dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
5445

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

bbbc

Member

Shell shocked by TSI West price increases and no 300GB plan

Are you shell shocked by TSI West price increases and no 300GB plan (unlike the East)? I wrote Marc and R0CKY a simple email (non-rant) saying I wasn't enthused after having a new cable install ten days earlier. I didn't hear anything from either guy. I probably would have opted for DSL if I knew speed matching was going to be launched right after Gabe's YVR visit. Hard to stomach around $200 in install fees and payment in advance to switch to DSL.

I don't see how TekSavvy can compete when you can probably score 25Mb DSL with 500GB from Telus for $49. The package is advertised at $54 standalone price (naked / dry loop), but you can easily get Telus CSR reps to give you the bundled price of $5 less.

On a side note, Martin was pretty gracious to me, so I don't want to throw everyone at TSI under the bus.
Anon
Anon

Anon

Anon

I guess I can't complain too much about the updates as the cable package I have (previously Elite Pro, now Extreme Unlimited) went down in price, but yeah I was pretty shocked at the overall price increase + lowering of caps.

We've been pretty sheltered out west, and I guess it's been a longtime coming after what transpired back out east - I'm mostly disappointed by the lack of higher cable speeds.
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx

Premium Member

Well prices did increase in the east, but for the capped plans only by a few dollars (and decreased in some cases) and the 300GB cap stayed the same. In the west the plans given that were capped at 300GB were gone, the effective increase is much more as users who need moderately more (amount depends on the connection type) will need to swallow an even bigger increase and take the unlimited plan.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

bbbc to

Member

to
said by spectrumnew :

We've been pretty sheltered out west, and I guess it's been a longtime coming after what transpired back out east - I'm mostly disappointed by the lack of higher cable speeds.

Sheltered, I don't know about that. The AB & BC markets weren't getting the upgrades like the East. YVR was the only market with cable. No soup for you, Calgary, Edmonton, or Victoria.

My beef is TSI's hardline stance on fees, tough shit, it's prepaid. I know they get charged by the incumbents, but I also know that speed matching was being hashed out (by upper TSI management) long before my recent install.

You are one of the few saying they are getting a price decrease, other IRCers are pondering what they should do because of the significant increases and abolishment of the 300GB tiers.

Trev
AcroVoice & DryVoIP Official Rep
Premium Member
join:2009-06-29
Victoria, BC

Trev

Premium Member

With TSI's dry loop and install fees added on, their service cost is a massive premium over Telus.

The only reason to go with TSI is if you need to avoid Telus' port filtering or a static IP.

Otherwise, it's more economical to deal with Telus who can also resolve issues much faster than TSI can.

It's the sad truth.
mactalla
join:2008-02-19

mactalla

Member

said by Trev:

With TSI's dry loop and install fees added on, their service cost is a massive premium over Telus.

The only reason to go with TSI is if you need to avoid Telus' port filtering or a static IP.

Otherwise, it's more economical to deal with Telus who can also resolve issues much faster than TSI can.

It's the sad truth.

I have to agree with this. I've been w/ TSI since shortly after they came out West (DSL) and it's becoming difficult to justify staying

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

Guspaz

MVM

TSI's 25 meg *unlimited* cable out west is $49.95 with no dry loop fee... The closest thing we have in Quebec costs $70... WTF are you complaining about? TSI's western prices are bloody amazing compared to Quebec pricing.
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx to Trev

Premium Member

to Trev
said by Trev:

The only reason to go with TSI is if you need to avoid Telus' port filtering or a static IP.

Definitely an issue for users planning on running a server (not to mention the TOS). Btw does anyone know what ports Telus is currently blocking? Other than that the 500GB DSL25 from Telus is very competitive.

Frankly for any of TSI plans at the moment the activation fees and for DSL the the dry-loop and dry-loop install fees are the real killer (I know they are charged to TSI by the incumbents...) as none of those fees are charged to the customer when to use Shaw or Telus. The activation fees is about 1.5-2x the monthly fee and the dry loop can be as much as $20 depending on where you live (not to mention the additional dry loop install fee).

