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JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

TPIA Providers for Ottawa

Of these 3, Distributel/Acanac, TekSavvy and Start, what are the pros/cons of each?

I'm served by the Fallowfield POI and am currently with TekSavvy and have no POI congestion only node congestion with my Docsis2 modem.

I have active internet service until the end of June and due to an issue with transferring the account I'll be needing to pay all the start up fees again so I'm looking at all providers, the issue was not on TekSavvy's end so their is nothing that can be done.

The Doctor
join:2011-11-25
Montreal,Qc

The Doctor

Member

if it's node congestion changing cable isp will not solve the issues as you will stiill be served by the Fallowfield POI regardless of who you use.

BACONATOR26
Premium Member
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON

BACONATOR26

Premium Member

Yup, node congestion cannot be avoided whichever provider you use however your congestion is most likely caused by the DOCSIS 2 modem, if you buy a D3 modem your speeds should improve quite noticeably.

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

3 edits

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by BACONATOR26:

....if you buy a D3 modem your speeds should improve quite noticeably.

 
+1 !

They did for ME, and I am on a 16/1 account with START, previously Cogeco D3 modem at the same service location.

(Start had a shortage of D3 modems for Cogeco-Land at first, so temp shipped D2s to get us going, then shipped D3s when they got some, and I noticed the diff for that.)

It's a good hedge anyway, as the D2 modem issue will get worse with the faster account you try to have.

It may even help a with 'hood congestion, depending upon how many folks are on which data channels in your 'hood.

Consider that some 'hood congestion is from too many other folks using D2 modems in your 'hood, and it will make sense.

IMNSHO, a D2 is not worth buying for the up-front cost saving.

And just TRY to sell it later when you grow tired of it, and by then the word will be out about them.
Davesnothere

Davesnothere to JC_

Premium Member

to JC_
 
However the question was which TPIA IISP, rather than modem, and I suggest START if you are in Cogeco-Land (which you are not).

Still, by using the aggregated POI approach both for Cogeo and for Rogers, START seems to be able to be more on top of growth patterns than the company whose name was tough to pronounce for a fellow who used to be a regular here - It's been a while - I forget his name at the moment, but I remember that he rides a bike, drinks Red Bull, and writes a lot of letters to the CRTC.

And sometimes he eats Breakfast.
InvalidError
join:2008-02-03

InvalidError

Member

said by Davesnothere:

START seems to be able to be more on top of growth patterns than the company whose name was tough to pronounce for a fellow

Not having to order incremental physical ports/links on a per-POI basis (but still having to order capacity on a per-POI basis with Rogers) makes things much simpler for the cablecos since it allows them to lump all traffic on the same 10GbEs and routers they use for everything else.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_ to The Doctor

Premium Member

to The Doctor
I have no issue with the node congestion as I know what the cause of it is and I know that changing ISPs will not fix my node congestion.

I'm only looking for information on which ISP will give me the best value for my dollar.

As much as I hate it, I'd possibly consider a 1 year contract with Acanac to get the discount.

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

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by JC_:

....As much as I hate it, I'd possibly consider a 1 year contract with Acanac to get the discount.

 
And what if you decide (later than 30 days money-back period) that you are unhappy with them ?

OY !

The only other significant advertised potential negative to Acanac-branded service (but not Distributel) is that they say that they MAY throttle all traffic for part or all of a specified peak period, ONLY IF and for as long as NECESSARY each day, UP TO a reduction of HALF of their advertised speed.

However they have NO MONTHLY USAGE CAPs, last I checked.
Davesnothere

1 edit

Davesnothere to InvalidError

Premium Member

to InvalidError
said by InvalidError:

Not having to order incremental physical ports/links on a per-POI basis (but still having to order capacity on a per-POI basis with Rogers) [doing it aggregated] makes things much simpler for the cablecos since it allows them to lump all traffic on the same 10GbEs and routers they use for everything else.

 
Absolutely, and it seems to be working well for START subscribers in my part of Cogeco-Land.

Cogeco bumped up the bandwidth of their AGG link once already and the effect was seamless and ON SCHEDULE.

BACONATOR26
Premium Member
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON

BACONATOR26

Premium Member

But I suspect START doesn't yet have the subscriber base anywhere close to their ordered capacity. It will be a real test when they saturate their aggregated pipe and see how long Rogers takes to upgrade it.

