OT: Internet at home without active phone line

[CLIFFORD ILKAY]

S P Arif Sahari Wibowo wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I am currently looking at the options of getting broadband (ADSL level)
> internet connection at home without having active phone line.
> 
> The only methods I can see is using dry loop DSL or Cable Internet. Is
> there any other way?

I currently have the two most expensive providers, Bell for my home line
and Rogers for cable Internet. I've been with Rogers since they started
offering Internet service in my neighbourhood, circa 1998. Both have
been quite reliable but Rogers in particular has been annoying me. They
charge a premium and have the audacity to arbitrarily change the terms
of service by imposing bandwidth caps. To add insult to injury, after
clicking through on their stupid "Click here to acknowledge receipt of
this notice", as if that made it all better, when I hit the bandwidth
cap of 60GB they imposed but to which I've never consented, I was taken
to a page explaining that I would be charged a ridiculous and punitive
$2/GB in excess of the quota but that Lite customers who signed up prior
to some date in 2008 weren't subject to being capped at all. Let me see
if I get this straight. I could pay less and not be capped with the same
provider or be a long-time customer who has been paying for their
high-priced Internet access for a decade and be capped. I'll take door
number three, a new provider, thanks. While I'm at it, I figured I'd
look at everything, phone, mobile, Internet, and TV.

So far, I've come up with:

3Web/Cybersurf offers "CIA Home Phone Premium with FREE High Speed
Internet", which is a VOIP and Internet access bundle for $39.95. Their
pre-sales phone support has been fine but an email that I sent before
Christmas remains unanswered. They are one of the very few cable
resellers so that means you can get the same access as with Rogers but
only cheaper with them. If you already have Rogers cable Internet, there
is no setup fee but if you don't, you may have to pay a $50 setup fee if
a home visit is required. If you're in the GTA, apparently, they're
usually able to provision the service without sending a technician so
the setup fee is waived in those cases. I was told that whatever caps
and traffic shaping Rogers employs in my area *may* be applied. I can
understand the traffic shaping since that despicable company Bell
starting shaping the traffic of their resellers' customers but I don't
understand why Rogers' stupid caps should apply here.
<https://www.cia.com/prodUpSell.do?signUpMethod=voip#Basic>

The Cybersurf people with whom I spoke said that they just use the
Rogers network so if Rogers is good in your area, 3Web/Cybersurf should
also be good but like any ISP, if you search dslreports, you'll find
lots of jeers and cheers. 3Web's tech support seems dodgy from what I've
read about it but if the service is as reliable as Rogers, you won't
need it very often. I've read recent posts claiming that 3Web is on the
verge of bankruptcy but I have no idea what the basis is for those
posts. It could be true. It could be just the usual Internet
know-it-alls who shoot their mouths off with wild abandon. Since 3Web
doesn't require a contract, the risk seems minimal.

Acanac offers DSL service for $227.40 for one year, including taxes,
plus $8/month for the dry loop. They include 100GB of on-line storage.
Again, I've read varied things about Acanac, none of which really scare
me since people say the same things about Rogers or Bell too. The caveat
with these guys is that if you want the best deal, you'll have to prepay
for a year. If you just want to go month-to-month, TekSavvy, which seems
to have quite a fan club of customers, seems like a better choice.

Primus has a bundle of home phone, long distance, and DSL Internet for
$64.95. One of my brothers uses them and is happy with them. They're
apparently uncapped but I have no idea if they're subject to Bell's
traffic shaping.

My inclination is to go with cable and DSL Internet with two different
providers to avoid the dependency on one provider and that would cost me
only slightly more than what I'm paying now with Rogers if I hang on to
my Bell POTS line or cheaper if I don't. I'm looking at two connections
as RAIN (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Networks). Of course there is
the not-so-insignificant matter of the phone and cable service coming
into my home via overhead wires that are separated by only a few feet
after running a gauntlet of trees with overhanging branches. One branch
could take out both cables so that's obviously a risk but one that I
can't do much about.
-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis
1419-3266 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
Canada  M4N 3P6

<http://dinamis.com>
+1 416-410-3326
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