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Review by EssGee See Profile

  • Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $45 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Truly Unlimited Package, Amazing Customer Service and No Hidden Fees
Package speeds (same with all DSL resellers)
Great ISP, Can't recommend them enough!
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

After having been with Rogers for 8 years in the Greater Toronto Area (and being used to the Rogers "Express" & "Extreme" packages), I moved to a non-Rogers serviced area west of Ottawa in 2006. For 2 years, I fought with serious line quality issues, amplification via load-coils, a ~24,000-foot copper loop length (copper to this CO and then copper from this CO to the next town CO 6 KM away) and MultiLink PPP via 4x 56K modems.

Between mid 2008 to 2009, I've been through the fixed wireless gamut, first with Storm Wireless (which worked well minus the occasional disconnect and an antenna failure), but was subsequently bought out by Barrett Xplornet (who replaced all the customer premise equipment with Motorola 3.5 GHz gear). From March 2009 to December 2009, I was fraught with rage and frustration at the blatant disregard that Xplornet has had for their service quality and provisioning. Four service tech visits (including a level 3 and two independent install vendors), two antenna changes, two botched installs, multiple escalations later and $65 a month down the drain and still I was no closer to achieving any semblance of service.

With seemingly bleak connectivity options, I believed I was relegated to the digital dust bin... disadvantaged in a major way compared to those in urban areas with affordable, reliable connectivity options.

With the financial assistance of the OMAFRA Broadband Fund (»www.omafra.gov.on.ca/eng ··· h/rural/) and working with the local rural township municipal government, Bell Aliant successfully completed their installation of 6 KM of fiber optic cabling and an Alcatel-Lucent 7330 DSLAM, lighting up DSL services in my small rural Ontario town of 1000 residents around Christmas 2009.

Upon shopping around Bell Canada's DSL rates and packages, it became blatantly obvious that there was no "niche" package that heavy users with high-demand requirements could subscribe to at a reasonable price without having to worry about hefty overage charges or customer support that lacks any ability to communicate and address issues.

Shopping around, I came across TekSavvy and based upon the DSLReports.com customer feedback, pulled the trigger on their Unlimited 5 Mbps DSL package with static IP & public IP block. I placed this order around 10:00 PM on a week night and was hooked up 4 days later. Service has been very solid since first spin up (5055/797 kbps, SNR=28 dBm, ATTN=11.1 dBm... minus some teething problems on Bell Aliant's side) with a Thomson SpeedTouch 516 and 40-year old interior quad telephone cabling.

TekSavvy customer support has been available 24/7 to take my calls and even worked for 45 minutes the day after installation around 11:00 PM to diagnose an issue with PPPoE handshaking on Bell's side.

How often does an ISP go to these lengths to keep a new customer happy? In twenty years of connectivity across 10 ISP's (CompuServe, Prodigy, AOL, AOL Canada, DocuSystems, Inter-Links, Rogers, Magma/Primus, Storm Wireless & Barrett Xplornet), I've seen NONE in the same class as TekSavvy.

If you're looking for a DSL provider with a truly unlimited package, world-class customer support and no-nonsense billing practices, TekSavvy should be at the very top of your list.

*****UPDATE April 8, 2010******

Just wanted to say that the service has been OUTSTANDING over the last 4 months since installation. Can't stop recommending the service enough.

*****UPDATE October 4, 2010******

Been a TekSavvy customer for 10 months now. Service has been OUTSTANDING since installation. Keep up the good work guys!

*****UPDATE March 28, 2012******

Completed an upgrade from DSL6 to the DSL12 package during the March Free Install Promotion. Very smooth process - had multiple calls from TekSavvy Support confirming installation date & time. Bell tech did their profile change remotely, and the Telecon tech showed up later that day to install a Corning ADSL/VDSL2 isolation block. Speeds have been great - TSI even went so far as to bump up the line to the 14272/1088 profile so that I have true 12/1 Mbps. Well done!

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updated 12 years ago