 JCohenPremium
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON
kudos:2
 ·TekSavvy Cable
 ·Bell Fibe
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to Eug
Re: [DSL] Blindsided by Teksavvy! $8 modem rental fee! said by Eug:said by JCohen:said by lachek:a mandatory rental modem and this "no activation of BYOD modems" policy
There is no BYOD because VDSL2 modems are fairly expensive and the only ones approved on the Bell network are the Cellpipes and the Sagecoms. There is a user on here who setup was able to successfully setup Cisco router with a VDSL2 HWIC. Do you have the link? That setup must be rather expensive. What context? »[DSL] Help with Cisco Router 887VA and 25mb VDSL
He used the Cisco 887VA router, »www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps1···dex.html if you search you could probably find it for around $400-$500. |
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Eug
join:2007-04-14
Toronto, ON | Interesting, thx.
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Everything Apple |
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JCohenPremium
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON
kudos:2 Reviews:
·TekSavvy Cable
·Bell Fibe
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| said by Eug:Interesting, thx. Not a problem, the only downside I can see is that the 887VA doesn't have a gigabit switch. |
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kovy
join:2009-03-26
kudos:4 | reply to Eug
said by Eug:said by Davesnothere:said by Eug:....I suspect one reason for this is because they have so many Cellpipes out there, that they don't want to buy too many Sagemcom modems, especially not until they've tested it more.
So it seems to me that this Modem Rental Fee ought to be renamed to the ' B$ELL Modem Testing Fund Contribution'.  EDIT : Oh yes, and we all get paid as BETA TESTERS !  Bell isn't charging their own customers for modem rental. They charge a one-time fee of $100, but provide a $100 credit at the same time. That's only for new customers... I had to pay the modem rental price. |
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lachek
join:2007-11-14
Hamilton, ON | reply to JCohen
said by JCohen :
There is no BYOD because VDSL2 modems are fairly expensive and the only ones approved on the Bell network are the Cellpipes and the Sagecoms. There is a user on here who setup was able to successfully setup Cisco router with a VDSL2 HWIC.
So?
Let me put it this way: if my device is technically compatible with the network, why would I not be allowed to hook it up and use it? It's none of Teksavvy's or Bell's business how much I choose to pay for my equipment. They don't make that choice, especially if they're going to charge me a separate line item for rental of said equipment.
Now, I can see the rationale that "we only support our own devices because of the overhead in technical support to allow alternates". That hasn't stopped Teksavvy from allowing any ADSL modem in the past, though, and it certainly fits the image of "an ISP for tech savvy users" (who shouldn't need as much Tier 1 tech support). It does, however, fit perfectly with Bell's outdated business model of controlling everything right up to the clients' equipment, and the client owns nothing. Remember when they did that with phones?
The simple solution to that, if Teksavvy doesn't want to deal with the hassle, is to say "if you BYOD, we can't support your device". Make a note of any registration request for a non-standard device on the customer's file such that the first line I'll get when I call in to get support is "FYI, since you're using your own device, we'll help you with troubleshooting our service only, cool?".
One of the awesome things about BYOD is that I can have a couple of modems on hand, should one be defective, or decide on repair or replacement easily enough myself. I don't have to schedule a call, I don't have to deal with a tech dicking me around and refusing to give me a new device, etc. True story: we have Business DSL with Bell at work (as an external-IP testing network only), and one day the modem just stopped working. It took several days of playing phonetag with 3 different support lines to get a tech to come out. Tech came out with a line tester and declared the line to be working. Came back the day after with a new modem, which worked. But he didn't LEAVE the modem, he said he was pretty sure it wasn't a modem issue but some sort of end-point configuration thing, which he'd "look into". He never came back. A few days later I went and bought a TP-Link modem for $20, plugged it in, configured it, and it worked. But now, if I need tech support in the future, Bell will complain I'm not using the right modem and refuse to help me.
So, apparently someone managed to configure a $500 gateway for Teksavvy's service. That's great. But from what I heard from the CSR, who went to double-check for me, BYOD is not only "unsupported" but rather "they won't process any registrations of non-Teksavvy/Bell modems". Is such a registration on Teksavvy's end not actually required for it to work on the network? Could you presumably hook up an alternate, compatible modem without notifying Teksavvy? And importantly, if you do this, can you send back the rental modem and not be charged?
