Review by DFW  - Location: North York,ON
- Cost: $50 per month
- Install: about 14 days
Good "Inexpensive, full speed, dry loop fee included"
Bad "Nothing so far"
Overall "Ten days in, no complaints, full speed, no real congestion issues"
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Ease of Installation:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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First point: I was moving from bell 25/10 to Ciktel 25/10. Since the Bell service was pretty good, one could assume the lines were good here and the transition would be smooth. It was.
After issues with Bell retention people refusing to live up to offered terms twice while trying to renew, I cancelled Bell phone and 25/10 internet and had 30 days to find a replacement. Of course, near the end, I was waiting for the CRTC decision and isp reaction thereto like everyone else but not all ISP's formalized their plans in time for me to ensure uninterrupted service. I came across Ciktel on the forums here. I wanted to remain on dsl as I have had good results in this neighborhood whereas years prior thereto, York Mills was problematic for Rogers with congestion issues (why I moved to Bell) and from reading the forums, this can still be an issue for cable. So stick with what works.
It was a bit of a slog to figure out the actual pricing on the Ciktel website but the end result was that pricing seemed quite good: $49.99 including dry loop fee for unlimited 25/10, $99 for the Sagemcom dsl modem and $30 install fee. They seemed to be the winner on price but that is but one factor.
Searching for reviews proved a bit harder. There wasn't much out there. Some bad early reviews but I the few later ones were more positive. Some hints of a language issue so I chatted a couple of times with them online and made a few phone calls to the office and had no difficulty at all. Still, I would have liked more reviews on the service, congestion issues, whether there was a "soft cap" etc. But my Bell cancellation date was looming with wife and kids very nervous about any time at all without net and, to a lesser extent phone, and most third party isp's still digesting the CRTC costing decision. I had to make a decision. I was assured by Ciktel that there was no soft cap and, as the install fee was the lowest and the acquisition of a dsl modem necessary anyway, I bit the bullet and ordered online.
The online order was the only rough spot. I had signed up for voip.ms but that would do no good to contact me in between cancellation and new service so I reluctantly joined the cell phone ownership group. Apparently, there was a bit of a question on the online order and Ciktel called and left a message on my cell. Being unused to having such a device, I hadn't turned it on or checked voicemail and lost four days on the new install. Kids freaked but we bridged the gap seamlessly.
On install day, The Bell guy showed up early in the eight hour window and spent an hour doing whatever (as I said, I had Bell 25/10 to begin with) and answered a few questions I did have. I always liked the Bell tech guys. The office personnel, billing/csr's are a different creature altogether. As the modem had been delivered previously and I knew how to set it up, already had a vdsl splitter installed and the internal line to my modem is good, I was good to go. The Ciktel guy called just after the Bell guy left, we ran a few speed tests, he had Bell assign the correct profile and we were good. All went surprisingly smoothly with both Bell and Ciktel techs.
Over the past ten days of service, I have run frequent speed tests and tracerts to see how my pings were and to determine when any congestion issues would occur but, so far, pings are consistently good and there seems to be little in the way of congestion issues. It's a bit difficult to be sure with four other users in the house but, subjectively, the service is as good as I got with Bell directly. So far, no complaints.
I cannot comment on tech support as I have not had to avail myself of that yet. Only contact was with the initial install tech and he seemed knowledgeable.
UPDATE: I have now been using the service for over three months and have not changed my opinion much. I get the occasional dropped synch that resolves with modem reboot, about the same frequency as I had experienced directly with Bell. I have noticed no real congestion issues and continue to receive full download speed anytime I check and upload remains between 8 and 9, which is satisfactory. So far, a solid service (can't say rock solid with the occasional synch drops but it's as good as I have ever gotten here).
I did have one occasion when I called support on a modem issue that I was confused about so I cannot really complain that the rep was similarly confused. I was able to resolve the issue myself with a bit of research. I wouldn't want to really rate support for any outfit until I get a real issue, though. Let's hope that never happens (lol).
member for 196 days, 31 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 86 days ago
Comments:
 |  | DFW
join:2013-03-23
North York, ON
1 recommendation | Re: Thanks for your review Point taken. I have de-selected tech support (haven't tried yet), call quality (I use voip.ms) and reliability (so far so good but, to me, I think it takes at least a few months to earn an opinion on that score. I'll try to remember to revisit). | |
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