Welcome to the Product Spotlight -- a continuing series of articles highlighting individual products commonly used by our members.
In The Spotlight:
TekSavvy DSL Service Previously:
•
Verizon FiOS Spotlight•
HughesNet Satellite Spotlight •
Optimum Online Spotlight•
Comcast HSI Spotlight•
Clearwire Wireless Internet Spotlight•
EV-DO Showdown - Sprint Vs. Verizon•
Canadian Broadband - Cogeco Vs. Shaw•
magicJack VoIP ServiceSee also:
US Broadband Price Comparisons Rock solid connection, speed of 6016Kb/800Kb....What else I can ask for $29.95? Teksvvy is the best ISP ever, strongly recommended! |
It's no secret geeks and technophiles are a hard lot to please -- especially when it comes to their Internet service. However, once in a while an ISP does, in fact, appear to get things right. One ISP that seems to fit the bill is the Canadian provider TekSavvy Solutions, Inc. In this Product Spotlight, we'll take a look at TekSavvy's offerings and why the service gets such high grades in customer reviews here on Broadbandreports.com.
Company Info
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. - based in Chatham, Ontario, Canada - was founded in 1998 and started life as an Internet Development firm. According to TekSavvy president and CEO Rocky Gaudrault, due to the ups and downs of the development world the company was forced to try and find an alternative that would stabilize the monthly income -- thus the move into DSL service.
Says Mr. Gaudrault about his company:
We're in the industry to make a difference and change how the internet service world works. It's a family owned business that has certain ethics instilled within. You can only fake things so long if it's not truly the way you think. This is what separates us, as we don't see numbers or just things based on numbers when dealing with clients. It's about what they want and seeing how we can come to terms and both win.
Prices And Speeds
TekSavvy currently provides both
residential and business class services in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. The provider offers several alternatives, including capped tiers, unlimited tiers, and dry DSL (Internet service without phone service or 'naked' DSL).
You can get unlimited service over
Cogent or a premium service over the
Peer 1 Network.
Cogent is a low-cost solution with cost being the focus as opposed to performance and reliability. Cogent is, however, a very large Tier 1 provider.
Peer 1 is a high reliability, high performance network who guarantees 100% up-time to TekSavvy. Peer 1 buys from multiple Tier 1 providers and prioritizes routes to the best/fastest path.
Speeds & Prices - Quebec & Ontario:Residential DSL Service:Premium (Capped) DSL Service over Peer1 Network with Cogent back-up (redundancy: roll-over on to Cogent should Peer1 ever drop):
• DSL Basic Service: 288Kbps download/288Kbps upload at $24.95/month with a 10GB/month cap
• 5 Meg Service: 5Mbps download/800Kbps upload at $29.95/month with a 200GB/month cap
• No activation fee
• Pre-Purchased Blocks of Bandwidth - $10/100GB/month
• Additional Bandwidth (If no pre-pay) - $0.25/GB/month
• Other Charges (if applicable): $25 if moving during the first month of the activation date, $25 for any speed change after activation, $4 for a static IP
DSL Unlimited over Cogent (no rollover/redundancy)
*:
• DSL Basic Service: 288Kbps download/288Kbps upload at $24.95/month, no usage cap
• 5 Meg Service: 5Mbps download/800Kbps upload at $29.95/month, no usage cap
• No activation fee on either tier
• Other Charges (if applicable): $25 if moving during the first month of the activation date, $25 for any speed change after activation, $4 for a static IP
* As of January 1st 2008, the monthly price for the Residential Unlimited Package will be increased to $39.95.
TekSavvy's website advises that you should allow a minimum of 5 business days for the activation of these services.
