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GreenEnvy22
join:2011-08-04
St Catharines, ON

GreenEnvy22

Member

Sorry, but bye Teksavvy :(

Sorry to say it, but I just cancelled our business FTTN DSL with Teksavvy.

The service worked very well, we had no issues, it was fast and reliable. For anyone considering Teksavvy, I can recommend them.

However, Teksavvy does not offer 50Mbps FTTN, only 25Mbps. Also their 25Mbps business service is $9 more expensive than Start's 50Mbps business service, so switching was a no brainer.

Hopefully Teksavvy can offer something competitive again in the future.

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt

Premium Member

It's something we've discussed here several times, never got any response from TekSavvy. I guess it's something they don't want to offer, and they dont want to lower the business VDSL rates.

»[DSL] Business VDSL rates?
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

1 edit

dra6o0n to GreenEnvy22

Member

to GreenEnvy22
Everything has it's pros and cons.
And you didn't compare or mention how 'Start's services are like and just claimed that Teksavvy is 'this good' and then threw a 'im quitting cuz its 9 dollars more expensive'.

Looking at it's site, I can tell it's stuff is much more expensive than my teksavvy, plus they have awful caps for the residential plans.

DSL FTTN, their upstream is much lower than Teksavvy DSL, so I don't get where you are going with pointing at the 9 dollar difference... Upstream means a lot more to businesses than downstream.

Looking at their business plans, I really wonder how they are getting to that price. They looked like they intentionally undercut teksavvy's price level on purpose, but that means accepting a loss of revenue.

So on that sense, where are they 'replacing' that loss of revenue?
Maybe they cut a deal with the incumbants?

In terms of Residential High Usage plans, Teksavvy has the benefits in Ontario.
But in regards to 'low use' minimalist, and probably business related plans, Start Communications pushes pricing with that in mind.

GreenEnvy22
join:2011-08-04
St Catharines, ON

GreenEnvy22

Member

I'm not sure where you're getting your info, their upstream are the same as Teksavvy. Also no caps on Business DSL. Residential DSL they have both limted and unlimted plans for DSL. Their Cable side varies with who the incumbent is.

I don't know how Teksavvy and Start determine their prices, but if I remember correctly the CRTC said last year that incumbents can't charge more for business vs residential to the IISP's, since from the incumbents end it's all the same thing.

There will certainly be different cost profiles for residential vs business, which the IISP's need to take into account. Maybe Teksavvy expects more support costs from business accounts (business is more demanding when there are outages), so they charge more?

I'm not worred about quality, I've used Start for residential for a couple years.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

dra6o0n

Member

Teksavvy offers Zap-the-cap which reduces your speed at a really small portion of your day (8pm to 2am) which doesn't affect my connection much mind you, and allows you to use unlimited bandwidth monthly so long as zap the cap is kept on from the start for the entire month.

This means if you don't mind a small decrease in downstream (you keep your upstream), you pretty much get a 'unlimited' status without paying extra.

I have a 300GB cap anyways on a 25/10 plan.

EDIT: Looking up the plans I thought I had a 15Mbps upstream, but I could have misread it back then as the downstream instead.

digiwth
join:2012-09-21

digiwth

Member

He is talking about the business plans, all of which are unlimited data (Teksavvy or Start), so needing ZTC to cut costs is moot, as there is no non-unlimited plans.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

dra6o0n

Member

39.99 for Teksavvy 25/10 DSL
50.00 for Start's 25/10 DSL

I know that in order to use Bell's network in this, you need to enable dry loop which Teksavvy shows as $5 /mo. Start doesn't mention any of this.\

Overusage fees are doubled on Start's, in comparison to Teksavvy's 25 cents per GB and $25 cap.

My total on my bill is $50.80s btw, after dry loop, the monthly fees, and taxes.
It's the really small details that are important to me, Start's website seems to be built on old fashion simplicity for those preferring the 'old days' kind of sites.

How a company build their site determines what kind of 'personality' or style they wish to convey among their audiences.

Start likes to use the mature, clean, simplistic and minimalist style, though leaves out a few tiny details on the page.

