Canadian Broadband → Acanac - 30 Mbps service - Got connected 3 days ago

Hi, I switched from another Independant ISP (Electronicbox) to Acanac.

I first called EBOX to have a disconnection 2 weeks later after my call (I asked for Oct. 22 disconnection).

I then used the Online form to order my 30Mbps cable service. I read some bad reviews about it, so I choosed the Month-to-Month price, in case it was that bad, I would be able to cancel without loosing my prepaid year. I got a reply to that requiring approval for the 100$ modem. I called them, waited for 5 or 10 minutes, and told them that is all good. I also confirm my disconnection date of oct.22 and they said they will send my modem couple of days before the Oct. 23rd.

Fast forward to Oct. 15th, I got a tracking number, I finally received the modem on Oct. 18th.

On october 22nd, I got disconnected from EBOX, but on the morning, luckily, i had LTE on my iPhone 5, so I shared Internet on it after making sure that any automatic download was off on the computer, to not go over my LTE data plan.

On that day, i also disconnected the EBOX modem and connect the Acanac Modem (it was the same brand/model). I know you might ask yourself, Why the hell he bought a EXACTLY IDENTICAL modem?!? It was because Acanac doesn't accept "Bring your Own modem" in Quebec, So i said to myself, I'll just resell my ebox one to cover part of the cost of the Acanac modem, which i did.

On Oct.23rd, when I woke up, my Internet was working on Acanac Couple of speedtest later, I was happy to see 31.5Mbps / 3.1Mbps but told to myself : They advertise lower speed on the evening, like 50% speed. In the evening, I did couple of tests, and it was still at 30-31Mbps!

Also, I saw that my iTunes store download was a lot faster than on EBOX, I don't know why, because i was on 60Mbps on EBOX, but iTunes had always been slow (1.2-1.9MB/sec max). With my 30 Mbps Acanac, I always get my 3-3.8MB/sec download speed in iTunes.

I also contact (thru the webform on Acanac site) the support. 1st, was to get my VL account name (to be able to have an idea of my GB downloaded every months, it's unlimited, but i don't want to Abuse it !). I was replied maybe 1-2hours after opening my ticket. Great service by Technical dept. here.

My 2nd contact was to have my billing date adjusted to my connection date, I think that make sense. I was replied under a business day with a message that said it is done. Great service by billing dept. here.

Ok, it's only 3 days since I'm on Acanac, but So far So good.

Also, I choosed to leave EBOX only because I wanted the new iptv service from Acanac, I can say that for now, i'm pleased with my decision.

great ! if IPTV is good, i'll make the switch for sure. i'm also tired of my small caps on the 60 mbps. busting every months, and they don't want to add more than 4 blocks.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I am interested in hearing more stories as you go along.

Thanks for the update.

I can't speak for videotronland but here in toronto my friends on acanac cable get LESS than 5ms ping so its good here too

Basically, all they needed was the MAC address and customer S/N of your old modem since you had the same model, right ?

And they told you that some ISP neglect to release the modem on cancellation date causing some problem, right ?

But EBOX released your modem on the agreed date, so you would have had zero problem.

Refusing to release a modem and delaying the cancellation process is something that THEMSELVES do if I am to believe what their ex-clients say.

So lets just hope that you will always be happy with them and that you will never regret selling your old modem that had an available MAC address immediately reusable.

Now, for the IPTV, you re better be patient....wont happen anytime soon I think.

IPTV will likely not be available over cable due to the restrictions imposed by the CRTC.

Our IPTV service will be available on both our DSL and Cable platforms.

Wow, I love Ebox, but download a LOT and am always at my cap and have to stop downloading essentially only having 3 weeks of downloading every month.....might be worth looking into switching.

That's good to know, thanks for the clarification.

Do you have an ETA for the service as well as pricing and channel lists ready yet?

We are currently signing off on the content agreements. Once this is complete we will announce pricing.

The channel list is already available on our site.

I don't expect it will take to much longer. In the mean time we can work out all the bugs with Beta.

i'm in the same situation, but i have to control everything after 1-2 weeks lol.... and 8 mbps unlimited isn't enough speed.