In Ontario those fees are easier to swallow as both Rogers and Bell's regular monthly fees are significantly higher with lower usage caps than TSI. But in the West, Telus and Shaw (especially Telus atm) are especially different. With some plans the prices between the incumbent and TSI is only a few dollars apart. When you start tacking on additional fees it becomes rather hard for those trying to stay with TSI.
decx

decx to Guspaz

Premium Member

to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:

TSI's 25 meg *unlimited* cable out west is $49.95 with no dry loop fee... The closest thing we have in Quebec costs $70... WTF are you complaining about? TSI's western prices are bloody amazing compared to Quebec pricing.

The difference is Bell. You need to keep in mind TSI is not competing with Bell here. Telus' VDSL25 plan can be had for $50 with 500GB usage. That is very competitive.
decx

decx to Guspaz

Premium Member

to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:

TSI's 25 meg *unlimited* cable out west is $49.95 with no dry loop fee... The closest thing we have in Quebec costs $70... WTF are you complaining about? TSI's western prices are bloody amazing compared to Quebec pricing.

The difference is Bell. You need to keep in mind TSI is not competing with Bell here. Telus' VDSL25 plan can be had for $50 with 500GB usage. That is very competitive.

Plus in Vancouver downtown areas where Novus and Shaw are both competing customers have access to cable in the 15-25Meg range for about $30/month. The ISP market in Vancouver and the west in general is much different from the Rogers/Bell dominated market in the east.

Guspaz
Guspaz
MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

Guspaz to bbbc

MVM

to bbbc
TekSavvy has a very competitive offer...

Telus 25/2 VDSL2 with 500GB cap: $54
TekSavvy 25/2.5 cable unlimited: $50

TekSavvy has a better offering there even with a $50 price from Telus...
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx

Premium Member

said by Guspaz:

TekSavvy has a very competitive offer...

Telus 25/2 VDSL2 with 500GB cap: $54
TekSavvy 25/2.5 cable unlimited: $50

TekSavvy has a better offering there even with a $50 price from Telus...

Actually no. The only difference is the cap. The $54 is the non bundled price which if you had POTS or anything else Telus doesn't apply. If you are going to use the unbundled price for Telus you'll need to tack on the dry-loop price and dry-loop installation fee for the line as well.

As for the upload speed. I'm not sure what's going on there. But my guess is that it's the same and Telus is advertising usable bandwidth while TSI is the sync rate. The reason for this is that TSI has been advertising 1Mb upload on regular ADSL out west for a while and it actually a ~950Kbps sync rate with an usable rate of about 800Kbps. I don't think Telus would setup a special profile of 500Kbps difference just for independents.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

bbbc

Member

said by Trev :

With TSI's dry loop and install fees added on, their service cost is a massive premium over Telus.

TELUS
$49 DSL 25Mb with 500GB (Dry Loop / Naked)
$0 BAND RATE
$0 MODEM
$0 ACTIVATION
$0 DRY LOOP ACTIVATION
$5.88 HST
$54.88 TOTAL - TELUS FIRST MONTH

TSI WEST DSL
$54.99 High Speed DSL 25 Unlimited
$6.90 BAND RATE (CHEAPEST USED FOR COMPARISON, PROBABLY MORE FOR MOST)
$85.00 MODEM (GUESSTIMATING PRICE WITH SHIPPING SINCE OUT OF STOCK)
$55.00 ACTIVATION (INCLUDED $20 OFF FOR BUYING TSI MODEM)
$39.99 DRY LOOP ACTIVATION
$29.03 HST
$270.91 TOTAL - TSI WEST FIRST MONTH

People may counter that Telus' published rate is $54 for the plan quoted above, but I've negotiated for others several times the $5 discount, even if it's not bundled. Yeah, static IPs and ports seem to be the only compelling reason to use TSI.

I was on TekSavvy Pro (25Mb & 300GB) for $36.95. TSI is moving people on this tier to TekSavvy Extreme Cable 25 Unlimited for $49.95. The other problem for current TSI YVR cablers is they have to spend $109 to go to a DOCSIS 3.0 modem, so they can avoid the neighborhood congestion that they've (end-users) been dealing with for the past year.

