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jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

Few questions for Rocca

I would be interested in your company's cable internet service,

I am located at L5M postal code, Rogers territory, currently using TEKSAVY 3 MB/300 Gb service with my Motorola SB5100 modem.

Is you cable service available?
Is this your own service or you are a reseller?
I want to keep using my SB5100 modem, is it ok ?
Can switch over done with minimum downtime (1-2days)?
Do I qualify for a "no $50 activation fee" ?

Thanks!

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

said by jenom:

I am located at L5M postal code, Rogers territory, currently using TEKSAVY 3 MB/300 Gb service with my Motorola SB5100 modem.
Is you cable service available?
Is this your own service or you are a reseller?
I want to keep using my SB5100 modem, is it ok ?
Can switch over done with minimum downtime (1-2days)?
Do I qualify for a "no $50 activation fee" ?

Thanks for your questions. Yes service would be available to you if you have existing cable internet and your modem will be compatible with the network. As you have an existing active service there would be no installation charge to transfer. In regards to downtime, generally after the transfer is confirmed, you reboot your modem and after a few minutes (to sometimes a couple hours in rare situations) you would be registered to our network and good to go. Thanks for considering joining Start Communications and have a great day.
rocca

rocca to jenom

Premium Member

to jenom
Oh yes, I missed answering the part about a reseller - no we are directly connected with the cable networks.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

1 edit

jenom

Member

thanks for all the answers

--on your signup webpage:
Please do not cancel your existing provider until a co-ordinated transfer date is arranged.
Transfers must be scheduled at least 10 days in advance to qualify for a free transfer.
I need to give 30 days notice to my current provider, so what would I exactly do ?

--your web signup page does not have an option for "I have my own modem".
Looks like, I need to talk to a CSR, and do a sign up over the phone ?
(would be nice to add this option to the webpage, including entries for the S/N and MAC of the modem)

Thanks!

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

To answer your second question first, on the 21st the bring-your-own-modem option will be available, both phone and web page. During our soft launch only rent/purchase were options.

In regards to transfers through the online form, we would contact you to arrange the date, then you would give notice to your current provider and once that disconnect order was submitted we would co-ordinate our transfer for the same day.

Thanks.

marka
join:2010-03-10
Fergus, ON

marka

Member

said by rocca:

In regards to transfers through the online form, we would contact you to arrange the date, then you would give notice to your current provider and once that disconnect order was submitted we would co-ordinate our transfer for the same day.

Well poop . I gave my 30 day notice for cogeco as I had prepaid for service until April 15th (as long as I don't go over 175gb) and figured the new connection would be active by then. Oh well, the $50 connection fee is still cheaper than spending for another month of cogeco.

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

said by marka:

Well poop . I gave my 30 day notice for cogeco as I had prepaid for service until April 15th (as long as I don't go over 175gb) and figured the new connection would be active by then. Oh well, the $50 connection fee is still cheaper than spending for another month of cogeco.

You may still be okay, if you submit an order just put that it's active and in the notes mention your disconnection date and we'll do our best to get it aligned.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

to marka:
-start's signup page mentiones a minimum 10 days of notice to them, so you if you signup with them now, you are still have "active " connection for 25 days
-start's webpage said, Cogeco coverage will start in April, but I did not see any specific start date ?

to Rocca:
I saw today, March 20, on the signup form , the "I have my own modem " option, however it shows up only for the DSL.
Hopefully, form will be updated for CABLE service too, and there will be a space to enter Serial Numbers and MAC address.

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

said by jenom:

I saw today, March 20, on the signup form , the "I have my own modem " option, however it shows up only for the DSL.
Hopefully, form will be updated for CABLE service too, and there will be a space to enter Serial Numbers and MAC address.

Yes, it will be updated tomorrow with our general launch to allow bring-your-own-modem options.
rocca

rocca to jenom

Premium Member

to jenom
The online form has been updated with the 'bring your own modem' option.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

wow, I am really amazed by the quick changes !
finally, a service provider who listens and reacts !
all looks good now on the sign-up form

meanwhile, I am trying to decide, which cable service to use:
BASIC CABLE $29.99 100GB cap or
BASIC CABLE $34.99 unlimited

Is there any chance that a 100 GB limit would be raised a little bit higher ? 150 GB ? 200 GB ?

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

said by jenom:

meanwhile, I am trying to decide, which cable service to use:
BASIC CABLE $29.99 100GB cap or
BASIC CABLE $34.99 unlimited

Is there any chance that a 100 GB limit would be raised a little bit higher ? 150 GB ? 200 GB ?