Teksavvy has a more younger, and influential style for younger consumers.

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt

Premium Member

Start includes dryloop fees in their price. If you have it installed over traditional POTS, you're at a disadvantage as you're not saving anything.
dra6o0n
join:2011-08-15
Mississauga, ON

dra6o0n

Member

That makes Start's plan for residential a 45+5 then?
Teksavvy's 39.99 or basically a 40+5 is $5 cheaper than theirs.

In any case, Teksavvy has a cheaper Residential over Start's, and Start seems to have cheaper business than Teksavvy.

digiwth
join:2012-09-21

digiwth to GreenEnvy22

Member

to GreenEnvy22
Yes their residential plans are cheaper, that is not what he is interested in.

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt to dra6o0n

Premium Member

to dra6o0n
The dryloop fee isn't a universal $5. They're much higher than that, depending on how your area is classified.

Band A $7.25/mo.
Band B $9.10/mo.
Band C $10.22/mo.
Band D $10.98/mo.
Band E $15.91/mo.
Band F $16.20/mo.
Band G $25.10/mo.

TekSavvy used to pass thru whatever Bell was charging for a given line, but they did universally lower it to $5 no matter what band rate you're actually in.

Start appears to charge $10 premium regardless what band rate you're in, and if you don't require dryloop you don't get a discount either way.
Anzio
join:2008-11-22

Anzio to GreenEnvy22

Member

to GreenEnvy22
Ditto. We just switched our office to Start as well (after having them at home for about a year or so). TekSavvy looked like a decent option, but when we were switching from the incumbent at home, there were just too many things that made Start more appealing. Primarily most of rocca's responses.

When it came time to go to an independent for the office, we considered lots of options (Contact.net - boy was that ruled out quickly, TekSavvy, Acanac, etc) but ultimately Start is the only company we felt confident enough in to place an order from (if a problem came up, we know it'd be fixed. That's that.) I'm not saying the same wouldn't happen with TekSavvy, just that one peek at Start's forum on DSLReports shows that they truly care, and have proven that to us.

Price for business was also considered, but not the most important factor (otherwise we'd be with Contact). FWIW, TekSavvy did come in about $15 higher than Start for business.
i_pk_pjers_i
join:2007-04-20
none

i_pk_pjers_i

Member

said by Anzio:

When it came time to go to an independent for the office, we considered lots of options (Contact.net - boy was that ruled out quickly, TekSavvy, Acanac, etc) but ultimately Start is the only company we felt confident enough in to place an order from (if a problem came up, we know it'd be fixed. That's that.) I'm not saying the same wouldn't happen with TekSavvy, just that one peek at Start's forum on DSLReports shows that they truly care, and have proven that to us.

It's funny, that's EXACTLY how I felt when I first got Teksavvy DSL for my home connection. I was debating on whether to get Start or Teksavvy and I didn't like Rocca's answers but I loved Teksavvy's answers so I went with them. The fact that Teksavvy has a direct forum on DSLReports is amazing, and super helpful.

LUStirring
@173.243.41.x

LUStirring to Anzio

Anon

to Anzio
said by Anzio:

Start is the only company we felt confident enough in to place an order from (if a problem came up, we know it'd be fixed. That's that.) I'm not saying the same wouldn't happen with TekSavvy, just that one peek at Start's forum on DSLReports shows that they truly care, and have proven that to us.

Price for business was also considered, but not the most important factor (otherwise we'd be with Contact). FWIW, TekSavvy did come in about $15 higher than Start for business.

Same here. Teksavvy just seemed to say 'meh, more problems tonight.' and were awfully quiet about root causes. I like to see the resolution, and more often than not, Teksavvy just sways people into the direct forum where I can't see how they handled a situation.
i_pk_pjers_i
join:2007-04-20
none

2 recommendations

i_pk_pjers_i

Member

said by LUStirring :

more often than not, Teksavvy just sways people into the direct forum where I can't see how they handled a situation.