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

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by BACONATOR26:

But I suspect START doesn't yet have the subscriber base anywhere close to their ordered capacity. It will be a real test when they saturate their aggregated pipe and see how long Rogers takes to upgrade it.

 
I added more to the post to which you replied.

Yer quite right in that we do not know how well that the same request category will go for them in Mister Rogers' 'Hood.

We all know all too well what an 'Exercise in Dentistry' it sometimes has been for that unnamed IISP to get Rogers to do their individual POI upgrades on any sort of predictable schedule.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_ to Davesnothere

Premium Member

to Davesnothere
said by Davesnothere:

said by JC_:

....As much as I hate it, I'd possibly consider a 1 year contract with Acanac to get the discount.

 
And what if you decide (later than 30 days money-back period) that you are unhappy with them ?

Exactly why I was saying that I'd hate it, it's just a possibility that I'd look into.
said by Davesnothere:

The only other significant advertised potential negative to Acanac-branded service (but not Distributel) is that they say that they MAY throttle all traffic for part or all of a specified peak period, ONLY IF and for as long as NECESSARY each day, UP TO a reduction of HALF of their advertised speed.

I'm still curious as to how they can even throttle a cable subscriber when they have no control over the profile that is sent to the modem or the CMTS.

BACONATOR26
Premium Member
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON

BACONATOR26

Premium Member

said by JC_:

said by Davesnothere:

said by JC_:

....As much as I hate it, I'd possibly consider a 1 year contract with Acanac to get the discount.

 
And what if you decide (later than 30 days money-back period) that you are unhappy with them ?

Exactly why I was saying that I'd hate it, it's just a possibility that I'd look into.
said by Davesnothere:

The only other significant advertised potential negative to Acanac-branded service (but not Distributel) is that they say that they MAY throttle all traffic for part or all of a specified peak period, ONLY IF and for as long as NECESSARY each day, UP TO a reduction of HALF of their advertised speed.

I'm still curious as to how they can even throttle a cable subscriber when they have no control over the profile that is sent to the modem or the CMTS.

They can't. That's for DSL only.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

said by BACONATOR26:

They can't. That's for DSL only.

That's what I figured but they have it advertised on their website, »www.acanac.ca/cable.html "Peak Hour Rate Limit - 7PM to 12AM".

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

rocca to BACONATOR26

Premium Member

to BACONATOR26
said by BACONATOR26:

But I suspect START doesn't yet have the subscriber base anywhere close to their ordered capacity. It will be a real test when they saturate their aggregated pipe and see how long Rogers takes to upgrade it.

Having a 10 Gbps physical connection gives us a pretty good lead time. With the new model the cost of the physical CNI is dwarfed by the capacity cost so there is little reason to not upgrade the physical link 'early'. Rest assured the upgrade will be there well ahead of the demand.
InvalidError
join:2008-02-03

InvalidError to JC_

Member

to JC_
said by JC_:

I'm still curious as to how they can even throttle a cable subscriber when they have no control over the profile that is sent to the modem or the CMTS.

Do cablecos change the sync/profile speeds when they throttle? No, when Bell and Rogers were throttling P2P, you could still get much higher download speeds from HTTP, FTP, DCC, etc. When they were throttling, they rate-limited P2P, unknown and P2P-like traffic on a per-login or per-IP basis. No need to have access to modem profiles for that, be it DSL or DOCSIS.

With cable, there is the added difficulty of determining who owns which IP. This can be worked around of by throttling everyone to the same speed by default and then requiring that people log into their customer portal to associate their current IP with their account so the ISP can set the proper throttling parameters for that IP.

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

Davesnothere to JC_

Premium Member

to JC_
said by JC_:

said by BACONATOR26:

They can't. That's for DSL only.

That's what I figured but they have it advertised on their website, »www.acanac.ca/cable.html "Peak Hour Rate Limit - 7PM to 12AM".

 
That was one of my sources.

They have also stated so in this very forum.
Davesnothere

Davesnothere to InvalidError

Premium Member

to InvalidError
said by InvalidError:

....With cable, there is the added difficulty of determining who owns which IP.

This can be worked around of by throttling everyone to the same speed by default....

 
I believe that this is how Acanac is doing it, if/when necessary.

Data-agnostic, but tied to the max paid speed your account has.

