Kitchener-Waterloo High Speed Internet Options (Bell, Rogers)



Most people think that there are only two internet options in most areas, usually something along the lines of "Rogers or Bell", but that's rarely true.

Two other, often far better options, available in all and some of KW respectively are:

Teksavvy
If you have internet access available through Bell, you'll have access to Teksavvy. For $32/month, they'll give you 300gb of data transfer, usually at the same speeds, and I think they only charge for overages if you use more than 600gb over the last two billing cycles before having to pay any (rather reasonable) overages.
You will have to buy your own modem and router, but they're quite cheap if you know where to buy. Teksavvy has them for sale too, but it's cheaper if you know where to seek them from a computer store, ebay, craigslist or kijiji.

Eyesurf
This is another DSL type service, but they use no Bell computers/routers/ports/DSLAMs whatsoever. This company actually installs its own equipment in Bell offices. The only part of Bell that your connection touches is that piece of copper that goes to your local Bell office. This means that Bell couldn't even count your bits if they wanted to. They've also managed to be able to sell not only unlimited and unthrottled connections, but also faster than Bell, as fast as 15mbit/s compared to Bell's 5mbit/s service.
There are three downsides to the Eyesurf service:
  1. It can be a bit more expensive than Teksavvy, especially if you're planning on going Dry-Loop. But still competitive for a truly unlimited connection that blows Rogers+Bell out of the water
  2. Whether you can even get a connection or not is highly dependent upon how far you are from that actual Bell office. Teksavvy can work off Bell's "remote" boxes that Bell uses for people too far away, but Eyesurf does not have access to these. You'll need to be within 2 or 3 kilometres of either Water street in Kitchener or University and Albert in Waterloo.
  3. As with Teksavvy, it's cheaper to provide your own DSL modem and router, but you'll need to be sure to get an ADSL2+ modem, which aren't much more expensive, but could require more hunting around. Canada Computers, just south of University on Weber Street currently has compatible modems for just $27, and tons of routers starting at just $25 (but just ask around, many people have extra routers lying around). Just go there and ask for help picking one out (but avoid anything made by D-Link, get it, de-link?)

Want To Save More Money?

Now that you don't have to worry about counting gigabytes (which cost less than a penny to provide, and that's only during peak times by the way), consider putting your router on a window sill and splitting the bill with your neighbour if they're a light internet user. Eyesurf is unlimited, so you won't have to worry about overages, and you'd have to be a VERY heavy user to go over with Teksavvy.

Don't forget, you may be on a contract with your existing provider, and even if you are month to month, Bell does require 30 days notice for cancelling, which is ridiculous given that they just flip a switch to inactivate your account and can unhook  your physical connection once they need it for someone else, or might do another truck roll just to reconnect you when you switch to Teksavvy. Rogers may have the same kind of cancellation charge too.

ACANAC

ACANAC is a substandard company . The price is not exactly the best I payed $620 for 1 year a a VOIP service called XLITE from CounterPath . I would avoid ACANAC altogether . MY VOIP softphone doesn't work and ACANAC's tech support try to do their best , I have to admit .

Save many headaches by staying away from ACANAC .I have had them for 1 year and am looking for a new provider.

acanac

Another inexpensive option is ACANAC.ca. I have the cable internet comes unlimited and 18meg speed with 8 meg peak times. the VOIP phone service is 120 for the year and includes absolutely everything including long distance. Teksavvy is the way to go for slower speeds 6 meg service for 25 bucks. Acanac no issues either, phone serivce fantastic - i set up the vm to go to my email.

This post was lost while

This post was lost while recovering from a backup:
"
Hey--

I ordered Eyesurf based in part on this article so I just wanted to report on my experience. I pay $46 + HST/month, no extra charge for the dry loop, and I bought my own modem from Canada Computers for $40. I live northeast of Kitchener's downtown and the service has been fabulous. Previously I found Rogers too expensive and had reliability problems with Bell (e.g., internet often down for 10-15 minutes and occasionally down for a few hours). Now my fastest downloads are about 1 MB/s and in three months I have never, not once, lost service. When I've done internet speed tests it's 7-8 Mbps.

But Eyesurf's biggest advantage is no usage cap. With Bell I got 25 GB/month and Rogers 60 GB/month. Bell's 25 GB on a 6 Mbps connection is a pittance. If I had chosen to, I could have run though my entire month's usage in 48 hours. Sure hope the startup thing is working and they can stay in business!
"

Eyesurf and Tecksavvy

Dan,

Thank you for this post.

I've checked and Eyesurf will offer Digital Home Phone & High Speed Internet for $60/month. Upto 5MBps and unlimited. This is a great, except it's not available yet.
The only I could get from TekSavvy is Cable. Even their cheapest package of $28 is better than what I have from Rogers at $47/month.
Should I go to Canada Computers, get the ADSL2+ modem and go with TekSavvy like you suggested?

Thanks again
helen

Teksavvy cable requires a

Teksavvy cable requires a cable "DOCSIS" modem, while Teksavvy DSL requires any old DSL modem, though an ADSL2+ modem is more future-proof. If you're in K-W, you should be eligible for either Teksavvy service, though in some parts, the DSL quality is pretty terrible. Eyesurf's DSL footprint is much smaller than Teksavvy's due to how they operate.

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