Any way you do it, you're boned.
bbbc

bbbc to Guspaz

Member

to Guspaz
said by Guspaz :

TekSavvy has a better offering there even with a $50 price from Telus...

If you like networks going down, then sure, go with Shaw. Shaw's taken a dump in both provinces a couple of times this year.

Trev
AcroVoice & DryVoIP Official Rep
Premium Member
join:2009-06-29
Victoria, BC

Trev to Guspaz

Premium Member

to Guspaz
said by Guspaz:

Telus 25/2 VDSL2 with 500GB cap: $54
TekSavvy 25/2.5 cable unlimited: $50

Except cable is not available in all of AB/BC like DSL is. Cable is Vancouver only.
Chuckcar_t
join:2012-05-03

Chuckcar_t to Guspaz

Member

to Guspaz
But the problem is Telus have never enforced their caps. This is partly due to losing all their subscribers to Shaw who's internet is infinitely faster and will continue to get faster as Telus stagnates.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

bbbc to Trev

Member

to Trev
said by Trev :

Except cable is not available in all of AB/BC like DSL is. Cable is Vancouver only.

It is now, at least in all of Shaw's AB and BC markets. Here's the email that was sent.

"TekSavvy is happy to announce that we are introducing new cable Internet packages to British Columbia and Alberta. As a TekSavvy customer, you are receiving this notice first. Generally our offerings have improved significantly, with very competitive pricing and bandwidth options."

That bold part is a line of marketing sh*t.

Trev
AcroVoice & DryVoIP Official Rep
Premium Member
join:2009-06-29
Victoria, BC

Trev to decx

Premium Member

to decx
said by decx:

Definitely an issue for users planning on running a server (not to mention the TOS). Btw does anyone know what ports Telus is currently blocking? Other than that the 500GB DSL25 from Telus is very competitive.

They block at least 25, 80, and 443. Not sure what else as I haven't extensively tested this yet.
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx to bbbc

Premium Member

to bbbc
said by bbbc:

$6.90 BAND RATE (CHEAPEST USED FOR COMPARISON, PROBABLY MORE FOR MOST)
$85.00 MODEM (GUESSTIMATING PRICE WITH SHIPPING SINCE OUT OF STOCK)

Regarding the band rate, in Toronto, most of the address I checked was on rate b so the lowest band rate might not be available to many.

As for the modem. $85 that would be overly optimistic. Given that TSI is selling the ST585 for $130 I would estimate the VSG1432 to be around the $200 area.

Trev
AcroVoice & DryVoIP Official Rep
Premium Member
join:2009-06-29
Victoria, BC

Trev to bbbc

Premium Member

to bbbc
said by bbbc:

said by Trev :

Except cable is not available in all of AB/BC like DSL is. Cable is Vancouver only.

It is now, at least in all of Shaw's AB and BC markets. Here's the email that was sent.

"TekSavvy is happy to announce that we are introducing new cable Internet packages to British Columbia and Alberta. As a TekSavvy customer, you are receiving this notice first. Generally our offerings have improved significantly, with very competitive pricing and bandwidth options."

That bold part is a line of marketing sh*t.

Interesting. They didn't bother sending us that email, and we're a TSI agent (or at least want(ed?) really bad to be, they've mucked up 100% of the orders we've tried to place with them).

Sadly, it does seem that the pricing is not really all that competitive :/
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx to Trev

Premium Member

to Trev
said by Trev:

said by decx:

Definitely an issue for users planning on running a server (not to mention the TOS). Btw does anyone know what ports Telus is currently blocking? Other than that the 500GB DSL25 from Telus is very competitive.

They block at least 25, 80, and 443. Not sure what else as I haven't extensively tested this yet.

Thanks. Those ports would definitely be the drawback to Telus. Port 26 is fairly easy to get around, but 80 is definitely an issue.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

bbbc

Member

I tried to give TSI the benefit of lower numbers (costs). Yes, probably 99.9% of the dry loopers in the West pay $11+ for their band rate. I also gave Telus some slack with that $5 off plan, since it isn't the published price for standalone, but as I said, it can easily be negotiated away with a Telus CSR.

