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Review by Tristan See Profile

  • Location: Nepean, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $53 per month
  • Install: about 4 days
Cheaper than Rogers.
Long waits in phone queue. ISP unable to update modem firmware. Frequently screwed by Rogers.
Badly needs faster upstream speeds.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

1/21/13 - Submitted my cancelation request. February 7th is my last day with Teksavvy. I may come back, I like what Teksavvy stands for, and what they've done for consumers, fighting the CRTC, Bell, Rogers, the government, etc. I'm not willing to wait one month, two months, 8 months, or maybe 2014 for faster upstream speeds. I may re-consider Teksavvy, once two things happen: TSI offering faster speeds and higher caps at least en-par with Start Communications, and waiving the install fee for those already set up with cable high-speed internet service.

Thank you Teksavvy for good, reliable internet service. May we once again do business. I will be reading your forums, and your website with anticipation.

1/15/13 - Teksavvy needs to get the faster speeds soon, or risk losing a lot of customers. Our miniscule upstream speeds are severely strained. I know they are trying to fix this, but time is of the essence. 1Mbps is pathetically slow.

11/27/12 - Rogers is bringing out new tiers which are considerably faster, but Teksavvy doesn't have access to them, until they are connecting through aggregated POI's. If Rogers has it their way, we may not see speed improvements for a while. If Teksavvy can convince the CRTC that this is unfair and uncompetitive, then maybe we will see them sooner. If it takes too long, I will leave Teksavvy, because I need faster than 1Mbit upstream service. I have limited patience in this matter. The clock is ticking. Yes, it will cost me more, but it's no longer about saving money, it's about being able to serve my needs, my wife's needs, and my son's needs, which are growing.

6/27/12 - Forced to re-factor my review of my internet service. Purchasing an iISP recommended modem was supposed to be a good thing.

Sadly, this whole modem firmware issue has brought to light some major issues with independent ISP's. Companies like Teksavvy are unable to perform firmware updates over the network. They rely on the customer's infrastructure host (Rogers in my case) to push the upgrade, and the host flat-out refuses to do it. This calls into question the recommended modems, the effectiveness of the tech support staff, the reliability of service, and value.

For those four rating properties: Reliability, Tech Support, Services, and Value for Money, there is certainly room for improvement, and giving top marks is certainly no longer warranted. I want to help Teksavvy out, but not at the expense of lying to the people I recommend Teksavvy to. Now there are a lot of people who have purchased the Thomson DCM 475 who have STAC.02.08, who are either stuck with a modem that reboots at undesirable times, or have to buy a new modem.

I had to knock "Tech Support" down the most, because it takes so long to reach someone by phone. They really REALLY need to improve their phone queue wait times.

My next question is... How long before the next problem occurs, which requires a firmware update, which cannot be performed?

By the way, what's up with their customer referral program? I've brought it up several times, and not once has anyone addressed it, beyond stating that it exists. I haven't seen a single credit.

6/23/12 - New modem was provisioned. So far, service seems be be operating normally. If I get any more dropped VOIP calls, or dropped Netflix streams, I'll know the problem hasn't been resolved.

6/7/12 - New modem en route. Upgraded some of the ratings. Will restore ratings once everything is back to normal.

6/5/12 - My relatively new Thomson/RCA DCM 475 has been rebooting on its own. It happens during movies, games, VOIP and videoconferencing calls.

I'm working on a solution with Teksavvy. I've been told there are problems with software version STAC.02.08. I'll report back here when my problem has been solved satisfactorily.

For the time being, I'm forced to downgrade the connection reliability, tech support rating, and value for money rating.

For those considering the DCM 475 cablemodem - make sure it is loaded with software version STAC.02.16. The firmware is NOT user updatable, and both Rogers and Teksavvy are unable to perform a firmware update. It's a rather dumb situation that many users are being caught up in.

12/12/11 - Speeds are still quite good off the Fallowfield/Richmond POI for me. Teksavvy has brought me reliability I haven't seen before. While service has dropped for very short periods of time a couple of times, it's still at a far lower incidence rate than what I experienced with Rogers.