The same Cellpipe gateway as Teksavvy uses for 25/7 service appears on Kijiji and eBay every now and then for $50 - $100, by the way. Yes, I know about firmware for different DSLAMs, etc. The Teksavvy I remember, instead of saying "we don't support this", would publish and unofficially promote resources for updating your BYOD Cellpipe to work on the network, even if they can't support it - same as they've done with Tomato/MLPPP. |
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 mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | You can plug in whatever you want, there's just no support for it and no matter what, the rental is mandatory by Bell and they will not stop charging you. |
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lachek
join:2007-11-14
Hamilton, ON | said by mlerner:You can plug in whatever you want, there's just no support for it and no matter what, the rental is mandatory by Bell and they will not stop charging you. If the rental is mandatory by Bell, then:
1) why was this not laid out on the table much, much sooner in the process - it would be a well-known fact by Teksavvy, not something they suddenly became aware of on Feb 2nd
2) why does Teksavvy presumably eat the fee for old subscribers, but not for new ones
3) why is it not just calculated into the cost of the base package, instead of being a separate line item? If I wanted to stop paying for dry loop, presumably I could, right? I just won't have any way of connecting to the service
4) why isn't Teksavvy negotiating this rental requirement with Bell on behalf of the thousands of customers who'd rather own their device (which, if second-hand, would pay for itself within a year at most)
Edit: Oh, and: why is the activation fee of $95 still present, and the same as it was for old accounts which did not have the rental fee? My assumption was that the activation fee accounted for acquisition of the modem. If it's purely installation and the old accounts rented it all along (included in the base subscription fee, which at that point was much higher), I get it, but then (again) why are existing accounts not required to pay the rental now? |
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Eug
join:2007-04-14
Toronto, ON | reply to lachek
Used VDSL2 modems said by lachek:The same Cellpipe gateway as Teksavvy uses for 25/7 service appears on Kijiji and eBay every now and then for $50 - $100, by the way. Yes, I know about firmware for different DSLAMs, etc. I just picked one up on eBay for $25 shipped. There currently are also others for $20 on Craigslist and $35 on Kijiji in the GTA.
At those prices, it makes sense to buy them just to use them as HPNA bridges for your wired home network.
The Teksavvy I remember, instead of saying "we don't support this", would publish and unofficially promote resources for updating your BYOD Cellpipe to work on the network, even if they can't support it - same as they've done with Tomato/MLPPP.
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Everything Apple |
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Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to mlerner
Re: [DSL] Blindsided by Teksavvy! $8 modem rental fee! I could be wrong but I've yet to see anyone point back to the tariff on this. Yes Bell is shipping modems to everyone on the service, but I don't think that TSI is being billed specially for the modems by Bell nor do they have any requirement to bill the customer specially for them.
If this is not the case I (and many others) would like to see the note in the tariff on this. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| reply to lleader
Oh and the $8 fee showed up on my bill. I thought that I was exempt since I signed up in December? Posted in the direct forum for clarification but this is getting silly.
I'm also getting billed $4 for static IP and $4 for MLPPP dynamic IP? Again I thought that MLPPP required a static IP and that you were only supposed to get billed once for this?
Really wish they could make the billing simpler (for our sake and for theirs)... CSRs don't seem to even understand the technology half the time so how are they supposed to figure out what to bill us for. |
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Reviews:
·ELECTRONICBOX
| said by Phibian:I'm also getting billed $4 for static IP and $4 for MLPPP dynamic IP? Again I thought that MLPPP required a static IP and that you were only supposed to get billed once for this?
You are, they did the same thing to me a few months ago, it was quickly corrected with a phone call |
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Eug
join:2007-04-14
Toronto, ON | reply to Phibian
said by Phibian:I could be wrong but I've yet to see anyone point back to the tariff on this. Yes Bell is shipping modems to everyone on the service, but I don't think that TSI is being billed specially for the modems by Bell nor do they have any requirement to bill the customer specially for them.
If this is not the case I (and many others) would like to see the note in the tariff on this. FWIW...
