 Review by VikingBob 
UPDATED: 152 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 581 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Ste Anne,MB
 $44 per month
 about 28 days
 "Very consistent speeds, very little downtime"
 "Tech support could be easier to get hold of"
 "Better than my experience with Shaw"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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June 24, 2009
Lightning MAX is now faster, but it's not available out here in the sticks. So now I'm just "Lightning," but it's $10 cheaper, and the speed seems to be the same.
January 2009... Everything is still running fine. No troubles at all. Still humming along nicely! Still wishing for bigger web space, though...
July 2008...
Speed is even better over the last year or so, up to over 6700 Megabits/sec. No technical issues, no downtime, no caps on downloads/uploads. Worldwide, spam is up, but my inbox sees even less than before. Less than 1 per week.
The only thing I'd like to see is more storage for your "webspace." 15 MB isn't enough for a personal website. I'd gladly trade a pile of all that email storage for web space. I don't need 1 GB of email storage.
Updated April 12, 2006: MTS has beefed up the email - now up to 10 email inboxes, total storage 1 GB. Maximum of 200 MB per email address.... Message size still limited, though, to a maximum of 10 MB. I've not been able to send attachments larger than 5 MB.
As for spam, what spam? Spam filtering is quite good now. I maybe get one a week, if that. Usually from Japan, in Japanese. Maybe the spam filter doesn't read Japanese... 
Speed has been pretty good, and consistent. Generally at least 4500 Megabits/sec, up to over 4800 now and then.
Downtime has been extremely low. They seem to be getting better, and it wasn't too bad before.
My only complaint is that your personal web space is still limited to 15 MB. That could be bigger.
I've had the Lightning Speed for a while now, and it smokes along pretty good. Depending on the site, I get from 3500 to 4500 Mbps. Not bad for being 20 minutes outside of Winnipeg.
MTS has also improved the email options considerably. Up to 5 accounts, 15 MB per account. But that can be edited - if you need just one account, you can use all your space for that one account. The spam filter is very good - less that 1 per week sneaks through. It also lets you have several aliases for each email account. Very nice...
And now they offer ZoneAlarm Security Suite for free! So I nabbed that. Licence is good for up to three installations, for 20 YEARS. Can't beat that!
I'm quite satisfied with MTS.
UPDATE: Just now in the process of upgrading to "Lightning Speed" DSL, 5000 down, 400 up. The line in the house has been upgraded this morning, and just waiting for a call from MTS for the finishing touches... It's about $15 CDN more per month than High Speed DSL.
Service has been good and constant in the past with the regular high speed, but I figured I'd try the "Lightning" out. What the heck. Download speeds from good servers seem to be around 360 Kbps, or 2200 to 2900 kbps. Can't complain. Email problems have gone away, and that's a good thing.
There was some good confusion on MTS's end regarding my upgrade order. The chap I talked to on the phone after applying online seemed to overlook the fact that a service appointment would have to be made to upgrade the line... But that snafu has been dealt with.
Just have to wait for the call.
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We have the home package for $32 and change per month...
It took longer than expected to get hooked up, but I'd signed up before MTS had completed installing their equipment in this wee town. They pushed back the availability date a few times. An authorized dealer for MTS did the actual in-home visit.
We have a router, so no software was required to get going - just configured the router, plug in the modem and away we went. Four machines share the connection. PPPoE with dynamic IP.
Email service is quite good, with a generous 15 MB mailbox size. It has been down once in a while, but not as often as Shaw was when I was using their service. The Spam filtering option they introduced is good - keeps most of it out. The virus scanning needs work - my AV software has still caught several virus-infected emails trying to slip in. And they weren't brand-new viruses, either.
Speed is quite consistent. From 1000 kbps to over 1400 kbps. I can still listen to high-quality streaming audio while another PC downloads huge files, and another PC is being used for voice chat. Lots of bandwidth to go around. I find it's about 4 times faster than Shaw was when I lived in Elmwood in Winnipeg. I'm out in the sticks near Steinbach now.
The MTS internet site could use some work, though. It's hard to find what you're looking for. Getting additional email accounts set up is harder - you could do it yourself online with Shaw - MTS makes you email them, or wait on hold forever to talk to a human and set one up.
15 MB of webspace is included at no extra charge. All you need is the FTP software. Domain name registering would be nice, though. That costs extra...
For the money, better than Shaw. I'll recommend MTS.
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