Dry DSL Service (Service for residential locations with no active phone lines/no telephone number):Premium (Capped) Dry DSL Line Service over Peer1 Network with Cogent back-up (redundancy: roll-over on to Cogent should Peer1 ever drop):
• DSL Basic Service: 288Kbps download/288Kbps upload at $24.95/month + Band Rate
** with a 10GB/month cap
• 5 Meg Service: 5Mbps download/800Kbps upload at $29.95/month + Band Rate
** with a 200GB/month cap
• One initial service charge of $19.99 on setup
• Charge of $19.99 any time Bell has to work on the copper lines
• Pre-Purchased Blocks of Bandwidth - $10/100GB/month
• Additional Bandwidth (If no pre-pay) - $0.25/GB/month
• Other Charges (if applicable): $25 if moving during the first month of the activation date, $25 for any speed change after activation, $4 for a static IP
Unlimited Dry DSL Line Service over Cogent (no rollover/redundancy):
• DSL Basic Service: 288Kbps download/288Kbps upload at $24.95/month + Band Rate
**• 5 Meg Service: 5Mbps download/800Kbps upload at $29.95/month + Band Rate
**• One initial service charge of $19.99 on setup
• Charge of $19.99 any time Bell has to work on the copper lines
• Other Charges (if applicable): $25 if moving during the first month of the activation date, $25 for any speed change after activation, $4 for a static IP
Band Rates:
Band A $7.25/month
Band B $9.10/month
Band C $10.22/month
Band D $10.98/month
Band E $15.91/month
Band F $16.20/month
Band G $25.10/month
** Band rates apply if you do not have an active phone line. The rates are based mainly upon age, distance and activity of the CO (
Central Office) that you'll be connecting to. Think of the bandrate as kind of a rental fee in order to use Bell Sympatico's Copper without actually having voice service. Please see
this entry in our
TekSavvy FAQ for an explanation of Bands and TekSavvy's service.
As of January 1st 2008, the monthly price for the Residential Unlimited Package will be increased to $39.95. It can take between 5 to 15 business days to get activated with Dry DSL.
Speed and Prices - Alberta and British Columbia: Residential DSL Service:• 3.0 Mbps Service: 3Mbps download/1Mbps upload at $29.95/month + Band Rate with a 200GB/month cap
• 6.0 Mbps Service: 6Mbps download/1Mbps upload at $35.95/month + Band Rate with a 200GB/month cap
• Pre-Purchased blocks of extra bandwidth- $10/100GB/month
• Additional bandwidth (If you don't pre-pay) - $0.25/GB/month
• No activation fee
• Other Charges (if applicable): $25 if moving during the first month of the activation date, $4 for a static IP
TekSavvy advises it will take a minimum of of 5 business days for the activation of the services.
Residential Dry DSL Line Service (Service for residential locations with no active phone lines/no telephone number):• 3.0 Mbps Service: 3Mbps download/1Mbps upload at $29.95/month + Band Rate with a 200GB/month cap
• 6.0 Mbps Service: 6Mbps download/1Mbps upload at $35.95/month + Band Rate with a 200GB/month cap
• Pre-Purchased Blocks - $10/100GB/month
• Additional Bandwidth (If you don't pre-pay) - $0.25/GB/month
• Activation fee of $39.99
• Other Charges (if applicable): $25 if moving during the first month of the activation date, $4 for a static IP
Band Rates for dry DSL service (British Columbia):
Band A $6.90/month
Band B $11.39/month
Band C $12.66/month
Band D $11.36/month
Band E $26.02/month
Band F $20.88/month
Band G $26.84/month
Band Rates for dry DSL service (Alberta)
Band A $7.04/month
Band B $9.58/month
Band C $11.04/month
Band D $10.48/month
Band E $16.53/month
Band F $14.18/month
Band G $16.20/month
It can take between 5 to 15 business days to get activated with Dry DSL. TekSavvy notes that they are not responsible for any
internal wiring.
If you wish to check prices and speeds for business services, you can go to
TekSavvy's homepage and click on the business offering of your choice listed there. There are some price differences and slight speed differences between residential and business service. The service for Business class DSL is seen with a little more sensitivity from the Bell side, so TekSavvy, in turn, can get quicker results. Aside from that, TekSavvy treats all accounts equally, residential or Business.
For your convenience, TekSavvy does provide a way to
check your monthly bandwidth usage on their website. Also found on the website are
instructions on how to set up various OS's to connect to TekSavvy (listed under "Operating System Solutions").
Installation And Hardware
Almost all
reviews of TekSavvy left by customers here on BBR report either a very smooth transition to TekSavvy service, or a very easy installation:
Was with bell [sympatico] before, they charged me too much for internet, switched to teksavvy, smooth transition, good pricing and customer service.