Someone who ordered 16/1 got the Cellpipe. When the tech came over, he simply installed 16 on VDSL2 using the Cellpipe. It turns out it was in error. He got a call later from TSI asking for the Cellpipe back, as they would change his profile to 16/1 ADSL2 instead. The guy said the reason TSI knew was because Bell billed them for the modem.
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Everything Apple |
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| Interesting. I would still like to see the reference in the tariff. |
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| reply to Phibian
said by Phibian:I could be wrong but I've yet to see anyone point back to the tariff on this. Yes Bell is shipping modems to everyone on the service, but I don't think that TSI is being billed specially for the modems by Bell nor do they have any requirement to bill the customer specially for them. According to the tariff, the 25/7 modems are included in the activation fee but it doesn't mean teksavvy can't invent it's own fees & put the blame on the crtc/bell. |
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Reviews:
·TekSavvy DSL
| Bingo!
I don't like the way they are putting the blame on Bell when this one is their doing (or at least it appears to be until someone proves otherwise).
There is lots of stuff to blame Bell for but this this doesn't appear to be on the list. |
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Eug
join:2007-04-14
Toronto, ON | reply to m1stern0x
said by m1stern0x :said by Phibian:I could be wrong but I've yet to see anyone point back to the tariff on this. Yes Bell is shipping modems to everyone on the service, but I don't think that TSI is being billed specially for the modems by Bell nor do they have any requirement to bill the customer specially for them. According to the tariff, the 25/7 modems are included in the activation fee but it doesn't mean teksavvy can't invent it's own fees & put the blame on the crtc/bell. What Bell does for its own 25 Mbps customers is charges a modem fee (one-time $100 charge), but for the current promotion they are crediting back the same amount.
This is on top of their regular activation fee.
This is different from what they do for up to Fibe 16. For up to Fibe 16, they also charge a modem fee, but it's half the amount. However, again for the current promotion they are crediting back the same amount.
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Everything Apple |
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mlernerPremium
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON
kudos:5 | reply to lleader
I'll recheck the tariffs later when I have more time but I'm pretty sure it's in there somewhere. |
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Reviews:
·Acanac
1 edit | the $8 fee is coming directly from bell.
you can tell because acanac mentioned thats why they arent selling 25/7 yet.
bell can do whatever they want with their own service, but GAS wholesalers need to pay this fee.
the main problem is people thought 25/7 service was going to be $8 cheaper because teksavvy did not include this information when they announced the new price.
if they had, we wouldnt have been "blindsided". |
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lachek
join:2007-11-14
Hamilton, ON | reply to lachek
The annoyance continues. I see now that they switched me from Band B to Band C and charged me for activation of my dryloop again. Quick check with a tech confirms I'm still Band B and that's been switched, but the dryloop activation fee of $20 still applies "because they have to put a new line card in".
So existing dryloop customers, take heed: your activation fee with essentially be $114.99 and not $95.
My outstanding question on Teksavvy Direct now is what the $95 activation fee covers, if not:
a) acquisition of a new modem
b) reconfiguration of my dryloop
Sigh. These speeds better be worth it.
I didn't think I'd ever say this, but take note, alternative ISPs: I am tentatively available and open for solicitation. I pay well and on time, take care of my own problems, and will sing your praises if you treat me with honesty and integrity. Also, long walks on the beach. |
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 nekoAll Hail CanadaPremium
join:2006-08-11
Canada
·TekSavvy DSL
| said by lachek:The annoyance continues. I see now that they switched me from Band B to Band C and charged me for activation of my dryloop again. Quick check with a tech confirms I'm still Band B and that's been switched, but the dryloop activation fee of $20 still applies "because they have to put a new line card in".
So existing dryloop customers, take heed: your activation fee with essentially be $114.99 and not $95.
My outstanding question on Teksavvy Direct now is what the $95 activation fee covers, if not:
a) acquisition of a new modem
b) reconfiguration of my dryloop
Sigh. These speeds better be worth it.
I didn't think I'd ever say this, but take note, alternative ISPs: I am tentatively available and open for solicitation. I pay well and on time, take care of my own problems, and will sing your praises if you treat me with honesty and integrity. Also, long walks on the beach.
I am thinking I may just setup my own IISP, just to have you as a customer. So enamored am I, with your offer of the long beach walks.
Do you 'put out' on the first date?
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