High Speed Service alternatives in Toronto, Ontario (1 Viewer)

[Salvador]

I'm currently using Bell Sympatico dsl service. I'm pissed by the new 5 gig upload/download cap that they recently put on users. What is the point of high speed internet if it is capped? Well anyway i've read that rogers is also following the same suite. I'm wondering about other ISP's out there offering high speed internet who won't implement a cap on your upload/download.

thanks in advance.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

No. The broadband companies have all suddenly realized that, no, you can't supply T1 level service at 56K dialup prices. Unfortunately, everybody got used to exactly that, and don't want to pay more.

Why do you think so many HUGE broadband providers, like @home and KPMGqwest are folding like cheap chairs?

 

[Martin Fontaine]

Here in Montreal, the 2 big ones are Videotron (On Cable) and Bell Sympatico (On DSL). Videotron has put a quota for a long time, 6 Gigs Download and 1 Gig Upload per month. I never exceeded that.

But I know a lot of people who chose Sympatico simply because they had no ratios, even if the speed was slower (Unless EVERYONE in your neighborhood is downloading at the same time, in which case Videotron get down to about the same speed as DSL) I compared this to people who bought the VHS version of a movie because unlike the DVD, it was available in french!

I predicted for a long time that either Sympatico will also put ratios (I mean, if all the big time leeches who need more than 6gb/month switch to Sympatico, their outbound pipe will get saturated) or maybe Videotron would drop the ratios to remain competitive. Neither mattered to me, since I don't download that much.

But one thing I find cool about this, is that now they will finally understand that downloading DivX Rips of DVDs in no longer cheaper than buying DVDs or going to see the movie at the theater.

Giving that decent quality rips need 2 disks (1.5 Gigs) Before, it would only cost about 1$ to have a movie (2 blank CDs - in 100-Disk Spindle it's about 50 cents each) But now, if we suppose that Bell's overcharge is 20$/Gig like videotron it would cost 30$ as opposed to 9$ to see in theater (If you're J6P enough to consider downloading DivX rips, I'm sure you don't go to the Paramount at 13$!) or 20-25$ to buy on DVD.

I guess this is a good move to help stop movie piracy. I wonder if studios have anything to do with this...

 

[Gui A]

Salvador, read this:
http://www.rbua.org/
Also, sign the petition.
And I think Sprint is going to launch a DSL service too. But I can't remember where I read that.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Well, at this point Rogers doesn't have any caps, but I think that it's only a matter of time. There's actually a new service from Sympatico that uses the new 3 meg modem as opposed to the 1 meg, with 10 Gb each way per month. The catch-it's $70 per month.

Now, if you're like me and don't subscribe to Rogers Cable (I have expressvu instead), there's an extra $10/month for Rogers service (bringing it to $55/month). The bandwidth charges for Sympatico are about $8/Gb (rounded down to the nearest 100 Mb), so there's an extra gig right there.

As for the argument that you can't provide "T1 speed at 56k prices"-why not? That's like the argument that DVDs should cost more than tapes just because they're better. They might be cheaper to make, and might sell more than tapes ever did, but just because it's a new technology, they want to get you used to paying more for it.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

As for the argument that you can't provide "T1 speed at 56k prices"-why not? That's like the argument that DVDs should cost more than tapes just because they're better. They might be cheaper to make, and might sell more than tapes ever did, but just because it's a new technology, they want to get you used to paying more for it.

Because bandwidth costs money. You cannot send an arbitrary amount of data over a given wire. Switching equipment is expensive. Routing equipment is expensive.

If you're bringing in 1000 dollars a month in user fees, but spending 2000 dollars a month, you're losing 1000 dollars a month. Period.

Besides, 5 gigabytes a month is 8.3 megabytes an hour, 24 hours a day, 30 days. They quite rightly believe that the average user doesn't need that. Some people are using it to download copyrighted material. Some people are using it to host servers. Some people are using it to work from home. All three are against AUP.

