DOCSIS 3 announced! - Page 4 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

bradmiller1347 · 2013-02-23, 06:54 PM

This is exciting news for something that was to start being available in September. I was planning to stick with Access but we are going to switch as soon as Sasktel inifinet is available in our area (very soon). Although pricing between the two providers are the same for the new higher speeds, the benefit is Sasktel offers faster upload speeds and NO CAPS. For example on the Access Hyperspeed 20 - upload is only 2MB where Sasktel's is 4MB. On the next level Hyperspeed 50 upload is only 3MB where Sasktel is 10MB (for the same price) and so fourth. If the plan was for Access to match Sasktel's pricing on the higher speeds it would have been nice if their speeds were at least the same or better. Sasktel also still have the advantage with no usage caps.

I was most surprised that they are not bumping up the speed of their current packages being SaskTel increased all the speeds on their packages. For example someone with 5MB down/640kbps up got bumped to 8MB down/2MB up. SaskTel customers on the 1.5MB down/384kbps got bumped up to 2MB down/1MB up. High Speed Extreme customers were doubled from 10MB to 20MB and High Speed Ultra was also doubled from 25MB to 50MB.

Sorry Access I thought you could offer better value on this new service like your competitor was able to offer their customers by adjusting the speeds of your existing packages with this new technology which has to cost less to deliver. It's been a long time (a good 10+ years since you bumped up your 1.5MB service to 5MB which was great and if I recall you did it before Sasktel did. Now even with your new technology Sasktel is still ahead of you on their package options no matter which way you look at it. Yes it's true inifinet is not currently available in all areas but it will be soon.

guiltman · 2013-03-05, 11:12 AM

I got a letter in the mail advertising the new internet speeds/packages and a $10 upgrade promo. It also included a brochure with all the package speeds/details which lists a data usage cap for each package, it's advertised as a solid gigabyte limit (increasing with each tier).

I haven't talked to anyone at Access, but this definitely seems like bad news for people who had been conscious about their usage and had been keeping to off-peak hours for large transfers. It's kind of hard to market a product that might be slower than the competition and include a data usage cap unlike the competition.. hopefully Access has something up their sleeve for this.

Neild · 2013-03-06, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradmiller1347

Sorry Access I thought you could offer better value on this new service like your competitor was able to offer their customers by adjusting the speeds of your existing packages with this new technology which has to cost less to deliver. It's been a long time (a good 10+ years since you bumped up your 1.5MB service to 5MB which was great and if I recall you did it before Sasktel did.

We'll see how this plays out. But you appear to be saying the initial appearance is that this long promised and long overdue upgrade will fall short of the competition again.

newalloy · 2013-03-19, 04:02 PM

Just talked to an access rep on the phone, and the tiers, as listed here: http://www.myaccess.ca/Home/Communit...A/Default.aspx
are all for PEAK data usage. The rep read in internal informational bulletin that says they encourage customers to do as much downloading in off peak hours as possible, as this is not part of the "included data".

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

excatvdude · 2013-03-19, 10:32 PM

I am super annoyed that they introduced caps on everything now! It's ridiculous! I'm going to be complaining. Do downloads after hours. Kinda hard when you're watching Netflix or Skyping!

Nix · 2013-03-20, 11:46 AM

Thanks newalloy, that is very good news for someone like me to uses a ton of data, but mostly in off hours.

I wonder how soon these new packages will be available?

newalloy · 2013-03-20, 03:19 PM

You can sign up for these packages now.

I just checked my SaskTel usage (by looking at my 2wire mode stats for in and out) and over the last 18 days, I've used 122.7 GB

At my current pace, I'm on track to use 204.5 in 30 days.

Most of that is streaming from the likes of netflix, and "others" during PEAK hours. MAYBE 20 GB of that is offpeak.

To ensure I'm covered for daytime streaming, I'd need Hyperspeed 50...

And surely, I could NEVER plan to use a cloud backup service using Access...
(Correction) to the cloud backup comment... I could limit cloud backups to offpeak hours and max out my UL bandwidth

Neild · 2013-03-20, 04:01 PM

Before we jump to conclusions, note that their official announcement makes no mention of imposing data caps on the unlimited accounts:

http://www.myaccess.ca/Home/Communit...-Internet.aspx

So it may be premature to judge Access Communications' conduct until the facts are all known.

Neild · 2013-03-20, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newalloy

At my current pace, I'm on track to use 204.5 in 30 days.

Most of that is streaming from the likes of netflix, and "others" during PEAK hours. MAYBE 20 GB of that is offpeak.

OUCH! Based on your example, the typical customer who has Highspeed Gold would see their internet cost shooting up to 280% of current price.

I hope this is just a misunderstanding and Access Communications isn't seriously intending to do this to their loyal customers.

excatvdude · 2013-03-20, 07:01 PM

I see no mention of unlimited accounts Neil. Am I blind when I was reading the PR letter? Also I got a reply back to my e-mail from access and it doesn't mention unlimited accounts...

