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Six Month Rating
1198 reviews
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Review by HiVolt See Profile

  • Location: Toronto, ON
  • Cost: $53 per month
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Honesty, great DSLR tech presence, Native dualstack IPv6 for DSL
none for me at this time
Great deals for either Cable or DSL
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Update Dec 2/2017
------------------
I'd like to thank the guys & gals in the Direct Forum for following up with me and pressuring the Bell burial team for basically 3 months after the initial wire cut, they finally laid a new buried line from the curb to the house a few days ago, and just in time because the temp wire started deteriorating and my line was suffering as a result.

Update Aug 28/2017
-------------------
Well, for the first time in nearly 10 years I had actual downtime. A Bell contractor running fibre on my street had cut my line running under the sidewalk, while making access holes for the fibre conduits. That happened at Aug 24, 11am. I got home around 2pm, and I did a brief diagnosis with trying my spare SmartRG, which of course did not sync. I posted a thread in the Direct Forum, explaining the situation and providing visual proof of the contractor cutting the sidewalk from my security cameras, as well as a sync loss graph showing the sync drop at exactly the same time the contractor was cutting the sidewalk. They did not bother me with any other troubleshooting steps, which was appreciated, and created a ticket with the Bell test centre. I got called back by the test Centre around 5pm perhaps, and I also explained what happened and they did not bother me with any extra troubleshooting or excuses, and were able to schedule a technician for next morning between 8-12noon. Tech arrived around 10:30am, and was able to run a temp line from my neighbour (who has no bell services or any other services over copper). He was finished just before noon.

So I'd like to give props to the TSI support, which is much maligned these days due to the long hold times. If you have a problem that you can deal with via the Direct Forum, you should give it a try. My situation was resolved in about 24 hours from time of failure, which is pretty good when it comes to a cut line. Also props to the Bell test centre, which I dealt with for the first time since this method was implemented, and the Bell tech who quickly fixed the issue and did not push any Bell agenda or badmouth TekSavvy or 3rd party ISP's in general.

Update Dec 11/2016
-------------------
9 years with TekSavvy! No issues to speak of in recent memory, that's the way I like it!

Update May 18/2016
-------------------
Everything has been smooth in the past few months, the evening glitches have been resolved.

Update Feb 7/2016
-------------------
A few days ago price changes were announced for the bDSL ON/QC regions, some tiers the price went up, some went down. My price fortunately went down for 50/10 150GB, and has also been grandfathered, vs new prices posted on the website. Things haven't been so rosy lately with the reliability in the past few months, with strange evening congestion & packetloss issues that myself and others have been seeing, being documented on the forums, and that tech support hasn't been able to track down yet. It's not crippling, but its annoying. And if you reconnect and land on a different gateway, the problem goes away instantly. Here's hoping they track down the issue soon.

Update Sept 10/2015
--------------------
I changed my 50/10 VDSL to dryloop yesterday on 2nd pair into the house, in preparation of porting my Bell landline over to TekTalk. Leadtime was about a week for the technician to come in, but he came early in the 8-12am appointment window and finished the changeover within the hour. However Bell set the line at 50/7 for no apparent reason, as the stats were even better on the 2nd pair than the main pair with POTS. Once the order was marked completed by Bell, the direct forum guys were able to put the profile back to 50/10 fastpath, and all is well! Today I called to port the landline to TekTalk, which should complete in approx 2 weeks and I shall post a separate review of that eventually.

Update Apr 30/2015
-------------------
Upgraded to 50/10 VDSL proper a couple months ago, there was a little bit of a mix-up with the upgrade order but the good folks in the Direct Forum straightened everything out and the upgrade went thru fine. Line is solid with the SmartRG SR505n.

Update July 25/2014
----------------------------
No problems to report, my VDSL is running smoothly with the SmartRG modem i got last year prior to TSI offering them. I did reflash it with TSI firmware/config 6 months ago and its working just fine.

Update Dec 10/2013
----------------------------
Today marks my 6 years with TekSavvy, and I hope for many more! No problems service wise, and I always appreciate the honesty from Marc & the team on the forums!

Update Sept 26/2013
----------------------------
Finally Bell dropped the requirement to rent or purchase the Cellpipe or Sagemcom modems as of this month. After inquiring in the direct forum on how to proceed, I returned my rental Cellpipe to TekSavvy and my $8/month modem rental has been removed! I am happily using my own modem (Zhone 6652-A2) since April, 100% stable.

Update June 3/2013
----------------------------
No major issues with the service, only the fact that I've had to resort to finding my own modem that doesn't disconnect me or have other issues... Both the Cellpipe and Sagemcom have flaws in both stability and speed if you're on 50meg and use your own router. Sad part is, I am still forced to pay $8/month for the modem rental to Bell, for a Cellpipe modem that I don't use and that is obsolete in support and features, and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight. Not TSI's fault, there is some proceeding at the CRTC with regard to the VDSL modem certification, but they keep stalling and stalling, and nobody but Bell is able to source a modem that is compatible with the Stinger remotes...

