Review by Tikker_LoS 
UPDATED: 133 days ago
member for 4.2 years, 1335 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Regina,SK
 $45 per month
 about 5 days
 "Reliable, decent download speeds, good package of services"
 "Faster upload would be nicer, more than 2 TV's would be good"
 "Good value for $$, less companies to deal with"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
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DSL is 5000/640 profile. Get consistently good speeds for download, with very rare (unexpected) outages.
Install was very professional, and neat. The time from order to working installation was about a week or 10 days. Service worked the 1st time
The TV portion (MAX) is great. Basically get the same channels as Cable, but service is more like a Satellite (much better channel guide)
bundling the TV with the highspeed access was cheaper than the cable offering, or buying each seperately
Really satisfied to date, and just recently SaskTel has changed the DSL profile to 5000/640 (I'm getting it July 8/2004)
EDIT:
it's been a year since I upgraded to the 5000/640 profile
DSL hasn't been down once yet (that I've noticed anyways, and that's about all that counts)
the TV looks good, new features added all the time
EDIT: Mar 20/06
Received a flyer with the latest bill stating that HDTV, and up to 4 set top boxes, so really good news~
Still haven't had an internet outtage yet. TV has had some minor glitches, but nothing major to note.
EDIT: Sept20/06
New 2wire gateways are now being installed to replace the old generic westell modems. The first 1 I got was very flaky (the internal webpage kept dying, but it kept passing traffic, so mostly just inconvenient) but the 2nd seems fine. They have built in 4 port switch, and Wireless access point so kind of a nice option. Let me remove 1 switch, and 1 old router
EDIT: Mar16/07
The 2wires just suck, otherwise things are good. There's a known bug in the wireless chipset with these boxes which causes inconveniences, but no outages
I'm mostly satisfied with MAX, but I'd like to go to HD eventually. not quite enough HD channels out there to really warrant the change yet (and lack of a big screen HDTV  )
EDIT: Mar11/08
Newer firmware on the 2Wires has solved all complaints. No noticed outtages to date in the last year, and service just works.
Still contemplating HDTV
Followup comments:  
SaskSticks
@165.154.x.x
| Broadband in Rural Areas I am not sure if this is an appropriate place to ask this question, if not then I apologize in advance.
I am retiring in 2 months and moving to Saskatchewan, where I was born. We are looking around the Prince Albert area, specifically Spruce Home, Holbein, and Weirdale. For various reasons, we are looking to purchase a home with acreage, and thus will not be living directly in a town or city. What internet options will be available to us? We are hoping for broadband internet, cable would be ideal but we doubt it will be available in our area. We have also considered Wireless in the past, but my son objected because he says it is no good for online gaming, which he enjoys a bit too much. So what are our options?
Thank you for any help. | |
|  | Tikker_LoS
join:2004-04-29
Regina, SK
 ·SaskTel Saskatchewan
| Re: Broadband in Rural Areas There's not much in those places at all
Spruce Home is the only 1 that might have DSL access (i know the IR near there has it)
I'm not really sure on the wireless internet coverage in the north, so you'd be best to phone SaskTel and ask | |
| GoGraphical
join:2007-03-04
Prince Albert, SK
| Service is mediocre, support is so-so I've had both Sasktel and Shaw Cable (Rogers) in the same location for a year straight. Shaw is faster 90% of the time, but unreliable 50% of the time. Sasktel is reliable (i.e. you have a live internet connection) almost always but the speeds are not acceptable for "high speed" and they are unwilling to offer custom speed plans (I *WANT* to pay more for more upspeed but they don't want to hear it). I work from home and this has always been a bone of contention. I've since dropped Shaw because they have a habit of throttling your connection if you use any amount of measurable bandwidth in a short time period and their connection was sketchy. Overall Sasktel is the better provider of the two.
The real problem with Sasktel is they have a marketing department that doesn't know their ass from their elbow and doesn't understand how DSL works. They offer up silly specs in their advertising and then *never* are able to deliver on them in real-world service. Their support people are friendly but minimally trained, their customer service people are also friendly but are almost internet illiterate, their billing department is unable to comprehend logic and instead seems to go by some set of predefined pages of canned nonsense.
Basically, the best review I could give Sasktel is "They are better than nothing." If you want a truly good internet connection, move out of Saskatchewan. | |
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