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Review by unhappy See Profile

  • Location: North Sydney, NS, Canada
  • Cost: $225 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
nothing
everything
do not get
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I had eastlink a few years now and a tec guy came to fix my cable box and another repair man was at my house and well I was with the repair man the tec guy changed my router without authorization and I called and called and they wont put my old one back the eastlink tec crew where very unhelpful I wouldn't get eastlink ever

member for 6.4 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 6.4 years ago







Review by Thorburn See Profile

  • Location: Canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Speeds are far better than DSL
Caps on 100 mbps and up plans when not bundled with TV, very pricey
Very expensive, especially without bundling, but resellers like Citywide and Navnet are not so bad.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Eastlink Cable in Nova Scotia is far superior to Aliant DSL. Eastlink offers 50 mbps as their base plan right now, compared to 1.5 mbps or 7 mbps (Ultra) with Aliant. If you're in FibreOP area, then that's another story, but most of rural Nova Scotia is not. Speeds are fairly consistent throughout the day, there seems to be little throttling. I have not dealt with customer service much, but the few times I've had to have been okay. Upload speeds are a little low.

Pricing is terrible and even worse so if you're not a TV or phone subscriber. Rogers Cable in New Brunswick has better pricing for their services. However, in NS there are Eastlink resellers who offer 25 mbps at a better price (somewhere around $50 per month).

member for 8.1 years, 50 visits, last login: 7.6 years ago
lodged 8.1 years ago


Review by nauru0 See Profile

  • Location: Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Cost: $55 per month
  • No Cap
-
Price keeps going up for no reason, no options for light users.
Avoid.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

This is a mediocre company that jacks up prices on a yearly basis despite not improving their service in any valuable way. They charge you for setup, force you to use the modem they provide, and try to charge a monthly fee for turning on the built-in wireless capability of the modem/router unit. They also try to get you to buy useless "security packages", although I suppose these are like a tax on being completely computer illiterate.

Avoid these guys if you have a viable non-Robellus alternative (I, unfortunately, don't).

member for 13.1 years, 586 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
lodged 9.2 years ago


Review by digbee See Profile

  • Location: Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Cost: $130 per month
  • Install: about 3 days
not much anymore
everything is throttled, consistently slow speed tests, pathetic customer support
certified rip off
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

For 6 months speed tests have shown a drastic drop, consistently in the 2mbit or even lower range. Customer support will tell you there is nothing they can do when your paying for a 15mbit connection. False advertising if you ask me.

member for 16.3 years, 4 visits, last login: 15.3 years ago
updated 16.3 years ago

Rikerag515
join:2003-01-03

Rikerag515

Member

Changes as of late

Have you noticed within the past month or less that the throttling and packet shaping seems worse? I've never seen my Bittorrent traffic go so slow 20KB during that day.

Wondering if anyone else is noticing this as of late.

When I'm making use of a download manager, I can typically saturate the pipe at around 1.75MB/S. Of course this is on http traffic.
digbee
join:2007-11-26
Halifax, NS

1 edit

digbee

Member

Re: Changes as of late

Yes this is exactly what I'm talking about. Probably mad babies because the coast wrote an article about what they are doing.

I'm glad someone else noticed and its not just my connection. I've called to see what my levels were and they are good.
Rikerag515
join:2003-01-03

Rikerag515

Member

Re: Changes as of late

I'll tell you one thing though, the last couple of weeks have been pretty painful. Coincidentally, last night things were getting a bit better.

I'm trying some VPN tunneling now to see if it improves my BT speeds any. I'll let you know how I make out.

Try this in the meantime: install the downloadthemall extension to Firefox. Go onto a download site for a large file, such as a free video clip or something. Use downloadthemall to get the file. It will open up multiple connections and combine the parts to download the file.

Are you getting better speeds? I'm pushing 1.75 or so MB/s when doing this. Of course this is on the http traffic only.

The speed limit advertised is possible for me doing this, but the bulk of the time I'm much slower.

This Coast article, is a very recent one? I know they had one awhile back in regards to the packet-shaping gear they are using.
digbee
join:2007-11-26
Halifax, NS

digbee

Member

Re: Changes as of late

download them all does help a little bit, but only to really fast sites like ati or microsoft. The other night I couldn't even load fast sites like google, nhl.com or cnn.com quickly.

My torrent upload speeds also never exceed 30kb/s during the day. You should explain this VPN tunneling.
Rikerag515
join:2003-01-03

Rikerag515

Member

Re: Changes as of late

With VPN tunneling, the idea is to use a service as an encrypted pipline into another network. Think of it this way, you connect to a VPN provider and basically use their internet.

