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 Review by diskace 
Posted: 5.4 years ago
member for 7.7 years, 1712 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 undisclosed location
 $29 per month (month by month)
 about 7 days
 Bell Canada
CLEC party: Bell Canada
 "the commercial"
 "when you became a customer"
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very bad quality isp... just very very bad.
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Review by gogh
Posted: 5.5 years ago
member for 5.5 years, 0 visits, last login: 5.5 years ago
Montreal,QC
$30 per month (month by month)
"none"
"this isp is just... bad"
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This connection is REALLY slow, don't wast you're time with them. I'm with b2b2c now and the pain is finished
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Review by sss111
Posted: 5.7 years ago
member for 6.2 years, 2292 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Granby, Qc
$30 per month
Bell Canada
CLEC party: Bell Canada
"Price, Speeds OK and tech are competant..."
"but techs are somewhat unreachable"
 "You get what you pay for... BUT"
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If money is not a problem for you or if you are a "f***ed up hardcore gamer style" user, want an execelent 24/7 363.6(!)day a year bulletproof ISP, just go Sympatico.
But If you already own a modem or can get one for cheap price and do not demand the perfect net connection, AEI may interest you.
Regular AEI HSE is 30$/m without the modem, there is no contract but a 25$ welcome fee(ok but cmon, no contract).
Speeds are very correct : less than 3% of difference with Sympa (you'll never notice it unless you do a good speedtest). I experianced 2 serious downtime with AEI that last something like 1 and 2 weeks in one year and half of service. Speed were like symetrical 56k to 260kbit during these. Anyway I never been completely disconnected from the net during downtimes(web surfing was still pleasant).
For pings, well I was to say "+5 to 15%" but now I do the test :
Sympatico:
Envoi d'une requête 'ping' sur speedtest.cogeco.net [24.226.1.130] avec 32 bytes
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=26 ms TTL=244
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=26 ms TTL=244
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=25 ms TTL=244
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=25 ms TTL=244
minimum = 25ms, maximum = 26ms, average= 25ms
AEI:
Envoi d'une requête 'ping' sur speedtest.cogeco.net [24.226.1.130] avec 32 bytes
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=40 ms TTL=249
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=32 ms TTL=249
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=37 ms TTL=249
Réponse de 24.226.1.130 : octets=32 temps=35 ms TTL=249
minimum = 32ms, maximum = 40ms, average= 36ms
Not only the Sympatico ping is lower but it is more stable so it gives you the main idea. Since I have access to both AEI and Sympatico account, I always login sympa for gaming. But I tested AEI many times and it was quite playable(with MoHAA). I would even say that I didt see so much a differance (on good servers)... but maybe a more hardcore player would tell you another story for that part.
And now the weak part of AEI.  yup, I maybe enjoyed a total of 1 or 2 hours of classical music (really I liked it  ). Perhaps their strategy is to make you happy when they wake you up on the line with a nice "hello how may I help you". Trying to reach an AEI tech is really a relaxing experiance... if you are not in a hurry
at all...
No joke it can be very difficult to reach them and lines close at 5:00pm. M. Answering Machine can do the job but it is not the perfect system to solve a problem. There was also that my case was a bit complicated which has not helped.
But the techs themselves... are 2 tech in 1: when you have the honor to talk to them, you have a tech level 1 + tech level 2 within the same person.. very competant guys.
Maybe you'll never have to meet these great mens(they are just 2 I think) anyway.
Now I write these lines AEI has a somewhat serious ping loss (4 to 9%)(vs sympa acount: 0 to 2 %) then I could not say if it would be multiplayer playable but web surfing and download speeds are perfect though.
As a conclusion, I refer you to paragraph 1 and 2.
As my words of end : maybe i'll soon check if grass is greener @nutnbut.net... for another review. (I have no contract :-P)
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Review by Supern0va
Posted: 5.7 years ago
member for 7.3 years, 14 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
Pierreville,QC
$30 per month
about 1 days
Bell Canada
"Only price"
"Speed is really really slow"
"Avoid at all cost ! Switching back to sympatico"
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Review by rxheaven
Posted: 5.9 years ago
member for 6 years, 94 visits, last login: 2.2 years ago
Montreal,QC
$30 per month
about 15 days
Bell Canada
CLEC party: Bell Canada
"low price, unlimited usage"
"customer service(tech support)"
"they're an "acquired taste""
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***
Update on jan 4th:
I upgraded the ratings for now, since I've had no disconnects to be noted this week-end so far.
speed test:
Your download speed : 1299738 bps, or 1299 kbps.