Still, they need to be able to determine what account type and tier you have, as they say that they do not throttle to your actual sync profile in the case of DSL.

Can they not just track the modem MAC in the case of Cable ?

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

said by Davesnothere:

Can they not just track the modem MAC in the case of Cable ?

No, because the DHCP is Rogers equipment so TPIA providers do not have any access to it.

What InvalidError suggested here, »Re: TPIA Providers for Ottawa, would probably work depending on how the connection is setup.

--

Either way this post is digressing fast from my original questions, which provider is the value for my dollar?

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

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by JC_:

....Either way this post is digressing fast from my original questions, which provider is the value for my dollar?

 
Which I also pointed out earlier, before digressing yet again.

OK then - let's answer a question with a question :

How many monthly GB do you normally use (and how many would you anticipate using if it would not break your budget) ?

Two Q's, actually....

How FAST do you want/need to go ?

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

said by Davesnothere:

How many monthly GB do you normally use (and how many would you anticipate using if it would not break your budget) ?

Most months I keep my usage below 300GB as it's just me using the internet in my house.
said by Davesnothere:

How FAST do you want/need to go ?

I have 28/1 with TekSavvy now and I'd like to keep the same speed as I need the upload speed, I did consider getting 25/7 but than I'd need to get a dry loop as well.

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

1 edit

Davesnothere

Premium Member

 
OK, so you are already with one of the choices which you are comparing.

Do you have any gripes with them ?

One other thing which I can add now, in favour of START, is that they will waive their $50 setup fee if you are doing a transfer of service at the same location.

Not sure what Acanac or D'Tel would do in that regard.

START's 'Advanced' plan includes 300GB/Mo and currently half a buck per GB if you exceed.

BTW, they also are not currently counting upstream traffic.

Modem rent is $5 per month, or they can sell you one, or support BYOM if yours qualifies.

I am on the Cogeco equivalent of this START plan (runs at 16/1 speed) and the monthly cost is $62.09 including modem rental and HST.

It has been just as solid as my Cogeco direct service was before, but NO BS, less cost, more monthly GB, and not quite as fast (though fast enough, considering that I was on a DSL-5 service just before Cogeco 30/2/175).

I use CallCentric & CallWithUs (VoIP) for phone, supplemented by a Rogers PAYG cell, and my only TV comes from streams & p2p.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

I'm not eligible for the the startup fee being waived with Start as my cancellation date with TekSavvy is on June 30.

I'm considering Acanac because of the free home phone that they offer to their customers which will save me ~$35 month as well as I no longer use the home line all that much but just want to keep the number.

I'm in the same boat as you with the TV stuff, streaming and P2P.

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

3 edits

Davesnothere

Premium Member

 
I see, on the June 30 thing. - So you must have your reasons....

Acanac is not all that well-known for their VoIP, AFAIK. - Neither is TSI, for that matter.

If your phone service is important to you, you might best concentrate your remaining grace period on whether or not Acanac will be good/reliable-etc enough for your phone requirements, and can port your current number properly, and let the Internet part take the back seat as those providers all would likely be within some degree of similarity.

Though I guess that you are kind of 'down to the wire' anyway, on all parts of the puzzle.

Who is your current phone provider ?

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

Current phone provider is Rogers home phone over cable.

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

3 edits

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by JC_:

Current phone provider is Rogers home phone over cable.

 
OK, so you know how to do the 2 cable modems on 1 wire thing.

If you have not already cancelled your phone (and you could easily extend that date - I did that with my Cogeco Internet when transferring to START, at a prorated monthly charge), I would say to keep it until your new Internet is determined stable.

THEN do the phone part.

Unless enough folks here (or who you know) are prepared to get out the stack of bibles and swear to Acanac's VoIP phone being rock solid and all, I'd do that part later if it was me.

Of course, Acanac prob'ly wants the whole thing in one order to give their deal. - And again, if it was me, THAT would be a deal-breaker.

Something in my gut tells me that you ought to contact TSI to try to extend your cutoff date far enough that you could do a transfer to START. - There might yet be time to do that, and surely they'd still accept your money.

And see about getting your VoIP from VOIP.MS or CallCentric, who are both proven providers with moderate costs.

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_

Premium Member

said by Davesnothere:

said by JC_:

Current phone provider is Rogers home phone over cable.