That's because Teksavvy wants their customers to keep their private information secure and not available to the public that way they can keep their customers private information safe and give their customers privacy. I have made 8 or 9 direct threads in the direct forum and each time Teksavvy's support has been fantastic, very quick and professional. Teksavvy's customer support is one of the best I have ever dealt with out of any company, bar none.

LUStirring
@173.243.41.x

LUStirring

Anon

said by i_pk_pjers_i:

That's because Teksavvy wants their customers to keep their private information secure and not available to the public that way they can keep their customers private information safe and give their customers privacy.

I understand the need to transmit private information, but a lot of other companies do that through a quick PM and then come back to the public thread to make the public aware of what they've done to rectify the issue.

Unfortunately, I've seen too many poor customer service reports in the public forum here for my taste. I understand the vocal minority, yadayada, but long wait times are a side effect of the loud ones that adversely affects those of us who have a legitimate issue. The technical support here just isn't going to cut it for our business.
i_pk_pjers_i
join:2007-04-20
none

i_pk_pjers_i

Member

said by LUStirring :

I understand the need to transmit private information, but a lot of other companies do that through a quick PM and then come back to the public thread to make the public aware of what they've done to rectify the issue.

I have seen very many cases where someone posts a thread in this main section, then are directed to post one in the direct forum, then they do and it is cleared up and their problem is fixed in the direct forum, then they post again in the main thread what they've done.
said by LUStirring :

Unfortunately, I've seen too many poor customer service reports in the public forum here for my taste. I understand the vocal minority, yadayada, but long wait times are a side effect of the loud ones that adversely affects those of us who have a legitimate issue. The technical support here just isn't going to cut it for our business.

I think that's a bit of an odd reason to avoid a company but to each their own. It's one thing if you are having an issue with the service they are providing you and they are literally unable to help you with it but it's another thing entirely if because other people are having issues that very well could be their own fault and not Teksavvy's fault in any way whatsoever you decide to stay away from Teksavvy.

LUStirring
@173.243.41.x

LUStirring

Anon

said by i_pk_pjers_i:

I think that's a bit of an odd reason to avoid a company but to each their own. It's one thing if you are having an issue with the service they are providing you and they are literally unable to help you with it but it's another thing entirely if because other people are having issues that very well could be their own fault and not Teksavvy's fault in any way whatsoever you decide to stay away from Teksavvy.

Sorry, perhaps it was mis-worded. From watching this forum and hearing friends complaints of wait times, I concluded that others having issues was leading to longer wait times. Unfortunately, Teksavvy seems to have a lot of issues stemming from incumbent issues that ultimately would take them even longer to get to my issue. In our business, we need an answer within a few minutes, good or bad.

From my watching of how they handle situations here, and a couple of co-workers who are with Teksavvy, this isn't going to happen here.

Leathal
Premium Member
join:2002-02-09
Richmond Hill, ON

Leathal to HiVolt

Premium Member

to HiVolt
Hi Hivolt,

It's too bad that TekSavvy wants to take on the business internet game like Telus does. Telus charges an arm an leg for its service yet Cogent is more than 50% cheaper than them for the same fiber connections. In the end TekSavvy will have to start laying off people and closing their business internet solution down.

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

2 recommendations

TSI Marc to LUStirring

Premium Member

to LUStirring
This is a loaded conversation with a number of factors all packed together.

Let me try to unpack a few things.

First, to the OP, RE Business services - We will be reviewing those offerings as we continue improving our business offerings in general. We have invested in a datacenter build (ROOT Datacenter), we increased our network footprint in New York and Montreal.. and many more things in the works. We simply have a different trajectory - it's not at all forgotten.

To the "issues stemming from incumbent issues" comment; this is true of all independents. They are all feeling it equally. There are generally two primary differences when comparing against other independents though.

The first is that we typically deal with more incumbents than most other independents. We deal with 7 different incumbents each day. Reviews and comments however all appear as Cable or DSL. This creates a situation where it is less clear what is happening and where. It appears to be all jumbled up into one when these issues are often times very different and with different underlying problems and each with varying degrees of difficulty to resolve.

The second is that we simply have more users. I'm not sure that's fully understood around these parts but we have quite a bit more users than others. It's a good thing and not at all a complaint obviously. On that basis though, it only makes sense that you will see more of everything.