So if your downloading a torrent, you are basically piping all the data down to yourself from the VPN, which takes care of making all of the connections to seeders and peers for you (and they don't packetshape on their network, depending on who they are). It sends all of this data down this encrypted stream, down to Eastlink and then to you.

The idea is that an ISP can't determine what this encrypted traffic is (especially on the protocol level like BT), therefore they won't necessarily throttle/packetshape the data stream. In the end, you should get more speed.

BT's encryption as far as I recall only helps to "confuse" the protocol header, the data itself is not encrypted. Even with this BT encryption on, I've captured packets and recompiled the streams. their is hints of BT traffic everywhere.

I hope this helps explain things a bit.

Some VPN providers out there are Relakks and StrongVPN

neonerd
manic
join:2006-03-10
Dartmouth, NS

4 edits

neonerd to digbee

Member

to digbee
i agree my speed sucks and i supposedly just upgraded to eastlink 15mbit and its actually slower then when i had eastlink5. i got the digi cable too cause their current 6 month promotion and i think thats exactly why they're doing this and it will probably be like this for the remainder of the 6 month *ripoff special*...

since upgrading to 15mbit this is my average speedtest anytime it doesnt matter 26-11-2007 05:55 PM j-speed 5367 Kbps 956 Kbps speedtest.eastlink.ca eastlink.ca
digbee
join:2007-11-26
Halifax, NS

digbee

Member

Re: Changes as of late

agreed, so everyone is getting pathetic speeds. It was way faster for me 4 years ago as a eastlink 5 user.

Speeds are getting slightly better the last couple days, probably due to 1000's of angry customers calling in to complain what crap service they are getting.
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

2 edits

jericho7

Member

Re: Changes as of late

from what I can see , Eastlink is throttling everything down to a crawl between the hours of 7:30pm til 11:45pm every night of the week.When 7:30pm hits newsgroups go from 8mbits to 4 mbits then at exactly 11:45pm they go from 4mbits to 8mbits.also i see the other protocols slowdown to a crawl also at these times of the day. speedtests to eastlinks speedtest site during those hours are brutal, like 2-3mbits then when 11:45pm hits i get my 15mbit speed back on tests, weird stuff but this is what i have observed in the last week or 2 so it seems they have this set automatically every night.im assumming its cause its peaktimes and there making sure there is even distro of bw to everyone during peak.
Rikerag515
join:2003-01-03

Rikerag515

Member

Re: Changes as of late

I've been noticing a similar pattern as well. During the night, the connection absolutely flies. However during dinner - midnight hours, things are going pretty slow.

After my initial posts, speeds have increased back to how they were in the previous months. That much have been some sort of week long glitch or something.

I think we should all keep an eye on it.
Radian600
join:2002-09-30
Kentville, NS

Radian600

Member

fast for me



I just got that on a speedtest. That's almost 2 Megabytes of data per second. lol.

As for bittorrent. Use a protocol above 50000. The default protocol in the upper 6000 range is throttled by a lot of ISP's.
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

1 edit

jericho7

Member

Re: fast for me

yeah and that speedtest is from eastlinks own site within there network, this has all been discussed before in other threads and if you took the time to read them you would know that speedtest means crapall
TimoMajere
join:2005-01-23
Halifax, NS

1 edit

TimoMajere to Radian600

Member

to Radian600
said by Radian600:



I just got that on a speedtest. That's almost 2 Megabytes of data per second. lol.
I have this EXACT result from Eastlink.. however i am only 1 1/2 blocks away from their system.. and these results are worse than from my friends Eastlink account in Cole harbour. So I doubt these Speedtests through their own system can be trusted. In fact because i have this EXACT result, im thinking its not even a functioning protocol and in fact something to quell the consciences of people who DON'T know fully what they're seeing. Big Numbers make happy!

Where is the logic behind all this.. and why is it that when my internet DOES go down and i call tech support.. they say they can communicate with my modem perfectly and yet i cannot achieven internet.. and they DON'T see that as a problem!
I find it rather hard to trust a tech support that can't even understand simple concepts.
horsemouth1
Please Clarify My CSP
Premium Member
join:2002-03-13
canada

horsemouth1

Premium Member

Outside


Your current bandwidth reading is:

227.56 Mbps

which means you can download at 28.45 MB/sec. from our servers.

28.8 kbps dial-up
33.6 kbps dial-up
53.3 kbps dial-up
56 kbps ISDN
128 kbps ISDN
384 kbps DSL
768 kbps DSL
1000 kbps DSL
1500 kbps DSL/T1/Cable Modem
233016.9 kbps YOU
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

jericho7

Member

Re: Outside

lol, do you guys even know what were trying to say here or are you all just ignorant to it??