Good thing is that prices went down a few months ago after the CRTC reduced Bell's capacity rates.

Oh, and the congestion to my remote was fixed maybe 6 months ago or more now, they added a second gig-e link to it. No problems with evening speeds now.

Update July 23/2012
------------------------------
Bell released the Cellpipe firmware fix today to the public. Firmware version is 1.0.4.4R8-wh. Some users were already on a beta test of it and it appears to fix the rebooting issue. I've switched mine to the Cellpipe from the Sagemcom, it fetched the ugprade and we'll see how it'll be over the next few weeks. Still congested in evening. That hasn't changed.

Update May 30/2012
------------------------------
I forgot to post an update since I've upgraded to 25mbps VDSL, during the March "free activation" promo. Installation of that went ok, though the tech that was supposed to install the POTS splitter came so late (almost at 9pm) and I told him to just give me the splitter and I installed it myself. But the fun issues started afterwards... FIrst, Bell sends the shitty Cellpipe modems for wholesale VDSL service, which either aren't proper firmware for Stinger remotes, or they have bad firmware bug that makes it reboot several times a day. These issues have been known for 6 months now, and still no official fix. I have managed to get my hands on a Bell Sagemcom modem, which is entirely stable. Modem issues aside, I also experience evening congestion, due to the remote on the street only having a single GigE feed, instead of two which most of them have. It's not THAT bad, drops to about 15-18mbps on heavy days when more people are watching FibeTV, which I suspect has priority over internet. I guess they'll upgrade it some day.

Update Feb 20/2012
-----------------------------
Well, my first ever billing issue with TSI was when the February invoice came in. I was charged a $5 account change fee TWICE, for switching from Unlimited to 300GB package in January. They said that they would be waiving those charges only after Feb 2nd (when the new prices took effect), but not for those who changed in January, when the emails were sent out informing of the changes taking place starting February. They refused to credit the fee over the phone, and failed to notice that the fee was charged twice. I did get the fees eventually credited after posting about it in the forums. They handled this very poorly, as well as other announcements with regard to the Feb 2 changes in other plans.

Update Jan 25/2012
----------------------------
As of Feb 2/2012 the rates are going up thanks to the CRTC, so I've downgraded my unlimited to the 300GB package to save a few bucks. I haven't come close to 300GB in a long time, but just kept the unlimited package out of principle. Now that it's going up $5, no thanks.

Update Dec 2/2011
----------------------------
4 years with TekSavvy DSL! Still workin' great as usual!

Update Oct 4/2011
---------------------------
No problems at all, smooth sailing as usual. Coming up on 4 years with TSI DSL.

Update Nov 23/2010
--------------------------
I've not used my TSI DSL much since getting TSI Cable back in July, but I have kept it as a backup because cable was a bit iffy for the first few months. No problems with the DSL as usual.

Update April 4/2010
----------------------------
No major problems aside from a couple brief 10 minute outages in the past week due to that sneaky bug in the Juniper ERX blades dedicated to MLPPP. Can't believe its been 2 years since BHell throttled wholesale. MLPPP has been an amazing fix!

Update December 19/2009
---------------------------------------
Didin't update for a while, but there's no issues to report all is well! Still using MLPPP to evade the throttling, going on 1.5 years now.

Update September 4/2009
-------------------------------------
No problems!

Update June 28/2009
-------------------------------
TekSavvy has added more capacity in recent months as well as dedicated hardware for MLPPP. All is well!

Update March 17/2009
--------------------------------
No issues, still receiving great service from TekSavvy.

Update December 14/2008
---------------------------------------
Well, the CRTC decision came and went, and they sold out to Bell. They are supposed to rule on the subject of Net Neutrality as a whole for all ISP's in July. I'm not holding my breath, as we know big ISP's & content providers have deep pockets.

As for my TekSavvy service, everything's been great. They've have added more capacity & redundancy in the last couple months to handle the growing demand.

Update September 21/2008
----------------------------------------
No problems to speak of, all is well. The CRTC decision will be handed down October 31, I await anxiously and hope they will strike down Bell's traffic shaping. Until then, I'm still using MLPPP.

Update July 15/2008
------------------------------
No issues, everything working fine. Still using MLPPP to evade traffic shaping, as CAIP continues to battle Bell at the CRTC. I referred my cousin two months ago, one quick email to accounting and I got my referral credit applied!

Update May 27/2008
------------------------------
Well, some good news... As of a few weeks ago there has been a nice workaround for Bell's traffic shaping. MLPPP (MultiLink PPP) is working great with the help of some Linksys WRT54G router firmware modified by two determined forum members. Other methods of using MLPPP also exist, so read the forums, there are ways around the throttling!

