Unfortunately Rogers is no better than bell for reliability overall, in most cases I’d say cable companies have a worse track record for reliability than the phone company. However, that being said, everyone’s case is individual. I for instance moved into a new subdivision 5 years ago and had so many problems with my local cable line outside my house getting disconnected for various reasons, which of course meant my internet was down for a couple of days. In contrast, when I did switch to Sympatico and later to Teksavvy, it was generally very reliable.

My suggestion to you is this: sign up for Rogers high speed internet and run it concurrently with your Teksavvy service for two or three months so you can put it through it’s paces and see how it works for you. If you have Rogers cable TV right now, a pretty good gauge is to try to think about how often your cable signal goes out. If you don’t have problems with your cable signal, then you’ll likely not have issues with their internet service. If however you have a high occurrence of cable signal going out (even for a short time), then your area might be a problematic one for reliable cable internet.

If your work is that important to you, no single consumer internet service can be trusted because they all go down from time to time. The only way to be close to 100% certain you will always have an internet connection is to not rely on any single technology or provider. In other words, have both cable and DSL, maybe one on a bare bones minimum service plan as a backup.

If you have a cell phone with a data plan, you might look into tethering options. It might be a cheaper and more flexible alternative to having two wireline internet services. In addition to having a backup internet connection, you have the benefit of being able to use it anywhere with a mobile computer, so you gain the added flexibility of having internet access even when away from home.

As an example, an iPhone 3G/3GS with the Rogers or Fido 6GB/month data plan ($30/month) might make a good backup internet solution. If your main DSL or cable internet drops out for an extended period, you can quickly and easily put the iPhone into tethering mode and simply connect it to your computer via a USB cable, and you’re now using the Rogers cellular network to connect to the internet. Granted, the speed will be slower, but still usable, and you do have to be careful about data usage as going over your 6GB limit will incur additional charges. Given that you’re likely to not need it for more than a day or two in any given month, the 6GB plan may be enough to cover you. Other cell phones models support tethering, but not all do, so you’ll have to check.

An alternative to tethering is to get an Internet stick like the Rogers Rocket Stick USB wireless modem, but data plans tend to be more costly because they are using a dedicated cellular account, rather than piggybacking on your existing cell phone number.

Probably more info than you were expecting, but at least you can make a more informed decision, whichever way you go. Good luck, and come back and let us know how your solution worked out for you.

I spoke with a tech rep for teksavvy and he said Bell has old infrustucture that keeps going down, so it’s hard to get reliable service for residential internet.

Teksavvy is always very nice when I call, the price is right (though my work pays, so I don’t care about that part), and I like supporting a company with integrity, but I’m getting to the point where I think I’m going to have to switch to rogers because I really need a reliable internet connection.

Anyone know if rogers is just as bad? I don’t know what to do. I would like to stay with teksavvy… but my internet has gone down 3 or 4 times just this week… including about 45 mins ago. I know it’s bell because I switch to my neighbour’s internet and theirs is down, too when it happens.

Any advice out there?

As for the fly by night, they are listed 26 in The PROFIT 100 table that ranks the 100 fastest-growing companies in Canada by percentage revenue growth.

medaguru.com

Try getting that from Bell!

PS. They also have home phone service cheaper.

It’s really not that difficult to switch, and not a huge risk if you have to switch back if you do end up having a bad experience. But with nothing but good reviews and testimonials (compared to the more negative experience people have with Bell and Rogers), I fail to see why people should stick with the more expensive established players.

Unlimited speed is becoming too expensive with Sympatico!

When Bell started their new pricing scheme, you had to pay extra maximum fee of $30 to get unlimited quota.

Too many disadvantages!

Contract , everything ISP should allow no-contract and free to cancel if you do not like their service.

Throttling bittorrent as reason of load balancing BS

Price

No wonder everyone try to get rid of Sympatico ISP when they can and some count their days for their contract to expire so they can switch to other ISP. It was a big mistake I did but never again going back!

I have a connection of 440KBps while I pay for 2MBps. AFter 5 calls and a billing representative that tells her own tech services guy “Yes, he’s paying for 2MBps” right on the phone with me…the problem is still not fixed. They forget, have “backlogs” technicians not there… you name it they have an excuse.

Mention you want to upgrade to a more expensive package and curiously, that can be done right away.

Bell is a company that just puts people on commission to sell as much as junk as they can, knowing that they can make it very difficult for the customer to cancel. It is unquestionably the most unscrupulous company of any kind I’ve dealt with. It is a true disgrace for Canada.

The poor techies they hire in India are there because the pathetic company is so poorly managed they can’t find enough people to deal with their own complaints. These tech people at call centres are there primarily as sales agents. They can’t fix anything because they have no control of the infrastructure. They just listen to clients and make promises about having problems fixed.

It is not unusual at all for Sympatico customers to be overcharged and the management does not see this as a problem. The management needs to do some jail time.

“Also, you can’t get techsavvy right away? How does this switching over work? I was thinking of setting up techsavvy and then canceling Sympatico afterward so I don’t lose internet connection at all.”

@bluestarz

Because Sympatico and Teksavvy both use the same pipe, you can’t have both active at the same time, so Teksavvy can’t switch on their DSL service until Bell shuts theirs off. More accurately, Bell is switching your DSL connection over from their own Sympatico network over onto Teksavvy’s, since no matter who’s DSL service you go with, Bell is still in charge of the cabling to your home.

That being said, I suspect that Bell only tells people it takes 30 days to out-order your service so they can squeeze a few extra bucks and have a chance to try and change your mind with a followup call from their customer retention department (which I did get a few days after I called). I heard that if I was insistent, I could have had Bell disconnect my DSL sooner, but I don’t mind having to wait. It gave my wife a bit of time to switch her sympatico email accounts over before they stop working.

Let us know what techsavvy is like. Same speed as highspeed DSL from Sympatico?

Also, you can’t get techsavvy right away? How does this switching over work? I was thinking of setting up techsavvy and then canceling Sympatico afterward so I don’t lose internet connection at all. Thanks for any help you can provide.

daboys1215@sympatico.ca

Rogers and Bell both used to piss me off when they’d cold call me offering months of free service for being such a valued customer, but as soon as I told them I already had their high speed internet, they apologized and said the deal was for new subscribers only. So not only do they look stupid for trying to sell me something I already had from them, but they insult me by first saying I’m such a loyal customer and then withdrawing their “reward”.

I’ll keep an eye on this blog. I am fed up with rogers, and i dont hear too much good about bell… the speed capping, throttling etc… yeah i dont want any of it. Not to mention the big brand guys like rogers, and bell have ridiculous prices..

Good to see some little guys popping up! wish more would do so… and same for cell phones!