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Review by ravneet  - Location: Brampton,ON
- Cost: $40 per month
- Install: about 7 days
Good "I am using cik service. Good service and lot of savings.Loved the price "
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most of the providers put on contract good thing about cik, is no contract and very low price for bundle of home phone (VOIP) and internet.
In some areas bell provide 5mbps and if we check speed its only 3/4 which I believe is normal with any other company as well and they are providing 15mbps FTTN which is good enough. order process was fast.
member for 24 days, 0 visits, last login: 24 days ago
updated 24 days ago
Comments:
| Review by thetriad - Location: Richmond Hill,ON
- Cost: $55 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 14 days
Good "Price"
Bad "Everything else"
Overall "Stay away"
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Exactly one month after I got their service. I started getting slow speeds when gaming or watching videos even on youtube. 25/mbit drops to 2-3, ping in games went from 50-80ms to over 600ms sometimes hitting 1500ms. Emailed them last night, they told me someone would call me in the morning. Of course no one called me back. I called a few times into their support and after about 4 dropped calls while waiting. I finally got a tech support person who immediately pretended they couldn't hear me and dropped my call. I highly suggest people stay away from them, it's the most unprofessional company I've ever seen. Hell I've been trying to call customer service to cancel the service and I still get dropped calls...
In the end it's still great for the price only if you never get issues. (Yeah right)
One last thing, regarding any deposit paid to them and any deals they told you while signing up. Forget about it, it's not getting honored. They lie to you nonstop.
member for 41 days, 0 visits, last login: 41 days ago
lodged 41 days ago
Comments:
 | | You problem Bad Ethernet cable | |
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| Review by mugurd - Location: Kanata,ON
- Cost: $50 per month
Good "Fast install, nice modem/GW"
Bad "NO tech support, no chat, no email replies - unless one escalates. 1Mbps D/L speed (down from 45)"
Overall "Was OK for 1 month...then the nightmare started"
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Modem arrived 5 days before install, a Technicolor (Thomson) DCW775. Nice piece of hardware but NO useful user guide whatsoever. Google being your friend, you will eventually be able to log in and even set it to bridge mode.
Rogers came in 10 min early on the day of the install (7.50am) which was impressive, did their work ( cabling was already all in place) and 1 hr later the activation went through and I got sync.
First tests (at that time of day) all went fine >50-60Mbps d/l and 4 Mbps u/l...I am on a 45/4 plan.
A week later I have no complaints, Rogers even dropped by this morning to check if I'm happy (?).
On average I get at least 20Mbps at peak times - that could drop if more people sign up in Kanata where I live.
A bit of a negative is the fact that it's hard to get your point across when dealing with the CSR so I gave up setting up automatic debit and caved in to allow VISA payments, although that's not what I wanted.
Bills could be more detailed, as I had a hard time understanding the 1 day prorated charge on mine...it was lumped into the monthly payment.
I can only hope things will get better with user feedback and patience. Same goes for the website - really bad and one can end up ordering the same service for higher price depending on the links.
Now what about that TV service? I cut BellTV 6 months ago and still couldn't find an alternative.
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Should mention I had Bell Fibe 25 before and not only I was paying a hefty price and only getting 16/4, but I got royally screwed when they started to offer unlimited. Despite being promised the service at an extra 10$/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/2858343···G][/URL]
Tech support is non-existent, I got dropped 3 times after 15 min on hold.
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member for 12.3 years, 264 visits, last login: 5 days ago
updated 72 days ago
Comments:
Reviews:
 ·CIKTEL Telecom
| 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/2696385593.png | |
| | Reviews:
·CIKTEL Telecom
| 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  | |
| | | | | 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. | |
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| | | Took me 15 min to open this page...STAY AWAY!  | |
| Reviews:
·CIKTEL Telecom
| 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. | |
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·callwithus
·Callcentric
| 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.... | |
| | |  MJB
join:2012-01-29 | Re: Lame....look elsewhere most likely a capacity issue... apoi... has a disadvantage... | |
| | | | | | |  DavePC
join:2013-08-18
Scarborough, ON | Re: Lame....look elsewhere interesting, is your IP geolocating to Washington? try using a toronto server. | |
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·CIKTEL Telecom
| 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. | |
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| Review by yujiewang - Location: Mississauga,ON
- Cost: $40 per month (12 month contract)
Good "unlimited"
Bad "low speed, dsl drops constantly"
Overall "just horrible never get it"
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its just so horrible that even for 40 dollars a month unlimited, u should never get it, download speed is slow and the connection drops every 5 minutes so if u are playing a game online, u will get disconnected alot
member for 79 days, 0 visits, last login: 79 days ago
lodged 79 days ago
Comments:
| 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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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 87 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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| Review by spookstaz2 - Location: Dorval,QC
- Cost: $34 per month (12 month contract)
Good "The price"
Bad "Useless connection + useless tech support"
Overall "If you have problems don't call support, just cancel the service."
