Review by xgmranti 
UPDATED: 1.6 years ago
member for 4 years, 76 visits, last login: 4 days ago
 Almonte,ON
 $44 per month
 about 7 days
 Bell Canada
 "Unlimited bandwidth"
 "Unstable connections, high pings, bad routes"
 "Slow at peak times, relatively stable, good luck with tech support."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I would re-sign with Magma but since they were bought out by Primus I thought I would give it a try.
Day 1:
Started off by ordering online, their web page is not exactly the cleanest or well organized and quite frankly I've seen far smaller ISPs with a lot better designs. Anyways after a few form errors and a quick call to clarify some outdated information, my order was out for the new connection.
Day 3:
Being the smart guy that I am, I skipped waiting for their modem, (which due to some mailing issues took a week to get to me anyways) and used my own modem from VIF/Magma. I called in for a login, which after 10 minutes of confusion on the tech's side he finally gave one up. He wasn't too bad but needed a little coxing to get what I needed.
The line was already on a DSLAM, I figure from the first line being on Bell Sympatico, so I was already using my old Magma connection through it. When they upped my line profile things got a little unstable for the day. Since my account was taking time to activate I decided to wait until the next day.
Day 4:
Things stabilized a little better the next day but I was still having latency issues and was being routed through Toronto (instead of preferably Ottawa). Running roughly 40ms to their routers at good times and up to 1000ms most of the time. Made a quick call (30 minute wait) to tech support and asked if it was possible to be routed through Ottawa. (assuming they would have a POP since they did acquire Magma)
The tech was a bit confused and relayed my question to a level 2 tech. Ten minutes later the answer came down that they would have to speak to the network tech in order to answer my question. He then proceeded to add my email account and said they would email me when they had an answer. That was a few days ago with no email in sight.
Day 7:
Got my nice little Primus package. Decided to hook up their modem, Thompson Speedtouch, to avoid any angry techs on the other end.
Pings have now calmed down and stability has improved, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a one time issue. Thought I'd still like to know if they do have a POP in Ottawa that I can be routed through. Suppose I'll call in when I have a bit of free time and remind them to send me that email.
Update:
Moved to a new place with a better line. Everything appears more stable after waiting 12 days for them to fix whatever problem there was. Sync was achieved after 3 days, line speed was upped to 5 from 3 after 5 days. After 7 days and a lot of tech support calls including an escalation to level 2, I finally got a connection on day 12.
Line is good, connection seems good then I was switched to interleave. Supposedly they couldn't do anything about it so I'm not sure how I will proceed.
Since I reactivated my old magma account for the sole purpose of being routed through Ottawa, if they give me a 1mm.primus login, I'll probably drop them for Teksavvy.
Update 2:
Well it started good, speeds are down to about a 200kb/s average. Maybe its time to give Rogers another chance.
Update 3:
Canceled both of my Primus accounts. They're decent when things are working smoothly but if anything goes wrong, good luck.
Followup comments:  wdmguy
join:2007-12-06 | Ottawa "I'd still like to know if they do have a POP in Ottawa"
Primus does, so does Magma.
They're not interconnected, but will be soon. Keep an eye on those traceroutes =) | |
|  | xgmranti
join:2005-10-31
Almonte, ON | Re: Ottawa I know Magma does. Hopefully Primus speeds up that integration. 
Things have gotten better on the Primus side either way. | |
| 
FredC
@primus.ca
|  Primus Support
No wait at all to talk to a help desk tech, no language problem, they went directly to meaningful troubleshooting (no simpleton questions like "Is the phone line connected to the modem?") and gave me a straightforward diagnosis - "It's our problem, not yours."
My download speed is now back up to 2800 Kbps prox (and I coincidentally discovered a problem with my software FW cutting my upload speed in half).
I'm amazed!
- Fred in Waterloo, ON. | |
| | xgmranti
join:2005-10-31
Almonte, ON
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
 ·Primus Telecommuni..
| Re: Primus Support Apparently you've had a 1 in 100 experience.
Out of ten phone calls they all resulted in "Please insert your CD".
After I finally said screw it and did that, I ended up back to their tech support. After an hour of walking through things I already knew weren't going to work the last tech sent me to level 2. The problem fixed itself before a level two got back to me. Either way, the problem was on THEIR side, which I repeatedly TOLD them from the beginning.
Regardless, if you had a great experience with them, you're one lucky guy. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. |
|