Again http is not throttled this has been said and that speed result of 227.56 Mbps is just foolishness. if your not going to post something helpful don't post at all. http speed tests are also unreliable as the post above shows. I'll say this one more time and Eastlink has admitted to this also , they throttle all protocols except for http, http is there main priority. They have stated this . Were trying to give accurate info here to users who are looking at getting HSI from Eastlink this is the purpose of this .
horsemouth1
Please Clarify My CSP
Premium Member
join:2002-03-13
canada

horsemouth1

Premium Member

Re: Outside

said by jericho7:

lol, do you guys even know what were trying to say here or are you all just ignorant to it??

Again http is not throttled this has been said and that speed result of 227.56 Mbps is just foolishness. if your not going to post something helpful don't post at all. http speed tests are also unreliable as the post above shows. I'll say this one more time and Eastlink has admitted to this also , they throttle all protocols except for http, http is there main priority. They have stated this . Were trying to give accurate info here to users who are looking at getting HSI from Eastlink this is the purpose of this .
LOL






Review by jericho7 See Profile

  • Location: Halifax, NS, Canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
good reliable service , hardly any downtime
they call a 5/1 mbit service a 15/1 mbit service
don't get the 15/1 service as its throttled pretty bad and its no better then the 5/1 package
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My suggestion to anyone considering getting the 15/1mbit package, DON'T, it's no better then the 5/1mbit package. The speedtest results you see are from Eastlinks own speedtest page within there network, it doesn't give the actual speed outside of Eastlink's network cause they throttle everything to death outside there network to 5mbits down, some HTTP sites you will get good speeds but who needs 15mbits to view web pages or to even stream media, you don't so my suggestion is for people to just save some money and stick to the 5/1 package

member for 22.7 years, 1769 visits, last login: 12.8 years ago
updated 16.4 years ago

acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

acrufox

Member

15 is fine if you're tech savvy :P

Unless you don't really know what you're doing to take advantage of 15 ::rollseyes::

neonerd
manic
join:2006-03-10
Dartmouth, NS

2 edits

neonerd

Member

Re: 15 is fine if you're tech savvy :P

said by acrufox:

Unless you don't really know what you're doing to take advantage of 15 ::rollseyes::
lol, did you mean are/is tech savvy as in like how you couldn't even make a smiley, we the actual customers of the service are supposed to think its "tech savvy" to try to hack our cable modems to get the proper advertised speeds? and yes i am tech savvy and i dont bother trying to show off with broken smilies... and Eastlink is BS, i think the only people who arent tech savvy are the fools that brag and or continue to waste their $ on this service, lol tech savvy (google illegal while your at it there too eh) oh wait i forgot if you have a friend inside Eastlink you can probably get full speed...not too savvy now is it.
acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

1 recommendation

acrufox

Member

Re: 15 is fine if you're tech savvy :P

Cable modem hacked? No
Excellent noise margins? Yes
Know Eastlink employee? No
Knowing transport encryption? Priceless!

neonerd
manic
join:2006-03-10
Dartmouth, NS

1 edit

neonerd

Member

Re: 15 is fine if you're tech savvy :P

said by acrufox:

Cable modem hacked? No
Excellent noise margins? Yes
Know Eastlink employee? No
Knowing transport encryption? Priceless!
lol ok then if you got eastlink all figured out how come you dont just effin help this guy instead of shittin on every1's parade?? also i was wondering exactly how you were able to change you noise margins as the equipment you'd need would be fairly complex, *mind you i did notice you ran 300+ tests in the past week or 2... but also if you can boost your snr to the point +/- 0.001% thd, then maybe you should be working for eastlink AND dslreports and maybe teach them how to make a super tweak tester that can detect snr/sinad and how to improve it, and im assuming when you said not hacked modem that also meant not attaching filters, antennas, caps to anything including your computer and or modem, wall jack, etc,. (myself i put the tv on chanel 70 i think and it tells me all the stats) and speed tests and whatever else thats amazing sounding but not real lol, and as for your "priceless" info, its called tunneling through a vpn using tls which is pretty old tech, but you couldnt just say that tho eh, lemme guess fresh outta uni with a failed attempt at an electrical engineering degree? that oughta burn your parents pockets lol
acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

acrufox

Member

Re: 15 is fine if you're tech savvy :P

Naaah you're not worth my time
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

