Disillusioned
@ncf.ca
| What are my options here in Ottawa
I refuse to continue to support the Rogers/Bell oligopoly and wish to vote with my wallet. What realistic options do I have?
I left Rogers due to their corporate vision/direction and Internet meddling about 3 years ago when DSL finally became available to me through Bell.
Now Bell has developed the same corporate vision/direction and Internet meddling over the last year or so that Rogers initiated, so I tried to switch to a 3rd party DSL provider, Teksavvy, only to be embargoed by Bell to provision my line.
I am about 10 minutes away from downtown Ottawa. K1B 5E9 will show you where in online maps. |
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ScrewedInOttawa
@rogers.com
| Start buying a lot of postage stamps!
Seriously, I spent a lot of time looking for an alternate ISP in the south end of Ottawa that doesn't use Rogers or Bell. There are wireless and satellite options, but are very expensive with restrictive bandwidth use.
When Rogers increased the downlink speed to 3 Mbps from 1 Mbps for the same price on the Lite plan, I held my nose and switched from Teksavvy DSL ( at 2400 Mbps ) to Rogers.
Spite will get you nothing, go for the service that's the best value for your $. |
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Jazdi
@acanac.net
| reply to Disillusioned
Based on the postal code you provided, it would seem Primus has their own DSLAM at your CO. So $35/mo from them would get you up to 7mb unlimited DSL. Of course, like all DSL, you're going to be limited by how far you are from the CO. It might also be worth looking at their bundles if you're trying to starve Bell and Rogers of as much revenue as possible.
»www.primustel.ca/en/residential/···es-g.htm |
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Disillusioned
@ncf.ca
| Thanks for the suggestion but checking their online availability tool provides "not available for Primus High Speed Internet Service at this time". I will call their 877 number to confirm this.
Apparently my dsl service was provided by a Bell remote and therefore is "embargoed" for 3rd party providers. The CO from which I am served from what I am told is 8km away in Vanier on Montreal Road near River Road. |
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Disillusioned
@ncf.ca
| reply to ScrewedInOttawa
I do appreciate your comment, but until the masses come to realize what a sad state broadband is in this country, apathy ("hold my nose" and choosing the lesser of two evils) will only allow the incumbents to continue down this path.
I wish more people would wake up to the true lack of broadband access/competition in Canada and the fact that at present, competition is a fallacy. The network (common carrier) really does need to be separated from the service provider (retailer) to allow for true open competition to come to fruition in Canada. Reading through some reports, North America suffers greatly due to this, and is hindering broadband development greatly. |
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jyeung
inspiration reality
Premium
join:2004-03-30
North York, ON | reply to Disillusioned
CIA/3Web is your cable alternative in Ottawa. Not sure of their performance there though.
- Jason |
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zepperdude
join:2001-12-19
Ottawa, ON | What bandwidth cap does 3web/CIA have? |
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apn
join:2009-05-07
canada | Performance/Caps etc. are all the same as Rogers, since the service is a reseller on the Rogers network. |
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bt
join:2009-02-26
canada | reply to Disillusioned
Having been on a Bell remote, your only options to avoid Bell and Rogers and still have high speed are 3web/CIA for cable, or wireless. |
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bt
join:2009-02-26
canada
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to zepperdude
said by zepperdude  :What bandwidth cap does 3web/CIA have? 3web itself does not have a bandwidth cap, but certain users are routed through Rogers equipment. Those users are held to the same cap as Rogers subscribers.
More info on that can be found in this thread: »3web/CIA Caps? |
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