I ordered the kit online using their registration system and it arrived 2 days later (not bad). I plugged in the filters, connected the modem to the telephone jack, turned it on and was happy to see the LEDs light up for line synch. I plugged in my wireless router, entered the PPoE account info, rebooted the wireless router and bang connection online and active. I gotta say that was the easiest DSL setup I have every done.
Switching from Bell's Sympatico was a breeze; 5 days to activate the connection, then just login and you're up and running. You can use existing equipment from Sympatico if you have it, or purchase a DSL modem separately. |
Order to live time seems to average about 5 to 7 days, but there are reports of times as short as 1 day and as long as 21 days.
TekSavvy offers several choices of modems for sale or rent-to-own with their service on their site:
• Thomson SpeedTouch 516 - Purchase ($99) OR rent to own ($50 + $10/month for 6 months)
• Thomson SpeedTouch 546 (4 ports) - Purchase ($125)
• Thomson SpeedTouch 780 (Modem/4 ports/Wireless/Gateway) - Purchase ($164.99)
(Add $15 shipping if purchasing from Alberta or British Columbia areas)
TekSavvy also offers other supplies needed for DSL service:
•
Filters at $6.99/each
• Network Card - DFE538TX DLINK 10/100M at $29.99/each (This is not a wireless card)
As far as install kits go, TekSavvy preconfigures its modems for everyone so as to not need this. The company says it is done this way to ensure quality.
However, installation or service to connect your network is available. You may call TekSavvy for details.
TekSavvy also allows you to purchase your own brand of modem, your own filters, and your own network cards. However, which device to use appears to be the subject of some debate according to CEO Rocky Gaudrault:
Hehehe... this is a very well debated topic of late. One that's caused a few skirmishes. We've normally had the best success with Alcatel-type chipsets. The ST516 in particular has yielded the best return, from both consistency and reliability/durability. The problem with DSL seems to be based on distance. For instance, on short distances, the GNet BB0060 model performs equally as well as the ST516 (under 3KM) but it's starts flaking out when pushing 5Meg speeds over these distances or when doing multi-protocol type connection (VPN, etc.). We've also had many returns for failing hardware on these modems... the unit would just simply burn out. This model in particular has been the most problematic unit on the marketplace for DSL in Ontario/Quebec.
Service And Reliability
This is by far the best ISP I've seen here available in the National Capital Region. Not only is it fast and reliable it also has the best costumer service I've seen so far all business grouped together. |
Though TekSavvy is not a Bell Canada reseller, they do purchase copper service wholesale from Bell. Bell then sets up so TekSavvy can
have the DSL connection sent back Toronto for internet access.
CEO Rocky Gaudrault explains the relationship this way:
BELL'S ROLE:
1 - Bell sets up the line card in the Bell Central Office so that it
works for DSL.
2 - The copper is setup to be billed directly to TekSavvy instead of the
end user (ie: TekSavvy assumes responsibility for the DSL connection instead of
the end user)
3 - The connection is pathed/backhauled back to Toronto and handed off to
TSI by recognizing the login name.
TSI ROLE:
4 - TSI receives the request in the Bell collocation area at 151 Front
in Toronto, sends it to TSI's authentication servers to see if good.
5 - Once cleared, the user is assigned an IP according to their
specification (either Premium or Unlimited)
6 - The Juniper ERXs hand-off the connection from the Bell racks, over
to the Peer1 collocation area
7 - Once received in the Peer1 area the IP traffic is sent to a variety
of locations through 151 Front depending on the type of traffic
requests... Out to the Web through Peer1, Cogent, T-Systems, Teleglobe
or Internap. Should the request need to be passed through TORIX, it
will then reroute to another room for hand-off.
TekSavvy has its own routing, which users say they
find superior to Bell Sympatico.
Network and speed reliability are generally regarded as excellent by most accounts. Many reviewers talk of rock solid connections and very little downtime.
In order to allow users to receive the best service possible, the company will attempt to put a customer on an appropriate
profile (maximum service speed). A higher or lower profile can help stabilize a spotty connection, or allow for higher speeds if possible. To have your line checked to see if a higher or lower profile may help your connection, you can ask in our
TekSavvy Direct Support Forum, where TekSavvy officially provides tech support on our site.
