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Review by mugurd See Profile

  • Location: Kanata, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $50 per month
Fast install, nice modem/GW
NO tech support, no chat, no email replies - unless one escalates. 1Mbps D/L speed (down from 45)
Was OK for 1 month...then the nightmare started
Web-site:
Ease of Installation:
Call Quality:
Reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
Modem arrived 5 days before install, a Technicolor (Thomson) DCW775. Nice piece of hardware but NO useful user guide whatsoever. Google being your friend, you will eventually be able to log in and even set it to bridge mode.
Rogers came in 10 min early on the day of the install (7.50am) which was impressive, did their work ( cabling was already all in place) and 1 hr later the activation went through and I got sync.
First tests (at that time of day) all went fine >50-60Mbps d/l and 4 Mbps u/l...I am on a 45/4 plan.

A week later I have no complaints, Rogers even dropped by this morning to check if I'm happy (?).
On average I get at least 20Mbps at peak times - that could drop if more people sign up in Kanata where I live.

A bit of a negative is the fact that it's hard to get your point across when dealing with the CSR so I gave up setting up automatic debit and caved in to allow VISA payments, although that's not what I wanted.
Bills could be more detailed, as I had a hard time understanding the 1 day prorated charge on mine...it was lumped into the monthly payment.

I can only hope things will get better with user feedback and patience. Same goes for the website - really bad and one can end up ordering the same service for higher price depending on the links.

Now what about that TV service? I cut BellTV 6 months ago and still couldn't find an alternative.

----------
Should mention I had Bell Fibe 25 before and not only I was paying a hefty price and only getting 16/4, but I got royally screwed when they started to offer unlimited. Despite being promised the service at an extra 10$/mth, I was charged the full extra 30 (a whooping 81$/mth AFTER DISCOUNTS) and I had to appeal to CCTS to have the charges reversed. I sill lost my old b/w plan (220GB) and Bell put me on 125GB for the increased price, What a nightmare - can't wait to cut my last 2 services with Bell after 15 years of being a loyal customer.

/EDIT

For the second time in 2 weeks I can't use the Internet as the speed has dropped below 1 Meg (yes, 1/45 of what I am paying for)

[URL=http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2858343855][IMG]»www.speedtest.net/result ··· G][/URL]

Tech support is non-existent, I got dropped 3 times after 15 min on hold.

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member for 22.8 years, 2622 visits, last login: 15 days ago
updated 10.2 years ago


mugurd
join:2001-05-24
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
(Software) pfSense
Netgear RAX50
Netgear R7000

mugurd

Member

I spoke too soon...

As I feared, speed dropped tonight to 2-3Mbps d/l and pings of 500ms to TO.
Online chat=useless...

I will update my ratings accordingly - don't want to mislead anybody due to the initial enthusiasm that quickly fades away.

»speedtest.net/result/269 ··· 5593.png
mugurd

mugurd

Member

Ups and downs

A quick update: the speeds seem to have stabilized now, at peak times (7-11pm) I see significant speed drops (this time NOT accompanied by high ping times) and even YouTube stutters.
Outside this time window I am getting 40+megs.
I miss DSL
spookstaz2
join:2002-10-05
Laval, QC

spookstaz2

Member

Re: Ups and downs

Try doing a speed test during 7-11pm. When my connection worked at all I was only getting 1 Megabit or less during that time period. I was on CIK dry loop DSL.

mugurd
join:2001-05-24
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
(Software) pfSense
Netgear RAX50
Netgear R7000

mugurd

Member

Unfortunately true: abysmal speeds

mugurd

mugurd

Member

Took me 15 min to open this page...STAY AWAY!

mugurd

mugurd

Member

Jack Don - kudos

I will say here that despite not getting anything from the support people, I always got an email reply from Jack Don (Snr Customer Rel Mgr) after escalating to him. At the very least an explanation for what is going on.
However, as I stated to him, a company cannot/should not rely on one person to deal with frustrated customers kept in the dark during outages. A web page updated with network status and events, a change in the IVR system to announce the outages would be a decent way to at least inform the customers of a network event.

I think someone said it best in these forums " with CikTel you're happy when everything is working and you switch when they don't, as it is too frustrating to get it fixed".
"Customer is King" seems a bad joke in this context - as nobody talks to the customer - other than Jack.
PX Eliezer1
Premium Member
join:2013-03-10
Zubrowka USA

PX Eliezer1

Premium Member

Thanks for the warnings!