3 edits

jericho7 to acrufox

Member

to acrufox
acrufox , obviously you have no idea that most users have no idea about workarounds and they shouldn't have to worry about them if there paying for a certain advertised service , I'm talking to the people that have or are considering getting Eastlink HSI. I'm pretty tech savvy as I run my own PC business so take your childish "rollseyes" comments elsewhere. People that pay there hard earned money for an advertised service expect to get that advertised service and not have to worry about having to try to find ways around all the throttling(packet shaping) that Eastlink does just to get what there paying for. Yes Eastlink has some good points like no monthly bandwidth caps and a pretty solid network.
acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

1 edit

acrufox

Member

Re: 15 is fine if you're tech savvy :P

Although Eastlink puts those silly caps and throttling rules in place, it's still very beneficial to those with more than one user in the family who may be online at the same time.

Yes people spend their hard earned money for an expected service and usually do not get it, but that's the rule of thumb for quite some time now. I remember when I was on "the wave" which worked well but was very overpriced, then it was offloaded to Shaw and things went south quickly. Even though you paid for service; they did not want to fix their own equipment(bad nodes). I then ended up on Mpowered which was great until they took my 4 Megabit profile, dropped it near 1, charged the same price, then offered the same speed back to me for more. Eastlink at that time simply throttled you back to dial up speeds when you downloaded too much.

Most users I've met/helped usually don't even know the terminology of 5 or 15 megabits. Those that do and want 15, usually find ways to make use of it even if they can only accomplish it combined.

The only ISP of late I've seen to give you the advertised speed you paid for is Verizon FiOS and even they have their own flaws (jumping through hoops to get it, or playing billing games when your yearly contract runs out, and is not available in Canada)

I've done speed tests outside of Eastlink's network to places on the Eastern seaboard of the US and actually benchmark at times higher than Eastlink own tests. Recently I downloaded some game demos in excess of 1-2GB and it took mere minutes to complete the transfer. Or downloading service packs...or in my case test beta ISO's almost 4.7GB in size and see no throttling in place (only network congestion) Being on 15 I have yet to see an overall cap on speeds to keep me at 5.

No strings attached ISP's are rare on this side of the pond, especially in Canada.

Compared to what's currently available, Eastlink 5 or 15 is better than most of the rest of Canada, and unless you're willing to bind two DSL connections on an ISP like Techsavvy in places like Ontario. Working with/around the traffic shaping seems to be a lot easier to deal with.

It's the protocols that have bandwidth shaping applied to not the entire service at the same time, and is a small price to pay to have 15.

H41N
@eastlink.ca

H41N

Anon

Eastlink 15

The new 15Mbps comes bundled with my TV & phone so it's nothing extra for me to receive.

I've been an Eastlink HSI internet customer for years since it first became available in my area and yes, I notice a significant increase in speed for everyday online activity (dl'ing included) since the 15 upgrade.

We have only 2 available HS carriers in this area and I would honestly rely on a hamster in a wheel before I would give underhanded bastards Aliant one thin dime of my money for *anything*, phone service included. On the whole, it is proven that cable far exceeds DSL in terms of reliability but mainly speed. There is not an Aliant customer in this area that I know of who can hold a candle to the speeds I get on the whole.

I am quite content with Eastlink. Anyone who analyzes every bit and packet of their traffic to death will eventually find that the ISP's advertised speed is somewhat false advertising. Eastlink is regularly rated among the fastest cable-based ISPs worldwide (Google it), I've had no issue with them from a tech point of view since coming onboard with them several years ago, and I too regularly have enjoyed gig-plus file downloads which completed in a matter of a few minutes.
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

jericho7

Member

Re: Eastlink 15

dude read the whole thread lol. The only reason there rated #1 is cause we can do http speedtests within there network which is unrestricted thus the high download speed results, its outside there network thats the problem, there throttling(packet shaping)pretty well everything and they have admitted to doing this. you would know this if you just read lol. My guess is your an employee with Eastlink. I'm sure you will deny that but I think we all know better. I'm not saying there not good , what I'm saying is that there advertised speeds are not totally accurate but who's arn't. Also they do not specifically come out and say that they do indeed throttle the service to a point. Why do you think there is no direct mention of that anywhere on there website? Answer: So new customers won't know the total truth of what exactly is going on and think that there getting the service advertised.
acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

acrufox

Member

Re: Eastlink 15

Okay fine, you want proof it's not just limited to speedtests from within Eastlink's own network and that "outside" is the problem.

Go to:
»speedtest.mybroadbandphone.net/
Last time I checked Portland, Maine was on the OUTSIDE if you're not getting the speeds you are expecting/wanting then you might want to look outside of blaming HTTP throttling.

