# Help! Looking for an ISP for student apartment :)



## WateraDrop (Nov 16, 2008)

Hey guys, so a few of you might have seen my old post asking for where to buy cheap furniture. The IKEA 2011 catalogue came in and I just went there and bought a ton of stuff. I never realised how fun furniture shopping was until I had to do it for my own place.

Anyway, I have to deal with getting internet for the apartment now and I'm wondering if you guys could give me some direction. In general: What do I do? LOL. I'm not sure which provider to go with and when I do figure that out, what do I do?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Most major internet providers are relatively the same in terms of price (bell, rogers etc), some newer isp will be cheaper since they are trying to stimulate the growth in numbers of subscribers. When you find out which provider you want, call them and they will come by your house and set everything up for you. This is a brief overview, if you have any specific questions just ask


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Bell and Rogers are OK, but if you want good deals, check out Velcom and Teksavvy.


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## WateraDrop (Nov 16, 2008)

We're using Tekksavvy at home right now -- the DSL one.

I didn't set up the one we have at home right now but having gone through a lot of the ISP sites today, I think we'll be settling on TekkSavvy.

We have to get a dry DSL service because we're not getting home phone service. On their site, it says:

High Speed
Internet Premium Up to 5M/800k 200G/month $31.95/month + *Band rate * Order Now

What is this band rate thing?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

The band rate is the extra amount you will pay to have a dry loop service.

It is usually $7-10 (call them and ask; the further away you are from their nodes, the more expensive it gets, but if you are around Toronto, the going rate is ~$10).


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

TekkSavvy is boss!


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

I *COMPLETELY* disagree with the Rogers being okay comment. I'm using it right now and I have a few things to say:

There are times where it is rather fast and reliable (most of the time) but there's always those few days in every month where waiting for my internet is worse than waiting for bettas to finish spawning.

There is an ephermal epoch where I am able to view webpages at a not-insultingly slow speed. However, this period is so short that I can't download a small app (5MB) on my iPod. Usually, I can download 3-5MB/s but at the moment, I can download at a rate less than 40kbps.

Considering that you're a student, I don't think you want to risk having days where your internet isn't working.

-1 for Rogers

I'm looking at the TekSavvy site and I'm impressed:

Residential DSL Internet
Service Speed Bandwidth Price Purchase 
High Speed
Internet Premium Up to 5M/800k 200G/month $31.95/Month Order Now 
Unlimited Up to 5M/800k Unlimited $39.95/Month Order Now 
High Speed
Lite Unlimited Up to 512k/512k Unlimited $24.95/Month Order Now

So right now what we have with Rogers is the Express;
10Mbps download
512kpb upload
60GB monthly allowance (if we pass this we pay more)
9 emails (which we don't use)

For $46.99, but we have some bundle deal so it's a bit cheaper. We had the lite which used to have a much higher monthly allowance (which now is only 15GB, when we switched I swear it was 25G which was reduced from an initial 60GB I think)

Source:
http://www.rogers.com/web/link/hisp...=400&inlineId=express_hiddenDisclaimerContent

For the other charges:

Other Charges

•MLPPP - $4/mo.
•Shipping - $10
•Additional Bandwidth - $0.25/GB/mo.
•Pre-Purchased Blocks - $10/100GB/mo.
•$25 - Moving during the first month of the activation date
•$25 - For any speed change after activation(ex: from 5 Meg to Basic, ...)

What's MLPPP and what is dry loop?

Also, for the TekSavvy users out there, what are some disadvantages or problems you've had with their service?


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

I should also add that when I needed someone from Rogers to come in and fix my internet, the earliest they could schedule one was about 6 days from when I needed the internet fixed.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Some people definitely have had bad Rogers experiences. I used to have a bad connections as well, but then kept complaining (every other day) until they sent a technician to fix it.

For TekSavvy, one must realize that it is a DSL service (plain DSL, not ADSL), so you will be limited to 5 mbps download for their "premium" service. This means you will need phone filters.

MLPPP is a specific protocol, if you don't know what it is, you won't need it 

Be aware that you will be required to either purchase their DSL modem, or purchase one yourself (cheaper to buy one yourself, it is ~$30).

Dry Loop is a service where you currently do not have a home telephone (land line based, not VOIP); as TekSavvy is a dry loop service, it will require that you have a(n active) telephone line in your house. If you do not want an active land line, then you can install a dry loop, in which you do not have the phone service, but still can use the DSL service. This is why you see a *band rate* charge (it is for the dry loop service).


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

The service really depends where you are and the experience differs greatly from person to person. Personally I hated Bell because it always stopped working for a while which is annoying when you play games online with friends, I switched to rogers and they did a great job, upgraded internet and 1.5mb/s download speed on stuff isn't too shabby . The only time it ever stopped working for me was power outages (duh) and when a big storm hits, but it would start working again shortly afterwards. My advice to you is try a service provider and switch if you don't like it and also use the threat of changing to another service provider to get some free upgrades and stuff, if the person refuses, hang up and call again to get another person who might be more lenient ahaha.


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## Octavian (Sep 30, 2009)

Teksavvy also offers cable internet instead of dsl depending on your geographic location.

Ontario Residential Cable Internet
*Service Down Up Gig Cap Price *
Lite Cable 3 Mbps 256 K 200 $27.95 
Express Cable 10 Mbps 512 K 200 $36.95
Extreme Cable 10 Mbps 1 Mbps 200 $42.95
Extreme Cable Pro 10 Mbps 1 Mbps Unlimited $54.95

Activation fee = $44.95, Save $20 with a modem purchase!
Move Fee = $65
If a Dispatch is required for troubleshooting = $99
Additional Bandwidth = $.50/GB/mo
Account changes = $5

Activation Time lines
7 Business days, installs can be, (8am-11am), (11am-2pm), (2pm-5pm), (5pm-8pm)


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