I've been with 30mbps Cable in Vidéotron land for more than a month. Solid speed: 31.3mbps even at 10pm. My advice: switch over from DSL anytime to Acanac cable!

Would LOVE to see those.



Mike

 
I would be happy to see just the channel lineup list.

Could not find it on the Acanac.ca site last night.

Link Please ?

Paul posted the lineup in the forums.

»community.acanac.com/aca ··· tart=510

Here you go.

»community.acanac.com/aca ··· #p125876

Yeah right

As if a content provider would negotiate with Acanac under the name " Télévision quatre-saisons " a name that disappeared 3 years ago when Remstar bought them and changed their name for V télé

You live in Fantasyland, Fergie

I believe the channel name came off the mandatory CRTC channel requirements.
I am sure the lawyers on both sides wont be as offended as you seem to be:)

I m not really offended by that. I think that what you presently do has more in common with marketing your present existing service than a realistic launching of IPTV in the near future, but I honestly have no proof and, even if I were right, it s not something that I d really consider scandalous in any way.

"I m not really offended by that. I think that what you presently do has more in common with marketing your present existing service than a realistic launching of IPTV in the near future, but I honestly have no proof and, even if I were right, it s not something that I d really consider scandalous in any way."

So let me get this straight.

1. We apply for our BDU license about one year ago.
2. We sign agreements with one of the largest middleware companies in the world. Let me tell you this is not cheap. (NDA)
3. We spend hundreds of thousands on encoding equipment. Soon to be in the millions.
4. We purchase 1000 STB's and another 3000 on the way.

Almost every waking moment the IPTV launch is on my mind and it's all for a marketing ploy?

I have talking about IPTV service going as far back as 2006. Rocky and I even had a disagreement regarding the feasibility of such of service on a Unicast platform in these very forums.

I am just about to prove him wrong.

Pwned

Nice.

Then go ahead and prove me wrong and prove Rocky wrong by launching the service.

Me I note that you already said it will " not be offered publicly "..strange

It s obvious that you are not high on the radar of big content providers. At best, you can be a reseller of Bell TV or similar canadian distributor like you resell their phone lines.

And, if you have so much money to invest you have no reason to delay legitimate refunds using every excuse in the book. I also operated a business in the past and I see only one logical explanation for those delays.

said by "carcajou" :

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Me I note that you already said it will " not be offered publicly "..strange

---

That would be in reference to Beta testing, some of the staff are testing it right now, with limited channels.

Fergie

And you are testing it on Canaca-com s server using a MLPPP connection with multiple modems, multiple DSL and a special router to join all that together and augment redundancy ( 2 times ? 4 times ? ).

Nice Beta test with a connection that cost 200 dollars. I dont think the other beta crash test dummies will have such equipment

We'll have to wait on the feasibility but I doubt it's going to be a completely smooth ride since almost all of the older DSL tiers rely on the older copper and DSL networks and neither cable nor DSL provide any QoS on the wholesale connection side.

We support HLS so I don't see any major issues. You might end up going from HD to SD in real time without any buffering.

In end the clients can always upgrade to one of the higher end plans. Either on the DSL side if available or go with Cable. My own tests are being run on a 6Mbps connection without any problems.

We do want to offer some 3D content at much higher bit rates. In these cases clients will have no choice but to upgrade if they wish to access such content.

This was video was taken in my house on a 6Mbps DSL connection with my camera phone. It should give you a good idea on the channel change times and the interface look.
»www.acanac.com/newIPTV-V.mp4

But it doesn't matter how much speed or how many lines if the wholesale pipes suffer congestion and if the bitrate drops too low then the quality will make it almost unwatchable. Look, in some cases it might work but it's really like rolling a dice on a board that moves.

Add to that, how many people will really want to have multiple connections?

Yeah right

And what is the Montreal-Bonaventure Hilton doing there at the end on your screen ?
Wait, it s not on this one. It was on another video you made that I saw that.

I m not technologically educated, but I think I understood they plan to broadcast in unicast and it will load their ressources more than multicast

Plus it will be riding on the incumbent providers network which we all know from experience, Bell or Rogers couldn't care less if that network suffers from severe congestion, they will take their time fixing it, in some cases 6-8 months later.