[kwlug-disc] Acanac cable internet anyone?

[unsolicited]

Khalid Baheyeldin wrote, On 06/27/2011 2:32 PM:
> On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 11:02 AM, Jason Locklin <locklin.jason at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> On Sun, 2011-06-26 at 10:03 -0400, unsolicited wrote:
>>> Anyone have any experience / reasons not to go with Acanac?
>> I would have replied directly if the poster's email was listed, the
>> following is off topic and probably uninteresting for anyone not looking
>> for Internet service.

This is most definitely not offtopic, for kwlug. Everyone on the list 
needs internet service from somewhere.

> Actually, I am glad that you posted this info here, since I am considering
> switching from Rogers, and evaluating alternatives.

Yes, almost always best to post public responses to public questions, 
so all may share in the mutual knowledge.

> Rogers has become worse over the past 8-10 months or so.
> 
> I am not sure exactly what it is, but there are signs of random throttling,
> and
> perhaps DNS issues as well (for example, browser says "Looking up X"
> mostly on some Facebook CDNs, all the time).
> 
> So, looking for options in Waterloo, and seems as far as cable is concerned,
> Acanac is the best option?

There are a lot of complaints in the Acanac forums about performance 
in K-W. You should go over there, cable forums, to see for yourself. 
Such that I have ruled them out, but only for the moment.

	Apparently the impact of Rogers is being felt there, but not in the 
same way as Roger's customers. Although there appears to be no traffic 
shaping, Roger's appears to not be playing nice and rate limiting 
Acanac customers - to 2 Mbps, on 15 Mbps service purchases. Apparently 
they, and apparently in cooperation with other independents will, and 
are, pursuing Roger's on this. I have no reason to believe there will 
be a resolution any time soon.

	Acanac seems cheapest at $36.95, but it's no bargain if you don't 
even get the speed you see on Roger's.


Distributel appears to be another CLEC cable player - I assume they 
will have the same problems as Acanac above. While Acanac has forums 
on both their own site and dslreports, neither seems to be true for 
Distributel. $43.95/month, IIRC.


Which takes me back to TekSavvy (cable). Although I have confirmed 
with them that they are subject to the same restrictions Roger's 
customers are, dslreports seems well pleased with them. e.g. While 
there are Acanac speed complaints in dslreports, there don't appear to 
be corresponding TekSavvy complaints. (Acanac being a CLEC, TekSavvy a 
Roger's wholesaler, IIUC.)

Despite equivalent to Roger's shaping, I am once again considering 
TekSavvy, particularly given their reputation - including the very 
positive opinions of them from this list. If I don't just put the 
problem on the back burner again - giving Acanac, et al, time to sort 
the problem out with Roger's. (Which I expect will end up going to the 
CRTC, should the independent's somehow be able to come up with proof, 
etc., etc.)


Personally, I'm just so tired of this nonsense - plug me in, let me 
pay my fee, and leave me and my traffic alone. Including not having to 
keep an eye on usage limits. From what I can see - never going to 
happen. Apparently the need to fuss around is the norm - be it MLPP, 
ssh / proxies, or VPN, and it isn't going to stop any time soon.