corvus_corax
join:2003-08-01
Montreal, QC
| Re: ISP's in Montreal I just finished getting setup with both electronicbox.net and videotron. So I have some input to this thread...
First, electronicbox.net is great now that I am set up. Bell had said I'd be set up by 8/22, 5 days after my order was placed. Neither of the two modems I had got sync when I tried them on 8/25, so I reported the problem to the techs at electronicbox, who took it up with Bell...and Bell sat on it for a week with no response. I finally got sync on 9/1 but at 1720 Kbps. I reported the low sync, and ebox arranged with Bell to get a Nexxia tech out to check the line...he found it was good and supported up to 7 Mbps, and then called in the sync upgrade and I was where I was supposed to be...2 weeks late though. Electronicbox support was phenomenal throughout. They kept in touch with me throughout the process and were cool the whole time. This same thing occured to me with Speakeasy and Qwest in the states...seems like the relationship with Bell Canada and independent ISPs is poor.
Anyway, for me this was a bit of a minor disaster as I had to work online at random hours at broadband speeds from the moment I got back. I had intended to get a redundant connection with Videotron but had held off as I too am not their biggest fan; both because of their policies and also because they seemed to have alot of downtime and random slowdowns last year. But when I got here and was without a connection I just went ahead and put in an order with Videotron for their cheap service + basic cable. They had me up and running 72 hours from my order.
So I have a direct comparison now.  ICMP ping times for me are nearly identical on both connections...in the low 20s for most major sites in the states. HTTP sites dish up faster with electronicbox.net than Videotron. My VPN connection to work is less latent with electronicbox. I haven't had time to check much else...
Hope that helps in some way. I hope perhaps someday electronicbox can offer the 6 Mbps that Speakeasy offers in the states, since it appears my line can handle it. |