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Signed up for their dry loop DSL because there was a $34 + tax 1 year promotion + free modem.
When the modem arrived it was a no-name "made in china" modem. The dry loop installation itself went smoothly.
However my connection with was unreliable from day one, with very high packet loss and frequent connection dropouts. In addition I was only getting 1 Megabit at best during prime time hours.
When I called in for tech support they would tell me to reset my modem and then they would call me back. Unfortunately the problem was the fact that i had to reboot my modem several times a day, which I tried many times to explain to them but they just seemed to want to get rid of me as quickly as possible without fixing my problem. Another problem was they would often not call me back when they promised to. I really wish they would have just stayed on the line with me.
In the end I decided that I would like a different Internet service so I cancelled it. They charged me for an extra 30 days even though it is illegal to do that in Quebec. I was desperate to leave so I just paid it.
member for 11 years, 7 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 102 days ago
Comments:
| Review by duracellx88 - Location: North York,ON
- Cost: $50 per month
- Install: about 7 days
Good "good deal, great value"
Bad "Haven't found any yet"
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Signed up for their cable 45/4 service on May 24th, received modem on the 26th and had it installed on the 31th, booked everything online and it was a pleasing experience. Honestly I was having second thought on switching over to this new company (small/Chinese operated) because there aren't many reviews on the web I can refer to, but since my Distributel DSL service (10/1mb) was way too expensive ($60/mo) for the speed they offered, I decided to give CIK a try, and yes they have a 30day satisfaction guarantee in case you are not happy with them you can always get your money back.
Few days after signing up they gave me a call to confirm my installation date, also an email for the modem delivery (with tracking#), and another email again for installation date, then a Rogers technician came during the time period I had requested to install the service. Overall I had a great experience as far as the whole sign-up process is concerned, they made me happy.
as far as connection speed, I'm getting around 50/4Mbps throughout the day, haven't noticed any speed drop during peak hours yet, I'm near York Mills/DVP/Victoria Park area, so I guess it's reliable so far.
I didn't go for their bundle IPTV/VoiP service so I had to purchase the cable modem for $99, and I just noticed today that the $10-off promotion has ended so for the 45/4 plan it costs $59.99 now, in case you wonder why I put $50 here.
as for the customer service, I haven't had a chance to call them about anything yet, I hope I won't have to either, will keep updating if anything comes around.
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member for 123 days, 2 visits, last login: 86 days ago
updated 123 days ago
Comments:
| Review by Doctor - Location: undisclosed location
- Cost: $99 per month
- Install: about 7 days
Good "Paper Bills, I was pampered, modem delivered directly to my home instead of the post office, they know how to treat a customer"
Bad "Sadly not all companies know how to treat a customer like this."
Overall "They say "The Customer is King", but that's an understatement, I was pampered from start to finish."
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I have several accounts that I am slowly moving over from Teksavvy and I decided to give CIK Telecom The Customer is King a chance with one of my accounts due to hearing good things about them.
I signed up with and chose their "Chinese New Years Special", which waived the installation fee on their 150/10 cable internet package.
I called up and within seconds I will speaking a gentleman who called himself "Mr Zhou". I knew right there I had made the right choice. It was refreshing to converse with someone (both ways) using "mister" as a sign of respect. This is something that has been lost in business these days. I knew he respected and valued me as a customer.
He seemed a bit distant on the phone and when I inquired as to why, he said CIK's offices in Toronto and Vancouver were busy, so the call was routed to their head office in Shanghai. He also said the customer is king and they like to pamper them, so they make every effort to not have customers waiting on the phone like other companies sometimes do.
I was impressed. I was not dealing with a small time player here.
We went through the sign up process and everything was going very smoothly. When I inquired about a paper bill Mr. Zhou said they don't generally mail out paper bills, but because they know how important a paper bill is to me, they would like to pamper me and were willing to send a paper bill to me monthly free of charge.
This is how you do business.
For the account in question, I also required a new DCM476 to take advantage of the speeds in the Chinese New Years package/special. I asked if they ship the modem directly to the home/office instead of doing a "card for pickup" option which is very inconvenient. He replied "Of course they send the modem directly to your home."
At this point he was saying all the right things and it was a breath of fresh air compared to the experiences I had in the past.
I had noticed he used the word "pamper" several times during our conversation. So I asked, "Is there any other free perks that CIK uses to pamper their clients? I want to be sure I am making the right decision becoming a client of your company."
He certainly was using the right word when he used pamper. The pampering includes;
1) Free home VOIP service that can be used as your main or backup telephone service.