 
OK, so you know how to do the 2 cable modems on 1 wire thing.

If you have not already cancelled your phone (and you could easily extend that date - I did that with my Cogeco Internet when transferring to START, at a prorated monthly charge), I would say to keep it until your new Internet is determined stable.

THEN do the phone part.

Unless enough folks here (or who you know) are prepared to get out the stack of bibles and swear to Acanac's VoIP phone being rock solid and all, I'd do that part later if it was me.

Of course, Acanac prob'ly wants the whole thing in one order to give their deal. - And again, if it was me, THAT would be a deal-breaker.

Haven't cancelled the home phone and won't be doing anything with it until I can run the Acanac VoIP through it's paces with a random assigned number and port later.
said by Davesnothere:

Something in my gut tells me that you ought to contact TSI to try to extend your cutoff date far enough that you could do a transfer to START. - There might yet be time to do that, and surely they'd still accept your money.

I already tried and unfortunately it can't be done because Rogers is so useless that their TPIA department can't process a un-cacellation request in time.

--

No matter what provider I choose I might still end up just going with VoIP.ms for home phone as it's mainly just to keep the number and because I need a home line for my alarm system.
Expand your moderator at work
Yodums
join:2012-05-23
Gloucester, ON

Yodums to JC_

Member

to JC_

Re: TPIA Providers for Ottawa

I'll chime in here, because you mentioned your TV comes from streaming, and that you want to go with Acanac.

TekSavvy had a stop-sell in May here in Ottawa and I signed up for Distributel. One of the main things I do online is stream. I subscribe (PPV) to a lot of video game tournaments and streaming was a major problem on Distributel. I was unable to watch any content in 1080p or 720p. It was really strange, because my speeds were great (28/0.5 when I was paying for 18/0.5) and my modem stats are fine, but I even had trouble streaming at 360p or 480p sometimes. I looked into the issue further and found that the issue had affected other users in different locations, as well as Acanac customers. Tech support gave me the regular runaround. They told me my line stats checked out, my speeds were okay, and looking into the issue any further was not necessary. I followed up again with the CSR Admin and she forwarded my issue to a network engineer. He replicated the issue by testing the streaming site on Distributel and using other ISPs and having no issues. He told me his director was aware of the issue and actually looking into it. He mentioned that the resolution required core changes and they were “testing the effects”. He did set out that these changes would come this month, but I canned them and moved to TekSavvy because I wasn’t given an update since June 11th.

Now, I’m on TekSavvy with the same cable line stats, another DCM475, and able to stream without a single issue. Some of the sites I had issues with on Disributel were Twitch.tv (primary site for these PPVs), Vimeo, and CBC. I read other users had issues with Comedy Central. The weird thing about this whole streaming issue was 1080p YouTube was never an issue. It never buffered, once. I believe other users on RFD mentioned they were able to stream Netflix without an issue.

Some links for you:

»Distributel - Problems Streaming
»community.acanac.com/Aca ··· p=117866
»community.acanac.com/Aca ··· p=109733
»www.google.ca/search?sug ··· &bih=667

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

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by Yodums:

....I followed up again with the CSR Admin and she forwarded my issue to a network engineer. He replicated the issue by testing the streaming site on Distributel and using other ISPs and having no issues. He told me his director was aware of the issue and actually looking into it. He mentioned that the resolution required core changes and they were “testing the effects”. He did set out that these changes would come this month, but I canned them and moved to TekSavvy because I wasn’t given an update since June 11th.

Now, I’m on TekSavvy with the same cable line stats, another DCM475, and able to stream without a single issue. Some of the sites I had issues with on Disributel were Twitch.tv (primary site for these PPVs), Vimeo, and CBC. I read other users had issues with Comedy Central. The weird thing about this whole streaming issue was 1080p YouTube was never an issue. It never buffered, once. I believe other users on RFD mentioned they were able to stream Netflix without an issue....

 
Interesting anecdote.

Then our OP here will need to decide on whether to take a chance that your info about the 'FIX' proves to be good, as they have a firm cancellation of TSI Cable for end of this month.

Speaking of CBC, I view them a lot, and their player looks to yield a 640x352p box on the screen, or is the stream actually of a higher res and the box is under-sized by default ?

If it really IS 640x352, then nearly nobody should have troubles with it.

CTV seems to do the same as CBC, by appearances.