TekSavvy's ToS is pretty much standard for the industry, with nothing especially worrisome to point out. You can read TekSavvy's Customer Agreement
here.
A current issue of interest lately is the throttling and practice of traffic shaping by ISP's in order to battle 'bandwidth hogs'. Bell Sympatico itself
recently admitted to throttling BitTorrent traffic:
Bell Sympatico has launched a solution to enhance the online customer experience and improve Internet performance for all our customers during peak periods of Internet usage with the introduction of Internet Traffic Management. There continues to be phenomenal growth of consumer Internet traffic throughout the world and Bell is using Internet Traffic Management to ensure we deliver bandwidth fairly to our customers during peak Internet usage.
As it stands, TekSavvy does not throttle or shape its traffic. An excellent, very interesting and telling interview with TekSavvy CEO Rocky Gaudrault on the subject can be
found here at P2Pnet.net. The following is an especially interesting exchange on the subject during the interview and worth repeating here:
Ottawa Gal: What do they think about file sharing and file sharers?
Rocky: This is a loaded question. From an ISP perspective it’s a loose, loose [sic]. You have people who download/exchange for the right reasons; the problem is with those who don’t. What you have to consider is data has a finite cost, so someone downloading movies for free. Well, not quite. We’re actually paying for it in the end. To add insult to injury we then have to spend on the HR needed to receive and pass on copyright infringements and such. In Canada they currently have no leg to stand on, so as far as due diligence, we simply figure out who the individual is and pass the message on.
Ottawa Gal: Do you or will you ever cap, throttle or impose a limit on ‘unlimited’ accounts?
Rocky: We don’t plan to remove unlimited accounts but have just recently put plans to correct the high downloading as of the New Year. The pay per play strategy will have to become a more mainstream reality as, with people understanding how to exchange files and also with the increase in both streaming and online activities/speeds. You can’t help but have a correction.
Ottawa Gal: Bell-Sympatico forced you to remove the log-in only accounts. What do you think of this? Will they come back? Will you fight this?
Rocky: Bell Sympatico didn’t specifically/officially force our hand on this. The discussion came about with a few of the Bell management and the end result was to hold off on the login-only services we know how Sympatico will deal with abusive accounts. Our goal, in the end, isn’t to harm Bell, and if the login does so, we’ll pull it and work with them to reinstate it with mutually acceptable conditions. In the end, all DSL wholesalers are part of the Bell family in some shape or form as, if it weren’t for them, the consumer would not even have an option! The cable companies have made it abundantly clear that they’ll resist things to the end on letting others in. They’ve placed a rate template for wholesalers, through the CRTC, that doesn’t make sense, so DSL is the only way.
It is also interesting to note that Bell Sympatico can solicit TekSavvy clients. According to
an entry in our TekSavvy FAQ:
"Sympatico/Bell can solicit 3rd party ISP clients after a 90 day waiting period (Bell has an internal policy of communicating with all the households in Ontario and Quebec 4 times per year! - Might even be Canada wide)." However, judging from the number of positive reviews, I don't think there are many takers among those who use TekSavvy.
Tech Support And Customer Service
The customer service is incredible! And they are always courteous, as well as quite frequent here on {Broadbandreports.com}, so you can ask in whichever medium is better for you. |
Both Bell and TekSavvy play a role in customer service and tech support.
Bell handles
DSLAM/copper connectivity issues at the CO or house level. Bell also handles the connection setup at the CO/BAS level.
TSI works on behalf of the client to resolve issues with Bell. So, instead of the end user calling Bell for sync problems, TekSavvy would do it. TSI also handles Level 1 (or higher) tech problems for the end users.
Tech and customer support seem to be regarded as excellent by almost all reviews. Reviewers almost universally praise TekSavvy's tech and customer support for being
extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and for
going the extra mile whenever required to fix a problem. TekSavvy's support is also praised for being extremely accessible, such as the ability to get official tech support from the company in our
TekSavvy Direct Support Forum, and also interact with TekSavvy's staff in our
TekSavvy User Forum, where TekSavvy CEO Rocky Gaudrault is a member ( BBR member name R0CKY
) and frequent contributer.
A list of TekSavvy staff who officially provide support (both in English and French) on Broadbandreports.com in our TekSavvy Direct Support Forum and TekSavvy Users Forum can be found
here.
