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uniqs
130425

FiagaraNalls
@teksavvy.com

FiagaraNalls

Anon

ikTel Networks - Niagara ISP

Howdy, has anyone heard of ikTel networks?

»cable.iktel.ca/index.php

I can't find any info or reviews on them, and their prices seem very good. Has anyone tried them? I've been having so many issues with TekSavvy I'm looking for other options.

Thanks

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

1 edit

Gone

Premium Member

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.
Gone

Gone to FiagaraNalls

Premium Member

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

Sounds like the standard TPIA fare that Cogeco is currently offering.

pfft avoid
@videotron.ca

pfft avoid to FiagaraNalls

Anon

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..

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by pfft avoid :

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..

*shrug* IAW's website was the same way for the longest time and they were a Cogeco TPIA provider. For all I know these are the same people who took a drive down Schisler Road and started up again.

They offered me a free month to try it. I'm thinking it over. I've got nothing to lose really. The lack of terms or a privacy policy does indeed concern me, though.
justsomeguy8
join:2007-10-08
N5M3Z3

justsomeguy8 to FiagaraNalls

Member

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

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by justsomeguy8:

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

50 isn't (yet) available in Niagara, so that's a bit of a moot point.

neko
All Hail Canada
Premium Member
join:2006-08-11
Canada

neko to justsomeguy8

Premium Member

to justsomeguy8
said by justsomeguy8:

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

I seen what you did there...

You have improvised. adapted. You are now trolling the Cogeco forum.

It will not work, justsomeguy. The Cogeco forum is impervious to trolls. It's impervious to consumer complaints, pleas for help, or any type of discussion regarding Cogeco's competitive service.

Nice try, though.

FiagaraNalls
@teksavvy.com

FiagaraNalls to pfft avoid

Anon

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.
justsomeguy8
join:2007-10-08
N5M3Z3

justsomeguy8 to neko

Member

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.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone to FiagaraNalls

Premium Member

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.

Hanks
@teksavvy.com

Hanks

Anon

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
gruntlord6
join:2010-06-10
Barrie, ON

gruntlord6 to neko

Member

to neko
said by neko:

said by justsomeguy8:

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

I seen what you did there...

You have improvised. adapted. You are now trolling the Cogeco forum.

It will not work, justsomeguy. The Cogeco forum is impervious to trolls. It's impervious to consumer complaints, pleas for help, or any type of discussion regarding Cogeco's competitive service.

Nice try, though.

It was a nice try wasnt it?
This is the same deal teksavvy has, they had to run their own fiber and can only get a 100mb backhaul.

HankS
@teksavvy.com

HankS

Anon

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.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone to Hanks

Premium Member

to Hanks
said by Hanks :

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.

I can almost say with certainty that Thorold will be part of the St. Catharines POI, not Niagara Falls. NOTL, NF and FE are probably one single POI.

Good to see Gigabit on the list now, makes a lot of sense.

As for bandwidth overages, it looks to be the same situation as with Teksavvy and other TPIA providers on Cogeco and, for that matter, Rogers too. Overage fees are listed in the tariff, but no one is currently charging for them. That could change at any time. As it stands right now, I'm not overly worried.

Hanks
@teksavvy.com

Hanks

Anon

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.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

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.

Teddy Boom
k kudos Received
Premium Member
join:2007-01-29
Toronto, ON

Teddy Boom to FiagaraNalls

Premium Member

to FiagaraNalls
$0 installation fee?!?!?

All plans use DCM425? Even the 50mbit tier?

Still, very interesting development.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by Teddy Boom:

$0 installation fee?!?!?

All plans use DCM425? Even the 50mbit tier?

Still, very interesting development.

Right now he serves just St. Catharines and Niagara Falls. There's lots of confusion about where the POIs cover and the list Cogeco has given him hasn't exactly been correct, but he's open and honest about it. I took a modem home to Fort Erie, didn't sync, took it to my mom's in Niagara Falls and it did. So she gets to keep it instead.

When I hooked it up last night I was getting ~7Mbit/s, but I'm pretty sure the router I was using - something I found in my basement - only had a 10Mbit WAN port. The latency was the same as Cogeco. I've ordered her a WRT310N so we'll see what it's like when that arrives.

Thus far, my mother has been very happy. She called me today to say just how much faster it is than Bell, and my sister's eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas when I told her they didn't have to worry about Bell screwing them for $60.

