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TekSavvy

Jerakl

So here in AB, Canada, we have few good ISP choices. Shaw and Telus. The two big ones. We've been on Telus for a while and the service has been getting progressively worse. Among other things (mainly their recent PSA that they will now be enforcing data caps) my family has decided we need to do something, considering we often go over the data cap. Mainly due to me downloading games and my family watching a LOT of netflix. (Streaming HD content takes up a lot right :L)

 

Our options are as follows, at least, what me and my father have narrowed it down to.

 

1. Switch to a smaller ISP called TekSavvy, marketted to people who like to stream content. (or switching to any other ISP for that matter)

 

2. Pay 20 more $ a month to Telus for unlimited data. (75$/month for 15/1)

 

 

Now, I'm pretty convinced Option 1 would be better.

 

My current problem with telus is that it often disconnects. Over 2 days (last friday/Saturday) the internet went down 3-5 times. It usually happens at least once a week. And a lot of the time it (something) to the point where I can't even hold a connection to steam.

 

However I don't know much about TekSavvy, other then that they have 25/5 for 45$ a month (like 55/month with unlimited data). Does anyone have any experiences with them?

I don't want reviews from some site. Because only people that have had a terrible experience are going to go seek out a website to write some angry review on.

 

Preferably personal experience/know someone that has used them before.

 

Thanks for the help :)

 

 

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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TekSavvy is a good niche isp. Caveats... they run off of Bell out here and probably Telus out there. So if your wires are crappy now, they won't improve with TS. As an ISP tho, they seem pretty much on the ball. Very self serve. You buy the modem. You install all your stuff. You choose your apps. If you need the pablum that the telcos serve you won't like TK but if you don't want that sort of locked in ecosystem, TK can work for you.

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TekSavvy is a good niche isp. Caveats... they run off of Bell out here and probably Telus out there. So if your wires are crappy now, they won't improve with TS. As an ISP tho, they seem pretty much on the ball. Very self serve. You buy the modem. You install all your stuff. You choose your apps. If you need the pablum that the telcos serve you won't like TK but if you don't want that sort of locked in ecosystem, TK can work for you.

Just a correction: TekSavvy runs off both Bell and Rogers in Ontario and other regions - depending on whether you have the DSL or DOCSIS Cable Internet packages, respectively.

 

Out west, TekSavvy runs their DSL service off of Telus - they may very well offer Cable Internet off of Shaw lines too.

 

@Jerakl I have TekSavvy in Ontario. I've had them for about ~6 years. I first had DSL (16/1 package), then I migrated to Cable (150/10) which I currently still have.

 

Their customer service is excellent. Their entire team is in-house, and generally well trained (no overseas or subcontracted call centres).

 

However, do NOT expect different performance from TekSavvy over Telus. If your Internet constantly cut out or was slow w/ Telus, then odds are, TekSavvy DSL won't change that, since TekSavvy does run off Telus lines for the last mile.

 

As @Dimwitted mentioned, TekSavvy is a "No Frills" ISP. Their business model is "No hidden fees, everything upfront, and as cheap as we can make it".

 

While that translates into (generally) incredibly excellent value per month - often with very generous Data Caps (or unlimited), it also means upfront fees for installation, and you have to purchase your own equipment (They don't rent devices out - you can pay monthly to buy one directly from them though).

 

However, even with the cost of modem purchase + installation fees, it's still generally significantly cheaper compared to Bell/Rogers/Telus/Shaw over one year. And then every year after that is pure savings.

 

FYI $75/month for 15/1 is absolute, utter bullshit. A complete ripoff. Have you considered Shaw as an alternative? They're still evil, just slightly less evil compared to Rogers.

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Just a correction: TekSavvy runs off both Bell and Rogers in Ontario and other regions - depending on whether you have the DSL or DOCSIS Cable Internet packages, respectively.