You have been on DSLR for 12 years which gives you lots of street cred.

Wow, what an awful company!

Overall, half of the reviews are pretty good, and half are truly awful.

This company clearly needs to get their shit together....

mugurd
join:2001-05-24
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
(Software) pfSense
Netgear RAX50
Netgear R7000

mugurd

Member

Lame....look elsewhere


Shitty speeds
Enuf said....14 days going with SUB-1Meg speeds

»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 8572.png

MJB33
join:2012-01-29

MJB33

Member

Re: Lame....look elsewhere

most likely a capacity issue... apoi... has a disadvantage...

mugurd
join:2001-05-24
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
(Software) pfSense
Netgear RAX50
Netgear R7000

mugurd

Member

Re: Lame....look elsewhere


DavePC
join:2013-08-18
Scarborough, ON

DavePC

Member

Re: Lame....look elsewhere

interesting, is your IP geolocating to Washington? try using a toronto server.

mugurd
join:2001-05-24
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
(Software) pfSense
Netgear RAX50
Netgear R7000

mugurd

Member

Re: Lame....look elsewhere

Actually, I stream Netflix through a VPN so I don't exactly care if I get 20 megs to TO when my server is in DC.
To me, the fact that I cannot watch a 3Mbps stream between 7 and 12 in the evening is proof enough.
BTW, the same Speedtest Wash DC server scores 40+ Mbps at 1am. This IS congestion - the uplink is always ok.

Not disputing your observation, just explaining why I measure this way.
mugurd

mugurd

Member

Better performance after the last trunk additions:

mugurd

1 edit

mugurd

Member

Done with them....outages and sub-5 meg speeds for the last few weeks

Take your hard earned cash somewhere else...latest tests on my 45/4 connection (first number is download):

1/3/2014 20:55 EST 135.0.52.xxx 3.37 Mb/s 2.50 Mb/s 42 ms Washington, DC
1/3/2014 20:54 EST 135.0.52.xxx 3.86 Mb/s 2.12 Mb/s 22 ms Toronto, ON
1/3/2014 12:19 EST 135.0.52.xxx 4.27 Mb/s 2.95 Mb/s 40 ms Washington, DC
1/2/2014 22:16 EST 135.0.52.xxx 3.28 Mb/s 2.80 Mb/s 20 ms Toronto, ON
1/2/2014 22:15 EST 135.0.52.xxx 4.11 Mb/s 2.75 Mb/s 21 ms Toronto, ON
1/2/2014 21:28 EST 135.0.52.xxx 3.89 Mb/s 3.05 Mb/s 20 ms Toronto, ON

Needless to say, Netflix buffers and my VoIP is seeing >5% packet loss with high jitter.

Funny, when I called to cancel, the lady at the other end not only didn't care if I cancel, but she had no clue who the Mgr of Customer Support was (Jack Don).
I pity the VMedia customers, as they probably don't even know who is providing Internet services for the company (CIKTel...).
Too bad, George Burger seems a nice/passionate guy who picked the wrong business partner in CIKTel.
delius
join:2006-07-30
Dorchester, ON

delius

Member

Re: Done with them....outages and sub-5 meg speeds for the last few weeks

Exactly the reason i cant dump rogers. For vmedia. Ciktel no thanks. Will wait for better iptv offerings

mugurd
join:2001-05-24
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
·Fido
(Software) pfSense
Netgear RAX50
Netgear R7000

mugurd

Member

Last comment on CIKTel...I wish them good luck and easy-going customers

The straw that really broke the camel's back was the last Rogers outage in my area.
I called CIKTel and painfully had to recite all the modem parameters (every single dB and mW) after starting the call with "my modem reports DHCP denied and I don't get an IP assigned".
Went through the usual "can you move the modem back to where you had it 6 months ago" and "what is the power rating on the modem power supply" - when I only asked them to verify if Rogers had a problem in the area.
Moreover, got the usual "a technician will come to your house in the next century, don't have a date, but make sure you're at home or you will be charged..etc".
Last but not least, 16 hrs after the outage was over (maybe CIKTel needs an account on DSLR to get network updates from the other ITPIA) I got a call to actually schedule the technician visit...they were so oblivious to what was going on.

I will move to Start soon (can't wait) and BTW...Start KNEW about the outage 1 hr into it and even let ME know as well.

Money is not the deciding factor anymore for Internet services, not when you have VoIP, work VPN and your TV streams depending on it.