DCM425 is DOCSIS 2.0. There's no DOCSIS 3 in Niagara so it's a non-issue.

Soundguy
@teksavvy.com

Soundguy

Anon

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.

raf
@cgocable.net

raf to FiagaraNalls

Anon

to FiagaraNalls
I also just signed up..picking up my modem on Thursday and will post the results.

Soundguy
@cogentco.com

Soundguy to Soundguy

Anon

to Soundguy
Well, I've had it for a day now and I'm pleased. I'm getting full 14mbit consistently. I'm going to wait a week just in case, but if there are no problems, TekSavvy will lose a customer.

They were great, but they let Bell take away 70% of the speed I had for a year. If I leased a car, and after a year they came and took away the doors, radio, roof, trunk, and replaced the engine with a lawnmower motor, leaving me with a steering wheel, and gas tank that goes 15 km/h, do you think I'd pay the same damn price?

I know it's not their fault, but I can't stand their response to me, "oh well we told bell and they said that's as fast as they can give you, so if you want internet, that's the price, and you don't get a credit or discount."

F##k Bell, they have put us in the stone age of internet service.
JimBee
Premium Member
join:2003-03-28
Ottawa, ON

JimBee

Premium Member

I'm just curious, you're posting (presumably from home) from a cogentco.com address.

Are you getting an American IP?

Two sites to check:

»www.ipaddresslocation.org/

and

»software77.net/geo-ip/

Getting access to Hulu/Pandora and the other American streaming sites would be a nice perk
JimBee

JimBee to FiagaraNalls

Premium Member

to FiagaraNalls
By the way.. »cable.iktel.ca/index.php is the most ghetto website ever.

It looks like some nightmare return of 1996 web design.

Soundguy
@cogentco.com

Soundguy

Anon

I know it looks like my ip is american but it's not, unfortunately. I'd love a US ip.

And as for the site, who cares, its fast, cheap, and pretty good.
dan991199
join:2007-10-01
St Catharines, ON

dan991199 to FiagaraNalls

Member

to FiagaraNalls
i think i'm going to give them a shot, i'll keep my cogeco service and freeze my teksavvy while i try them.
dan991199

dan991199

Member

i ordered it, talked to a gentleman named Allen. He was very polite, I ordered the 16Mbit package. I'm in North St. Catharines, he said Cogeco would be here to install it on Friday (July 1st) i mentioned it was the holiday, he said it allowed him to book that day, but if any complications arise he would contact me ahead of time.

my gut feeling is that this is a small start up company (the look of the website and his eagerness to treat me well). with any luck things will go smoothly and i can ditch cogeco cable and tekksavvy dsl. but if they dont go smoothly with any luck this is a sign that teksavvy cable for cogeco land might be on the horizon.

P.s. Nice find Marc if you're reading this.

Gone
Premium Member
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON

Gone

Premium Member

said by dan991199:

my gut feeling is that this is a small start up company (the look of the website and his eagerness to treat me well). with any luck things will go smoothly and i can ditch cogeco cable and tekksavvy dsl. but if they dont go smoothly with any luck this is a sign that teksavvy cable for cogeco land might be on the horizon.
P.s. Nice find Marc if you're reading this.

Yeah he is just starting out, but hey, my mom gets 14Mbit service for $35/month. She has no complaints.

Alan is extremely friendly and easy to work with. It has been a pleasure doing business with him and I would whole-heartedly recommend these guys to anyone else.
dan991199
join:2007-10-01
St Catharines, ON

dan991199

Member

said by Gone:

said by dan991199:

my gut feeling is that this is a small start up company (the look of the website and his eagerness to treat me well). with any luck things will go smoothly and i can ditch cogeco cable and tekksavvy dsl. but if they dont go smoothly with any luck this is a sign that teksavvy cable for cogeco land might be on the horizon.
P.s. Nice find Marc if you're reading this.

Yeah he is just starting out, but hey, my mom gets 14Mbit service for $35/month. She has no complaints.

Alan is extremely friendly and easy to work with. It has been a pleasure doing business with him and I would whole-heartedly recommend these guys to anyone else.

good to hear. i already have a bunch of friends eager to see how my service is before they pull the trigger on it.
lens3002
join:2004-04-13
Thorold, ON

lens3002 to FiagaraNalls

Member

to FiagaraNalls
Just signed up myself. I pickup the modem tonight and get installed on Monday. Really looking forward to the speed. I still wish it was through Teksavvy but 5 years of 3mb is enough.