My switch to Teksavvy couldn't have been more successful, or beneficial.

10/4/11 - Received an email and a call from Teksavvy. They were politely threatening to cut my cable off if I didn't pay some mystery overdue bill for a modem. The modem I had provisioned was bought with cash from Canada Computers. The modem that was provisioned before that was bought from Rogers. I had been paying invoices for months that respected the customer-supplied modem.

Teksavvy, please don't ask a customer [who'd go to bat for you] to pay for something owned free and clear. It's not a nice way to thank them when they've been telling all their friends and family to switch (where's my referral credits? You owe me at least one for sure, and probably several others).

... and what's with the 3 days? You gave me 3 flippin' days - thanks a lot! If no one was around to take care of this before the disconnection date (highly plausible) it would have been more than a little inconvenient. We do everything online - gaming, communication (voip, skype, instant messaging, collaboration), education, news, video, music and more. I help people over the internet through remote sessions. You would have shut down my household.

It would be grounds for the three of us to drive to TSi headquarters, raised hell to the umpteenth level. A 5 hour drive would absolutely have been worth it.

It sucks to wait on hold. I know you're busy, and I know you're fixing things. I'm patient. After waiting almost 1/2 an hour on hold, the last thing I wanted to hear was the other agents talking loudly in the background when I really wanted to hear the polite agent serving me. And turn down the music while in the waiting queue - there's only one thing worse than terrible music, and that is loud terrible music.

Teksavvy Internet service is still best in class. Rogers was problematic for me. Teksavvy has been less problematic, and faster. Rogers Yahoo email was a hunk of junk. Teksavvy allows me to run my own mail server, and I've seen 100% reliability, unmatched by any other ISP I've ever had.

8/29/11 - Ongoing success with the new cable drop. The speed of my connection has been terrific, and not a single loss of service as far as I know. I easily achieve 24Mbps, and when speedboost kicks in, the speed tops out around 50Mbps. Speedboost ups the rate when possible for the first 10Mbytes downloaded.

Now if we could only get faster upstream speeds. I understand Rogers is undertaking some testing. Speed increases affect Teksavvy customers too. Let's hope for an upstream increase in the near future (1yr I hope). 1Mbps upstream really limits what can be done with the connection.

8/16/11 - Had some problems with my cablemodem restarting sporadically. I was able to link it to digital TV channels mysteriously becoming "unavailable" and then both coming back online simultaneously.

Teksavvy's tech support was not really able to help me, since this was a problem with the Rogers cable drop to my house, but that didn't stop Teksavvy from listening to me, and offering some good advice.

Took me three attempts to get a Rogers service call. First one, I was told to call when the problem is occurring. Second call, Rogers computers were down for maintenance. Third call, success - they sent a technician the next day.

The tech installed a new RG6 cable drop, and my signal levels more than doubled! So far, the connection has been rock-solid, and all of my TV channels are available.

This is one time Rogers actually worked out well for me, but I'm still very happy that I switched to Teksavvy.

6/29/11 - Still getting great speeds from Teksavvy. For extreme service (or any lower service), it is definitely worth the switch. Yeah, perhaps Teksavvy should offer higher service speeds, but that will come eventually.

Teksavvy start-up kits (inc. modem, 1 month free, no contracts, no startup/admin fee): Cable $99.95, DSL $74.95, available at Canada Computers.
Visit »bit.ly/jDdKek

If signing up, please be patient while service is set-up, and work with Teksavvy to solve any problems you experience. Sometimes it takes longer than it should, but it's worth it. Please post your problems and request for help in the Teksavvy support forum on this website before posting negative comments.

6/22/11 - After completing several Skype video calls, a PS3 system software update, a mass windows update, and even some remote systems access, I have to say this Teksavvy connection is paying off big-time with better throughput and lower latency. It doesn't appear to be throttled either (further testing to commence soon).