On a side note, you can also demand that Telus provides an ALU 7130 VDSL2 modem instead of their crappy Wi-Fi gateways. Telus doesn't track their modem inventory, much like their bandwidth caps. Modems never seem to have to be returned to the Telus mothership.

Trev
AcroVoice & DryVoIP Official Rep
Premium Member
join:2009-06-29
Victoria, BC

Trev to decx

Premium Member

to decx
said by decx:

Thanks. Those ports would definitely be the drawback to Telus. Port 26 is fairly easy to get around, but 80 is definitely an issue.

Yeah, it's annoying for us geeks that want to run servers at our home. But when we set up our friends, family, etc they really don't care. It's impossible to justify to them why they should pay more for something that doesn't matter to them. They'll never need to run a service on those ports.
Trev

Trev to bbbc

Premium Member

to bbbc
said by bbbc:

On a side note, you can also demand that Telus provides an ALU 7130 VDSL2 modem instead of their crappy Wi-Fi gateways. Telus doesn't track their modem inventory, much like their bandwidth caps. Modems never seem to have to be returned to the Telus mothership.

That didn't fly when I signed up a few weeks ago. The installer only had the wifi crap that they use for TV installs.

However, if you spend 5 minutes on Google, you can find the "tech" login which allows you to flash the factory firmware from Actiontec's site. Once you do this, you can set the VDSL modem to "bridge mode" and use your own router.

That's how I fixed my service to get rid of their crap.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

1 edit

bbbc to decx

Member

to decx
said by decx :

They block at least 25, 80, and 443. Not sure what else as I haven't extensively tested this yet.

Couldn't you use 8080 instead of 80?
said by Trev :

That didn't fly when I signed up a few weeks ago. The installer only had the wifi crap that they use for TV installs.

It's easy, send them away. I don't eff around anymore as I get older. I tell the Tellus CSRs what I want and require and ask them to document it in the order. I had to send an Optik TV guy away and magically Telus' Quebec office called and rectified everything. It's uncomfortable to send someone down the road, but you'll never get what you want otherwise. The TELUS guys (employees) in their respective forum have stated that the standalone VDSL modem is available, but most folks don't carry it in their vans.

JenSuisUn
Premium Member
join:2006-02-23
Chatham, ON

JenSuisUn to bbbc

Premium Member

to bbbc
said by bbbc:

"TekSavvy is happy to announce that we are introducing new cable Internet packages to British Columbia and Alberta."

I'll to provide our apologies for this mishap. We hadn't caught it till now. Cable services are ONLY available in BC. I've notified Marketing, I'm not sure the of the next step that will be taken to resolve this.

Regards,
Martin
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx to Trev

Premium Member

to Trev
said by Trev:

Yeah, it's annoying for us geeks that want to run servers at our home. But when we set up our friends, family, etc they really don't care. It's impossible to justify to them why they should pay more for something that doesn't matter to them. They'll never need to run a service on those ports.

Kind of off topic, but it's not just geeks. I've gotten many questions from less technically inclined friends about not being able to send email because their non-ISP SMTP servers don't work because of the port 25 block.
decx

decx to bbbc

Premium Member

to bbbc
said by bbbc:

said by decx :

They block at least 25, 80, and 443. Not sure what else as I haven't extensively tested this yet.

Couldn't you use 8080 instead of 80?

You could. But it's not fun trying to get all your users to append a port number after your domain name to get to the correct port.

bbbc
join:2001-10-02
NorthAmerica

bbbc

Member

said by decx :

You could. But it's not fun trying to get all your users to append a port number after your domain name to get to the correct port.

Looks like a dynamic DNS service is the way to go if you don't want to get raped by the new TSI West rates.
decx
Premium Member
join:2002-06-07
Vancouver, BC

decx

Premium Member

said by bbbc:

said by decx :

You could. But it's not fun trying to get all your users to append a port number after your domain name to get to the correct port.

Looks like a dynamic DNS service is the way to go if you don't want to get raped by the new TSI West rates.

How about a web host?