Nix · 2013-04-03, 02:11 PM

So I called to upgrade my service to AccessHyperSpeed 50. I was told someone would call me to set up an appointment. That evening (Wednesday), I received a call and set up a service call for 2-4pm Easter Sunday. I made sure they knew it was Easter Sunday, but I was assured they would still have people available.

Friday evening, I got a 2nd phone call. The rep wanted to set up a time for a service call, and was apparently unaware that the call had already been scheduled.

Sunday afternoon, no one shows up by 4pm as scheduled. Finally at 5:30, I am forced to leave for Easter Dinner elsewhere. Around 7pm I get a call from Access, and naturally I'm expecting an explanation, apology, whatever. Nope, it's a rep calling me to set up a date for the very same service call that was already scheduled and missed. He was totally unaware that it was either scheduled or missed. When I got home that evening, there was a 'missed you' notice on the door.

Re-scheduled for Tuesday, rep arrived exactly on time, switched out the modem, confirmed speeds are as advertised, and he was gone within 15 minutes.

Nix · 2013-04-23, 02:17 PM

So after almost 3 weeks of using the new 50/3 service (AccessHyperSpeed 50) I can say that my reviews would be largely positive.

One issue remains unresolved that I'll be monitoring to see if I can get figured out somehow:

Speed seems to be as advertised ~75% of the time:

The other ~25% of the time downstream speeds are less than advertised, and ALWAYS the same: 28Mbps. This doesn't seem to be happening with any specific pattern or regularity. At non-peak times as defined by Access (1am-8am) it can be either 50 or 28. No idea why sometimes it is slower than advertised, but perhaps Access is monitoring overall usage on their network and throttling high speed connections slightly when the network is being used more than normal. Just a guess.

I have also noticed that the new modem I received is much superior to the old one I had. Previously, if I had transferred a lot of content overnight (up or down) with torrents, etc., I often had to hard boot the modem to get things working properly again. If I didn't, web pages often wouldn't load properly, or other connections just wouldn't connect at all. That doesn't happen at all with the new modem.

Neild · 2013-05-04, 12:11 AM

Strange. Disappointing but not surprising unfortunately.

I presume your speed checking is based on benchmarks? Personally I don't know how I'd use the added speed. Don't most sites have a max per client throughpout anyway?

Your previous modem may have been defective. I know of several 5-10 year old modems that are pretty much bulletproof.

Neild · 2013-05-04, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nix

Sunday afternoon, no one shows up by 4pm as scheduled. Finally at 5:30, I am forced to leave for Easter Dinner elsewhere. Around 7pm I get a call from Access, and naturally I'm expecting an explanation, apology, whatever. Nope, it's a rep calling me to set up a date for the very same service call that was already scheduled and missed.

From what you describe, there's no real need for a scheduled appointment anyway. Swap in the new DOCSIS 3 modem, confirm the speed and done.

My guess is it's a bureaucratic requirement so that someone is on hand in the event your speed check doesn't pass, so someone is there to check signal and other issues.

2013-03-19, 04:02 PM	#49
newalloy Rookie Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 23	Included Data is for PEAK usage Just talked to an access rep on the phone, and the tiers, as listed here: http://www.myaccess.ca/Home/Communit...A/Default.aspx are all for PEAK data usage. The rep read in internal informational bulletin that says they encourage customers to do as much downloading in off peak hours as possible, as this is not part of the "included data". Uploaded with ImageShack.us Last edited by newalloy; 2013-03-19 at 04:07 PM. Reason: added packages

2013-03-20, 03:19 PM	#52
newalloy Rookie Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 23	Available now You can sign up for these packages now. I just checked my SaskTel usage (by looking at my 2wire mode stats for in and out) and over the last 18 days, I've used 122.7 GB At my current pace, I'm on track to use 204.5 in 30 days. Most of that is streaming from the likes of netflix, and "others" during PEAK hours. MAYBE 20 GB of that is offpeak. To ensure I'm covered for daytime streaming, I'd need Hyperspeed 50... And surely, I could NEVER plan to use a cloud backup service using Access... (Correction) to the cloud backup comment... I could limit cloud backups to offpeak hours and max out my UL bandwidth Last edited by newalloy; 2013-03-20 at 03:21 PM. Reason: added correction

