typical cable ISP fashion, sometimes there are traffic slowdowns in the evening when everyone and their dog is bittorrenting/Netflixing/Youtubing
I too had some kind of DHCP snafu, which I worked around by changing my router’s WAN MAC.
Previously I was a very, very long-term Telus ADSL customer (20 years? Since it was called MultiMedia Gateway!). It was incredibly reliable for me, but I got sick of paying so much.
Picking up this thread as I’m in a similar position. I pay $100/month for home phone (Vonage) and internet (Telus Internet 25). I’ve no problems with the service of either, but I know there are cheaper (better?) options.
I’m pleased to read that folks have had good service with TekSavvy because that’s the exact opposite of online reviews that I’ve read (I trust this group!).
However does anyone have experience with Yak (or other) providers? While online reviews of Yak are generally favourable I rather trust the opinion of this esteemed group.
Thanks in advance.
Ian VE7FTO
I did up a spreadsheet when I moved. You might want to check to see if the values are still accurate. The first chart is organized by price over 6 months, the second is organized by price over 2 years.
This chart takes into account the discounts you get for signup etc.
Also check other providers like http://urbanfibre.ca/
I am currently on Shaw for 6 months, cuz I couldn’t give up that discount and I didn’t have a ton of money for the upfront cost of TS when I moved. I will likely switch to TS once my intro period ends.
I hadn’t heard of yak before, they at least have a decent website (compared
to lightspeed.ca). It’s quite expensive compared to teksavvy and lightspeed
though. I recently moved and the best solution I found was (like Rob) six
months of Shaw (half price and first month off), and then switch to either
of the two. If you switch from Shaw they cover the home install when you
switch, just have to pay for the modem. Tek savvy is slightly more
expensive, and they have bandwidth caps by default, lightspeed is
unlimited. I’ve also had a great experience with TS and will probably
switch to them unless something changes.
One other things is that TS is now DOCSIS 3 for all new installs, even if
it’s not necessary for the 15 and 25 mbps tiers. Lightspeed on the other
hand still allows DOCSIS 2 on the slower tiers.
I was in the same boat as you several months ago. I did some research and settled on Lightspeed’s dry loop. It’s been pretty great so far though it took a few weeks for the service to come online. I’m getting the advertised speeds consistently and their prices are the cheapest around.
As with any ADSL, I’d call in to ask how far away is the nearest switch center. The further you are away from it the worse the performance can be. If you’re within downtown, you should have no problems.
Based on my experiences, Lightspeed is a good option though you might have over a week of downtime in the beginning.
I just went out to the lightspeed office in Burnaby near Royal Oak Skytrain to pick up my modem - lets say they know how to keep their expenses low.
Well now I’m just curious.
Yeah lightspeed is one of the cheapest around. The only recently started offering cable as they used to be DSL only. Last time I had a look still had to dig through there website to find the cable prices.
Did take a week to get switched over and there has been a few hickups since then. Like losing internet for an hour or 2 at 2am in the morning. This might not be a problem for others except me.
One problem they have is lack of 24/7 tech support. so when you lose internet you have to wait till the morning to call and by then they can’t say what was wrong.
Also seems they are using skywaywest as there backend. not sure if they are owned/own or just rent.
Only other issue last 6 months is that apparently CTC changed the pricing caps on 30M rates so that went up by $5. I switched to 25Meg which used to be the same price as 30. But seems a lot of times I still get 30 still.
Atm Speedtest shows from a Shaw server.
Ping 10Ms down 29.33 Up 2.7
on a Bellingham, WA server
Ping:19Ms Down 29.2 Up 2.75
The whole thing seems to be crammed into a little office at the rear of the second floor of this building. There’s a small reception and a bunch of tech support guys elbow to elbow in the back. Not much light, not much air.
Hah, they have a super gheto sign in their window that points towards the skytrain. I’m amazed they are able to do business like that.
