TekSavvy Cable Internet Discussion

[hugh]

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Jake]

Greg, Are you running with the Linksys or the Asus router now? I was hoping to hear how the 15Mbps service worked on the WRT54GL.

[purpleyellow]

Sorry if this has been already asked but I would like to know what the move fee of $65 for Teksavvy is. And if I would be charged that fee for switching from Rogers cable?

Thanks in advance.

[apn]

I'm very disappointed that Teksavvy is saying nothing about UBB to its DSL customers, for whom it's already rubber-stamped by the CRTC. However, they're going to be more tight lipped, if that's possible, regarding cable because Rogers has only recently filed for a TPIA adjustment, effective July 1st.

Jake: There's no reason the veritable '54GL shouldn't work on a 15Mbps WAN, since all the W/L ports are 10/100 capable.

Personally, my decision to switch isn't hinged on UBB, since the worst case is that we'll get the underlying oligopoly service (be it 60GB or otherwise, plus overages) at a lower price. I'll also sleep better knowing that my money is going to support internet competition, and hope that one day TSI grows large enough and/or partners with others to build its own network.

[d_source]

I'll be doing the same eventually as well. I'm not going to panic and run right away though as i do have a plan i like with anotehr "competing" brand, a plan which has been grandfathered so I dont wanna lose it if i dont have to.

[ScaryBob]

I would like to know what the move fee of $65 for Teksavvy is.

That's if you want the service moved to a new address. I would guess that it's actually a fee charged by Rogers since it's not applied to DSL accounts.

I'm very disappointed that Teksavvy is saying nothing about UBB to its DSL customers

Actually, they have said a lot, just not directly to its customers since the final outcome is not known yet. TSI has been, and still is, fighting UBB at CRTC hearings and has made statements on it's public forum.

[hugh]

Final warning: This thread is about Teksavvy Cable. All posts discussing DSL will be deleted.

[grog]

Originally Posted by apn

Jake: There's no reason the veritable '54GL shouldn't work on a 15Mbps WAN, since all the W/L ports are 10/100 capable.

Just because the ports are 100 Mb capable doesn't mean the router can go that fast. LAN to WAN traffic runs through the router software so it's performance is very dependent on the router's CPU.

However, I've done some testing and although the Linksys is a bit of a bottleneck it seems to be a relatively minor one. The first thing to keep in mind though is the WAN speed is actually considerably higher than 15 Mbps due to the Rogers speed boost feature. It lets you burst at higher speeds for brief periods of time so for sporadic, bursty traffic like web browsing it is a noticeable improvement. With my new Asus router on SpeedTest I saw some of the local Canadian servers hitting speeds in the 35-40 Mbps range and more distant servers in the U.S. getting a still respectable 25-30 Mbps. Downloading large files of course levels off to ~15 Mbps after a little while.

Switching to the Linksys router running dd-wrt my speeds topped out at 30 Mbps so that seems to be its limit. Latency was about the same (13-14 ms for the local servers). This was LAN to WAN of course. Over wireless it topped out at around 15 Mbps so it's definitely limiting you there. However, if you don't mind the limited wireless performance then I don't think it's worth upgrading your router for the slightly better LAN to WAN performance. It didn't "feel" much different in either case - the Linksys seemed to be holding up just fine.

[Jake]

Grog, That is encouraging news. Glad to see you tested the Wifi speeds too. Thanks.

Can't wait to try it out myself.

[slyboy]

Grog,
What firmware are you running on your Asus? Moving to the faster TSI Cable service I don't want to lose functionality in my router that is provided by the Tomato firmware (such as the "Static DHCP", access restriction, bandwidth monitoring, graphs, etc). There is a lot of good functionality provided through using the right firmware. Having said that, I appreciate your testing with the newer router and it is making me question whether I'd hold onto my WRT54GL or not. Of course, the best of both worlds would be to find a new modern router with faster processing that can also run the custom Tomato firmware or something comparable. Anyone know of any such router? I don't suppose you've looked into whether your Asus router can run different firmware?

[grog]

I'm actually running TomatoUSB on the Asus router. So far, so good.

[chroma10]

I'm in Bowmanville (fed from the Oshawa Rogers head end). I wonder how long it will take for TSI Cable to get out here. Their current prices and caps are very attractive. I cringe thinking what UBB might do to this situation but for the immediate time, it looks great.

[mcase]

As I am to understand it - the 6120 Moto Modem is a better unit to use.
3.0 Capable (faster packet throughput; faster internal clocking) and makes for a future upgradable product should the DOCSIS standard change.

Case in point - most ComCast cable users are using substandard DOCSIS 2.0 modems and have speeds "up to" 25MBPS.
Based on their equipment; they are only using the low end of the DOCSIS 2.0 spectrum.
With their upgrades to infrastructure, they are provisioning newer modems with a new boot file that is a 3.0 backed bin.

Maybe I am wrong but if Rogers ups the ante to 3.0; the infrastructure to your home is ready for a new upgrade to go to the faster fiber speeds when it gets to that point. Cable is FIBER to the node then copper clad to your house hence the better speeds and there is not much in use of the bandwidth on the line at that point.

Either way, I know the TSI company is a solid company and will be using their stuff in the near future. I prefer them.
/End ridiculous long rant.

[nbl957]

I`ve moved from Rogers to Teksavvy for my Internet and am well satisfied.

I still have Rogers Basic Cable TV but I`d like to dump that in favor of a OTA HD system. I truly don`t watch too much TV anyway.

Here`s my question:- Does anyone know if I can cancel my Rogers TV yet keep my Teksavvy Cable Internet.

[hugh]

nbl957, the answer is yes but I'd call TSI to ask if there are any special instructions so Rogers doesn't inadvertently shut down your Internet service also.