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jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

TEKSAVVY vs. START

Dear Mr. Rocca

Currently I have Teksavy Lite Cable 3 Internet service, 3 Mb, 300 Gb $30.95/month--this service fits for my family needs (2 adults), I do not want/need higher speeds or higher usage.
The closest START offers is your Basic Cable plan, 3 Mb, 100Gb, $29.95/month.
I would love to give your company a try, however, I am concerned about the very low 100 GB usage limit!
Your online meter is not working and there is a $0.50 per GB charge over the limit--and I would not know about it, until it shows up on my credit card's statement !

1)Do you consider to increase the usage limit on this plan at least to a more reasonable 200 GB in the near future ?

2)Do you consider to match your plan with Teksavvy's 3 Mb, 300 Gb $ 30.95 / month service ?

Thanks!

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

rocca

Premium Member

said by jenom:

Dear Mr. Rocca

1)Do you consider to increase the usage limit on this plan at least to a more reasonable 200 GB in the near future ?

2)Do you consider to match your plan with Teksavvy's 3 Mb, 300 Gb $ 30.95 / month service ?

Thanks!

Hi and thanks for your questions.

1) We've designed our packages around 'type of use' and picked limits well above the typical usage for each type of consumer. The reason we went with numbers well above average was for our customers to be able to avoid worrying about overages for their type of needs. In the case of the 3Mbps profile, 100GB is about 5 times the average user and about 10 times higher than the median user. If you compare us to 'red' at that speed profile we're 100GB vs their 15GB and while perhaps not true for a higher percentage of DSLR customers, 15GB on 3Mbps is enough for 90% of the customers, so 100GB probably puts us closer to 95%. For the extra few percent that need the unlimited, it's available for $5.

2) The advantage of the new rules for wholesale services is that different ISP's can create different packages for different customers and different needs. For some our plan makes more sense, for others some other plan may make more sense. If we started mimicking other plans then the consumer loses in the end. We think our plans are excellent value, we provide good service and like what we do.

For what it's worth as I haven't seen it brought up yet, as the only aggregated TPIA provider currently, our cost structures are very different than other TPIA providers that are using the non-aggregated products - specifically that we pay capacity prices and they do not. As the capacity rates sit today they are very expensive, about 10 times what they should be in some cases. If those rates get reviewed then I would not be surprised to see us be able to raise the included volume or add unlimited options to higher speed packages.

Hope that helps answer your questions. Have a great night.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

Thank you for you long answer!

I was not comparing your plan to "RED", but since you have mentioned it, I went to see what they have ?

Yes, they have a 15 GB Lite Internet plan , and according to them:
>>What can you do with 15 Gb a month
--download 22 SD movies
--download 3072 songs
--upload/download 7680 digital photos

They forget to mention, that only one of the above, and absolutely nothing else !

Your statement "15GB on 3Mbps is enough for 90% of the customers" really put a smile on my face, ................................................. You've Got to be Kidding!.................................

(this reminds me Bill Gates saying about 640 k memory )

For anyone wants to estimate their monthly usage,
I have found this great estimate-your-usage calculator, where you can enter the number of hours for estimated daily usage of 8 different categories of Internet activities, and it will calculate the estimated monthly usage:

»www.nwtel.ca/support-mai ··· estimate

Try it and see what the "average" user can do with 15 GB !

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

rocca

Premium Member

said by jenom:

Your statement "15GB on 3Mbps is enough for 90% of the customers" really put a smile on my face, ................................................. You've Got to be Kidding!................................. (this reminds me Bill Gates saying about 640 k memory )

Ah the famous 640k quote.

Just to set the record straight, so I don't go down in infamy. I did not say 15GB is good for 90% of customers rather what I said was for users that choose a 3Mbps profile, 15GB fits the needs of 90% of *those* users and 100GB pretty much all of them. Very few people with heavier usage profiles choose the lowest speed available. Those that do want the lowest speed plan but the 100GB doesn't fit their needs, there is a $5 step for them. We tried to give as much flexibility as possible while keeping the plans simple.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

I understand

slow speed users=lower usage or unlimited
high speed users=higher usage, no unlimited

tried several online "usage estimator", to see if 100 GB would work, but it is hard to tell

I have VOIP for both local & long distance, like to listen few hours online radios, watch short utube videos, download a few songs, maybe 1-2 sd movies ....but no netflix, no gaming, no file sharing

I guess, it will come down to the numbers game:
-how many movies, -how many songs, -how many videos, -how long to listen radio

My electricity provider (Enersource) with their TOU (Time of Use) rates already encouraging their beloved clients to adjust their electricity usage behaviour, (when and how to use their elecricity), and I really do not want to get into to keep an inventory of my internet usage.