Most of the time the speed test is 13-14 megabits and is still climbing when the downstream test is completed. I pull down files off of Microsoft's networks 1-4GB in size and it is outside of Eastlink's network going at 12-14 Megabits. I've pulled data off their mirrors in Europe/Asia and actually get even higher speeds than I do from their North American mirror.

Guess if someone notices or gets the speed they must know someone that works for or has a friend at Eastlink. Come on now, go sign up for some other internet providers across the country and you'll not say a word you get back from your travels.

Would you like some really low bandwidth caps instead...and if your main point is to argue out that Eastlink does not advertise that they throttle various protocols on their service then you had better get in line because most cable ISP's do some form of screwing the customer over.
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

4 edits

jericho7

Member

Re: Eastlink 15

first off I wasn't talking to you jackoff, secondly I'm just making sure that potential Eastlink customers understand what Eastlink's practices are before they signup. Like I've said before , Eastlink is the best ISP in our area and has no monthly caps which is a blessing cause most ISP's these days have monthly caps so stop making dumbass comments that we already know cause all I'm trying to do is inform. Dude they have admitted to throttling so please take your crap elsewhere. This thread is to inform potential customers of exactly what is going on . Bottomline is that they have openly admitted to throttling so thats that. All I am doing is informing people thats all . One more thing , they tend not to throttle http as much and if you thoroughly read my other posts you would see that, http is there first priority. I get tired of listening to guys like you saying they don't throttle connections, your pathetic,maybe your on a node thats not as throttled as much as others who knows but they do throttle protocols and again have admitted to it ,most isp's use packet shaping technology , most of us know that,sometimes it is necessary thats all I am trying to say so lets just stop this back and forth BS now.

»www.thecoast.ca/119846.1 ··· .subpub=

H41N
@eastlink.ca

H41N

Anon

Re: Eastlink 15

I *have* read the whole thread, and the site where Eastlink was rated high was based on outside polls and covered more than just up/download speeds. It was a rating reference of cable and DSL ISPs worldwide. I'm not an Eastlink employee and I can say that whether "we all know better" or not. I'm a consumer who has enjoyed good service and excellent speeds with Eastlink, which is all that *I'm* saying. Jumping on my post spouting off about throttling and whether or not they've admitted to doing so is irrelevant in relation to what I'm saying, since I never once said that they *don't* throttle, nor whether or not they are open in admitting such.

It's so very fortunate that we all have someone willing to "inform" potential Eastlink customers of their behavior (although what your inside information is based on you've neglected to make clear) lest they make the mistake of signing up for Eastlink's HSI. We have so many quality choices in terms of HS ISPs to choose from in the Maritimes, I'm sure you're doing potential HS customers a great service in directing them to one of the many others available out there. Oh wait, there *is* only one other one out there - Aliant, which has benchmarked many degrees lower side by side with Eastlink and has perhaps the most horrendous and indifferent customer service should their customers ever have a problem. Yet you don't see me on the attack saying "I'm sure you'll deny you're an Aliant employee, although I think we all know better". Funny how different levels of tolerance exist in people.

I'm sure you think any reply you will post to this will be poignant and intelligent, though from reading this last concoction of irrelevant excrement I for one *do* know better. Argue with someone else.
acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

acrufox to jericho7

Member

to jericho7
Do you always reply by insulting the other person?

You don't inform, you reply with derogatory personal insults when someone says something you don't want to read.
acrufox

acrufox

Member

Re: Eastlink 15

acrufox

1 edit

acrufox to jericho7

Member

to jericho7
Ahwell Done with this silly argument :>
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

1 edit

jericho7

Member

Re: Eastlink 15

bump
SpankR
join:2004-11-09

SpankR to jericho7

Member

to jericho7
Throttling is a non-issue with most p2p clients now so what's the problem? You get 5Mbit/s? So? I don't. Many others don't either. When Eastlink started (Andara) I got 5Mbit/s, but MPowered customers got 7Mbit/s. MPowered went from that 7 to 5, then to 3, and now to 1.5. In that time, Eastlink has gone from 5, to 10 to 15Mbit/s - And trust me - I routinely get 15Mbit/s - Hell, I constantly get faster speeds to California and Europe than Aliant customers get to their mail server!

-Spank
»www.sveasoftsucks.com

dh25
@eastlink.ca

dh25

Anon

15meg

children, please get a life. I routinely test speed on outside the network servers . So far , I've gotten what i"m paying for. more than i can say then when i was with aliant.

gone
@eastlink.ca

gone

Anon

What is better then Eastlink?