A typical opinion of Teksavvy's customer support goes something like the comments in
this review:
Talking with their tech support or even their customer service department is a breeze, efficient & simple. Every time I've had to call them, my phone calls were under 5 minutes, from the moment that I picked up the receiver, to the time that I put the phone down. I haven't seen this kind of service in a long time. This is what service should be like. Did I mention that their staff is actually are actually knowledgeable & are empowered to take care of the customers right when they phone? You don't even need to argue with them to the point where you have to speak to a supervisor & argue with him as well for 20 minutes for them to fix their screw-ups.
One might worry that as the company grows, this kind of up close and personal attention to tech support and customer satisfaction will disappear. Gaudrault answers that possibility in
this Broadbandreports.com article:
"We've gone out of our way to not only keep our techs in house, but also pay them a little more. As much as tech support is seen by most providers as a baseline expense, we don't view it that way. They are just as much of a selling tool as they are an expense in our mind." The Bottom Line
Out of 212 total current customer reviews left here on BBR, TekSavvy has received 203 positive reviews, 9 neutral reviews and zero negative reviews. The company has a 95% satisfaction rating over the past 6 months and a 97% satisfaction rating over the past year, resulting in a BBR
Gold Star Award. Almost all reviews contain positive comments on the steady connections and good speeds received. Customer service is deemed to be excellent, as is tech support.
The Premium service has very reasonable caps, and these are even offset by a redundant guaranteed connection. Not to mention the ability to purchase more bandwidth at a good price, and not get killed by overage fees if you use more than the alloted 200GBs.
The Unlimited service, while not backed by redundancy, proves to be a very reliable connection anyway, with nice speeds at a good price. This is made even more attractive by the fact that TekSavvy does not throttle or traffic shape.
While a tier in between the Basic and 5Mbps would be a nice addition, this is not possible. However, it is not TekSavvy's fault this is so. Bell
only provides either the 'Lite' tier and the 5Mbps tier, no middle ground.
Judging from all the positive comments in the reviews and the fact that TekSavvy has up until now received no negative reviews, it seems TekSavvy has figured out how to do DSL right -- providing excellent all around service and leaving their customers very satisfied with the provider.
TekSavvy Solutions Inc.'s DSL service gets a 5 out of 5, and comes highly recommended to those lucky enough to be within the providers service area.
When asked how TekSavvy achieves the level of service they provide, and if they can maintain the high level of service and customer satisfaction as they grow, CEO Rocky Gaudrault had this to say:
We've had steady growth over the last couple of years. Of late, there has been a shift in user base that has made us adjust some of our service offering. We'd introduced the unlimited product about a year ago as a result of demand, but as of recent events with throttling/caps with the bigs (Bell/Rogers/Cogeco/etc..) we've had to reassess the baseline usage. On a two month span, the usage had grown by 50%, so to leave the price was unrealistic. All the larger players seem to have a bad habit of following one another's leads, which in this case has caused a mess in the marketplace.
[I'm] not sure if we can maintain it, but basically, we're in the industry to make a difference and change how the internet service world works. It's a family owned business that has certain ethics instilled within. You can only fake things so long if it's not truly the way you think. This is what separates us, as we don't see numbers or just things based on numbers when dealing with clients. It's about what they want and seeing how we can come to terms and both win.
Let's hope the TekSavvy family keeps marching to the beat of its own drum.
Resources
Our Resources*
•
BBR TekSavvy User Forum•
BBR Unofficial magicJack Forum•
TekSavvy User Reviews•
BBR TekSavvy Official Direct Tech Support Forum•
BBR TekSavvy FAQ•
BBR DSL FAQ•
BBR DSL Knowledge Base•
TekSavvy Speed Test Result Archive•
Provider Ratings ChartOther Resources•
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. Home Page•
P2PNet.net - p2pnet talks to ISP TekSavvy•
TekSavvy Network Status•
TekSavvy Monthly Bandwidth Usage Checker & Tools•
TekSavvy Support & FAQ Page*
Special thanks to TekSavvy CEO Rocky Gaudrault ( BBR member R0CKY ) for taking the time to answer questions about TekSavvy Solutions Inc. and its service
Product Spotlight - TekSavvy Solutions DSL Service
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