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ikTel Networks - Niagara ISP

It looks like they're based out of Niagara Electronics on McLeod Road in the Falls, which oddly enough is located right next door the main Cogeco production facility for the Niagara Region.

And a Cogeco TPIA wholesaler?! Holy dogshit stop the presses!!! The world is coming to an end!

I wonder what their transfer limits are like. They don't mention anything.

Website seems broken though. I entered a bunch of valid postal codes in St. Catharines and Niagara Falls and it kept telling me unavailable.

Edit - the lookup works. Just put a space between the two parts of the postal code. Says it's available in my area. I'll fire them off an email and see what they say.

reply to FiagaraNalls
Here's their response...

quote:

---

Dear Gone:

Thanks for visiting our website and for your question. Please could you
provide the postal code of the premises where need the service. Your name
and phone is coming up under:
[Information they looked up was actually my father in St. Cats, I'm in Fort Erie]

If you had checked with the postal code above, yes it is available otherwise
provide me with specific postal code in Fort Erie for us to verify it. If it
passes the online test, then it is available.

To your other concern, about bandwidth congestion, we are offering unlimited
bandwidth usage at the moment(COGECO does not offer this). Our internet
backhaul is via fiber which is 100mbits/sec at Niagara falls and does not
come from COGECO. We share the same intra-city coax wires but there is a
complete separation of our networks. COGECO's customer base does not affect
our bandwidth.

I hope this address some of the questions but do not hesitate to ask more.

Regards

---

reply to FiagaraNalls
Seems like a very mickey mouse company.

More than 75% of their website is "error 404".

Terms are not viewable. No privacy policy.

Seems like someone working out of their mommy's basement and who hasn't figured out what a webpage is yet, never mind the terms, conditions and other..

reply to FiagaraNalls
I'd be worried about network performance if they are selling
50mbit packages and only have a 100mbit backhaul.

reply to justsomeguy8

reply to pfft avoid
I got a similar Engrish reply. At the prices they quote, I think I'll try it. I'm sick of the bad service I'm getting from TekSavvy dsl. I had 4mbit since September, and 3 weeks ago it dropped to less than 1mbit. 2 Bell techs say the signal is fine, after moving me from a 5mbit profile to a 3mbit, but I can't even break 1mbit. Time for a change.

reply to neko
This isn't the cogeco forum. All I was commenting on is that the email this guy received back from Iktel said they had a 100mbit/s backhaul which I thought was surprising considering their website advertises 50mbit/s packages.

Its good to hear that they aren't selling those packages yet because if they were it would only take 2 customers to saturate their pipe.

reply to FiagaraNalls
Let me know how it goes for you FiagaraNalls. I'm heading up to their office in the next day or so to pick up a modem and give it a whirl.

I wonder what the POI layout in Niagara is like. I get the feeling that St. Cats, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, Thorold and NOTL are one one or two POIs, whereas Welland, Port Colborne and the Western half of the region are on different ones.

Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, Thorold and NOTL maybe a single POI
St. Catharine's has it's own according to the TPIA POI list.
Welland has a POI listed.

There has definitely been fiber ran from the downstairs unit at that complex to the Cogeco facility next door confirmed from people in the area, so everything seems up and up.

The rates are kinda funny. The cents on each tier are identical to the TPIA tiers. It's an exact dollar mark up.
For instance, Speed Tier 1 $16.07 from TPIA = HSI-Lite $21.07. Everything is an exact dollar markup.

There is now a working compare link to a pdf. All tiers have a Usage allowance higher than Cogeco's retail offerings.
Cable HSI-Lite Usage 30GB, overage $1.00/gb
Cable HSIUltra Lite Usage 60GB overage $1.00/gb
Cable HSI-Standard Usage 125GB overage $0.90/gb
Cable HSI-Pro 16Mbps Usage 200GB overage $0.90/gb
Cable HSI-Pro 50Mbps Usage Unlimited

All have a max overage charge of $12.

None of this is in line with the current Cogeco TPIA agreement. I'm really curious as to what kind of agreement was set up, or if this is all still in flux.

There is an unlimited promotion for first 3 months for unlimited Downloads and uploads now according to the site.

I'm quite interested to take the dive myself. I'm sick of paying dry loops fees and bonding to get a real world 8/1.3mbps at the price of $90+ a month, but how far can you really get with one 100mbps link serving everyone.

I eagerly await feedback from you early adopters.

Hanks

reply to neko

I just read the updated version of the TPIA Tariff from Cogeco's LEGAL section on their site. Section 5.2 has been updated:

5.2 Customers are responsible for providing transmission facilities between their Premises and the splicing enclosure at the POI. Interconnections at the
POI must be made via (a) one or more dedicated DS3’s, (b) Fast Ethernet 100Base-FX, (c) OCS Packet over Sonet, (d) ATM, (e) Gigabit Ethernet or
other mutually agreed on high-speed telecommunications facility. The rates in this Tariff do not include the provision of such transmission facilities.

5.2(e) is new as of February 2011 the Tariff includes GigE line cards. I think the issue at hand at the moment in Cogeco is the Caps since it is clearly spelled out in the Tariff that Usage per tier is tied to Cogeco's retail offerings and outlandish UBB fee's. These fee's appear to be at %15 of cogeco's retails UBB charges, but with the same maximum charge. Oddly enough Speed Tier 5 50/1.5Mbps TPIA cost is actually greater than Cogeco's retail offering. Monthly Tariff rate is $109.00 while Cogeco unbundled Retail rate is $104.95. Tariffs have no matching Speed Tier for Ultimate 30.

So that's a lot of nonsense to the thread at hand, but this revised Tariff clearly states GigE interfaces.

reply to Hanks

Well if that's the case I think I'm going to give it a trial run myself. The 14/1 Tier seems the best deal for both consumer and wholesaler based off TPIA rates, and at $34.79 + tax for a few months I can afford to keep my current Tek setup for 3 months along side it to check it out and see what happens at that point.

Thank you for the information. I still wonder why Cogeco isn't charging. They filed in 2010 to be able to, and the only thing the CRTC made them change was to add a discount to the UBB rates after the Bell ruling of the same.

Do they just not have anything in place for the moment to be able to charge? Did the CRTC "review" make the Cable Co's wary of charging UBB until all the dust settled? I would love for this to all work out nicely I'd just really like some more information about why the tariff isn't being strictly enforced.

Well here's the thing, even in the IAW TPIA days, Cogeco still wasn't able to charge bandwidth on them.

I'm picking up the modem this afternoon. I'll post a report as soon as I get it home and hook it up.

reply to FiagaraNalls
$0 installation fee?!?!?

All plans use DCM425? Even the 50mbit tier?

Still, very interesting development.

I picked up a modem last week. Cogeco comes Monday to hook up the line. Luckily I don't work Monday because it's an 8am-5pm deal.
I'll report back after I've had it for a day or two.