I'll most likely be moving from Canada to the US soon. I can't find anything even close when comparing to Eastlink.

To complain about the speeds at Eastlink is like complaining about the top speed of a Ferrari. I guess there isn't satisfying some people.

Anyway, does anyone know if there is a service that even comes close to the speeds and reliability that Eastlink provides, but down in the US?

Thanks
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

jericho7

Member

sorry

acrufox and others I apologized for my rude comments towards you. it's just it is frustrating when you know what's going on with an isp and when Eastlink has openly admitted to all i have said and others are claiming otherwise .You may be getting these good speeds because of workarounds, all I am trying to do is explain to people , the common everyday user how Eastlink operates . Please accept my appology for being rude.

dawziecat
@eastlink.ca

dawziecat

Anon

5Mbps vs 15Mbps . . . all seems the same . . .

I am a subscriber to an eastlink bundle and understand that I supposedly have the 15Mbps service. (Or do I have to call somebody to actually effect the upgrade?)

But, I never get much more than 5 mbps in speed tests.

Just checked at »speedtest.net/ and, after selecting a server in Toronto, clocked a download speed of 5328 kbps. This is a pretty typical result for me.

Not complaining . . . but I noticed no increase in going from 5Mbps, which I had before I subscribed to a phone/internet bundle, to 10Mbps with the bundle and then the upgrade to the 15Mbps. All seems pretty much the same.

Am I interpreting the figures incorrectly?

okcomputer
@EDnet.NS.CA

okcomputer

Anon

Aliant vs. Eastlink

These sites and reviews can be useful, but the problem I have is that it's all very circumstantial.

I have Aliant High Speed Ultra. I get the advertised 5.0mbps all the time (and sometimes I can get up to 6-7). My connection has never dropped in four years. I have had a few problems when I moved (they don't seem to ever get the switchover right), but I always get the speeds I am supposed to get.

This may be because I have been close to a CO every place I've lived, who knows. But Aliant has been very consistent. Several friends of mine have had Eastlink and it's been completely inconsistent. A few other friends have Eastlink and get their 15mbit all the time. I think the only way to know what your speed/connection is going to be like is to try it out at that specific location - there are too many environmental factors that can affect things.

Lastly, I'm not sure what's up with the bashing of Aliant's customer service. I have had a few problems over the years, and they've always been corrected in a very timely fashion. They have also been accompanied by credits to my account which far outweigh the cost of the lost service or the inconvenience.

Seems to be a lot of Eastlink fanboys out there spreading misinformation...
acrufox
join:2004-07-14
Fort Wayne, IN

acrufox

Member

Re: Aliant vs. Eastlink

They both have had their moments :> For many many MANY years the only offering for cable internet (through all the name changes) meant downtime for hours on end every night.

I switched to Aliant at the time because I wanted stability...unfortunately I didn't like the whole fiasco of cutting your speed in half then offering your original speeds back to you under a new higher priced package.

Ended up back on Eastlink 5, which quickly turned to 10, then to 15...they finally fixed their flaky node problem and for the most part Eastlink is OK (seemingly do early morning maintenance at 4-5am/DHCP renew warnings)

I'm more concerned with the Aliant customers I've come across that have SNR's that show they are very close to a CO/RT yet their profiles only have them syncing at 1-1.5 megabits and pay close to what Eastlink 5 offers.

I'd ditch Eastlink in a heartbeat if they started capping or doing that whole slow you down to dialup speeds if you download too much
Radian600
join:2002-09-30
Kentville, NS

Radian600

Member

fast for me



I just got that before logging in. You won't see that on Aliant. And Aliant is a pain for many because their IP changes so rapidly.

I also like to support a local company. It's good for the economy. At least I think Eastlink is smaller then Aliant.

Anyway, it's been pretty good for me.
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

2 edits

jericho7

Member

Re: fast for me

again read the other posts , that test means crap cause its within eastlinks own network plus its an http test, eastlink doesn't throttle http this has already been discussed also so your post doesn't accomplish anything. HTTP is the main priority for eastlink thats why its not throttled, all other protocols are throttled, some are throttled more then others. Most of us get those speed results from http speedtests :S

Review by matt_r6 See Profile

  • Location: Dartmouth, NS, Canada
  • Cost: $60 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
Extremely Fast Download
Extremely Slow Upload
Great if you never plan to upload
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

This is the better provider in Nova Scotia for high speed downloads.