I think in the immediate future they will likely stay where they are as it's only been a couple weeks since launched and we picked numbers that would suit a large variety of customers and at different price points. The vast majority of customers are under 100GB and the unlimited option is a nice bump for $5 if you don't want to worry about going over.

That said, if the CRTC responds well to our R&V of the capacity charge then that will open up more options as well.

Thanks for considering us and have a great night.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

thanks for the info
-it will be used by 2 adults, and because we do not download movies or use netflix.....very likely the 100 Gb will be enough

-the "unlimited" plan is too open for abuse/overuse by small group of people, when they take the word "unlimited" literraly !
-one of your CSR mentioned to me, that he noticed a person on the unlimited plan, who already used 600 GB by the 18 th day of the month....that is equivalent of downloading of 3 HD movies (8-10GB each) per day, or just download 1 or 2, and running a torrent sharing P2P program for 24 hrs.
if many people start doing this type of activity (because they could on the "unlimited plan"), it will slow down/overwhelm your system and the quality of service will decline for the vast majority of your customer

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

1 edit

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by jenom:

....if many people start doing this type of activity (because they could on the "unlimited plan"), it will slow down/overwhelm your system and the quality of service will decline for the vast majority of your customer

 
This is true in theory.

If too many folks maxxed out their connection at all times (especially during peak periods), doing THAT is what would cost START (or ANY IISP) a bunch more from Cogeco/Rogers/Bell under the current new wholesale pricing structure.

A person on a 'LIGHT' plan could only have so much impact during peak periods though.

But that's exactly the reason why START has chosen not to offer Unlimited at the faster speeds for now.

It is also why several Indie ISPs have offered unmetered (free) off-peak period traffic, but that particular strategy is only possible so far on DSL, due to technological limitations.

However it is ALSO also why Acanac chose to try the 'WE WILL MAYBE LIMIT YOUR SPEED UP TO A CERTAIN POINT DURING PEAK PERIOD BUT STILL ALLOW UNLIMITED USAGE' method, which currently CAN be applied both to DSL and to CABLE accounts.

START has so far not decided what will be best in their case.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

in theory ? = it is reality !
-even with a 2 mb, unlimited plan, enough traffic can be done do reach a 1 TB (1000 GB) data / month and it is for $34.99+ tax
I live in an a congested Rogers area which does not have a capacity to handle the number of users any weekday afternoon 4 pm --8 pm......speedtest shows between 0.5 - 1 Mb
So regardless, who is my cable ISP (Teksavy, Distributel,Start), the real issue is to crawl through the Rogers bottleneck.
Add to this a few unlimited downloaders in your loop, and there will be a slowdown all the time !

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

4 edits

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by jenom:

in theory ? = it is reality !

-even with a 2 mb, unlimited plan, enough traffic can be done do reach a 1 TB (1000 GB) data / month....

 
I was not talking about the usage/traffic when I made that comment in my last post.

Even a few TB of monthly usage/traffic per user should not overwhelm an ISP's network, as long as it was spread out over the whole day each day - or even better, done mostly during off-peak hours - but that never seems to be the case, and that's why some IISPs are offering free off-peak traffic to anyone who cares to bother to set their big demands for that period.

OTOH, the instantaneous bandwidth/speed/capacity demand of the higher speed accounts is what would cause trouble for the ISPs during the PEAK periods, and THAT is what would drive up their costs, based on how the present Capacity-Based Billing (CBB) works, rather than how much overall traffic that almost any customer would push or pull in a month.
Phorkster
Premium Member
join:2004-06-27
Windsor, ON

Phorkster to jenom

Premium Member

to jenom
Rocca: What kind of payment methods are available? Strictly speaking I would like a monthly bill that I can pay at my leisure.

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

said by Phorkster:

Rocca: What kind of payment methods are available? Strictly speaking I would like a monthly bill that I can pay at my leisure.

All our residential accounts require automatic billing, either through credit card or automatic bank withdrawal. You can always pre-pay your invoice a few days in advance so that there is nothing to automatically process on your billing date however.
Phorkster
Premium Member
join:2004-06-27
Windsor, ON

Phorkster to jenom

Premium Member

to jenom
Rocca: is there a usage meter available, that is *cough* accurate?

rocca
Start.ca
Premium Member
join:2008-11-16
London, ON

rocca

Premium Member

On Cogeco side should be ready relatively shortly and it's calculated using net flow through our distribution routers so its very accurate.