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2013-02-23, 06:54 PM	#46
bradmiller1347 Rookie Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 2	This is exciting news for something that was to start being available in September. I was planning to stick with Access but we are going to switch as soon as Sasktel inifinet is available in our area (very soon). Although pricing between the two providers are the same for the new higher speeds, the benefit is Sasktel offers faster upload speeds and NO CAPS. For example on the Access Hyperspeed 20 - upload is only 2MB where Sasktel's is 4MB. On the next level Hyperspeed 50 upload is only 3MB where Sasktel is 10MB (for the same price) and so fourth. If the plan was for Access to match Sasktel's pricing on the higher speeds it would have been nice if their speeds were at least the same or better. Sasktel also still have the advantage with no usage caps. I was most surprised that they are not bumping up the speed of their current packages being SaskTel increased all the speeds on their packages. For example someone with 5MB down/640kbps up got bumped to 8MB down/2MB up. SaskTel customers on the 1.5MB down/384kbps got bumped up to 2MB down/1MB up. High Speed Extreme customers were doubled from 10MB to 20MB and High Speed Ultra was also doubled from 25MB to 50MB. Sorry Access I thought you could offer better value on this new service like your competitor was able to offer their customers by adjusting the speeds of your existing packages with this new technology which has to cost less to deliver. It's been a long time (a good 10+ years since you bumped up your 1.5MB service to 5MB which was great and if I recall you did it before Sasktel did. Now even with your new technology Sasktel is still ahead of you on their package options no matter which way you look at it. Yes it's true inifinet is not currently available in all areas but it will be soon.

2013-03-05, 11:12 AM	#47
guiltman Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Regina, SK Posts: 41	I got a letter in the mail advertising the new internet speeds/packages and a $10 upgrade promo. It also included a brochure with all the package speeds/details which lists a data usage cap for each package, it's advertised as a solid gigabyte limit (increasing with each tier). I haven't talked to anyone at Access, but this definitely seems like bad news for people who had been conscious about their usage and had been keeping to off-peak hours for large transfers. It's kind of hard to market a product that might be slower than the competition and include a data usage cap unlike the competition.. hopefully Access has something up their sleeve for this.

2013-03-19, 10:32 PM	#50
excatvdude Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Grande Prairie, AB 1x3400M, 1xDCX700, 1xSB5680 NW, Wii, PS3 Posts: 150	I am super annoyed that they introduced caps on everything now! It's ridiculous! I'm going to be complaining. Do downloads after hours. Kinda hard when you're watching Netflix or Skyping!

2013-03-20, 11:46 AM	#51
Nix Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 41	Thanks newalloy, that is very good news for someone like me to uses a ton of data, but mostly in off hours. I wonder how soon these new packages will be available?

2013-03-20, 04:01 PM	#53
Neild Veteran Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 2,017	Before we jump to conclusions, note that their official announcement makes no mention of imposing data caps on the unlimited accounts: http://www.myaccess.ca/Home/Communit...-Internet.aspx So it may be premature to judge Access Communications' conduct until the facts are all known.

2013-03-20, 07:01 PM	#55
excatvdude Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Grande Prairie, AB 1x3400M, 1xDCX700, 1xSB5680 NW, Wii, PS3 Posts: 150	I see no mention of unlimited accounts Neil. Am I blind when I was reading the PR letter? Also I got a reply back to my e-mail from access and it doesn't mention unlimited accounts...

2013-04-03, 02:11 PM	#56
Nix Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 41	So I called to upgrade my service to AccessHyperSpeed 50. I was told someone would call me to set up an appointment. That evening (Wednesday), I received a call and set up a service call for 2-4pm Easter Sunday. I made sure they knew it was Easter Sunday, but I was assured they would still have people available. Friday evening, I got a 2nd phone call. The rep wanted to set up a time for a service call, and was apparently unaware that the call had already been scheduled. Sunday afternoon, no one shows up by 4pm as scheduled. Finally at 5:30, I am forced to leave for Easter Dinner elsewhere. Around 7pm I get a call from Access, and naturally I'm expecting an explanation, apology, whatever. Nope, it's a rep calling me to set up a date for the very same service call that was already scheduled and missed. He was totally unaware that it was either scheduled or missed. When I got home that evening, there was a 'missed you' notice on the door. Re-scheduled for Tuesday, rep arrived exactly on time, switched out the modem, confirmed speeds are as advertised, and he was gone within 15 minutes.

2013-04-23, 02:17 PM	#57
Nix Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 41	So after almost 3 weeks of using the new 50/3 service (AccessHyperSpeed 50) I can say that my reviews would be largely positive. One issue remains unresolved that I'll be monitoring to see if I can get figured out somehow: Speed seems to be as advertised ~75% of the time: The other ~25% of the time downstream speeds are less than advertised, and ALWAYS the same: 28Mbps. This doesn't seem to be happening with any specific pattern or regularity. At non-peak times as defined by Access (1am-8am) it can be either 50 or 28. No idea why sometimes it is slower than advertised, but perhaps Access is monitoring overall usage on their network and throttling high speed connections slightly when the network is being used more than normal. Just a guess. I have also noticed that the new modem I received is much superior to the old one I had. Previously, if I had transferred a lot of content overnight (up or down) with torrents, etc., I often had to hard boot the modem to get things working properly again. If I didn't, web pages often wouldn't load properly, or other connections just wouldn't connect at all. That doesn't happen at all with the new modem.

2013-05-04, 12:11 AM	#58
Neild Veteran Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 2,017	Strange. Disappointing but not surprising unfortunately. I presume your speed checking is based on benchmarks? Personally I don't know how I'd use the added speed. Don't most sites have a max per client throughpout anyway? Your previous modem may have been defective. I know of several 5-10 year old modems that are pretty much bulletproof.