As others have said, the tech support/customer service works on a "sorry, but no" basis. Only way to get any kind of "yes" response is to talk to a manager, or the managers manager. When I first started getting charged, they were double billing me and initially refused to reinburse me for the second billing! (settled it now, finally, months later)

My main problem with eastlink is if you do any kind of online gaming, there is not enough upstream to host a game. In some games (ex. Formula One:CE for PS3) if you get designated as host (you don't get to choose), the game will start but it will fail shortly thereafter. In Warhawk for PS3, you get tested before you can host a game, and this is a game that supports up to 32 players. I can not host a game larger than 10 players. Most people can do at least 24. Some 32.

I use bittorrent legally to get the YDL Linux for ps3 (freeware). Eastlink throttles bittorrent so bad I was lucky to break the 10KB/s barrier on my upstream. It took days to download what should have taken hours (they throttle download too). I know they are throttling because once I started using encrypted transfers, the speed started to rise to what seems to be a blanket upstream cap of 30KB/s. I know torrents only perform as well as the swarm, but it was obvious throttling after downloading it 5 times from different trackers.

In any event. Download good (except torrents), Upload terrible.

member for 16.5 years, 5 visits, last login: 16.4 years ago
lodged 16.5 years ago


townie2
@eastlink.ca

townie2

Anon

encrypted transfers?

please tell us newbs more about encrypted transfers, what they are and do. how can we speed up downloads? mine are pathetically slow. using utorrent.
jerak
join:2006-07-06

jerak

Member

Re: encrypted transfers?

I am a long time eastlink user, and have not noticed any throttling re. torrent protocol. I have not encrypted my transfers, (you can do this with programs like UTorrent) and routinely see download speeds over 500k/s. Are you using a static ip on the box you are downloading with?

I have had problems with eastlink re. intermittent drops in speed/line quality which I am routinely told by tech staff are either not occurring or an issue on my end (not just typical cable full-pipe issues either). I have recently moved and upgraded to their 15M connection, and I currently see no difference at all from the 5M connection I was on.
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

jericho7

Member

Re: encrypted transfers?

thats cause there isnt much differece, even a superviser at eastlink opened his bigmouth on another forum and said that they are throttling almost every protocol except for some http, and nntp is throttled to 4mbits and ftp is throttled to 5mbits and the only time you will see anything over 5 mbits is either there http speedtest or possibly a premium newserver nntp port other then 119 unless they have started throttling the other ports all these premium newservers are using now which i heard they have started to throttle those as well.

Murph
@eastlink.ca

Murph

Anon

No Throttling, Bittorrent or otherwise

There is no throttling of bittorrent, downloads, or uploads with eastlink. If you cant host games or arn't connectable for bittorrent, you should make sure you have all the proper ports forwarded to the proper devices. Also try putting your PS3 on the DMZ zone of your router, this will allow anyone to connect to it. I used to have that problem with my 360, but as soon as i gave it a DMZ address I havent had a problem with it
jericho7
join:2001-07-20
Halifax, NS

1 edit

jericho7

Member

Re: No Throttling, Bittorrent or otherwise

Murph , your either very stupid or are an employee with eastlink ,i think you are the later. They are throttling ports and protocols so don't come on here and say they aren't throttling anything until you actually do some research which i and others have already done and also the fact that eastlink has admitted to throttling so theres not much more to say. theres even an article up in the coast paper where they even admit to the throttling so nice try.

Read:

»www.thecoast.ca/119846.1 ··· .subpub=
matt_r6
join:2007-09-14
Dartmouth, NS

matt_r6 to Murph

Member

to Murph
There is nothing wrong with my network setup. I already have my ps3 in the DMZ, but it will work fine without it. I do not use DHCP. Everything is set up for static IP's. I have checked all of the settings and tried a lot of things to improve performance (like removing router from the equation) with no luck. The ps3 is wired into the router.

Like I said I can host games I just don't have enough bandwidth available to host a full sized game. Eastlink could care less about this because the majority of customers do not use the internet in this manner and therefore do not complain about the issue.

I can connect to bittorrent, and it is pretty obvious that the speed the restricted on the upstream, which likely means it is restricting my ps3's upstream in the same manner.

At the end of the day this will never get fixed until the average user starts running into this problem and starts complaining more frequently.