A 158.6 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 309142 bps, or 309 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!
doctor ping test:
RATING
69.6
better than the average from all best scores.. currently 95.5 from 8461 samples
better than the last hour.. currently 91 from 118 samples
***
I used to be on Videotron, but the 6Gig DL limit and 5Gb UL limit were not enough, there's 4 of us on that connection. At least, speed wasn't an issue though. I thought, by what AEI's website said, that I'd get the same speeds, but without the usage limits, so I made the switch. I turned over my cable modem to get a free DSL modem, it was the biggest mistake ever. I rarely get more than 80 or 90 kB/s (DUmeter). I know I could go back to cable anyway since they have free modem promo, but there's still the bandwith limitation issue. AEI's tech support has been horrible, it worked fine for the first 2 weeks, and since then (few months now) we get disconnected, we get terrible lag, and sometimes we don't even get service (the lights on the modems just dissapear or flash orange and there's no more signal). We changed all the wiring in our house at our expense, then after weeks of dealing with tech support, a Bell tech finally came and his conclusion : the problem sits with your ISP's server. They (AEI) then said they were going to check their server (why they didn't check it BEFORE making me change my wiring and sending me a Bell tech I don't know) but it's been another month now and still no improvement. I'm to a point where I'm just about to call AMEX and dispute the charges that were billed to me for a service I'M NOT getting and AEI won't credit me any downtime.
Did I mention it took 2 WEEKS from my original order to receive the service? They lost my first order, so since their delay is about one week which is bareble, it's only after that first week that I called them back to find out they lost my order confirmation. Ok, mistakes happen, but they could have at least tried to rush my new order, but NOOOO, they made me wait another week again. Then, I got the modem, but it took 2 more days to actually get the service. Terrible.
Did I also mention that everytime I call them, it also means about 30 minutes on hold each time... and I had to call them a lot, always to no avail.
Bottom line is, I gave them their chance, I'm now ready to pay 5 or 10$ more to get Bell Sympatico or maybe B2B2C, I've read good things about them here, but I'd have to go for the 25Gb package for 35$...10Gb wouldn't be enough as there'se 4 of us as I said.
I still gave AEI 2 out of 5 stars for value, since they're cheap and for users who just browse web pages, it could be fine I guess if you're not on a router system and are on no rush to see your page appear. Still better than 56k since it frees up your phone line. But even for that type of customer, I'd recommend getting Videotron basic service which is like 25$ and you don't need to pay for a phone line(if you're like me, a cell phone is all you need).
**UPDATE**
I think I spoke too fast, I have to admit I did my research and in a few minutes I found out I had to change the computer's settings. It's too bad the tech support couldn't help me out with that, it took 3 months for me to find out I could've fixed it within a few minutes.
But I tested my line a few minutes ago and got like 1300 DL, 350 UL speeds so I'll change the settings on all the computers in the house, and ask my roomates if their speed as improved as well. Maybe I'll be able to put AEI on the top ISP list! Although the modem still disconnects more than I'd like it too, and tweeking the computers on the network won't solve THAT.
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Review by Newbie2003
Posted: 5.9 years ago
member for 7.4 years, 1286 visits, last login: 3.2 years ago
York,ON
$54 per month
"Cheapest 3mbps service"
"bad technical support"
"great ISP if you dont need technical support:)"
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I've been with them for 2 years now and i haven't had any problems zince back in september when they had problems with their network not having enough bandwith to handle the flock of people from sympatico signing up for their service. I'll rate this ISP as 4/5.
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Review by attonitus
Posted: 6.1 years ago
member for 6.1 years, 37 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
Montreal,QC
$29 per month
about 6 days
Bell Canada
"cheap"
"tech support apparently non-existent"
"be careful"
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I had about a week of technical bliss - no problems in setup and fast downloads. Then it all went wrong. My account appeared to be disabled; I phoned tech support - left 2 voicemails on different days - no response; the account came back, but it's been varying between 44kps and 200 kps (it should be 1200) for the past 4 days (check the download speed tool results section of this site for details). Their tech support hasn't responded (after 3 days & 2 e-mails) so I can't tell you why.
UPDATE:
Tech support still hasn't responded, but I've diagnosed the problem (at least, the most recent problem) as being a fault with my phone extension. So I'll qualify my review. They're cheap, they appear to be kind of fast, but unless you can guarantee that you can solve any problem that might arise without their help, you should probably look elsewhere
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Review by Myleftoe
Posted: 6.3 years ago
member for 7 years, 104 visits, last login: 1 year ago
North York,ON
$32 per month
about 6 days
Bell Canada
CLEC party: Bell Canada
"cheap"
"The words Tech Support must mean something else in french like Out to Lunch"
"Dont expect any tech support and prey your line works the next day"
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I order the 1.2Mbps service at 32.99/month and purchased the external modem (GNET BB0050) the install process was hairy. I had to use there software because they couldnt tell me what to watchout for if I hooked up the modem to a router, I have 3 computers hooked up to this ADSL modem, but the tech support for my router couldnt tell me anything either. I figured it out my self, my D-link DI-604 was using a DHCP address of 192.168.7.1 and so was my DSL modem I changed the routers IP to 192.168.8.1 and every computer I hooked up to the router connected and I was surfing.
