OT: Internet at home without active phone line

Lennart Sorensen lsorense-1wCw9BSqJbv44Nm34jS7GywD8/FfD2ys at public.gmane.org
Tue Jan 6 19:59:44 UTC 2009


On Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 02:10:01PM -0500, CLIFFORD ILKAY wrote:
> 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.

Rogers has never been about offering what customers want.  There are
lots of thigns rogers could provide me that I would happely pay them
money for that they apparently have no interest in providing even though
their equipment is perferctly capable of doing it.

> 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>

It goes through rogers cable network, so rogers can do whatever they
want before it reaches your ISP.

> 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.

Well I haven't had to deal with 3web, other than (mistkenly) trying to
call their tech support number, which I eventually gave up on after
getting a busy signal (no not even put on hold) for a couple of hours.
Fortunately it runs out I wanted to talk to a different cybersurf that
didn't have anything to do with the 3web part, and once I discovered
this the real tech support number I wanted answered right away.

> 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.

Well I have rogers cable internet because there was no DSL option when I
moved into my house.  About 3 years later bell finally got DSL service
to be available, but I haven't switched yet.  If I switch it will be to
someone like teksavvy where you can get a static IP, and you get
competent tech support people who know what they are talking about and
don't just follow scripts.  If I call tech support, it is almost always
because something is wrong at the ISP end and I want to make sure it is
being fixed soon.

> 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.

Well so far I have stuck with Bell for phone line (I want a phone line
that works no matter what, so rogers's home phone service is never going
to happen).  Rogers cable internet is just too darn fast (although
expensive) so I just haven't had the inclination to change it yet.

-- 
Len Sorensen
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