 

Out west, TekSavvy runs their DSL service off of Telus - they may very well offer Cable Internet off of Shaw lines too.

 

@Jerakl I have TekSavvy in Ontario. I've had them for about ~6 years. I first had DSL (16/1 package), then I migrated to Cable (150/10) which I currently still have.

 

Their customer service is excellent. Their entire team is in-house, and generally well trained (no overseas or subcontracted call centres).

 

However, do NOT expect different performance from TekSavvy over Telus. If your Internet constantly cut out or was slow w/ Telus, then odds are, TekSavvy DSL won't change that, since TekSavvy does run off Telus lines for the last mile.

 

As @Dimwitted mentioned, TekSavvy is a "No Frills" ISP. Their business model is "No hidden fees, everything upfront, and as cheap as we can make it".

 

While that translates into (generally) incredibly excellent value per month - often with very generous Data Caps (or unlimited), it also means upfront fees for installation, and you have to purchase your own equipment (They don't rent devices out - you can pay monthly to buy one directly from them though).

 

However, even with the cost of modem purchase + installation fees, it's still generally significantly cheaper compared to Bell/Rogers/Telus/Shaw over one year. And then every year after that is pure savings.

 

FYI $75/month for 15/1 is absolute, utter bullshit. A complete ripoff. Have you considered Shaw as an alternative? They're still evil, just slightly less evil compared to Rogers.

 

I don't know if it's the lines causing the problems, or telus themselves.

 

We had Shaw about 8 years back. My dad doesn't like them because we had a bad experience (which is why we switched to Telus)

Someone told Luke and Linus at CES 2017 to "Unban the legend known as Jerakl" and that's about all I've got going for me. (It didn't work)

 

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I don't know if it's the lines causing the problems, or telus themselves.

 

We had Shaw about 8 years back. My dad doesn't like them because we had a bad experience (which is why we switched to Telus)

Odds are it isn't Telus as a whole, since most disconnect and speed issues are caused by the lines themselves, or the junction box (the "Node"). Both of which TekSavvy would piggyback on for your new connection.

 

With that in mind, it COULD get better with TekSavvy - or at the very least, if there is a problem, TekSavvy could potentially get the issue fixed for you. BUT I would not count on switching to fix those issues.

 

Either way though, if they are offering 25/5, you should get a nice overall speed boost.

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Just call Telus and say you want to quit because of the data cap. They will give you a year of unlimited for free. That's all I did. Next year I will repeat the process. Play the game in the end they want your money. It's not like they are losing much by giving you free unlimited data.

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Just call Telus and say you want to quit because of the data cap. They will give you a year of unlimited for free. That's all I did. Next year I will repeat the process. Play the game in the end they want your money. It's not like they are losing much by giving you free unlimited data.

Not a bad idea, but I would recommend calling them and specifically asking for the "Retention Department". That's keyword for "Give me a better deal or lose my money all together".

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The current issue with Telus, aside from their horrible service, is their implantation of NAT444. They are trying to limit the number of public IPv4 addresses they give to customers but this is just horrendously idiotic. NAT444 breaks so many data streams it is just a pain and is most likely the reason you are seeing a decline in service quality, however good luck getting this out of them. All I can really suggest is to stay away from ADSL technology as a whole. If your only options are between cable and ADSL, chose cable every time. However if you are fortunate enough to have access to a fibre optic connection then by all means jump on that as soon as you can.

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This is why a lot of corporations suck, there is some asshole manager higher in the food chain, that is proposing absolute BS ideas in order to raise his/hers bonus. And of course the ideas are accepted because they save money. Long term does not matter in those cases, especially if they are holding a monopoly.

 

Aside from my Corp rants, as far as your offer goes, @dalekphalm explained it pretty well. In my opinion I'd rather go with TekSavvy regardless of the last mile because paying less, getting a faster speed and having down times as opposed to paying more, getting a lower speed and having those same down times is a much better choice.

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