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

rocca

Premium Member

said by jenom:

I understand
tried several online "usage estimator", to see if 100 GB would work, but it is hard to tell
I have VOIP for both local & long distance, like to listen few hours online radios, watch short utube videos, download a few songs, maybe 1-2 sd movies ....but no netflix, no gaming, no file sharing
I guess, it will come down to the numbers game:
-how many movies, -how many songs, -how many videos, -how long to listen radio

I think you'd be surprised.

In our home we have Netflix, I love my MW3 (although sadly have not spent very much time on it the past few weeks), my daughter lives on Youtube, we have VoIP, my wife buys music on iTunes, we have countless i-devices that are constantly doing stuff (I will never understand the fascination with Bakery Story). About the only thing we don't do is use file-sharing to download movies.

We're generally under 35GB/month. If I had to guess, I'd say without Netflix we'd probably be around 20GB.

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

1 edit

Davesnothere to rocca

Premium Member

to rocca
said by rocca:

said by jenom:

....You've Got to be Kidding!

....(this reminds me Bill Gates saying about 640 k memory )

Ah the famous 640k quote. ....

 
Famous quote, yes it is.

But I keep correcting people that Gates was NOT the speaker.

He BTW has flat-out denied so in subsequent interviews, and has stated that he wishes that this allegation would quit dogging him (hey, if that's one of his biggest gripes, he's doing OK).

An exec at Intel said it, and the DATE is accurate.

There was a 5-part TV documentary about the history of computers on PBS some years ago, and one episode touched on this very question while covering the personal computers.

I'm pretty sure I have this somewhere on VHS tapes, but my collection is poorly catalogued - some parts not at all.
Davesnothere

2 edits

Davesnothere

Premium Member

 
Something ELSE which Gates around 1993 apparently DID say was (and I paraphrase) :

"We at Microsoft do not regard the Internet as being of significant importance in the foreseeable future."

AT that date, M$ had no Internet capabilities in their Windoze, browser choices were Netscape and Netscape (sound like there's a ECHO in here ?), and to dial out you also had to get a 3rd party app, usually this one from 'down under' called Trumpet Winsock, »www.trumpet.com.au/ and someone local still had to write a custom script for it to make it control your modem and dial out.

Suddenly, M$ does a 180, AFTER releasing Windows 95 with a primitive (to Netscape of then) browser and a dialer, and frantically plays catch-up for YEARS of browser releases - and some say that they are STILL catching up in that regard.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

4 edits

jenom

Member

Click for full size
-according to START's CSR, START's online WEB USAGE CHECKING is up and running, CAN SOMEONE CONFIRM THIS ??

if it is true, knowing my usage would be a good tool to leave any large downloads (movies/music) for the last days of the month

Meanwhile, attached is my best guestimate what 2 internet users could do with 100 GB......shows usage for 8 different activities !

--no online gaming
--no netflix/apple tv
--no p2p file sharing

It seems like, -without any of the above 3 activities-100 GB should be enough for everything else !
Firedevil
join:2012-03-08
Kitchener, ON

Firedevil

Member

On the 'red' side of things there online usage meter is currently not up. However, I just went to the area where you are able to check your usage and the message that appears is:

Usage statistics for your cable connection are not currently integrated into this web tool. Overage charges will not apply for you until after this tool has been completed and available for review.

So, I guess there are no overages until they are able to get it running.
jenom
join:2006-02-25
Ontario, GTA

jenom

Member

thanks for the info
it makes sense and it is reasonable and fair
bt
join:2009-02-26
canada

bt to jenom

Member

to jenom
said by jenom:

--no online gaming
--no netflix/apple tv
--no p2p file sharing

It seems like, -without any of the above 3 activities-100 GB should be enough for everything else !

I do 2 of those 3, and am usually under 60GB in a 2-user household.

I don't know that many people would spend 6 hours a day on VoIP...