2) An online casino that Mr Zhou said was affiliated with CIK in which all new clients get a $50 complimentary credit after you put in a special promo code from CIK. Plus complimentary casino credits awarded monthly to 5 lucky CIK clients.
3) Birthday card sent to you on your birthday.
4) 24 hour worldwide technical support.
5) Free long distance across North America.
This is just a few.
When the date of activation came for my service I was up and running like CIK promised. I even received a call from a Mr Gao who identified himself as the "director of client service". He wanted to confirm if everything was working. You really couldn't ask for more.
I did a speed test and I was getting 180, not the 150 that was promised. I was impressed. The service has been rock solid since activation.
I am surprised to say this, but I don't think I've ever been treated nicer as a client than how CIK has treated me. I truly feel that as a customer I am king. Not only that, I was truly pampered.
member for 313 days, 141 visits, last login: 48 days ago
updated 130 days ago
Comments:
| | Hilarious 10/10, would lol again | |
| | | can i trust this review???  sounds like bad infomercial to me | |
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 creed3020Premium
join:2006-04-26
Kitchener, ON
kudos:2 | CIK Lost me at online casino. | |
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| Review by chickenla - Location: Mississauga,ON
- Cost: $63 per month (12 month contract)
- Install: about 6 days
Good "Great value for money."
Bad "Some congestion issues during peak hours on some days."
Overall "Internet + IPTV + VOIP Service Bundle offers great value for Chinese customers."
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I was with Acanac for almost a year and a half. I have no complaints while I was with Acanac but I decided to jump to CIK Telecom for their Internet + IPTV + VOIP Service Bundle. I am paying $60 a month for the 45Mbit down and 4Mbit upload internet bundle plan. Cable modem, voip adapter and IPTV set top box are all extra but given to you for free if you prepay for an entire year's worth of service. I've prepaid for an entire year with Acanac before so I was not adverse prepaying with another company, at least this time I've received I get a free modem.
Since I was already with Acanac, there was almost no installation required since I had everything already setup. I still had to pay the $70 activation fee, a Rogers technician was sent but had to do almost no work while he was work.
The website looks poorly made and obvious they used some type of Chinese to English translator. It gets job I guess.
I received a technicolor dcm476 DOCSIS 3 modem, Grandstream HT502 VOIP adapter and MC100 IPTV set top box. The cable modem seems to be really hot so I have a small 45nm fan on the top off the modem to cool the device. I have not tried calling with VOIP yet, not until my number has been ported to Cik Telecom.
The IPTV set top box is an interesting device. it comes with a remote and it's actually a small android 4 device with a chinese soc 1ghz Cortex-A7 chip. It's fairly powerful, and can play my library of 1080p+ videos hosted on my file server no problem. There are also USB ports so you can actually mount harddrives and sdcards on the device for more space. Plus its a full fledged android device so you can install apps and even use a usb keyboard and mouse The channels free with the bundle are from China/Taiwan/Hong Kong so it's an alternative from the local Chinese channels.
The first day I was using this internet, the speed during peak hours was horrible. I was getting around 3-9mbps and huge pings. I called technical support late at night, apparently they are all Chinese workers in China so that allows them to have 24/7 support, and they have super thick accents. I told them about the congestion issue and they fixed it the next day.
The VOIP is great, call quality is decent, with unlimited canada wide calling included. The international calling plan is a three dollar upgrade with my plan
Overall the service is great on the west end of Mississauga. Provides great value for the money spent. I'd recommend the switch even if you need to watch Talentvision or Fairchild for Mandarin or Cantonese channels, you get the same TV shows directly from China and Hong Kong with set top and no need to pay for the over priced local tv channels @ bell or rogers which you can watch for free with an antenna or online.
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member for 168 days, 12 visits, last login: 18 days ago
updated 157 days ago
Comments:
| Review by moffa - Location: Ajax,ON
- Cost: $50 per month
- Install: about 7 days
Good "Service has been great"
Bad "Communication has been slightly difficult"
Overall "A good service"
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So checking around the forums I couldn't find any real reviews for this company. They are an ISP located in North York, ON. The customer service reps are all Chinese and while some have pretty heavy accents, they are understandable and understand me quite fine.
So far download speeds have always been great (25 Mbit). I had some issues with installation where the Bell tech didn't wire my modem properly, I tried to fix it myself but still had problems. CIK Tech Support sent another technician over and talking with Bell my profile was updated to 25/10.
Reliability has been good and tech support is helpful - their live chat feature is far better than waiting on hold on the phone.
After being patient dealing with the 25/7 vs 25/10 issue, I can say they are a good ISP and I recommend them.
member for 5.9 years, 383 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 199 days ago
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