Review by magwa999 See Profile

  • Location: Louisbourg, NS, Canada
  • Cost: $41 per month
  • Install: about 4 days
?
line compression
for the money and location not a bad deal.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

As with any cable company you never get the advertised speed but seems really less with this one. I have used several different ones throughout Canada and US and find that Comcast had the best speeds with little or no compression. The bottom line is having cable internet on Cape Breton is a blessing compression or no compression this beats dial-up by a mile but as with any luxury in life it costs!

member for 16.7 years, 2 visits, last login: 16 years ago
lodged 16.7 years ago


Review by lmno0 See Profile

  • Location: canada
  • Cost: $45 per month
Convenience. Bundle phone, cable and internet for one reasonable rate.
Internet is really becoming more and more unreliable.
I you do alot of bandwidth heavy activities, you may want to explore other options.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I have been subscribing to Eastlink Hi-Speed Internet for the past two years now and I have been noticing a gradual decline in the speed that originally attracted me to the service. I have always visited sites like BroadbandReports.com and PCPitstop.com and my internet speed has been roughly cut in half since I originally began subscribing. Back about a year ago my average downloads were at about 3500-4000kbps, with my uploads at about 700-900kbps. Now I'm lucky to get 1500kbps download(while often slipping below the 1mbit mark), w/ 500kbps upload. That's quite a decrease in speed and it's been that way for the past year! My setup hasn't changed. I keep a top notch system which is used primarily for online gaming, which is why speed is very important to me. My brother has Aliant DSL and while it isn't as fast as cable is at peak times, it is much more consistant. Today as I'm writing this, I swear my speeds have dropped as low as 276kbps down and 247kbps up. That's just pathetic. To top it all off, Eastlink have become so nonchalant when it comes to support. You really get the feeling they just don't care. Anyways I think I'll be switching over to Aliant if Eastlink don't resolve this issue.

member for 20.2 years, 12 visits, last login: 20 years ago
lodged 20.1 years ago


Runikepistem
join:2004-01-22
Cornwall, PE

Runikepistem

Member

Too many people on your node ?

Its possible that the reason your service is slowing down, Is that more and more people in your area are on the node that you share with them and that could be causing the slow down on your speeds . Hopefully Eastlink will upgrade to DOCSIS 2.0 to increase the speed
gmac9
join:2001-08-19
Sydney Mines, NS

gmac9

Member

Re: Too many people on your node ?

Sorry but that was a DSL lie... I think the last time i saw that commercial was about 2 years ago when bell south west was sued for false informatiom. cable has the ability to run mutiple frequencies to better maintain the system as aposed to DSL with one frequency...hence the reason you must have dsl filters on your line. Cable can share, because they can....belive me, if dsl could, they would.

Runikepistem
join:2004-01-22
Cornwall, PE

Runikepistem

Member

Re: Too many people on your node ?

I have eastlink

PhJ
@eastlink.ca

PhJ to gmac9

Anon

to gmac9
Yes -- the line can run at multiple frequencies, however the modems cannot. If you have 2 people with say a Terayon modem, and 100 people with a Motorola Surfboard -- the Motorolians are gonna be bogged down more than the Terayons because their frequency range is more populated. If you want proof -- just ask a technician about Cable filters, each modem needs a different one because each modem has a different frequency set.

woli
@bench.com

woli to gmac9

Anon

to gmac9
DSL still does "sharing", i.e. your DSL line ends up at a DSLAM unit which concentrates all incoming DSL lines into connections (mostly ATM VCs) to the ISP.
As these connections almost ever are best effort (unspecified bitrate) the DSLAM's uplink to the ISP is a potential bottleneck.

So there is the "many users connected to your node" effect is there in DSL as well as in Cable....

Wolfgang

sswilson
join:2002-09-26
Shearwater, NS

sswilson

Member

DL / UL speeds dropping

Have to agree with you, but for me the downgrade in service has only been over the last couple of months.

I got an e-mail from the advertising agency for Eastlink based on my previous posts in here looking for info on why I "like" eastlink vrs the local competition (alliant), so I'm wondering if Eastlink is planning on lowering their service to "just above the competition".

My own 3000+ speeds have dropped down to 1700 & on a good day (tonight) 2000+.

I had U/L speeds of 38K this weekend, far off of the 100K I used to get.

I'm hesitant to call to complain based on previous experience, but still am hopeful that they'll bring it back up.
Maethos
join:2001-06-03
Wolfville, NS

Maethos

Member

Re: DL / UL speeds dropping

Funny I'm in Wolfville and my speeds have been a constant 4500+ download/700-900 upload. I guess it depends upon where you are located?

sswilson
join:2002-09-26
Shearwater, NS

sswilson

Member

Re: DL / UL speeds dropping

My understanding of the "Cable is always better vrs. DSL" argument is that it very much depends on where you are regardless of the provider.

Eastlink continues to provide decent service here in Shearwater, and my test speeds seem to have improved over the last little while.

(My buddy up the road was house shopping, so maybe he was taking up all of the bandwidth MLS surfing.... ).