These two factors make it difficult to fully see what is actually happening IMHO.

I think you do have a point about the appearance it gives when issues are taken to the direct forum. It's for privacy reasons that it gets sent there of course but it does end up cutting things out from the general flow of what's actually going on. An idea here might be that if there is a thread started in the direct forum, one would also be created in the general forum but for general discussion. Leaving the private stuff for the direct forum...?

Going back to those incumbents issues;

You may know this already but I think it's worth mentioning again that there has been a submission into the CRTC nearly a year ago, to address many of the underlying problems related to the overall relationship between independents and incumbents. There is yet to be a decision made by the CRTC and they have recently punted it to after the major wireline review. This is a review similar to the TalkTV and Wireless hearing currently underway.. but for wired services - like the ones independents use for selling internet(among other things).

Regarding these issues, I grant you that we have certainly been the most visibly affected, leading to newspapers articles and public outcries.

Outside of the CRTC submission mentioned above, we have also made a number of changes that have since mitigated the impact of these ongoing problems.

First is that we now provide a wireless backup in cases where we have no other recourse. This helps with the immediate problem when a user is left without connectivity - we send out wireless hubs or sticks. This is clearly the most egregious problem.

Second, we have developed higher touch teams that allows a customer with an existing problem to ring directly to the team assigned to his/her problem. In this way, even in situations where call volume is higher, the problem and the customer still get the right level of support.

Third, we have implemented means to communicate with the customer without requiring a call. In this way we can provide many updates at every stage of the process but also to allow the customer to better communicate with us in the way she or he best wishes to be dealt with.

Fourth, we continue to improve the MyAccount portal. I think it's pretty sweet and will only keep improving as new features are added.

There are many other changes we have made, these are a few of them.

Lastly, on the subject of caring. Forgive me for being blunt but you're dead wrong. I very much care and so do our staff. It's kind of built into the TekSavvy DNA. Unfortunately though, that's just not good enough in this case. Its going to take lots of caring but also lots of actual changes. All of that combined is what is needed.
geokilla
join:2010-10-04
North York, ON

geokilla to LUStirring

Member

to LUStirring
said by i_pk_pjers_i:

said by Anzio:

When it came time to go to an independent for the office, we considered lots of options (Contact.net - boy was that ruled out quickly, TekSavvy, Acanac, etc) but ultimately Start is the only company we felt confident enough in to place an order from (if a problem came up, we know it'd be fixed. That's that.) I'm not saying the same wouldn't happen with TekSavvy, just that one peek at Start's forum on DSLReports shows that they truly care, and have proven that to us.

It's funny, that's EXACTLY how I felt when I first got Teksavvy DSL for my home connection. I was debating on whether to get Start or Teksavvy and I didn't like Rocca's answers but I loved Teksavvy's answers so I went with them. The fact that Teksavvy has a direct forum on DSLReports is amazing, and super helpful.

said by LUStirring :

said by Anzio:

Start is the only company we felt confident enough in to place an order from (if a problem came up, we know it'd be fixed. That's that.) I'm not saying the same wouldn't happen with TekSavvy, just that one peek at Start's forum on DSLReports shows that they truly care, and have proven that to us.

Price for business was also considered, but not the most important factor (otherwise we'd be with Contact). FWIW, TekSavvy did come in about $15 higher than Start for business.

Same here. Teksavvy just seemed to say 'meh, more problems tonight.' and were awfully quiet about root causes. I like to see the resolution, and more often than not, Teksavvy just sways people into the direct forum where I can't see how they handled a situation.

What good is a Direct Forum that pushes its blames onto others and chooses to selectively post in the public forum, until the problem is made to the public? That's the feeling I Get from Teksavvy. Don't get me wrong, they're great, but when it comes to SC2 for example and ALWAYS pushing the blame to someone else, it's ridiculous. And their troubleshooting time is so bad via Direct Forums that by the time they reply, the problem is gone. Only reason I'm still here is because I'm too cheap to get a 8X4 cable modem.