I 've changed these IP's since then for security reason's but the whole hookup process left me with a bad taste in my mouth about this company.I'm using PPPoE through my router, which also has a built-in firewall, 2 pc's use Windows and one uses Linux. the only thing I havent tried is setting up VPN.
If I could find an ISP that works with the same dsl modem I'd switch. I send them an email requesting info about why my service is interrupted every 3 month's. Actually I lose my connection every Sunday Night/Monday Morning at least once a week. Regular service outages demand a response from or at least a post on there web page warning about the outages. I have been contemplating legal action, class action? I have a friend in the legal industry, I'll float the idea and see if its worth my while.
I dont care if the service is $2.00 cheaper than other ISP's, that much of a difference shouldn't justify a lack of tech support/customer service. By the way I've never actually spoken to anyone of them (person to person) since I first joined AEI a year ago. Should I have to speak to a tape recorder( tech support) every month? Every week? Since October of 2002. Am I not patient? Well its worn out my patients
They have transcended into a realm of rude behavior that requires legal action. If it ment that they need to raise there rates to $34.00 a month to cover cost for real tech support would I pay? Nop because I can get local ISP's for that much cash, and if they ticked me off I can stand at there front door and demand satisfaction.
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Review by Jacl3
Posted: 6.3 years ago
member for 6.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 6.3 years ago
Canada
$29 per month (month by month)
about 5 days
Bell Canada
CLEC party: Bell Canada
"Speed is Good Price is Better"
"Alot of Disconnects"
"Over All Good Isp for the money paid."
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I don't know why everyone is insisting that the tech support is so bad, yes you do have to leave a message but the responses have always been fast, ranging from within 2 minutes to 30 minutes. The worst I ever had was when I needed tech Support with Linux (2 or 3 days). But for Windows (98-Me-Xp-2000) and Mac OSX installs I had no problems, the guy walked me through the installation no problem he was very patient.
Basically good ISP and not too expensive, my only problem with them is Frequent disconnects (Average every three days for about 2-5 minutes) But that’s just because I never disconnect and the IP lease time is that.
Not to scare people away, but you get better support with these guys if you do know what you are doing, I’ve found that at least, I've been with them for many years now (5 on dialup and 3 on High Speed)
The connection is PPPoE so the IP is Dynamic, they don’t allow residential customers to have static IP's anyway. I had two problems with them and me running web servers that were un-secure now your not supposed to run one, so I don't have one, they re-hooked me up the first time for free and charged me 50$ the second time, just incase your wondering what the fines resemble.
They now do allow you to rent modems, though I bought my first one from them (an internal Daewoo modem) but had trouble with Microsoft IC Sharing to give internet to my whole network, but i think i could get that working now. So I ended up buying a modem from Future Shop and shared it through a router and several hubs. I’ve had up to 11 people on the net at the same time with still a fairly decent download speed around 130 so its good for that, I've also had 4 or 5 computers playing WolfET on the same online game with no lag ping at about 30-100 ms. I’ve never had any Packet loss that I have noticed so that’s good.
I do recommend it to other people though. Tech support available in English and French, But I’ve only talked to them in English.
Bottom line they have there Flaws at times but I get passed those and still use them, and probably wont switch, the only thing I wish is that they would allow you to run a web server.
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Review by Lfe
Posted: 6.5 years ago
member for 6.5 years, 26 visits, last login: 4.8 years ago
Canada
$30 per month
about 7 days
"low ping, decent speeds"
"dl speed could be higher"
"Great value"
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I used to have access vantage, but they require a fee of 100 dollars for resubscription. They called this some kind of service charge from bell.
Anyways i found Aei and they have a good sales rep. there's a one time registration fee of 25 dollars but u need you own modem. So this plan would work well for me.
Having used bell symapatico and other dsl companies and cable i have to say Aei is a very good value. I miss getting an avg of 115+k dl, but there's not a lot of people who u can dl off that upload at that speed anyways. I'm getting about an avg of 60k dl now. But im getting good upload speed. Don't wanna sound like a sales rep or something but i hate to see Aei get insulted cuz they have been around for a while and they are a good service.
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AEI Internet
