Review by steveleach Location: Cobourg, ON, Canada Cost: $69 per month (24 month contract) Install: about 7 days Started out great. Completely unreliable speed. Try anything else other than RuralWave

Pre Sales Information: Install process: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

It started out great. I live 500 metres from the tower and figured that is should be ok. Well, it isn't. I started out with the business package, but all that does is allow you to leave messages on their answering service. No point thinking you have a special service for that one. So I changed to their "Monsoon" package, which was supposed to give me 8 mbps. Guess what? For the first few hours I was getting over 15 mbps! Now, a day later, it has dropped and dropped. As I am writing this, I am getting about 1 mbps. If you think you can get NetFlix with RuralWave, or even stream Internet radio without buffering, forget it. I am not sure what to do about this one because I think I have some sort of binding contract, but we'll see.

About 3 months later ... not as bad as it was, but still quite slow. I often get buffering on InterNet radio, NetFlix is Ok, but no hi def for sure. RuralWave customer service is pretty good. I still would like to hear more about Xplornet's Satellite 10mbps service. Haven't seen any reviews on that yet. Does it really exist?

Now I am about 18 months with RW. This is pitiful. Very frustrating. The signal keeps cutting out for 30 seconds at a time ever few minutes.

Doug054 @barrettxplore.com Doug054 Anon 2015-Jan-26 10:52 am xplornet It sucks. I have been on the satellite for about two years. It is up and down like a toilet seat. It to has become unreliable. All of my neighbours are on it also as that is all we can get here right now. We are all having problems. We have actually been looking a Rural Wave as they appear to be the only other ones who can get in here with a signal. 2015-Jan-26 10:52 am: · hey mods ·
steveleach join:2011-08-20 Cobourg, ON steveleach Member 2015-Feb-2 9:03 am RuralWave vs Xplornet Doug - thanks. My neighbour has Xplornet (the 5mbps package which really is between 1 and 4mbps), and it isn't great. About the same as what I get with RuralWave. I have noticed an increase in speed, however the problem I have been having recently is that my signal stops for about 30 seconds, every 3 to 10 minutes. Some days it doesn't happen at all. It is frustrating when streaming Internet radio. RW suggested it is a problem with my router, but I don't think so as it is intermittent. If someone else out there has RW I'd like to know if they have the same problem. 2015-Feb-2 9:03 am: · hey mods ·
	eh @telus.com eh Anon 2015-Feb-5 10:25 am Re: RuralWave vs Xplornet »RuralWave Review this is an interesting/funny conversation between RW and another one (or two) of their customers. You might want to ask them about their experiences. 2015-Feb-5 10:25 am: · hey mods ·
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Review by BillyBob34 Location: Hampton, ON, Canada Cost: $50 per month Since a change on 3/14/2012 system has been reasonably good most times. Prior to 3/14/2012 speed was intermittent. I finally gave up on them.

Pre Sales Information: Install process: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I'm in a very rural area surrounded by hills. Wireless internet was the only reasonable option for me. I had satellite internet service but it degraded to the point that dial-up would have been faster.

RuralWave.ca specializes in providing internet for rural communities. The install was fast and painless. Service techs are friendly. For several years now the speeds have been inconsistent with frequent outages and I've often considered switching to another ISP but the only other options available here are Bell wireless and Rogers wireless. I haven't because their cost structure for cap overages is very high.

May 13, 2012

Two months after my first review, RuralWave has been providing good service for me. Except for weekends, they have been providing me with exactly the 5Mb service I'm paying for.

On weekends, the speeds are hit and miss - always better than they were before their change to PPPoE, but often significantly lower than 5Mb. There are frequent short outages of several seconds.

My neighbor was a RuralWave customer but has given up in disgust after never being able to get a reliable connection and has gone with a Bell Turbo hub.

There is now a new wireless ISP offering service in my area. They've put a tower on our street!

I'm going to be watching RW speeds closely. Before the end of summer I may end up also being a former customer.

July 29, 2012

Well, I'm leaving Rural Wave. On June 27 I notified RW I would be cancelling my service with them effective July 31 and confirmed it in writing and by fax about 10 days later. On July 20 I had a problem with slow speeds and reported it to them. Their first response was "You cancelled, why are you reporting problems?" I explained I was paid through July 31 and would be using them until then. Then it was "There is no problem". When I documented the problem for them their reply was "If this gets corrected are you willing to stay on?"
followed later by a message saying "I don't want to waste valuable resources dispatching a tech and using L2 administrators to deal with the issue for 1 week of service". They did fix the problem later that day without sending out a tech.

On the evening of July 27 they cancelled my service and cut my access. When I talked to their support desk the next morning it was "because I had cancelled and their billing cycle ended the day before". I explained that I had an invoice showing I was paid through the end of July. At noon I received a call back saying that my service was restored and it had been their mistake. No offer to make up for the 15 hours of lost service.

The way my cancellation has been handled has completely confirmed my opinion that they have one tech support guy who should NEVER be allowed to talk to customers. All the rest of their staff appears to be friendly and competent.

If you are considering using Rural Wave as your ISP I have the following advice:
1) check your service frequently using speedtest.net and pingtest.net to make sure you're getting what you're paying for.
2) expect things to slow down on weekends and sometimes in the evenings.
3) don't be surprised if you encounter a real jerk sometimes when you have to contact them regarding a problem.

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Review by cinchup Location: Bethany, ON, Canada Cost: $70 per month (24 month contract) quick to install there equipment very poor speed,unreliable,constant sign on not impressed

Pre Sales Information: Install process: Connection reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

well i have to start off that i was with bell wimax service before ruralwave it was great till after about 6th months then i stared to have issues. After multiple calls and several service appointments they admitted they had over sold the tower by over 200 ppl so they let me out of the contract. Then I contacted ruralwave a small company from sunderland Ont. the salesman set me up with them and did not mention there general accounts you need to sign in every 24hrs which is a huge pain in the asx and it cost me 400$ for equipment install and B.S . Great its all up and working well i got fed up with the sign in crap so up graded to a small business package that i was told i don't have to sign in, again crap you still need to once every couple weeks and a big pain if your using a router. There tech support well if you call be prepared to wait, its always an answering service if they ever call you back, several times it would be a couple days. I also found most people i have spoke with there rude and not interested in helping

Now as far as speed hummm limited at best not bad during the day i get around 3-5 m download speed but after 5pm im lucky to get 75kb not what i should be getting and i have friends with them as well and basically the same thing. There tech support says its your computer lol well i have had 5 or more people here, using there own here, and same thing (no router connected). And my friends who are with them have the same issues come on get real. All in all when my 2 year contract ends this fall i will not be renewing that's for sure. I will no longer deal with them and not impressed , I get better browsing on my phone that i pay much less for. Seems all of the rural company's are more interested in sales than quality service

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