Update April 16/2008
------------------------------
On Apr.9 my area became affected with the throttling that Bell has imposed on its entire wholesale ISP customer base. While this is obviously out of TekSavvy's control, I feel its worth mentioning here. TekSavvy & other ISP's that are a part of CAIP (Canadian Association of Internet Providers) are currently fighting this issue by filing a formal complaint with the CRTC. I fully support TekSavvy in their fight, and props to them for sticking by their customers!

Update March 13/2008
---------------------------------
No problems, enjoying great service so far.

Update Jan 11/2008
----------------------------
It's been a month after the official switchover, and it's been smooth sailing!

Dec 10/2007
------------------
Woo, finally fully switched to Teksavvy! I've been using an unlimited login since about April '07, with very few issues.

I contacted TekSavvy mid November to schedule a switch, and provided them with a cancellation # from Sympatico. Sympatico cancellation was on Dec.9, and it was processed successfully and it looks like I've transitioned smoothly with no downtime.

I will update periodically as I have with my other ISP reviews.

member for 23.2 years, 12435 visits, last login: 345 days ago
updated 6.2 years ago


The Flash
Premium Member
join:2002-10-17
Toronto, ON

The Flash

Premium Member

Hope...

that your review status will be -> ->
saberX
join:2007-12-18
Toronto, ON

saberX

Member

Great

Nice to hear that ur satisfied with Teksavvy. I'm also thinking of moving with Teksavvy. If you don't mind, could u give me some info on which modem u got and a speed test would be awesome since I live in Toronto as well so it would give me a general idea of what kind of real world speeds I would get on the 5 meg plan. Thanks

Dr Who
@204.237.84.x

Dr Who

Anon

Loud Tech Guy

oh my GOD i was on the phone with a girl tech support and I could not focus on what to tell her since there was someone in the backround so loud even that tech could not focus the person who was loud was also offensive and rude and made very rude and offensive comments, strange teksavvy?????

Intenet is great you offer but who do you hire ??? i mean comm'on?

loud mouths
@204.237.84.x

loud mouths

Anon

Very loud guy rude guy

have you guys heard a rude guy in the background when speaking to tech support. He is usually rude and and very VERY loud its funny!

I also hear like other techs talking to other people they must be setting so close to each other lol

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt

Premium Member

Re: Very loud guy rude guy

I've never had to call tech support, I guess I'm lucky.

jhu111
@co-op.ca

jhu111

Anon

Customer service agents

The internet is great, tech support is good but the customer service agents there about as dumb as sh*t. They must not have very good training, always have a problem when we call in especially when transferring services to a new location.

TSI Andre
Premium Member
join:2008-06-03
Chatham, ON

TSI Andre

Premium Member

Sweet!

Thanks for updating your review

TSI Ashleigh
Premium Member
join:2013-02-24
Chatham, ON

TSI Ashleigh

Premium Member

Review

Hello Hi-Volt,

Thank you for the updated review. I’m happy to see you are still enjoying the service with your own modem.

Please keep us posted on your TekSavvy services.

Thank you
TSI-Ashleigh

TSI Andre
Premium Member
join:2008-06-03
Chatham, ON

TSI Andre

Premium Member

Glad to hear its still smooth sailing!

TSI Leanne
Premium Member
join:2013-10-25
Chatham, ON

TSI Leanne

Premium Member

Glad we could help with the upgrade and so happy to hear that things are smooth sailing!! Enjoy the service and let us know if you need anything at all!

Cheers,

Mathew

TSI JoshB
Premium Member
join:2015-04-13
Chatham, ON

TSI JoshB

Premium Member

Thanks for the update on your review! I'm glad the upgrade went over smoothly. We hope for a smooth transition with the TekTalk as well. If there's anything else we can be of assistance with, just let us know!

Regards,
TSI-JoshB

TSI Sean
Premium Member
join:2015-10-14
Chatham, ON

TSI Sean

Premium Member

Hello HiVolt,

Thank you for your review, we appreciate your feedback.

As per Marc's reply last week, we've added more capacity along with more IP addresses. Load balancing continues at this time on the new links. Once the load balancing completes this should be resolved.

If you have further questions or you require further assistance, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Have a fantastic evening!

Respectfully,
TSI Sean

TSI Sean

Premium Member

Good Evening HiVolt,

We are happy to hear that everything is running smoothly for you now and that the evening glitches you were experiencing have been resolved.

If you need assistance or have any questions at all, please let us know!

Have an amazing night!

Respectfully,

TSI Andre
Premium Member
join:2008-06-03
Chatham, ON

TSI Andre

Premium Member

Thanks for updating your review

TSI John
Premium Member
join:2014-03-14
Chatham, ON

TSI John

Premium Member

Hi There HiVolt,
Been awhile since we talked. Thanks for updating your review! Glad everything working out!

John
Customer Experience Manager
TSI John

TSI John

Premium Member

Thank you again for taking the time to update your review. We're glad everything went smoothly for you. As always if there is anything we can do for you please don't hesitate to let us know.

Enjoy the upcoming Holiday Season!

John

Customer Experience Manager