If you are considering Teksavvy, please be advised that new sign-ups can take longer than promised. While my connection was up within the anticipated timeframe, some people experience problems that may require a couple of attempts to solve, much of which can be traced back to Rogers. It's not really worth getting angry at Teksavvy, because they have to put up with Rogers and their incompetence too. The Teksavvy connection is worth the wait, even if it takes two weeks and four troubleshooting tickets.

6/15/11 - Just completed a Skype video call, and the image and sound quality was excellent. I'll have to perform some more tests with a wider variety of test subjects, er... family members, and report back. I'd like to think this is the result of switching to Teksavvy - I'll know more soon.

6/7/2011 - first day with Teksavvy. Everything went smoothly. Seeing speeds of 15Mbit/1Mbit (25Mbit with speed boost). Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I'm a happy man.

PS: Avoid Rogers. Their tech support is terrible, and they breed claustrophobia by forcing extremely low caps (by today's standards). If you love the Internet, and you have a choice, go with Teksavvy Cable or Teksavvy DSL.

member for 17.5 years, 3232 visits, last login: 79 days ago
updated 11.1 years ago

ryuhosuke
join:2011-01-31
Markham, ON

ryuhosuke

Member

If only the big guys decided to share the technology

If only the big guys decided to offer higher speeds or better connection then we'll be talking

Kimwussyme
@charter.com

Kimwussyme

Anon

Re: If only the big guys decided to share the technology

said by ryuhosuke:

If only the big guys decided to offer higher speeds or better connection then we'll be talking


TSI Brandon
Premium Member
join:2012-11-22
Chatham, ON

TSI Brandon

Premium Member

Review

Hello,

Thank you for the comment, we always like to hear from our customers. Teksavvy has been working on getting faster speeds for a while, but it is now in the hands of the CRTC and we are waiting on their decision. We will definitely update our customers once a decision is reached by the CRTC.
Tristan
join:2006-09-10
Nepean, ON

Tristan

Member

That's fine and all, but doesn't help me today.

I realize Teksavvy is working on attaining higher speeds, but it doesn't help me today. It will maybe help me later this year (Q3, Q4), or many it won't be till sometime in 2014.

Meanwhile, I can get the upload speeds I need elsewhere, today, so I am seriously considering leaving Teksavvy.

I understand the technical, financial, and contractual/obligatory reasons for why Teksavvy is still using non-aggregated POI's, but that shouldn't mean customers have to suffer with slow speeds for another year. I hope the CRTC rule that speed-matching rules still apply in the spirit of reasonable and healthy competition. The decision may come too late for some consumers. Very unfortunate.

d4m1r
join:2011-08-25

d4m1r

Member

Re: That's fine and all, but doesn't help me today.

said by Tristan:

I realize Teksavvy is working on attaining higher speeds, but it doesn't help me today. It will maybe help me later this year (Q3, Q4), or many it won't be till sometime in 2014.

Meanwhile, I can get the upload speeds I need elsewhere, today, so I am seriously considering leaving Teksavvy.

I understand the technical, financial, and contractual/obligatory reasons for why Teksavvy is still using non-aggregated POI's, but that shouldn't mean customers have to suffer with slow speeds for another year. I hope the CRTC rule that speed-matching rules still apply in the spirit of reasonable and healthy competition. The decision may come too late for some consumers. Very unfortunate.

QFT...I am in the same boat....Switch now and get faster (speedmatched) speeds along with 4x my upload for reasonably new or wait it out with TSI until the CRTC releases their decision...Which could be this month or Q4...

JenSuisUn
Premium Member
join:2006-02-23
Chatham, ON

JenSuisUn

Premium Member

Sad to see you go

We do appreciate the time & effort you have put in with us.
We will always do the best we can for our customers. Seeing how the only reason seems to be for the upload speeds, the reasons behind that remain yours & are accepted by us.

If & when you do return to us, we will gladly help you out as we have always done in the past.

Best of luck with your new endeavours, may the speeds to are looking for be satisfactory to you.

Warmest regards,
Martin
Tristan
join:2006-09-10
Nepean, ON

Tristan

Member

Re: Sad to see you go

Thank you Martin.