They're bringing their charges in line with their expenses, and it's as simple as that.

 

[Salvador]

5 gigabytes a month is 8.3 megabytes an hour, 24 hours a day, 30 days

That may be enough for one average person but my computers are networked and share the same inernet connection. Four people use the internet in my house so 5 gigs if definately not enough. I've seen a lot of ads in the free computer paper. I just want to hear from people who have subscribed to these companies.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Salvador-same problem here. Only 3 computers now though (as opposed to 7 at the last house) so we might just be able to make it on 5 Gb if we keep an eye on when and what we download. Rogers might be a good short term alternative though-as for other companies, I have no idea what they're offering. Didn't know of any other cable/DSL providers out there actually.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

That may be enough for one average person but my computers are networked and share the same inernet connection. Four people use the internet in my house so 5 gigs if definately not enough. I've seen a lot of ads in the free computer paper. I just want to hear from people who have subscribed to these companies.

Yes, and in theory, you're supposed to be paying extra for each computer you have hooked up.

But even so, 200 megabytes a day? That is INCREDIBLY heavy use.

Any provider you find who doesn't cap, will either a) wind up doing so very soon or b) have protocol blocking to prevent things like P2P networks.

 

[Salvador]

i've done a bit of research and there a quite a number of ISP's out there who offer high speed DSL service. Just to name a few:
www.vif.com
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www.dsl.ca (they also have caps)
www.look.ca
www.psi.ca
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www.primus.ca
The catch of course is that some of them have those ludicrous activation fees. Some also force you to buy a DSL modem instead of renting one. THey usually sell it for $200 or more but i've found a GVC dsl modem that's compatible with their service for $160 at Link Removed
Does anyone here subscirbe to any of the ISP's listed above??? How is the service?
found more ISP's over here!!
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[Salvador]

Well, this part of the forum truly SUCKS. If its not about audio, its hard to squeeze out any info from the members out here. Anyway here's here are some ISP reviews posted by some guy at www.dslreports.com
Heres my research that i've because frankly if bell wants to jack my bill up an extra $5 and cap me to 5 gigs I'm out.
I'm in toronto first off:
(in alpha order)
The questionas I asked to all of the isps:
Who are your upstream providers? what kinds of links and peering is established?
Where are your dslam and dbic ports backahuld to?
Planning any bandwidth caps
Accessvantage:
29.95 a month promo of 19.99 a month currently(3moths).
modem rental is 8.95 or you can purchase from them for $199.
The Bad: Once I finally got throught to them. They wouldn't tell me anything about their network or peers so I don't know if it was just lack of knoweledge or some weird secrets. Forall I know they have a 56k modem as a backbone
When I asked about bandwidth caps The first guy didn't even know what they were a higher up said they had no plans. But who knows what they might do in the future.
Golden.net:
$29.95 a month first month free (this offer may have changed since I contacted them). rent modem for $10 a month. Buy interal for 150 or eth external for 199. No plans for bandwidth caps. Good network plus they are one of the larger isps in ontario. My only concern with them is they might not have a pop in toronto so the data would have to be backhauled over atm to waterloo that would add some latency.
Istop:
29.95 a month modem rental is $8, you can buy from them: usb$99 or eth for $199. Talked to the princpal, seems like a nice person and had a good knoweledge of the setup. Directed me to a webpage with all of the details of the network and routing. They have a 10+10 cap meaning you get 10 gigs divided between up and down and an aditional 10 gigs for "local traiffic" the local traffic is defined as mail, news, and proxy use. aditional bandwidth is $3 a gig.
Those are the 3 i've been reserching. I think I've removed access vantage from the running just because of the sheer unprofessionalism I received not to the mention the feeling of uncertanity I get from the staff. Right now if I had to switch I'd pick istop over golden.net as they have a pop in toronto and seem like a good company. One bit of advise: I'd wait on switching if your a sympatico customer, Wait till they give their 30 days notice on the caps. Many of the smaller isps that don't have caps may impliment them because bell does.